The journey was long and boring, but because I had stuff to do, I didn't even realise when we reached the huge mountain. One of the Golems, said "This is where the Capital City Varent is. Come with us, we will show you where you can stay". As we walked through the large opening, that served as the entrance. I saw four even larger Golems, standing guard. I asked "Why are these Golems much bigger, than you guys?".
One of the Golems, said "These are Warriors, and are naturally much bigger, and greater than us. We are simple citizens, and although we don't specialise in fighting, we are not weak either". I thought about something, and asked another question "Do you have something like a Leader, or a King?". The Golem I spoke with the most, said with pride "Of course! Our King is the strongest and bravest Warrior of our race. We all respect our King".
'What type of existence must the Golem King be, if those Golem Warriors are simple entrance guards?' I thought. The guards didn't try to stop me, and simply let us through. We arrived in an open area, of the huge mountain. It looked like the insides of the Berant Mountain, was hollowed out, while large stone houses, palaces and mansions were built inside. The whole City of Varent could be seen from the bottom. There were many paths leading upwards, and the higher one looked, the larger and more refined the buildings became.
'This place looks amazing' I thought, and asked "You guys built this place by yourselves?". One of the Golems said "Yes, it was very long time ago. Our ancestors hollowed out this mountain, then built this city inside. There is also a legend tied to our ancestors, and how they built this city". I was intrigued, and asked "What is that legend?".
The Golem started narrating the story "A long time ago, when there were no intelligent races living in this world. A lone mountain, stood in the deserts of the land. Dark clouds loomed over the horizon, as far as the eye could see. Over time, the dark clouds began producing rain, then wind and then lightning. A massive and loud thunder struck the mountain top, which sent the boulders, rocks and stones flying down. The clouds soon dissipated, while the boulders, rocks and stones became alive. They moved slowly in the beginning, then formed into bigger clumps by joining each other, until a Golem was formed".
He then continued "Those were our ancestors. They came from the mountain, and they also returned to it. Searching day and night, our ancestors looked for similar rocks, stones and boulders, that had the breath of life in them. Soon the population of Golems increased, and they decided to make that mountain their home. It took them many years, in order to hollow out the mountain, then build a very small village at the bottom. The insides of the mountain, looked differently in the past. The future generations of Golems, were responsible of continuing the development of the village, until it became the city, that it is today".
'This story is interesting, but I don't believe it. Although there might be some truth in there, I don't buy the fact, that there were no intelligent races in the world, and Golems were the first intelligent race born into the world. It is a legend after all' I thought. One of the Golems interjected my thoughts, by saying "We need to separate here. I will show you where you can stay, and buy some food, if you need it". I nodded my head, and waited for the Golem to explain.
He pointed at a certain building, then said "This is where you can stay and eat. This place is large, and loads of humans tend to stay there. If you want to take a job on, you can go to that building", and he pointed at another one storey house. Although it was one storey, the size alone would make it 3 or 4 storey building for Humans or Lizards. He then continued "If you need supplies, the market is over there", and he pointed at a large area of stalls, that seemed to have everything one would need in the wilderness.
They then said goodbyes, and pushed their cart towards their destination. 'I should probably start from the tavern, or whatever that place is called. There are some other humans in there as well, so I might get some info. I should watch out though. Golems already know who I am, therefore humans could possibly know too' I thought, and moved towards the building.
Inside the building, I saw something, I've never seen before. Not only Golems, and humans were inside. There were some Lizards as well. Besides them, I saw creatures that looked human, but were not humans. 'Hmmm… These guys are a bit like Crow, perhaps they are from the same race'. I was sure that these people were not Eterians, because they would already be dead. I didn't know exactly how many races hated humans, but I suspected that Eterians were even worse off.
No one really paid much attention to me. I walked over to the counter, and asked "Can I have the menu?". Behind the counter, was not a Golem, as one would think. No, it was a Lizard, probably employed there, or perhaps owned that tavern, and paid some kind of taxes to the Golems. I still had a hard time, recognising whenever it was a female or male Lizard, but the voice usually gave it away.
This time, it was male. He said "Welcome to Sandy Stone Tavern, here is the menu". The weird thing was, when I opened the menu, I saw a small note inside. I thought 'That's weird', but then I realised the meaning. 'It must be Harlin's work. He knew that I will be coming here, or at least suspected it, and instructed some of his people, to probably have an eye on me'. I hid the note, which was not very hard for me, due to many years of Hidden Weapons practice. I then selected a few things from the menu, and asked about the room.
The Lizard himself was a bit stunned, that I acted so naturally, but played along with it. With my meal done, and room rented, the Lizard behind the counter instructed me which room was assigned to me, and wished me enjoyable stay. I headed upstairs, and entered my room. The insides were plain as usual, but more spacious. It was mostly due to the fact, that the buildings here were much bigger compared to those in Olrad.
I sat down on the bed, and read the note. "Some humans know about you. My suggestion is, leave as soon as you can", was written on it. The note was short, but packed with information. He wouldn't warn me about humans, if they didn't mean harm to me. There were couple groups of humans inside that tavern. I wasn't sure if he meant most of them, all of them or only one group. 'Things might heat up a little, but I know humans. They will not rat me out, they will try to capture me, in order to receive maximum rewards. Greed is something every intelligent creature possesses, but humans are masters in that departament' I thought, as the paper in my hand froze, and got turned into icy dust.
Just because Yagaroths and Avians hated me, that wouldn't mean other humans couldn't capture me. I said "Frosty, can you come out for a while? We are in Varent". Frosty didn't seem to have any problems with coming out, and did just that. I said "We may have some troubles coming our way. Humans might try to capture me, I'm telling you this now, so that we can be prepared". Frosty nodded its head, and released some breath into the air. I said "That is the crucial trump card, they don't know about. If the situation is very severe, I will need to borrow your abilities, like we did in that pond. Alright?". Frosty nodded, and jumped onto my shoulder. "I'm no pushover, if they want to capture me, it comes with a price. I hope that they are at least half decent, so I can test my strength and skills on them" I said, and stroked Frosty's head.