-Fyrun-
[The Alten word for 'fire,' Fyrun is also the name
of a city in the Demon Realm, named after the nearby Lake Fyrun.
It's also one of the most common names for people.]
The rest of our travels to Fyrun were peaceful. The path continued along the top of the hill, as the ground leveled out towards the South, forming a much more gradual slope towards Der'venn'ya. To the North, on the other hand, it had a similarly steep slope to the one we had climbed earlier, running down towards a lake. The road hugged the Northern crest, proceeding West in a mostly straight line, curving wherever the hillside curved.
Fyrun was downhill quite a ways, so we could see it as soon as the hill began its gradual descent. It was a smaller city than Al'din, but still quite large. There also weren't walls, allowing people to come in from any direction. It also had several more roads leading out of it, most of them smaller paths that lead to outlying villages that occasionally dotted the landscape. The main road we were on occasionally split out towards these villages as well. Nadred explained to me that these small villages would likely have representatives in the nearest city, that way we didn't have to go visit every single village. Some were small enough they only had two or three buildings, and were mostly farmland. Most of them didn't even have official names.
Fyrun was supposedly one of these villages in the past. It was founded as a rest stop for merchants traveling across the Realm. At the start it was just a small inn by the same name as the city, named for the lake its views beheld. After a time, a traveling merchant got injured on the road, and after being taken care of by the family that ran the inn, decided to open a permanent store next to it. She eventually married the son of the innkeepers, and the two are now considered the town's founders, as soon after more and more people began settling around there. As it stands now, Fyrun is one of the largest trade centers in the Demon Realm.
Nadred had finished rambling about the city's history around the time we finally arrived, nearly an hour before sunset. He had moved onto talking about the lake at the bottom of the hill, which at this point had become significantly steeper, just shy of being a proper cliff. "The name Lake Fyrun is sort of oxymoronic, don't you think?" He started with a question, involving a word I was unfamiliar with. Jarou had to lean over and whisper the meaning in my ear. "A lake is water, but fyrun means fire, right?" After a nod of confirmation from Jarou and I, he continued. "Well, the lake isn't entirely water. An estimated fifty percent of it is actually some other liquid that easily catches fire. Some several hundred years ago, a lightning bolt struck the lake, or near the lake, some accounts differ on the details. But either way, it caused a large fire, and the lake was burning as well. After several people witnessed this, the lake's former name slowly faded and was replaced by its new one." He sighed, the type of sigh that comes from a scholar being denied knowledge, "The lake's original name is lost to history now, I have yet to find any public record of it."
Our conversation came to an end when we were near the center of the city, the view of the lake blocked by several buildings. We had come to an abrupt stop, and Nadred bumped into one of our human companions while he was distracted, a large, muscular man who looked annoyed but tolerated it. We fanned out to look ahead at what stopped us, and found Raen and Oroske talking to an elderly woman. After a few minutes of them talking, the woman went inside a large building, and Oroske and Raen split up to brief the rest of the group.
"Alright guys," Raen approached our group, "We've got an hour before people start gathering around for our conference. We'll be staying in the Fyrun Inn, and the conference will be held just outside it. You're free to wander the city, and do whatever you want until then. Just make sure you stay near our half-demon escorts." He had mostly been talking to his followers, and then turned to us, "Are you all ok with that?"
"Sure," Nadred spoke for all of us, then spoke directly to the humans that would be in our care, "Anywhere you wanna go, we'll follow."
In truth, I would have liked to just rest, or possibly explore the city on my own.
"I vote we go check out our lodgings for the night first," the big guy spoke up as I silently lamented my lack of freedom, "What say you guys?" The rest of our charges agreed, and we followed them into the building the old lady from before walked into.
The old woman was standing at the front desk, looking at a large paper, filled with writing and pictures on both sides. She looked up at us as the door shut with a thud. The large guy raised a hand and began to speak, but was cut off by the lady tossing a keyring at him. She pointed down the hall to our right with her thumb, and went back to reading her paper.
The man looked back at the rest of our group and just shrugged, and led the way down the hall, looking at the keys. He stopped at the fourth door on the left side of the hall, looking up and down at the number on the door and the keys. He stuck one of the keys in the door, and it unlocked with a click.
We followed him into the room, which contained a large conference table, and a handful of multi-level beds. The man walked to one of the beds and threw his supply bag on it, "I'll take this bed, I suppose." He then walked over to the table and took a seat, leaning back and closing his eyes. The rest of our party followed suit, claiming beds before sitting at the table. A couple of them just set their bags on the table. After our companions claimed their beds, Nadred, Jarou and I followed suit.
There was a long, awkward silence as we all sat around the table. Finally, the unofficial leader of the humans broke the silence. "How about we get to know each other? We're gonna be traveling together for quite some time, after all. I'll go first," he stood up, giving me a better look at him. As I mentioned before, he was large, and most of that size came from pure muscle mass. His eyes were a dull green, his matching hair was shaved into a buzzcut. Underneath the white cloak, which he'd taken off since sitting down, he wore plates of armor over plain black clothes. "My name is Krail, I'm twenty-five years old, and have been serving in Captain Dyn'ya's squad since I was sixteen. I am almost completely incompetent with magic, but my skill with a sword is almost unrivaled, and have more than enough physical strength to make up for my magical ability."
"Well met, Krail," Nadred said cheerfully, without moving, "Is it alright if I go next? I'm Nadred, the mentor of our red-haired friend here. I'm not a particularly skilled fighter, but I do consider myself to be one of the Tsumi Clan's top scholars, and am very knowledgeable in several fields. I look forward to working and traveling with you all."
We proceeded to all take turns introducing ourselves. Arnala was a woman the same age as Krail, with deep blue eyes set in pale skin, framed by dark hair. Jyn was the oldest of the humans, aged thirty-two, had fiery red hair and light gray eyes that seemed to pierce my very soul, his skin was also the darkest in our entire party, including those not in the room with us. Leren was a similarly dark skinned woman, with thick, curly black hair and dark eyes. Pyr'rel chose to copy her commanding officer and only give her last name, and had light blue hair and icy eyes, set in sunburnt skin. Lastly, we had Elrik, the younger brother of Vai'ra, who had a very similar appearance.
"Oh, I think I remember you, Elrik," Nadred said after he had sat back down, "You fought with us to take down that one Sigil outside the Royal City, right?"
"Yes, that's right," he responded matter-of-factly.
"Your skills were impressive, even back then. I had wanted to ask you where you learned to fight like that."
"I was trained alongside my sister. Our parents were very strict teachers."
"Why didn't you join up in the military with her? I'm sure you would have gone far."
Elrik gave him a cold, hard expression, and answered flatly, "I have my reasons. I'm more suited for mercenary work anyway."
Nadred simply raised a hand in a sort-of shrug as though to say "fair enough."
We continued talking until it was time for the conference. I talked a little about my training and about how I died and lost my memory. We learned Arnala and Krail were childhood friends, and were planning on getting married. She also went to the military academy with Krail, but got injured during training and left to pursue less dangerous work. Jyn was apparently one of their teachers there, and he and Pyr'rel were part of Terib's squadron. Any and all attempts at getting Elrik to talk about himself and his past failed.
Before long, Kared came to gather us for the conference.
That night's conference was more or less just a couple hours of the same thing as the one in Al'din. This time, however, there was a lot of focus on the rise in Sigil sightings, and issues relating to them. Both our party and the citizens of Fyrun began to fear that the nearby Calamity would awaken soon. Raen and other members of the party took extensive notes on issues that should be brought up once we arrive in Ish'din.
I had retained very little of the information talked about in the meeting, as outside of the issues with Sigils, I understood very little of the issues the people were having. It seemed to drag on forever, and I almost fell asleep on my feet a couple times.
After the conference, our party went to the quarters we had been in earlier, as it was the only one we had access to with a conference table large enough for everyone. We were meant to discuss whittling our list of complaints and issues down to the more major ones, but the table was filled almost exclusively with talk concerning the Sigils and Calamities.
"So I know you've told me a bit about them," I went to Oroske and Nadred with questions, "But can you tell me more about the Calamities?"
To my surprise, Oroske offered to teach me.
"I'm not sure exactly what you've been told, so I'll start from the beginning, if that's okay." He started, waiting for my go ahead, "When the Guardians returned, having disappeared for several centuries, some five hundred years ago, the Guardian Naen declared a prophecy. This was shortly after the Grand War ended, and the Half-Demon Clans were formed. He told us that in the then-distant future, there would be eight great calamities, malicious, god-like beings, that would destroy the world. To combat them, he prophesied that the Clans would birth Chosen ones in the time the Calamities would awaken. These Chosen would be the key to destroying the Calamities, as they are born with incredible power and talent. Their birth would also act as a signal for the Guardians to prepare to fight them, as they are meant to be born as the Calamities are beginning to wake up.
"Sigils are born naturally over time, and have several different causes for their birth. However, natural born Sigils are uncommon, and in recent times there has been a drastic increase in sightings and incidents involving them, as I'm sure you're aware. It is common belief that these more common Sigils are somehow created by the Calamities, and due to their nature, and the nature of the Calamities, many believe the Calamities are, in fact, Sigils that have been allowed to nurture their power and strength for an incredible amount of time.
"So, with the rise of sightings, and this being all but confirmed, there is great reason to believe the Calamities are going to start waking up soon. Thankfully, we know where three of them are, and we have a few active leads on the other five. One is in the woods near Tsumi'din, where you fought your first Sigil, another is near the Southeastern coast of the Human Realm, and the other is in a cave deep under Lake Fyrun. Which is why it's a pressing issue in this area, as the Sigils that are created by it appear near this city, and cause trouble for its residents." He finally finished his rather lengthy explanation, stating that's the extent of his knowledge on the matter.
The prospect of a Chosen One excited me, and I couldn't help but wonder if I could be the Tsumi Clan's Chosen. It would mean a fate of excitement and adventure, and I'm sure great danger as well. It sounded enticing to me, and I even found myself hoping it would end up being me.
Eventually, talk about the Sigils and related issues died down, and they finally narrowed down the list of topics to talk about from this city. Afterward, the groups split up once again, and we got ready to turn in for the night. The next day would see us doing a whole lot of walking. Again.