Rumbles could be felt beneath their feet. The carriage lightly shook and swayed, and the neighs of horses could faintly be heard not far away.
"Is it uncomfortable?" Arlitos worriedly asked. He was sitting on a long bench in the front of the carriage, closest to where the coachman and horses were.
The rest of the carriage had been modified to be an open area, which was obviously for the sake of Ria and Fallios.
The carriage was built so there was an incline in the back of the carriage, obviously made so if the horses ever came to a stop, the people sitting in the front, who were facing the back of the carriage wouldn't slide and fall.
There was padding all around the walking area of the carriage, obviously for when they needed to go to the bathroom, which they both adamantly refused to do inside the carriage.
Fallios hopped onto the bench with Arlitos. He spun around to get himself comfortable for a few moments before settling down. Ria also approached the bench, but immediately found herself in a dilemma.
Turtles couldn't jump.
Ria glared at the bench. [I can't go up there] She angrily said. Fallios realized and looked over the edge of the bench.
[Pfft] Fallios mentally burst into laughter, looking at Ria with pure joy and amusement in his golden eyes.
Ria gave him a death glare. Fallios had to spent an entire minute to compose himself, his laughter filling Ria's mind.
[Right, I'll help you] He said and retracted his head. He stepped onto Arlitos's lap and looked up at him. He kept glancing from Arlitos to Ria, trying his best to play charades with him.
"What do you need?" Arlitos asked, taking advantage of the fact that a dragon was on his lap and pet Fallios's silver scales. He watched as Fallios kept looking back and forth between him and Ria before getting it.
"Oh." He finally realized and bent down to pick up Ria, placing her on the bench since she was too big to fit in his lap.
She instantly started getting herself comfortable and looked out the window.
Green. There was green everywhere. The air was clean, the grass was green, it was a better world than her last.
They were riding through a forest right now. It was as if she was taking a carriage ride through paradise.
But..
[Will anything be familiar to us anymore?] Ria sadly asked. Sure, it was boring and repetitive in her last life, but she had been there for twenty-two years. It was the only home she had. It was the only home she thought she would ever have.
Fallios followed her gaze. He let out a deep, long breath. [Just consider it that we moved away from home and are exploring the world for the first time] Except that they could never get home, or at least, not until everyone they knew had long been buried in the ground.
Fallios rested his body across Arlitos's legs, nudging Ria's side. [We were fated to meet each other. In this vast and boundless world, two of perhaps the only reincarnates in this world met] He said.
Ria snorted loudly. Not because she didn't agree, but she couldn't agree more.
If it wasn't fate, what else could it be?
-
"We'll be stopping here for today." Arlitos said, pulling out a few planks of wood from under the bench and opened them up.
There were actually hinges attached to them. He clicked the planks of wood into place until it formed.. a huge box.
Ria and Fallios looked suspiciously at him. They had an inkling of what they were about to do..
..a man wearing a black hood carried a large box into an inn. The contents made loud clattering noises as the man whispered softly at the box.
"I'm sorry, I am so sorry." Arlitos whispered, cringing hard every time one of them- namely Fallios, hit the side of the box. In the forming of his grand plan to make a huge collapsable box to fit two large reptiles, he forgot to add padding inside.
What's worse, both of them grew so large in only two months, so it was very cramped and uncomfortable, especially for Fallios.
Arlitos cringed with every step he took as he painstakingly walked up the flight of stairs. Each step made the contents in the box violently shake and hit the sides of the box, creating agonizing bumping and scratching sounds.
Ria held onto the bottom of the box with her claws for dear life. Fallios was unlucky though, he was both tall and long, making it so inertia effected him much more than it did Ria.
Ria couldn't even laugh as she watched Fallios bounce around the walls of the box. This wasn't a game anymore, this was survival.
Finally managing to place down the box to open their inn room, Arlitos bent down to pick up the box again, just in time for the door to start slowly closing on its own. Fed up, Arlitos kicked the door open and walked inside.
He let out a long and relieved sigh as he gently set the box down on the floor, wiping the sweat on his face of with his sleeve.
"Hah. This is going to be an extremely fun tale to tell to my grandchildren." Arlitos said as he locked the door and opened the box, sheepishly looking face-to-face with two very annoyed reptiles.
Fallios kicked hard on the box, causing the hinges to unbuckle and making the box directly collapse into a pile of wood again. He scratched his neck with his back leg, making the collar around his neck sway.
[Ugh, when can this damn thing be taken off] Fallios cursed as he shook his body like a wet dog.
Ria snorted and directly extended her neck, which was free of any collar. [Good thing I don't have that problem] She said with a smug tone.
Fallios responded by blowing a cloud of smoke in her face, which made Ria cough and shrink back into her shell. [Ok ok, I got it] She complained.
After they finished speaking, they both turned to look at the main issue. Arlitos smiled nervously and put his hands in front of his chest. "I'm sorry.." He fearfully whispered and slowly backed away.
Fallios slowly creeped up on Arlitos like he was stalking his prey. Ria took her time, slowly walking forward as she knew she couldn't be fast with the anatomy of a tortoise.
Fallios's muscle tensed up as he got ready to pounce. Arlitos's eyes widened in fear. "No. No, please." His life flashed before his eyes.
Fallios ignored his pleas for mercy and pounced, knocking Arlitos to the ground and breathed a puff of smoke into his face.
Arlitos choked. Ria finally approached and sprayed a jet of icy cold water directly up Arlitos's pants-leg.
It was said that his screams reverberated throughout the entire block that night..