Expedition to Ferus Mundus: Day 2
I suppose I should consider myself fortunate to be
writing a second entry on this trip at all. I'd like to consider the
odds of us being attacked on our first day here, but something tells
me that I don't really want to know the answer to that. We had fallen
into a trap set up by two female primerans. They didn't seem to want
to harm us, just take our valuables, but were clearly willing to
engage if they felt like we were being uncooperative. The tiger,
named Durga, was doing the majority of the talking while the ram,
Trill, simply chimed in once and a while. Takai was ready to fight
her way out while I attempted to back her up if needed. Monster
didn't really do anything, he just stood around glaring. Ani, on the
other hand, was too thick to realize that this was a trap and was
asking Takai and I to put our weapons away so that 'they' wouldn't
feel too threatened to help us. The two primerans simply played along
with Ani suggesting they would be happy to help if we gave them all
of our supplies and equipment. I had to be the one to call Ani out on
his ignorance, perhaps a bit too aggressively, but I needed him to
get his head in the game.
Ani didn't seem to want to believe that we were the
victims of these new primeran's con, and tried to explain that what
they were doing was wrong and that we had somewhere important to be.
The 'Sirens,' as Takai called them, laughed off Ani's protest and
asked what was so important that they should release us. Oddly
enough, after Animal explained where we were heading and for what
reason, the laughing quickly stopped and the two Sirens gave each
other a stern look. Takai chastised Ani for revealing the nature of
our quest to the two thieves, but ultimately it seemed to work. Trill
took out an ornately decorated violin-looking instrument and began to
play it. As she did so, the ground beneath our feet warped itself
back into its original state.
With a shifty smile, Durga approached us and apologized
for 'delaying such an important mission,' and asked that she and
Trill be allowed to join us so that they might escort us safely to
the city of Pandemonium. Ani was of course happy to have resolved the
conflict peacefully, but the rest of us knew well enough the scent
of bullshit when we smelled it. Takai and Monster played along but
instructed that Durga and Trill remain in front of us so that they
could 'lead the way.' Ani, still excited at the prospect of meeting
new primerans stayed by their sides and assaulted them with one
question after another, especially Trill. After only a few minutes I
swore those two were going to drop the act out of sheer annoyance
from Ani's questioning. Takai walked alongside me and asked more
about Ani's past, as she had never seen a primeran with his
mannerisms and attitude before. She was aware from the start that he
was a lost one, but I elaborated to her that he was raised by humans
and spent that vast majority of his life in isolation, a fact that I
was grateful for. Takai seemed unsure of what I meant as we continued
our way mostly in silence.
After several hours, I noticed that our daylight was
fading, but that strange moon-like object that provided our light had
barely moved, if at all, across the sky. It simply was providing less
light than it had done hours earlier. I asked about it and Takai
explained that the primeran moon pulses over a period of roughly
twenty four hours. Strange, I thought, but also oddly convenient.
Takai expressed that it would be best to make camp before continuing
as nightfall was even more dangerous. As we made camp, I noticed that
Takai was somewhat avoiding me, most likely due to our previous
conversation. I approached her and explained that I was sorry if our
last conversation made it seem that I was untrusting of her and other
primerans and that I did value her friendship. She seemed pleased by
my intuition and was thankful for my apology, but that it wasn't
necessary. After the work was done, I visited Takai once more and we
continued our conversation. She revealed that her reaction to my
words was not so much of sadness in my assumed distrust of her, but
rather the fact that she knew it came from my experiences with
Monster and what he had done to us. She was, and is, incredibly loyal
to him, and I admitted that he has changed since our encounter with
Ghast. She was very thankful that I was able to acknowledge this, as
it gave her the hope that others would eventually see that same
change in time. From what I could tell, the two of them have a very
long road ahead in achieving their goals after we deal with Takai's
brother, another fact that I can see is burdening her thoughts.
We spent the night taking watch with one of ours always
keeping an eye on Trill and Durga, though truth be told, Ani's
questioning was enough a threat of torture to keep them from trying
anything. Before turning in I had asked Takai what was so dangerous
about nightfall here, she then told me stories of large mindless and
violent creatures called 'Chimera' that stalked around the dark
places of their world, feasting on lost primerans. When I tried to
ask her more about them, she simply explained that 'Some things are
best left alone and forgotten...” With that unfortunate bit of
knowledge left to keep me awake, I eventually fell asleep due to pure
exhaustion.
In the morning we set out again. I was still tired from
lack of sleep but I could tell that Durga and Trill were far worse
off, and knowing why brought a smile to my face. Soon enough we
reached the outer walls of Pandemonium. The city was massive and
built around a large elevated hill or some small mountainous natural
structure. The walls were high but the city was elevated, which made
looking in to see the details a bit easier. There was a large
building at the summit of the city and from it numerous walls that
extended down throughout it to the base of the outer walls, which
divided it into numerous sections or perhaps districts.
The top of
each dividing wall acted as some kind of aqueduct that used gravity
to distribute water throughout the city. Each district also seemed to
have alternating styles of architecture and different foliage growing
in each for some specific purpose. Several towers dotted each
district and were connected by a wire or cable that ran between them
all the way up to the structure at the city's summit. From what I
could tell, this was not the hand holding multicultural paradise that
I'm sure Takai's wishes it was or that Ani was hoping for. High
walls, elevated infrastructure, guard towers with connections to the
main hub, specifically grown crops in segregated districts, and water
originating from and controlled by the those in charge? Peaceful my
ass, this place is a military state.
