The 56th of Spring 514AV
Per usual, the bat was on a stroll through the crystal city, something he did very often and enjoyed quite a bit. It wasn’t a special or expensive hobby of his, not even an eccentric activity, and yet he was fond of his walks. The rhythm of the pace lulled his conscious into a state of half sleep, his actions controlled by his subconscious mind only, his autopilot so to speak. Awareness of his surroundings he did not have, images, sounds and scents were registered by the respective senses responsible for it, but were not remembered. The thief’s mind had retracted into a shell, one where it could muse about all kinds of random thoughts that bubbled up, until the shell cracked and the consciousness snapped back and got to work for a brief period again. Then it retreated into the newly constructed shell once more and after a while it would awaken, only to drift of again. An endless circle, one that repeated itself always on his strolls. That was what he liked about it actually, time to mull over anything he wanted, finding solutions for recent problems and making plans for future jobs. One could say that the bat’s brain worked at full capacity while he walked, relaxed and without stressing about anything, not even about the rain that fell from the clouds for a couple of chimes before letting the sun goddess’s smile reach the surface dwellers.
What was different from his ordinary hikes however, was that he had a goal, a purpose with this one. There was a place he wanted to reach, a river that could be seen from the bridge that connected the Sharai and Shinyama peak, the river which too was rumoured for the wonderful waterfalls that could be seen from that connection between the peaks. Or maybe he’d go to the Trail of Waterfalls? Well, for the purpose of washing himself, that would probably the best choice, only for the reason that he couldn’t swim and that the Trail was rather shallow compared to the river. Either way, it didn’t matter since he had to take the same route to get there anyways. Well, in fact there were multiple paths to take to the Trail as it meandered through the whole of the Misty Peaks, but he was already taking the way that used the main gates and turning back would only make his trek longer.
Close to the gates he was already, he could see the elaborate etchings on the Amaranthine Gate from here, vague but visible, and so too were the guards stationed there. Their presence alone made the thief tense up a bit, parts of his body itching with the warning of sweat. Act normal, he advised himself, act like any regular person and everything will be fine. Whatever suspicions they might have on me, they can’t arrest me with that as foundation, otherwise they’d have done so already. Reassured by his own mind, he managed to pass through, even nodding the guards in greeting, though he felt that he had a hard time moving as fluent as usual. For one reason or another his legs felt as if they were wooden sticks and his behaviour was faked, well it was, but it felt as if it was apparent to all that he was faking it. Nonsense, hopefully.
The ledge narrow and long was the next trial he had to pass, one that was easy enough if one wasn’t afraid of heights. With Brandon being a Kelvic born with wings, there was no problem at all, or there shouldn’t have been, yet it seemed that being in human form up here wasn’t that beneficial for his nerves, the fear to fall and not being able to shift due to his clothes hindering his small form’s escape, imprisoning him and pulling him down before he would be able to free himself. Of course no such thing happened, and before he knew it, he was hiking through the elevating, rocky terrain of the peaks, his destination drawing nearer with each step.
And there it was, the stream that coiled around rocks, snaking through the rough underground, the flow of water- No, this was an elevated path made out of wooden boards, not a stream! The hell? Why did they call it the trail of waterfalls if it was just a walkway of sorts? That was a bummer, maybe he should bathe in the Amaranthine River after all. Or he could just follow the path and maybe, just maybe he might encounter a real stream somewhere. To be honest, he’d never been here, at least not in this part of the peaks on this path. He had been using the Tranquil Port end to get into the peaks lots of times, but he’d never realised that it was in fact the Trail. He’d just assumed that the Trail of Waterfalls was a small river. Of course he’d gotten wind of it once or twice, he’d heard people drop the name, but like stated before, he’d never realised that it was the walkway. Like his mother always used to say; “The only thing that is safe to assume, is that nothing’s safe to assume”. Once again she was right, even though her statement didn’t make sense, paradoxical as it was, but it the meaning of the words was as true as the fact that Kalinor was located underground.
c
Per usual, the bat was on a stroll through the crystal city, something he did very often and enjoyed quite a bit. It wasn’t a special or expensive hobby of his, not even an eccentric activity, and yet he was fond of his walks. The rhythm of the pace lulled his conscious into a state of half sleep, his actions controlled by his subconscious mind only, his autopilot so to speak. Awareness of his surroundings he did not have, images, sounds and scents were registered by the respective senses responsible for it, but were not remembered. The thief’s mind had retracted into a shell, one where it could muse about all kinds of random thoughts that bubbled up, until the shell cracked and the consciousness snapped back and got to work for a brief period again. Then it retreated into the newly constructed shell once more and after a while it would awaken, only to drift of again. An endless circle, one that repeated itself always on his strolls. That was what he liked about it actually, time to mull over anything he wanted, finding solutions for recent problems and making plans for future jobs. One could say that the bat’s brain worked at full capacity while he walked, relaxed and without stressing about anything, not even about the rain that fell from the clouds for a couple of chimes before letting the sun goddess’s smile reach the surface dwellers.
What was different from his ordinary hikes however, was that he had a goal, a purpose with this one. There was a place he wanted to reach, a river that could be seen from the bridge that connected the Sharai and Shinyama peak, the river which too was rumoured for the wonderful waterfalls that could be seen from that connection between the peaks. Or maybe he’d go to the Trail of Waterfalls? Well, for the purpose of washing himself, that would probably the best choice, only for the reason that he couldn’t swim and that the Trail was rather shallow compared to the river. Either way, it didn’t matter since he had to take the same route to get there anyways. Well, in fact there were multiple paths to take to the Trail as it meandered through the whole of the Misty Peaks, but he was already taking the way that used the main gates and turning back would only make his trek longer.
Close to the gates he was already, he could see the elaborate etchings on the Amaranthine Gate from here, vague but visible, and so too were the guards stationed there. Their presence alone made the thief tense up a bit, parts of his body itching with the warning of sweat. Act normal, he advised himself, act like any regular person and everything will be fine. Whatever suspicions they might have on me, they can’t arrest me with that as foundation, otherwise they’d have done so already. Reassured by his own mind, he managed to pass through, even nodding the guards in greeting, though he felt that he had a hard time moving as fluent as usual. For one reason or another his legs felt as if they were wooden sticks and his behaviour was faked, well it was, but it felt as if it was apparent to all that he was faking it. Nonsense, hopefully.
The ledge narrow and long was the next trial he had to pass, one that was easy enough if one wasn’t afraid of heights. With Brandon being a Kelvic born with wings, there was no problem at all, or there shouldn’t have been, yet it seemed that being in human form up here wasn’t that beneficial for his nerves, the fear to fall and not being able to shift due to his clothes hindering his small form’s escape, imprisoning him and pulling him down before he would be able to free himself. Of course no such thing happened, and before he knew it, he was hiking through the elevating, rocky terrain of the peaks, his destination drawing nearer with each step.
And there it was, the stream that coiled around rocks, snaking through the rough underground, the flow of water- No, this was an elevated path made out of wooden boards, not a stream! The hell? Why did they call it the trail of waterfalls if it was just a walkway of sorts? That was a bummer, maybe he should bathe in the Amaranthine River after all. Or he could just follow the path and maybe, just maybe he might encounter a real stream somewhere. To be honest, he’d never been here, at least not in this part of the peaks on this path. He had been using the Tranquil Port end to get into the peaks lots of times, but he’d never realised that it was in fact the Trail. He’d just assumed that the Trail of Waterfalls was a small river. Of course he’d gotten wind of it once or twice, he’d heard people drop the name, but like stated before, he’d never realised that it was the walkway. Like his mother always used to say; “The only thing that is safe to assume, is that nothing’s safe to assume”. Once again she was right, even though her statement didn’t make sense, paradoxical as it was, but it the meaning of the words was as true as the fact that Kalinor was located underground.
c
Credit goes to Ollic