Sonora's Wings

The Monster in the City of Gelendru

The three walked together through the forest. Rafner stayed quiet whereas Selkie was staring at Niko. "Um..can I help you with something?" Selkie gave a wide smile. "Mind if I ask a few questions?" Niko nodded. Rafner sighed. "Here we go..." For the next 30 minutes Selkie asked questions non-stop to Niko about himself. "Alright that's enough Selkie, the kid looks worn out." He threw a cloak over Niko and pulled the hood up. "You'll need this once we get into town, we don't want anyone to see you incase they attack." Niko looked out from under the hood. "Oh, ok..." Selkie looked at him and muttered under her breath. "So cute.." Rafner gestured a head. "We're almost at Gelendru." Niko looked at him. "What's a Gelendru?" Rafner looked surprised. "You want to become an adventurer but you've never heard of the city known for its adventurers?" "I've only heard about adventurers in stories, about how they saved people and how they got to see the world, I afraid of anything that came their way." Niko replied looking down. "I also heard a story about a monster becoming an adventurer.." Selkie looked over slightly surprised. "Really? What kind of monster was it? What'd it look like? How'd it become an adventurer? Did it-" Rafner cut in. "Alright enough Selkie, let the kid talk and you might find out." Niko looked at them both. "Well, it was a centaur, her name was Kishel. I was told she became an adventurer after saving a village from a large group of orcs, they praised her there and she was given the title of adventurer in the guild which allowed her to explore the world. Though many didn't like her because she was a monster...now nobody knows where she is, people claim she said she needed to go on a long quest, longer than anyone could ever imagine and no one's seen her since." He looked down slightly. "I was hoping to become an adventurer to get stronger and save people. So that story inspired me quite a bit." Rafner looked off. "I don't know about the adventurer part but I know for a fact that you're strong, you were able to flip me into the air when we first met." Selkie nodded. "No one's ever been able to knock Rafner over before." Niko raised his head. "Really?" The two smiled and nodded. "Really." Hearing this he smiled and glanced around. "Say, the trees here are getting thinner, they're also a different shade.." Rafner glanced at them. "That's because we're almost at the city, the first had to be thinned our in order to build it and I'm surprised you noticed the difference in the trees, these are called steel wood trees. As the name implies they're about as sturdy as steel." Niko walked up to one and clawed at the bark with his talons. "So these were naturally growing here?" Rafner shook his head. "No, they were planted in order to make the buildings within the village stronger, though they are extremely susceptible to fire." Niko peeled a part of the bark off and walked back over. "So why use this stuff if fire burns it quickly? Doesn't that mean people's nests would catch fire quickly if something were to happen?" Rafner took the bark off of Niko and made an attempt to bend it. "No again, people's homes are mostly made from stone bricks, the steelwood is only used to support the building so it doesn't fall apart in extreme weathers." After a short while of bending, Rafner snapped the bark in half. "Oh." Niko replied. They continued walking for about an hour until they reached a large hill. Selkie ran up ahead and turned to them. "C'mon you two! We're almost there!" Niko ran up the hill and Rafner sighed. "Selkie, you're like a little kid." Selkie smiled down at him. "So what? Let us have this!" Rafner have her a defeated smile. "Fine. You win." Niko reaches the top of the hill and looked out seeing a large city in the distance. "That looks amazing." He said staring with a wide smile. "That's where were going to, so we'd better get moving!" Selkie said beginning to run down the hill. "Niko! Race you to the bottom!" Niko began running. "You're on!" Rafner followed behind at a walk pace. "Seriously, what am I going to do with those two?" He smiled to himself and followed them down. They reached the city within the hour and they stood in front of the gates. "This place is huge!" Niko said looking along the walls. "Let's get going or the guards will get suspicious." Rafner said heading to the front gates, Niko and Selkie following behind. Niko our his hood up and stood behind the two. "Just follow what we say ok?" Selkie whispered. Niko nodded in response. The three walked up to the gate. "Halt and state your business." The guards said crossing their halberds. "We're adventurers." Rafner stated holding out a small card. One of the guards looked at it and stepped back in surprise. "R-Rafner? You're the Rafner?" Rafner nodded. "So that means.." the guard looked at Selkie and she nodded. "Yup I'm Selkie." The guards looked at them both and raised their halberds. "You may pass." The pair started to walk through with Niko close behind until one of the guards garbages his cloak. "And who might you be?" Niko glanced at him and stuttered. "Oh! I um...I..." Rafner turned. "He's with us. Let him go." The guard immediately let go and bowed. "Apologies for stopping you sir." Niko stepped back. "No no, it's fine really." He then quickly walked over to Rafner and Selkie as they began to walk away. "That kid with them seems a little off.." the guard thought watching as they left when Niko's cloak raised a little off the ground exposing his foot. The guard stayed silent after seeing it. "Those two are up to something.." he thought. Niko looked around mesmerised by the city, the loud streets and chattering of people excited him. "Isn't it great?" Selkie asked him with a smile. "Yeah it is!" He replied a smile filled with wonder on his face as he looked around. Selkie looked away quickly blushing slightly. "He's too cute!" She thought. "We're heading to the adventurers guild as soon as we can." Rafner said pointing to one of the buildings further down the street. "Stay close to us Niko, if you get lost then we can't be there to help you if someone attacks you ok?" Niko nodded. "Got it." They reaches the guild and walked in, the place looked almost like a bar at hotel, people were laughing and dancing to the band playing in the corner, some reciting stories and others buying drinks. Niko trailed behind as he looked around when a drunken adventurer stumbled into him. "Oh! I'm really sorry sir." The drunkard looked at him. "Ey, whatcha' doin' with a cloak on little man?" He slurred his words as he spoke. "You should take it off..an' enjoy the festivities!" Niko stepped back. "I'm sorry sir but I'm not allowed to take this off under any circumstances.." The man grabbed the cloak. "C'mon! Ish just a lil' bit fun!" The man tugged hard. "Sir wait please! I can't!" As Niko did the man pulled off the cloak revealing what Niko was to everyone. The whole bar fell silent as people looked over. Selkie immediately ran over as people pulled out their weapons to attack him. "It's a monster! Kill it!" Some screamed. "Get did of it before it causes any damage!" Others yelled. Selkie pulled her sword ready to fight when a loud booming voice broke the screaming. "Silence or I'll kick all of you out!" Everyone froze again as a small man walked downstairs from the balcony. "A monster eh? What's a monster doing in my guild?" Selkie stayed in front of Niko her face contorted into that of aggression, her hand gripping the sword on her belt tightly. "Stay your weapons, I want to talk to this "monster"." The man said as he walked over. Selkie slowly moved to the side, hand still on her blade as the man slowly walked up to Niko. "So..what's a beast like you doing in my guild?"