Helped by the guards Das makes his way through the streets. The sound of feet on the stone and some musical instruments can be heard in all directions, strings that sound raspy and lively and clapping like the sound of two empty bowls hitting each other that keep a high speed, so much so that Das can't tell if his heart is racing by the songs rhythm or the countless stares of people around him.
Soon he realizes that the music comes from within the second floors of many buildings, their insides hidden from the outside world by the hanging curtains of thin silk that only allow the silhouettes of both feminine and masculine shadows to be shown dancing seductively.
Then, a particular stench irritates Das's nose, he places a hand on both mouth and nose in an attempt to cover the weak yet dislikeable smell.
"Problem with the Iaahish', Das?" Drachen asks teasingly from the safety of her nest.
"By what I can see, I doubt we are in a herbalist-dominated area. I suppose they smoke it?" He says knowingly as his eyes dart from building to building.
"Smoke, drink in tea, chew. Really just about any way they can ingest it raw, the leaves of that plant have a wonderful sedative capacity, especially mixed with a little bit of mana dust hehe, with that stuff anyone can feel like a fairy!" Drachen pulls Das's hair excitedly.
"I take it you speak from experience" He said slapping his forehead gently.
"You are only seven thousand years old once after all, it would surprise you how boring immortality gets" Drachen said poking Das's ear.
Once he had grown tired of inspecting the houses, or rather, more interested in the inhabitants of the city themselves, Das focused his attention on the market stalls and people going about their day.
It was only then that he realized that every single man selling goods wear a metal collar with yellow runes glowing softly around their necks. Puzzled, he inspects more carefully the citizens.
All Braunners dress with extravagant wealth but none of them work in the shops or clean the streets. Instead, all of them are humans with ragged clothes and collars, while there are some Wildesvolk being ridden by particularly wealthy Braunners.
It shocks Das to see the proud and powerful enemies of mankind since time immemorial being treated like little more than pack beasts or common horses.
The Wildesvolk are imposing ten feet tall horse-people. Their upper humanoid and lower horse-like half muscular, some clearly carrying scars from the battles that probably lead to their current position.
And while Das associates them with humans, in truth they remind him more of the Braunners around him. Similar facial features except for furry long ears and black eyes with golden irises, their eyebrows thick, heads shaved all the way except for the very top, here what's left of their blonde, almost white hair is tied on a short knot. The sides of their heads are marked with black war tattoos.
They carry large packs and baskets with the goods their masters purchase while others carry their owners on their backs. Their eyes sunken and darkened, compared to usual females, the women of the Wildesvolk have their breasts where horses do, so their chests, while retaining a feminine shape, serves no other purpose than to attract males.
Das shakes his head, feeling uncomfortable by how his thoughts were categorizing and analyzing them with the same morbid curiosity and distancing you would use with a strange, wild beast.
"While we are at it, what do you know of the Braunners, Drachen?" He asks with genuine curiosity at his fairy companion.
"You didn't read anything on them the night before?" She asks, flying out of his hood and resting her hands on her hips while leaning forward an almost accusatory tone in her voice.
"I'll admit, I was a little nervous about coming here, and with everything that happened that day...I just forgot" He scratches the back of his neck.
"Hmph! Lucky you, I'm the eldest being on this side of the world!" She leans back and puffs out her chest in pride.
"Lucky me~"Das says halfheartedly while rolling his eyes" What can you tell me about them?"
"Not much actually" She says without an ounce of shame as she knocks her head with her right hand. The stone-cold expression and blank stare of Das make her blush in an uncharacteristic shame she rarely ever shows "Is not my fault! Dumbass Braunners keep having civil wars every few centuries if not every couple of decades! And have you seen this place?! It's all full of sand and the sun burns my delicate fairy mana skin" She yells angrily and gives her back to him.
"I thought you had been here many times before"
"I did! back when the Braunners and their much cooler Baumnners cousins still lived together in here, the last time I visited was like...two thousand years ago and they were, unsurprisingly, in the middle of a civil war!" She speaks loudly, her arms going all over the place as she points at the guards near them who turn to face her and some even seem intimidated by the display, moving a little bit further from the two "Hegallarash Igh' Nomais Gallore!" She shouts returning to Das's hood.
"Hey! don't speak in Fae out of the blue!" He says while turning his head slightly to her, but all he gets is Drachen's stuck-out tongue before she disappears in his hair.
The rest of the walk is silent for the most part, ignoring all the noise coming from the houses and the people in the streets of course. Das loses himself in the orthography of the banners hanging from the stalls. The strange language that is spoken by the Braunners and the exotic mushrooms and meats dominate what appears to be the food market.
However, in time, he finally leaves the heavily occupied streets and finds himself in front of the giant river that cuts through the capital.
Sitting on the middle of an empty platform lays the enormous tower. The river originating from the sea far away from there on the coast and stretches as far as the northeast of the grasslands. The largest river in Gerados, Lebenker as the humans call it.
Large square boats of stone move from one extreme of the river to the other a safe distance away from the platform. There is a mast on each side followed by an extra pair of smaller sizes, the leathery material that makes their mainsail and jib black with glowing light blue runes, they seem to move thanks to the runes in contact with the water of the river.
But there are also smaller stone boats carrying a few passengers, as well as more traditional wooden boats, but by the luxurious appearance of both drivers and single or couple passengers, it is clear it's more touristic than practical.
The guards take Das to two large pillars with runes on them at the edge of the street that separates the river from the tower, but there is no bridge in sight.
There is a pair of other guards sitting on elaborate chairs, large purple umbrellas give them shade from the sun since there are no buildings nearby to tie the cloth from the streets. They speak to each other and once they inform the situation the two sitting guards take off their gauntlets and place the palm of their hands on the stone pillars.
The runes shine and glow in a soft brown, then from the edge of the street, in between the pillars, a long energy bridge grows and hits the edge of the platform where the tower lays. The sitting guards then motion with their heads for the group to advance and the guards around Das urge him to move forward on his own.
"What? but where do I go or how do I tell them that I want to see the great Wisti?" Das stumbles on his words as the guards push him on the bridge.
One of the guards approaches the archmage and speaks to him like if he was capable of understanding a single word. Once he seems done with the instructions, he gently taps on his shoulder before slapping his ass and returning to the edge of the rune bridge as everyone laughs.
The archmage looks at them clearly upset but lets it go and focuses on walking the strange bridge, each step he takes gets marked on it like if he was stepping on mud. Only to vanish soon after lifting his feet.
His caution turns into curiosity the more he analyzes it.
It looks like the bridge has veins that run energy through them and feed the rune. He wonders what type of battery do they use, recalling that usually, runes feed off whatever emotion the owner of it imbues it with. Hence the multiple colors.
But also knows that another method is the storing of electricity and direct mana usage to sustain them.
He turns around once he reaches half of the bridge and takes a good look at the pillars. By the shape and size, he supposes that whatever feeds the runes must be stored within.
After some more brief walking, he reaches the end of the bridge and as soon as both feet touch the ground the runes seem to turn off, erasing the bridge from existence.
Das takes a deep breath, enjoying the lack of burning herbs. The platform is decorated with intricate designs on the stone, beautiful blue and golden slabs are placed all around the floor, with writings on them as colorful as the houses he has been seeing.
From where he stands there is another pair of pillars like the ones at the head of the bridge. The pillars stretch all around the platform every ten meters or so. The place is big enough to fit several blocks of the city in it.
Then as Das walks the clear path towards the main entrance of the tower he sees an out place ship on a nearby corner of the platform that he didn't notice before.
His eyes widen in surprise and he takes a moment to enjoy the rare sight of Kleinner machinery.
The ship has intricate iron tubes and gears along its oval-shaped hull. Similar to a regular wooden ship but its two masts have nothing on them, instead they support a large, bent, and flat ballon with chains and rope that connect it to the hull as well. If it were in the air, the ballon would be twice the size of the ship.
There is no bridge or guards in sight, but he supposes that they must be inside the ship. Kleinners have always been zealously opposed to their technology being used by other races.
"Drachen, look, the Kleinners are here" Das announces as he moves his shoulder to alert the fairy, who pops out her head and hisses at the sight of the ship.
"Those tiny, ugly, out of place bastards weaken the mana veins of the world with their machinery and polluting aways...they are no friends of faires" She spits, but due to her size it just reaches Das's boots and he immediately cleans it with the end of his cloak "And the hate is mutual, so I won't be appearing anywhere near those dwarfs" She shouts returning to her nest.
"Alright" Das simply accepts the situation with an amused smile and goes forward.