Chapter 3: City of the Falls (Part 2/7)

Warmth and light pulsed at the point of contact. As my hand remained there for a second longer, the stone tablet appeared to swell with repressed energy. That energy soon took the form of small motes of light that were instantly pushed away from the stone and drawn into my body through the point of contact. Oohs and awes could be heard in the crowd as the surrounding citizens witnessed the sight. As this was going on, the pillar itself was glowing with a unique color that I couldn't define as it was ever changing. Violent flashes of purple, red, white, and everything in between it seemed. It lasted only a short moment and was not uncomfortable in any way. My mind however felt a shift suddenly, and in that moment, all the background voices that I had been hearing began to make sense. "Fire chickens for cheap! 18 coppers each! . . . ." "Come and see the finest blades in the city at. . ." "Hey you! Yeah you, return that necklace or I'll call the guard on you. . ." It was chaotic and yet very flavorful and realistic, with all the various interactions going on. I loved it! This was much more creative and realistic as compared to the generic background noise you might expect in a regular VR game marketplace. "Elder Sir! Is this young man a Traveler?" That last call appeared to be from the group that had stopped to observe our actions. My guide turned to address them. "It appears from the Seer stone that a Traveler has finally come to our city. I would appreciate it if you gave the City Counsel and me time to arrange for a meeting, to discuss this event prior to making too many plans." He paused to see that the crowd had grown much larger. "At this current time, I have nothing further to say except that we will strive to keep things as normal as they currently are. We will announce our plans as events progress." With that, the crowd began to slowly disperse. Turning to me, my guide spoke "Well now. It's nice to finally see a Traveler of our own come to this city. Can you understand me now?" The language that he and the others spoke was like a second language learned to full proficiency. Despite the fact that I had never learned anything past English other than 2 years of Spanish, it just made sense in my mind. "Yes! Finally." I replied with a laugh in his language. "Good, as I was saying before, my name is Monroe, what is yours?" He enquired. I hadn't thought of what I would like to be called here and after a brief consideration, decided it wasn't worth the trouble of changing my first name. However, I wanted to indulge a little in my personal fantasy of magic. As my ability in reality on rare occasion could feel almost like I was in the midst of a storm of sensations, I felt that would be well suited to be a last name. And so, I replied "My name is Andrew, Andrew Storm." Again, he bowed "It is a pleasure to meet you, Andrew Storm." I returned the gesture. "And a pleasure to meet you as well Monroe." Monroe took a couple of steps back and turned away from me as a man on a horse came rushing over. He looked to be a courier of sorts as he dismounted and rushed over to us. Bowing first to Monroe he spoke up. "Elder Sir! The remaining counsel has requested that you meet them at the city hall for consultation and a welcome to the city." He stated that last part as he turned towards me. "Very well, I was just on my way to meet them." Monroe responded, then turned to me. "If you would accompany me, since you are the first of the Travelers to arrive at our city, I'm sure that they will have many questions for you." The suddenness of it all surprised me but I agreed to meet them. With my affirmative response, Monroe hailed a carriage driver from the marketplace, and we boarded it towards what I assumed to be the City Hall. Setting off to depart, many of the city people that had witnessed the glowing 'Seer stone' were taking long glances at me as if to measure my value and intent. It felt a little disconcerting to me with all this attention. As we rode the carriage, Monroe spoke about the parts of the city which we were passing through. Following the Marketplace, we passed by several guilds of sorts. The tailors guild, farmers guild, tinkers guild, and many more along with a few taverns. Between the taverns was a larger structure that I could see several well-armed patrons hanging outside of. "That is our Adventurers guild" he said with resignation. "You might want to be careful with how you associate with them for now, as they can be a bit rough on newcomers and on those, they consider weak." He didn't sound as if he himself was afraid of them. He appeared more so just weary of their antics and wanting to provide advice to me who was new to the city, and would be considered as both weak and a newcomer. Finally, as we reached the end of those guilds, we came across a massive ornate structure that had bold colored stones which artistically made-up spires of multiple colors. "That," Monroe explained, "is the mages guild." With a shake of his head, he continued to explain. "A bit ostentatious, quite often eccentric, and very prideful, but there are some good people there." Finally, we arrived at what I assumed to be our destination. White stone blocks formed the rectangular and large structure in front of me. It was about the same size as the mages guild but it gave up on colorful gusto in favor of sheer magnitude and structural stability in my eyes. Out front of it was a beautiful fountain with several statues that spouted water and a reflecting pool that reached about mid-thigh. Looking closer I noticed glowing patterns that filled certain parts of the pool where the water was shooting up into the sky. "Ah yes." Monroe exclaimed. "A gift over a century ago from the mages guild to the city. It is a magic formation that keeps the water clean, never lets it freeze in deep winter, and always keeps it full. A tactfully beautiful and practical piece if I might add." Stopping the carriage in front of the white structure, Monroe dismounted first. "This here is our city hall." Dismounting as well, I followed in his footsteps into the structure. Not a single one of what I assumed to be the many guards, due to their uniform clothing and spears, which we passed, attempted to bar our way. Making our way down a hallway past several rooms, we ended up coming to a large chamber that I caught a glimpse of at least a dozen other individuals seated in. Before I stepped into that chamber, Monroe pulled me aside. "I'll have to leave you here in the hall for just a moment as I give my report to them, and then we will invite you in." With that he motioned for me to sit down on the chairs in the hallway and he closed the door to the chamber behind him. As I waited in the well-lit hallway, my gaze wandered across the glossy panels that framed the walls. Ornate woodwork of several different shades displayed carved images of varying creatures and plant life. One such scene caught my eyes with its vivid detail. A horned rabbit was seen fleeing a pursuing fox, both of which were frozen in mid stride but seeming so life-like as if they could burst out of their restraining panel at any moment. Drawing away my gaze, I closed my eyes to the distracting yet beautiful woodwork as I contemplated my upcoming meeting with the counsel. A quirk of mine that others have found at times annoying is that whenever possible, I strive to plan various contingencies for upcoming activities that I feel will have a decent impact on my life. I seek to pre-plan a few of the most likely actions that I should take to bring about the most optimal outcomes. I do this for anything ranging from planning for a 2-day camp-out, to preparing for an upcoming date, or even just buying a new couch. Because you never know what might happen on that couch during a date. A smile came to my lips as I briefly entertained that thought. It offers a lot of day-dreaming opportunities. Shaking my head to readjust my thoughts, I focused on what was at hand and likely to be faced soon. I suspected it might have a big impact on how things might turn out at the early stages of my time and experience here. I wanted this adventure to be productive in regards to my choice of real-life occupation. If I could become an apothecary or potioneer, then if the realism factor could be counted on, such could be quite the boon to my educational pursuits. If I couldn't choose either of those early on, then I could likely start with collection quests of various herbs nearby and progress from there. A part of me thought back on seeing the majestic exteriors of the mages guild and city hall. My hands twitched in anticipation at the thought of being able to create or be a part of the creation of such structures. That could be a good if not as productive in regard as a back-up plan for my intentions of this place. There was no time keeping piece that I could see, but I felt I had been sitting for at least 20 minutes or so while lost in thought. Were this real life, I would often have something with me to keep myself distracted like reading a fantasy novel or scrolling on LifeBook. But here, all I had was my mind and silence. While waiting, I decided to try and plan for what they might ask. Surely, they would be curious about the world I came from, and from what I could recall, there was nothing said about not talking about technology and medicine to them. Figuring that, I assumed we as travelers could be as open as possible with what we knew. I also felt that I should make it clear that I came here specifically to pursue studies in becoming an apothecary. The realism level of this place kept making me feel that my intent was the right one. Also, knowing who made it, made me feel that there was likely some if not complete crossover, outside of magic, where much of what I learned here could be applied to real life. If that was the case, then I could finally begin effective work on learning the methods of ancient apothecaries, so as to learn how to identify and process the mutated plants. My sister's condition still had no cure up to now, despite the technological, biological, and medical advances of the corporate Giant called Millennial Enterprises, who was bankrolling my current adventure through virtual reality. It was looking like my attempt here at self-redemption and furthering my education, may actually be what is required to create or find the cure for her. Finally, another individual came to open the door and interrupted my thoughts. After seeing all the different appearances in the marketplace earlier, I felt I had been desensitized well to surprises regarding facial features, but his was the most lion-like that I had seen before. He had a long orange mane streaked with orange and red. Even his hands had a fiery orange mane going to the fingers, tipped with ivory claws. "The Counsel has invited you in." He spoke simply with an undertone of a growl, and then waited for me to enter the room. Stepping into the large meeting chamber, I saw a group of 13 men and women sitting in ornate chairs in a kind of semi-circle, with one chair sitting in front of them. Monroe nodded to me from his place among those in who sat. I assumed this group to be the City Counsel.