"It never ceases to amaze me: we all love ourselves more than other people, but care more about their opinion than our own."
― Marcus Aurelius, Meditations
Bang, bang, BANG! Ven looked up from the desk in his room. The sturdy wooden door twitched in its frame, and three more blows fell upon it. BANG, BANG, BANG! This time each was louder than the last, and Ven stood.
"Ok, Ok!" He shouted, one eye narrowed in annoyance. "Give me a second!" So far, the staff at this posh inn had all been wonderful, so Ven assumed this was someone else. "Who the hell is it?" He dragged open the door, only to find himself nose to nose with a foppish dragon-kin.
"Greetings Master Soth!" The slim fellow said as he gave Ven a sloppy bow. "I am a messenger from the royal palace, here to deliver an invitation to you from the King!"
The man had a lazy, almost distracted appearance. His long blond hair swept past his shoulders, which were only partially covered by the garish silken blouse on his chest. Its puffy cuffs, combined with the man's extremely tight pants and enormous fuzzy boots, caused Ven to stare in horror.
"It's proper to be speechless!" The messenger crowed as he mistook Ven's silence for awe. "The King intends to hold a mighty feast three days from now, to honor those who saved his children from the hands of the Ori." The man preened his hair, the invitation in his grasp pressed under Ven's confused nose. "All guests are required to wear proper attire, and you are permitted a single guest."
Ven ignored the smirking fellow and grabbed the envelope from his hand.
"Hey! How d..."
Ven slammed his door, a satisfying crunch, followed by a wail of sorrow, all that remained of the man in his thoughts. It's about time... These royals promised him and the others a reward, but it had been days. In the beginning, he'd assumed they were being tactful. He understood the delay while Kalina and Ooulin's funeral took place, but a week had passed.
I've been held up in here long enough, another party will do me good.
He wanted to check in with Mara and the others anyways. The last few days he'd been focused on reading up on the history of this world, such as it was.
None of these books have real information on the barrier...
Most claimed that it always existed, but Kalina had said otherwise. Everything he could find here was written from a mortal perspective.
Here's to hoping those Nobles have better materials than the booksellers.
While expensive, the books he'd found were more useful as distractions than anything else. All he'd learned was some local history, which was still useful enough. Dragons ruled this continent, their will laid down by the royal family of the beastfolk kingdom.
At least they're friendly dragons and not mindless monsters.
The noticeably biased books painted them as protectors and heroes, so the lizards were at least as personable as your average being. Probably.
Being honest with myself, I just want to see a dragon. The creatures had consumed the fantasy genre of his first life and for good reason. I want to see how I measure up to the supposed Kings of Beasts. From a practical standpoint, his new body was just as impressive as a dragon's. If he matched up well against the dragons in his tier, Ven could rest a bit easy.
Restless, Ven opened his door once more. He stepped over the tearful man and closed his room securely behind him. I'll go find Mara, I need someone to help me choose an outfit. He still wore the spoils of his battle with the slavers, and the tattered garments had begun to fall apart. He had no sense of style and preferred practical clothes, but the invitation indicated a dress code.
Who knows what's considered formal wear in this place...
If the Nobles were any indicator, Ven needed to take a pile of gold and then throw it at the problem. Their oversized jewels and gold-trimmed collars made him blanch. Peacocks, wealth displayed with the size and quality of their tail feathers… all show and no substance.
Ven hoped for a quieter outfit of his own, but he'd follow his friends' recommendations, to a point. I refuse to wear a puffy shirt. Those ballooned garments were in fashion here, and they gave him a headache. A bunch of grown men dressed as party decorations. He itched to run around and pop them like a child with a pin.
The image of their depressed faces, as the clothing lost buoyancy, brightened his already sunny mood. I wonder if those three guards will be at the party... He missed his living training tools, they had sharpened his control, the trio had become a part of his routine.
Ven waved to the innkeeper and strode through the building's front door into a busy street. The crowd pressed back from his approach. He'd fallen into the habit of letting his aura show, it saved him hours of jostling and caused most to treat him respectfully.
He took large strides as he made a beeline for Aangor's broken-down guild hall. The beauty of the city carved from marble had lost its appeal days ago. Everything was the same here. An unbroken line of perfectly sculpted stones, all spotless and well-maintained. Even in the poorest districts every home and building was crafted from the same white stone.
This place is too clean... It came off as artificial to his eye, a farce that hid nature behind its own bones. A city filled with life, yet also sterile and soulless.
"Hey now, this place has plenty of soul!"
Ven jumped five feet in the air, a backflip that scattered the people around him. He turned to face the voice and found Rafe the halfling, a grin plastered on his unmemorable face.
"How is it that you guys keep reading my mind?" Ven asked the sneak, his pulse still pressed to the back of his throat.
"It's easy with someone like you," Rafe waved a small, fair-skinned hand. "You can't control your energy, so it leaks out everywhere like a bulletin board." He pointed around Ven, his eyes on something Ven couldn't perceive. "It's like a loudspeaker that screams out: This guy is a miserable old cuss."
"Very funny," Ven frowned. Yet another thing he needed to learn and master. This world was full of surprises. "What are you doing here?"
"I've been watching you since the funeral, you're very boring," Rafe yawned shamelessly. "Reading books day and night, you don't even sleep!" The halfling raised his hands, palms up, and shrugged. "I was interested in the one who cost us our Master's life, and the lives of over half of everything in the ocean."
"Half of the ocean?" Ven raised his eyebrows at Rafe. "That's a bit dramatic, but I'll admit to being the cause of Kalina's death." He stepped forward and continued on his way as the small man fell into step beside him.
"Oh, no!' Rafe's finger danced under his nose, a silver flash that surpassed his vision. "I mean literally, Kalina swallowed most of them up to hold that bastard down."
He danced around Ven as they walked, and a headache brewed behind his eyes. Yet one more thing that my presence has messed up on this planet. This system of his was a monkey's-paw, and he made a decision.
I will never wish on that thing again.