The world that everyone lived in was in a state of Pangea right now. The densely populated landmass was all combined into one large area. Sailors told tales of lands on the opposite side of the world that teemed with life. Things that were foreign to the eyes of mortals that lived walked on the mainland.
And truth be told, many of the demi's of the southern lands were descendants of these peoples in one way or another. They had found their way here and blended in, or so they believed. Some had interbred with humans and developed their traits recently. Some species had interbred with humans in times of antiquity when humans were far more curious than they are now.
Long lives made humans afraid to be curious as they had more to protect. When mankind sparsely lived lives past 30 or 40, they used them to the fullest, breeding, and loving and exploring as quickly as their little lives would let them. And they faced death head-on, with a war face and weapon drawn and left their mark on time.
In ancient times, humans and demis lived a sort of peaceful coexistence together on this planet. They mingled and lived together; humans had not yet developed the ignorance of hate based on looks. They were fighting to survive, not fighting for supremacy yet. When a species get too comfortable, they have time to look for flaws instead of looking for ways to live.
And this strife is what caused the separation we have now. About 4400 years previous the first miracle occurred. When the first soul, Ysennia, was ascended into heaven and proclaimed a goddess the humans rejoiced. The leagues of Demi-Humans rejoiced for their comrades too. And soon hubris took over and the humans started to laud that the first of the divines was human. Then the second ascension took place, Linist, followed in her and the humans started to assume that because the gods could only be human, they must be superior.
After many years passed and more souls were recorded as having gone to the heavens the humans started to lord their abilities over the humans and caused a rift. The demis had never faulted or thought anything of the fact their kind had not ascended to the divine state. What they didn't realize that most demi's who ascended chose to stay on the mortal realm as caretakers. They became forest spirits or other beings whose job it was to help guide the mortals still living.
And after time happened the first war broke out. The church had formed its roots and was firmly entrenched in enslaving any who refused to proclaim the might and holiness of the human race. Demis fought those who once had been their brothers. For 10 years the war raged, lives were lost at alarming rates. Cities fell and were burned on both sides. Orphans were killed or sold as slaves until in the end, both sides lost the taste for war. Young men capable of fighting were becoming so rare that women and the elderly were being sent off. And eventually, none were left to fight.
What happened was that both of them kind of met a stalemate. The demis all formed a line around the center of the planet. The landmass that they all shared was not evenly split this way, but the humans held most of the fruit-bearing farmlands in the north where water and minerals from previous volcanos guaranteed excellent crops. The lands of the south were larger but barren from years of sunlight and the large scale burning of farms and lands at the hands of humans.
The humans had created a dessert that stretched from one end of the continent to the other and was passable only at certain times of the years or for those with specialties that made them resistant to heat or lack of water. South of the desert towns had been built with the strong hands and creative minds of the demis who still lived together in general peace. Gardens built in the middle of rivers were not uncommon. Mines in mountains guaranteed resources and the peoples had given up the worship of the human gods. They lived in harmony with the spirits of their dead who protected them still.
Among them stood one, the oracle, who was the last vestige of a time when the demis still had access to the human realm's divine powers and the demis ability to speak to the spirits of the earth. They had access to the blended power of the divine and mana that only Ed currently possessed. Years of complacency had driven humans to lack this power now that they no longer needed it. Humans either had divine powers or mana powers and they no longer met between, with the exception of Ed who was no longer entirely human. Ed was in fact now a demi-human by all descriptions.
And this was why the Demis took to Ed so quickly. It was whispered through the spirit realms that a human had ascended to Demi-Human. This was the closest their kind had ever come to divinity and they were both curious and cautious. Would he be more human than not? Would he hate the demis?
Ed had asked Ashra for advice on how to speak to the Oracle. Ed's house was near the equator of the planet. It stood squarely in the middle of the planet. If the world they lived in had accurate maps his house would have been the zero point, like the pyramids of Egypt. Perfectly centered on a perfectly round world. His house also lined up perfectly with one other object that Ed was not aware of yet, nor were most people of this world. The only living city that had no humans in it. It sat on the largest island on the furthest most reaches of the other side of the planet.
On Ashra's advice, Ed had taken the long way to the Oracle. He would stop and see the villages. She had said that for him to understand the southern peoples and see what life should be like he needed to see the villages. And she was right, somehow Ed's cart from Or'Ganel had been transported to his house. He suspected that divine powers were at play but MiNoosh insisted that he had simply purchased it at a town not far from the home.
The idea that such a coincidence was real made Ed and Rennish both give each other the side-eye. To them, this was definitely something suspicious. To both MiNoosh and Ashra, this was seen as further proof of his purpose and mixed divinity. Ed was not enjoying been viewed as Divine. He was simply trying to figure out why he was sent this far south and hoping that the spirit world had forgiven him enough to not be haunted for the rest of his life.
MiNoosh had stayed at the house to keep it ready for any return he planned to make. MiNoosh had used special older magic to create a golem for Ed. The Golem was two halves of a face. When you talked to one the other half could repeat what you said. It generally lacked significant intelligence but could repeat verbatim any message passed to it. The only downfall was that the magic that kept it fed could only be replaced by the caster and it would last for about a month at a time and the parts needed to be conjoined to replenish this. So after a month of travel or more, they would be silent from the house and standard messengers would become necessary.
The first town had been the nearest outpost between the two realms of humans and demis. And they had created a city-based around a wall. One side of the wall to the north was the land of humans who trafficked between the two worlds. The other half to the south was for the demi's who acted as merchants. The wall itself was really more of a large hollow hallway but for those species, with a long enough life span, they told the tales of how the wall was really the last remaining castle wall that the demi's had built to keep the humans out. The rest of the 10,000-unit long wall had crumbled or been cannibalized for other projects. This one town had built its life up around the wall itself and kept it as a sign of unity and division. Species were allowed to travel to both sides of the wall but all trade was restricted to this one section.
The hallway inside the great ancient rampart had windows and doors in it now where there had not been before and merchants built their storefronts into the wall. So the wall now looked like it had warts on either side. Merchants would set up shop on the north and south end and all business had to happen inside the hall to make sure that no side deals were made. It also kept them out of the heat and made life just a little more comfortable.
Rennish has insisted on driving the cart through town. He wanted to watch as they moved through. Ed and Ashra sat in the back. Ed had put on a cloak and covered his head. His face was not yet famous, but he didn't want to run the risk either way. He had his blue jacket inside his satchel and was clutching it in his lap, not out of fear but to remind himself how far he had come. He felt around inside counting to make sure all his things were still there. He ran his fingers over the coin purse and felt that two new gold coins had come through like normal.
A few days after his visit with Hadres and Hatsheput he had gone through his satchel and the box that was left for him. His satchel was still the same, nothing added or removed. The sandwich bag was still even working. The chest on the other hand contained papers about the southern lands and clothes from the hotel. It also had a sack with the equivalent of 5 years of gold coins. The sack had weighed in at almost 300 pounds of gold and explained why no one had dared moved the box. Ed knew he could NEVER spend that much without attention. One night he hatched the plan to let MiNoosh use most of it in his name. He would have the man send gold to each of the small towns and villages to be used for projects. He also had several pounds with him here and he planned to send a gift back to CunStead and Deavers Township. He was not sure why he was nostalgic for them, but he was.
As they worked through the north side of town to the gate in the middle Ashra informed Ed that the town was called Southern Gate by the humans and Northern Gate by the Demis and to remember it when talking to people on each side of the town.
Ed was facing away from Rennish who was smiling and driving through town. He had been away from almost all humanity except for Ed and was super excited at the thought of getting drunk again. Ed had expressly forbidden him from drinking bout told him he could visit a bar later if he was good. That part of his binding to Ed was still very much real even when he wasn't fully a spirit anymore. He couldn't directly disobey Ed and Ed planned to be specific with him. Ed had no problem imagining a whole herd of tall bard like half babies running around because the spirit couldn't keep it in his pants. Rennish was having the same thought almost exactly but with far more excitement than Ed. He couldn't wait to meet more of the Demis and hear their tales and meet their women. Ed had confiscated his bag of musical tools though to prevent him from causing too much trouble and because Ed was afraid the rat flute was still inside.
Ashra told tales of the city to Ed who was listening and nodding to her. She told tales of famous merchants and the great war that ended here in this town. She told of how the gate still stood after years because of an enchantment from a priest in the ages gone by. Ed was envious that she knew so much and seemed so well-traveled. He was watching people stroll by and looking at the Auras of humans. People at this end of the world had auras that were shades of Amber and Blue. Those who were travelers had Auras of the lands they came from. Deep reds and blues and brighter yellows flowed among the people. One aura caught his eye for a moment. It was the only one that was forest green with a tinge of gold around the edge. Metallics and silky colors were normally products of the divine. Those like him tended to have auras like Rennish did that shimmered like spider silk in colors of their homes. It reminded him of someone, but he couldn't place who.
"Master, do you see something troubling?" Ashra said snapping him away from his attempts to find the owner of that aura.
He shook his head and it was gone. He had lost his focus and the auras were a sea of colors now, like trying to find one green in a sea of blue. "No just something out of the ordinary was out there. I almost had it, but I lost it. Don't worry, it wasn't dangerous. Just a soul lost and out of place." Ed said with some sadness he couldn't quite place and looked over at Ashra.
She was sitting on the far edge of the cart on her knees. She looked over the edge of the cart towards the people as they were passing using her keen feline senses to look for anything that might seem harmful, her ears were human but had small black tufts at the end that made them look pointed and they twitched as she listened to the crowd.
Ed watched her, she was not tall but over average height and since their first encounter Ed had insisted that she wear something when they were in public. She had fought him over this. She understood that clothing was a human custom but assured him that her people put pride in their colors and pelts. She softness of the hair on their bodies was a matter of distinction. She made sure to brush her hair often and keep herself clean, her hair always shining and never out of place.
She had assured him that this was how her people identified tribes and also how they learned to identify other people, too much coverage of the fur was considered a sign of shame. Ed had no plan to force her into anything so they had compromised. She wore what looked like a long scarf of amber-colored linen and draped it over her chest. She tied them up to cover her breasts where her hair was the thinnest. It allowed the pelt on her back to be visible and this seemed like a fair trade to her. Everything south of her navel was covered in a soft brown fur the color of her skin and she insisted that she was fine to cover just her chest.
When they were alone though Ed had given in and suggested she go back to her way of doing things. He had almost become immune to her nudity at this point. She insisted on sleeping next to him at night in case he needed anything and after a few nervous nights he no longer worried about suffering the effects of being so close to a very nearly naked woman. He would wake up and see her sleeping face and the soft purrlike noise she made at night. Her eyes were closed, and her dark desert kissed skin was interrupted only by the soft pink of her lips and the area at the tip of her nose. It was comforting now and far better than waking up to Rennish and his snoring.
She looked over at Erust and smiled. "What are you thinking Master. I can smell you thinking of something." She smiled at him. It made him nervous to know that she could tell just off the scents his body gave but she assured him it would keep her safe also.
"You caught me," Ed said with a laugh. "You just amaze me with your knowledge. Any other time in my life and I might have been very taken with you."
She frowned. "You aren't smitten with me now?"
"Well smitten might be a bit much. This is a weird time in my life, and I am very glad to have you with me. Maybe when this is over Ashra." He said reaching out and putting a hand on her ankle which was the nearest thing to him.
She smiled weakly. "Well, as always I am yours devoutly and will do whatever you please Master Erust. I am already sworn to you like a wife among the Felis-ine peoples. You are my pack now." Rennish giggled a little behind Ed and Ed slapped his back over his head to shut him up.
Ed smiled and nodded. She had explained that the greater tribes of feline demis referred to themselves as the Felis-ine peoples. It was the first she had mentioned being sworn to him. Before he could worry about that though she pointed.
"There is the great gate. Here the ancient peoples first shook hands when this land was lush and full of trees, before the trees turned to stone and became the desert!" He looked over the edge of the cart and past Rennish to see it.
In front of them stood a line of carts and the wall. The stone edifice was easily 40 units tall and the two massive doors were a combination of wood and brass hammered together. Two units of guards stood in the middle. One guard was human and the other a centaur-like being. Soon they would cross into the Northern Gate and stop for the night to pass on into the real southern lands.