Sickness

Sickness

Chapter: 18

After they relaxed waited for the food to be digested, the trio then back to the place where the elevator leaves could be found. Sniffy could not help but ask Kyle when she went saw the leaf without any safety precautions:" How can this be considered safe? Was there never a case where someone was falling down? "

Sniffy said this while she looked at the leaves that just floated there in front of them.

Kyle could only laugh a this and said:" Yes, you are right. It was quite the dangerous way to move up and down like this. At least some time ago, but because someone almost died after falling down since he was too drunk to see where he was going. There were some changes but in place.

The fall almost killed him, but he was lucky enough to land on the rooftop of a tent house and came out alive of this fall, he had some bullshit luck.

After that incident, there were then some wards placed around this restaurant and these wards prevented everyone from falling to their deaths. Do you two want to do something crazy?"

Kyle explained to them about this and asked them with a look full of mischief on his face.

Richard and Sniffy were intrigued and wanted to see where this was going. Kyle led them in front of the space for incoming leaves "parked" themselves. Richard could vaguely guess what Kyle would do but was also thrilled at the thought of this.

Standing there while looking down onto the beautiful city, Kyle just said: "Ready?" and without waiting for an answer took a hand from each of them and jumped down. Not knowing what just happened Sniffy was completely out of it for a few seconds and then began to scream loudly.

She turned her head to see Richard and Kyle but found Kyle completely relaxed and Richard was just somewhat fighting with his emotions. Richard was exhilarated at this feeling of falling from the sky and into the depths. He knew that he should trust Kyle in this, since he was falling down with them. But he could not shake off a feeling of fear.

Sniffy saw that both her friends did not seem too shocked and stopped her screaming. A little part of it was also due to remembering that she could just stop her fall with magic if she needed.

Seeing the floor coming closer and closer, both of them tensed up and waited for the moment when they would drop onto it. Both of them were ready to cast some spell in moment's notice but never needed it. A couple of meters of the ground, they both felt some magic rush out to catch them. The next thing they knew was that they slowed down to a snarl and landed without troubles onto the ground.

Kyle smiled at them and said in a happy and sincere tone: "It was quite the awesome feeling, right? I do this every now and then, I hope you two liked it and sorry for springing this up on you so suddenly."

Sniffy was angry for a few moments at Kyles behavior, but heard his apology and remembered the not so bad feeling of falling and forgave him after she hit him on his arm and spoke. "Ge….., I forgive you this once but do that never again if you don´t tell me beforehand. Hmpf."

Feeling absolutely no pain from this jab he shook his head and apologized again.

Having no reason to be mad because he anticipated the jump, Richard thanked Kyle for this, and could not wait to do that a second time. Such things were impossible in his last world and he loved every second of it.

He could only think back to the moment Kyle said that this ward was not there forever and thanked the drunken guy that fell of there for this. Also, the ward-builder should have been a crazy guy, because he let people fall down without interruptions till the end. If someone did not know this fact, then they could possibly think that they fell to their deaths till the last moment when it activated.

But after a bit of thinking things through. He came to the conclusion that this vampire/wizard must be much older than so many others and he or she would do everything for some good laughs and giggles. Richard asked Kyle about this and it was truly like this. It was quite amusing to see people scream their ears of while falling down. There even was a bet going on each month of how many people would fall down while screaming. It was some unsaid rule not to inform people about this. All was for the enjoyment of the community.

Kyle pointed at a sign besides the tree on which was seen a number. "6" to be exact. He then said: "This here counts the people who fell down the first time while screaming and feeling fear. I have no idea how that works but you truly need to feel both. When we went up earlier it only showed 5. That would mean it counted you Sniffy and ignored Richard."

After explaining that sign they then went on. Kyle led them towards the south part of the city and they walked for a bit more than half an hour to a nice-looking hotel.

On the way there, they saw many more strange buildings and people wearing clothes from every kind of century and from all over the world.

Richard could swear that he saw a person pass by and when said person walked right next to Richard and was about to get out of his view, this person was suddenly becoming see through. Realizing this, Richard turned his head immediately but the person was just walking away with his normal looking body.

'Wuuut….I am not thinking that I am crazy or going crazy anytime soon, what means this right now really happened and I bet it could be explained somehow, but seeing that nobody else has noticed this then I should just keep that in my mind and look for it in the library.

I know that if I ask Kyle about this, he would surely not know anything about this and then start asking other people about it. If that happens then there are too many possibilities that something could happen and therefore, I cannot tell this to anyone for the time being. At least not for now. Maybe when I am stronger, though.'

After they came to a standstill in front of a normal looking hotel, Richard got out of his thoughts.

Kyle stood in front of them and introduced this place to them, while pointing both his hands at the building.

"This, my friends here is one of the best places to stay in. It is a bit one the pricier side than other places though, but you cannot not experience this.

It has everything, the rooms are more like houses, the bathrooms include one hot spring which is powered with magic and relaxing in it, is calming and soothing for your whole existence.

I love to soak inside it after a long day and just to relax there. I just took it a bit too far by staying here that my dad had me built one of them inside my home. I would take you to stay there but there are some complications and I can only guide you here. This was also like a home for me but now I don´t come here as often.

Anyway, the bed in the bedroom is one of the most comfortable beds I have ever slept in and there are so many runes and spells on it for comfort, that you will fall asleep in a second."

While he said and praised this hotel to the heavens and above, he then walked inside it and got to the receptionist while he was looking around with a reminiscent look on his face. He then spaced out for a bit. Richard saw this and did not want to pester him about it, went up to the receptionist and booked a room for themselves. He wanted to book two separate rooms but Sniffy complained about it long enough for him to give in. He then proceeded to ignore the smile on the face of the receptionist and took their room key.

After seeing that both of them finished, Kyle got back to them and said goodbye to them, at least for the day.

"I hope that you will like it, I wish you a good night and will show you around a few nice places tomorrow."

Saying their goodbyes to and also wishing him a good night he was then starting to get going. After walked a step towards the door, but Richard remembered something and stopped him with a hand that he put on Kyles's shoulder and spoke.

"Just a second, but can you not mention us two to your parents or anyone? We would like to stay a bit more hidden and not become some target of the bigger guys, if you get what I mean. I know that we sure could trust your parents with it, but I will be sleeping a bit better if this stays between us three.

And you can never know if there is someone nearby that hears too much and speaks about it to another one. Just remember that this baldly wizard should have known that you went to visit Rome. It would be too much of a coincidence that he just stumbled up on you there."

Richard talked to Kyle and underlined his words with a heavy tone.

Kyle heard this when this realization hit him and said:" Ohhh of course that will stay between us, my bad that I did not think about that. You two saved me and it would be more than a stupid idea to mark your backs. You are right, if they just needed some vampire to catch, then how great would be their luck to stumble upon a lucky fellow that visits a muggle town. The chances of someone like me appearing there are almost zero. I need to inform my father about this.

Thanks for the advice and see you tomorrow."

With an urgent look in his eyes, Kyle marched out of the hotel lobby and got on his way back to his family. Meanwhile, Richard thought:

' I really hope he does not tell anyone about us.

Hm even if he doesn't do that, chances are that they will find out something about us. If they have a brain and a few people to monitor Kyle or ask around what he did after he came back to the city, they will surely be able to draw some conclusions of who we are.

While they should assume that we only some kind of connection with Kyles's savior, because we are far to young to be his savior.

But that fact alone should be enough, that we two will appear into the eye of the storm and we need to have another escape plan.'

While Richard was lost in thoughts, they reached their room and went inside.

The room was amazing was more than amazing. The ceiling was at least 6-8 meters high and there stood stone and wood pillars all around the room to hold it up.

There was one living room with a couch and a table with some chairs next to it. On the wall stood a few bookshelves, which Richard would look through very soon and on one side of the room was a wall fully made out of glass and no it was not a giant window. You could not see the city from there but it was more like some sort of picture but also not one at all.

It seemed like you looked into another world, because there were dinosaurs running around and a volcano stood in the background with a bit if smoke wafting out of it. It was marvelous. Richard and Sniffy were stunned when they saw this and stood in front of it for quite some time and enjoyed the ongoings in it.

'This really is something new, I only knew of moving pictures but that wizards could go as far as to create this movie like picture, is really unimaginable. It should not be a real world, since it would be silly to create something like this for a hotel. It really is a piece of art.'

Richard thought about that and was excited about what new things he would see in the next few days.

Sniffy and Richard stood in front of the picture and looked at the lives of these dinosaurs for about 10 more minutes. They got back to their senses after that and looked at the rest of the rooms.

The bedroom was like Kyle had said and the bed was heavenly. Its fluffiness trumped everything that Richard could think of and he vowed to himself, that he would only leave this city with such a bed.

The only thing which seemed a bit wrong was the fact that there was only one bed. He remembered the smile of the receptionist and was sure that she had assumed a few things, since Richard was travelling alongside Sniffy.

He did not care about this little detail and that they would sleep in this double king-sized bed together.

Richard knew that they both were only about 9 years old. Even if they both looked like 16-year-old teenagers right now.

He would not be able think about romance for the time being and why would he, he was just 9 years old.

Anyway, in the last room was the bathroom, it was the biggest room inside the hotel room and they could see hot air wafting from the hot springs all over. It was a steamy atmosphere. The hot spring was as big as you would see it outside in real world and seemingly invited them in.

Sniffy and Richard were more than a bit tired after this whole day and they reverted back to their normal looking bodies and then got into the water. There was no shyness between the two, Sniffy had seen him naked ages ago and he grew accustomed to her a long time ago.

The two of them relaxed there for what seemed like an hour and after that they got back out.

After this refreshing bath they did not want to go to bed yet and Sniffy got out some of her fabric and started to knit it into form with her magic. She had seen so much today and was full of inspiration.

Richard on the other hand, found his way to the bookshelves and started to look through them.

He found a few interesting pieces and started with the history of this city.

On the Cover was written: History of the Everlasting City.

Sitting on a comfortable chair, with the book in his hands, he began reading it.

This city was first created by the only vampire clan at that time with the intention to be a home for vampires in the years to come. Before they created this city, there were many times when they almost lost all of their members since wars raged on between the magical beings. Fights against dragons were supposedly common in these days.

They fought about their own believes and resources and also because of greed. A few races died almost out, because of these wars and after a long time with war and countless deaths, came a time of peace. There were not many vampires left alive but those who were still alive began to develop the village on this place and let it grow over time. It grew to a city in no time.

There was one time when it was almost destroyed by a dark wizard which had an army of Dementors. The vampires could only fight him off after they lost countless citizen. The Everlasting city almost found its doom there and then, but after this war, there came a time of peace. To forget these awful times, many vampires found themselves suitable partners all over the world and they gained some really strong wizards in their ranks.

They then created runes and wards for the city and after 20 years. This city was so strongly fortified that the next attack of the dark wizard was not only fought back but they also killed him inside its walls. Only a few dementors could flee and where nowhere to be seen again.

Not much damage was taken in the fight and the dark wizard could only die in regrets of not striking harder the first time. But he also got injured heavily before and could do nothing about this. He needed the last years to recuperate from them and create a bigger army.

After the times of war were gone, this city and its population flourished to greater heights than it has ever done before. More and more people joined and built homes inside it.

The city got a growth spurt, like a growing up body and exploded in a century. After that nobody was sane enough to try and attack it, not because of its defenses no. The capabilities of these were almost forgotten and only the highest of rulers of the city knew that they even existed. It could be read about it in this book but no more details were known and therefore it was forgotten over time.

The reason nobody was trying to attack this city anymore was because of the people it inhabited.

There lived so many souls inside it, that no one was sane enough to anger them all.

Reading this Richard smiled and cringed a bit at the thought of an army attacking this city.

Only someone strong enough to ignore this would be able to attack this city and such being should have no reason for that, therefore it´s considered impenetrable. If there really is someone with a large army that would want to attack this city, then he should be quite ambitious.

If it only said that this city has the best defenses, would they also believe it or write it off as legends?

'I would not want to be the one that will find out, if the defenses of the city are a mere legend or reality.

That makes this plot, which the bald wizard should be part of, much more interesting.

I am really looking forward to see what these guys are planning. Yes, maybe they have some artefact or spell to not let vampires come near them, but if that's all that they have got, then they are in for some surprises. If vampires can not come close to you then why can they not just stay far away and use things to throw at you.

Wizards would not be able to defend against these projectiles and if their artefact can also take care of them then it would be only able to hold on for a short duration. Someone needs to feed such a spell or artefact a lot magic. If they are not able to supply it with the amount it needed to withstand the onslaught of projectiles then good night.

And this are only normal vampires, I don't want to think what stronger ones and even wizard/vampires would be able to do, I will just refer to them as blood wizards, that sounds a lot better than magical vampires.'

Richard shuddered at the thought of that much power inside one being. He also wanted to see how strong these beings could be.

He then thought if people could apparate inside this city and asked Sniffy to try it out.

After seeing her shanking her head, he knew that they wouldn't have an easy way out if they are in trouble.

Meanwhile in another part of the city or more in the middle of it, stood a great building that towered over every other building inside the city.

Inside it was Kyle standing in front of his father, while he looked ashamed at the floor.

He had explained everything that had happened to him and now he got himself an hour where his father told him of the errors, that he made and how he could have gotten out of there without trouble.

The vampire King of the city stood inside this big throne room and was shocked and furious at what had happened to his son. He was now berating his own child for his foolishness and that he was not completely aware of his surroundings at all times.

"I will triple your training hours, that will hopefully help you over your shortcomings. To be almost captured by some wizard and you even had to be rescued. What a disgrace that is. I thought that you were ready for the outside world but it seems like you are not."

His father was ranting down at his son, who could only say meekly in between his scolding:" But it was not my fault, I could have easily escaped but than my sickness grew apparent at the deciding moment, I could not do anything against it."

Said Kyle towards his father which immediately fell silent when he heard this. He answered with a much calmer and more caring voice:" Kyle, I have some lead for a cure, but I need a bit more time. I wanted to tell you if the clue results in something, but this time we may have found a way to cure you.

And you cannot use this as an excuse forever. This time you had lady luck on your side and were saved but what about next time. I can only let you go into the outside world if I know that you can handle yourself.

I don't want to lose you too." Said his father with tears forming in his eyes, while he looked at Kyle.

Kyle heard this and answered back while he also began to cry a bit since his father was investing most of his time into finding a cure for him:" I will never loose hope, there has to be a cure out there and we only need to find it. And even if we need many more years, I will train so much that I will be able to endure it and be sure that it will not cost me my life like it did my mothers."

Kyle vowed to himself and they then stood there and thought about the death of their loved one.