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Every second that the carriage was on the road, the refugee group felt unease. They had been traveling non-stop and there was no end to their travels in sight.
Zao Zhan had been caught off guard by the circumstances. His family, all of them had to bare the consequences that were to come. He had been forced to leave his post, his position and the Wolf Brigade, his families tea shop and the nursery he had started to prepare for his child. Thinking about it, he ran up to see his father, "Father, is it another son or daughter?" Zhan asked his father, Ooran was keeping Lei entertained with looking games.
Occasionally Ooran would point into the distance and the two of them would giggle. Every day, Lei's adorable nature helped relieve the tense atmosphere, her innocence was somewhat infectious.
"I don't think it matters. Before, I believed that if I had a daughter, she would be a flowerpot, kept and rarely taken out.." His voice trembled and he spoke under his breath, "To keep her from being plucked." Laughing hysterically and Ooran slapped at his thigh looked over at Lei. "Now that I have Lei, I know that no matter what our next child is, they will be among the fiercest of all the clans." As a Father, he was thrilled to have such confident children but Wu Hai was still out on adventure, if he returned to the Capital during the unrest, then he could be caught in a bad predicament.
"It is a shame, our Family was pushed out of the Capital but a Family isn't a Town, it's people." Ooran wiped the dust from his face while they continued on the trail. "Everything can change in an instant but no one can change who their Families are.
Old Man Jiang was taking the time to read, he had the bookstore's contents in his storage. Pulling out a few books on the power of the mind, he passed one of them to Lei and set the rest beside her, "Lei Lei, read these or have your Father read them to you. I have things to investigate but I'll answer questions when you have them." Noticing that Lei was literally hovering over him as he browsed his collection, he quickly sent her off and sank into the books.
"Is Master Jiang going to stay with the Zao Clan when we finally come to a stop or will you be taking your own road in the future?" Ooran and Zhan both wanted an answer but neither was sure which of them should ask. Finally, it was Calistown who opened her mouth. She had been quietly napping to the side during the early hours of the day. Neither her or Rachael would do much of anything during the trip, they were not even allowed to help themselves off the carriage, it was incredibly chivalrous but necessary.
The Cattle needed to graze for an hour, so they all stopped and had a quick meal, it made good use of the time. Despite having lost the Tea Shop, the Majority of their herbs and ingredients were in their personal storage rings. Having their fill of food was a reprieve from the Suns. It was springtime and there was a long drive for the refugees ahead.
When everything was packed away, Master Jiang drew the reins and kept heading to the East.
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Wu Hai was traveling with his friends, Khan Ni had even taken to hunting packs of beast on occasion. The Compromise was that they would always leave some for the future and then she would not complain. If the beasts were violent, she wouldn't have much of a problem but she would cry mercy for the young ones. It would complicate a few fights and it had made group a little less on edge about which targets they could pick out.
Khan Ni's persistent attitude and unwavering badgering eventually won, Wu Hai and the Twins just didn't have the strength to argue with her about what they should and shouldn't kill. It was somewhat annoying and somewhat easier to let her give the okay for the hunts. Eventually she still had to compromise, they found packs of animals all over the place and whether they wanted to or not, many of the packs refused to flee once any of their herd or pack were attacked. Sometimes, slaughter was inevitable.
Predators were many and fights were plentiful, the group crossed a lot of lakes and fields, passed rivers and mountains. The compass needle had a strong pull was darting in only one direction, the Southeast.
Their path was obvious after looking from such a high altitude, making their way into the Eastern Plains where the Cheng Twins had been adamant about reaching for so long.
After passing the last in a series of rolling hills, as far as the eye could see, the ground was flat as a seabed. The Grasses were spread out and occasionally there would be Large Stone Giant sleeping. They didn't bother the birds that landed on them but if an animal pissed or shit on them they would immediately crush it. This led to the group seeing quite a few rocks with rusty colored tops. Most Elementals, especially natural ones, didn't care to interact, they could sleep for all time and be content.
Mu Cheng decided not to mess with the Stone Giants when a large, Raptor-like lizard was giving birth on top of one.
With a quick clap, the mess was sticky against the oversized palm.
Wu Hai didn't want to pass up on fighting at least one of the Stone Giants to see what materials or items they had, but the scene from a second ago shook both of Cheng Brothers to sobriety, he followed their example and left the Stone Giants alone.
Crossing the Plains while avoiding the Stone Giants was boring and easy but it was interesting that the Elementals themselves were just laying around.
While passing through so many of the Stone Giants, Khan Ni spotted a small stairwell among the scattered and resting Stone Giants, it led down. Khan Ni pointed it out to the boys, "Hopefully this long flight is over for a little bit. This is just too hot, I'm sweating, even Jiao Jiao looks hot."
The Heat from the winds of the desert in the south kept them in the air but it was a dry hellish heat. Seeking shade, the whole group welcomed the tunnel.
"I can't believe that we're going back underground, are all Dungeons and Tombs underground?" Darkwing was still pissed off about the tombs collapse from before, he felt like he could have continued to fight. "I can tell you that I don't like these places, I don't like the idea of being buried." Darkwing's ability to speak had evolved along with him. Each day, he became more familiar with how to express himself.
"Brother Wu!, Look.. Meat People!" Cheng Mu had a hungry look in his eyes as he pointed with drool, approaching them was a figure from the dark. Mu's hopes were somewhat dashed instantly when Wu Hai put his hand on his shoulder, the figure started to speak.
"Who are you to enter our Minaur City?" The Brown Minotaur man looked over and approached the group with caution.
No one felt any discomfort or feelings of oppression, just massive curiosity.
"No one has come here in a long time. What can I do for three Qilinkin, an Tree Elf and an.. are you an Elemental?" He continued by adding "Also, Why do you smell like Humans?" The Minaur man waved his hand around his face to fan the smell away in condescension.
"Humans.. haha, not us." Wu Hai was quick to interrupt and stop the others from giving away their secrets. "We are out seeking adventure. You said 'Minaur City?' Can we be invited to see it?" Wu Hai's interest was piqued, "I've never seen a City of your people." The words left his mouth, he was full of energy and his expression didn't show any malice. In truth, he was very interested but there was something about the Minaur that he couldn't identify and it left him feeling suspicious during each of his steps.
Passing his gaze over the group, the Minaur had a strange expression on his face. "You smell like Humans but... You're an Elf and Humans don't have wings, or beaks. We don't welcome Humans." Confused about why he was hesitant, he dropped the awkwardness. "Yes yes, let us go. Friends, this is Minaur City. We have been here thousands of generations, when our ancestors ran from the calamities, we hid ourselves below the surface. The best of our kind are the fastest Miners. The arrival of humans changed a lot of things but we manage to avoid them with confusion traps."
He laughed and led them further down the corridor, the light was getting brighter and faint mechanical noises could be heard. "We Minaur have always been reclusive and never trusted male Humans. Now, Women however, were always welcome. Oh! To have a beautiful Human to rub against." Watching the Minaur start to drool, the entire group was giving him disgusted looks.
It was only a moment ago that the Twins were thinking of eating Minotaur, now the reverse was happening in perverse.
"We have arrived." Opening a large black Gate, a beam of light crossed across the group. It was bright and blinding, they had to shield their eyes.
"How can there be such bright light underground?" The entire group stood with their mouths open, they looked out in front of them and much of it defied their understandings.
Elevators were in operation, hundreds of them. Some moved stone, some food. All the elevators flew at speeds that were probably unsafe. Sounds of creaking wood and ropes passing through pulleys that filled the cavern in between the conversations. The amount of work that was ongoing and underground was astounding, thousands of tons of ore and raw materials were being moved on conveyor belts and all of it was being powered by some unseen, unheard force.
Many of the Minaur people who had seen the group started to follow.
It wasn't menacing but more akin to the sensation of being drawn towards something. They felt the need to follow Khan Ni, more specifically, the Jiao around her neck.
The Jiao didn't want to do anything except follow Khan Ni. As it slept and lazed around, it rarely even took to the effort to join in battle. Yawning heavily, Jiao Jiao stretched out and alarmed the group of Minaur who had originally thought it was a trophy hide that she wore.
Many had not seen a living Jiao since the ancient times. To the Minaur citizens, the Dragons and Jiao were a sort of Deity. The atmosphere quickly changed, people began to gather more quickly. Some knelt, some prostrated across the floor.
One of the males came up and gently asked, "My dear Travelers, I hope that you won't harm that Jiao in your presence. We, the Minaur, have always revered the Jiao. If I might ask, can we.. can we clean the Jiao?" He bowed and seemed to be begging.
The group was stunned for a moment at the request. It was not something needless, the Jiao had a particularly strong smell that kept other beasts aware of its existence in the area.
Antennae-like horns of the Jiao perked up and it rubbed its head against Khan Ni. Then, it then flew off to the Minaur Man.
The faces of those around him were filled with admiration as the fluffy and beautiful Leopard Jiao was dancing behind him.
"Jiao Jiao wouldn't go anywhere he felt danger, I doubt we have to worry about him either way." Khan Ni reminded the group about how they had found it.
"It will be my honor, please rest assured. It is a great honor to do this, I have my selfish reasons. Who wouldn't want to approach their Gods!" The Minaur man walked further away, soon they were far from sight.
Looking ahead at the honeycomb of Tunnels and Elevators, Wu Hai could see countless stores and shops. He asked, "Excuse me, but.. are there any bookstores or Item Shops around here? I'd like to see what the Minaur people have to exchange."
"Elders keep the bookstores full." The man tossed his hands up, "Most of our people are miners, we like building things. It could take generations to complete a single statue." Passing through a corridor of statues, he prattled on.
"I thought you said that you didn't trust humans?" Pointing at several very large statues in a corner Cheng Yu asked a pointed question.
"Those are the 9 Dragon Emperors. They are all dead. They died protecting the Minaur people as calamities took place. We escaped, most of our people do not go out in to the world and will probably never return go to the surface." His eyes glimmered in the torchlight.
With a change of tone he pointed to the wall. "We grow our own food using the minerals we mine, Luminous Stones are everywhere. Look over there." Pointing to another wall that extended into and down a corridor, thousands of stones glowed were lined out in rows, it stretched out far into the distance with several branches heading in different directions. "Those were the very last humans we trusted, never again will the Minaur people be as foolish as we once were. Humans have been problems for many of the other races but the Devils." 'Hmmph' He snorted, "The Devils are the worst."
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