Chapter 4: Valorwood

"John, you awake back there? We're about to leave the Everdale, there is a spot up here on the left that the villagers call the window. It's a wonderful view of Sutoka."

"What is Sutoka?"

"Ha, Ha funny joke," Rayne said sarcastically. "Seriously though, I know we have seen Sutoka our whole lives but the window makes it different."

John's lips quirked in confusion.

I don't know what she is talking about, but if I press too hard I will either seem like an idiot or she will question where I'm from. I still know nothing about this world so I'll try to avoid that question until I can find a map. Hopefully, these people from a small village won't be too familiar with the random town that I select for my back story.

He chuckled to himself and passed the chuckle into his next comment. "You're right I was just pulling your leg, I'm excited to see this window."

"Pulling my leg?" Rayne asked.

"It's an expression my grandfather used, it means I was messing with you or making a joke at your expense."

I'll have to be careful with even simple expressions. He thought as he turned his head to look at Rayne. She walked on steadily holding the push bar of the cart. Her blonde ponytail fell midway down her back and the soft leather vest she wore covered a dark green long-sleeved shirt. The shirt seemed to be made of the same material as his clothes just of much higher quality. John realized he was staring and looked up, the trees were growing less dense ahead of them and he could just make out where the forest seemed to end in the far distance. A large grey mountain hung over the treetops in the distance, taking a mental note of it's strange shape he sat back and asked.

"Why were you out in the woods this morning? It seems like a dangerous place for a girl to be wandering around alone and so far from her village. N-not that you cant take care of yourself." He added quickly, face turning red.

"Well if you must know I was out looking for Gloom Veil and Eden Root for my uncle. As to me being alone, I am level twenty-nine in my combat class not that it's any of your business."

John could hear the pride in her voice as she talked about her class. He smiled at her enthusiasm, but couldn't think of a response to what she said. He grunted in affirmation and hoped she would either drop the topic or move to something else. His wish came true as Rayne stopped the cart and said, "Look to your left."

John turned his head and his jaw promptly fell open. Through a perfectly symmetrical gap in the trees stood a golden field of wheat and on the horizon half of a great green and blue planet could be seen. Towering yellow rings orbited the planet and mountain ranges could be seen along the surface. "It's beautiful," John said, awestruck.

"Yep, this is the time of year when Sutoka comes closest. It's amazing how detailed the surface is. Anyway. We are close to Valorwood, and I'm going to pick up the pace. If I'm coming back early I might as well not miss lunch." Rayne took up the push bar of the cart and began to run. "After lunch Uncle will look at your leg. Don't worry he is the best healer in the Village."

The rickety cart bounced over tree roots and clattered across potholes as Rayne pushed the cart. John held the side rails of the cart with a white knuckle grip. Trees whipped past the duo and he guessed they were traveling at close to thirty miles an hour. The trees whipping by suddenly stopped altogether and John looked forward. Once again his jaw hung open, what he had assumed to be a mountain was actually a space cruiser. The Titanic ship was buried into the earth at an angle and in enormous black lettering the name of the ship could be read. "Dawnbringer" John was suddenly struck by a thought.

Why am I being hauled around in this piece of junk if ships like that exist?

John decided to play the fool and asked with mock enthusiasm. "What is that?"

"That is Valorwood, our village is built inside of it. Pretty cool right?" Rayne sounded excited.

"No, I mean what is the thing your town is built in?" John asked trying to sound out what level of knowledge this world had surrounding space travel.

"Oh, it's a Zudrian relic. No one knows what it was used for but it's almost certainly from the war of extinction."

"Uh, huh," John mumbled. "So, I grew up in a sort of odd situation and I've heard mention of the Zudrian before but I don't know a lot about them." Rayne looked back aghast.

"How do you not know anything about them? Signs of their civilization are everywhere.

"Well I was very sheltered, I am on my first journey, Sort of."

"Sheltered does not mean living in the deepest darkest crevice someone could find John."

"Now who is throwing around the dumb jokes?"

"Ok, you're right. The Zudrian were the progenitor race of this planet. They were an incredibly advanced civilization. Technologically, they were thousands of years ahead of many of the migrant races that came during the initialization."

"If they were so advanced what happened to them? And, what do you mean by migrant races."

Rayne sighed and said. "We can go over the entire history of everything while Uncle checks you out. You're weird, ya know? The gate is coming up we will have to talk to the guards briefly, it's just a formality."

John's eyes widened in alarm, but he stayed quiet. The cart rolled through a tear in the ship's armor into what resembled a cargo bay, the massive metal chamber held smaller dilapidated ships piled into a lower corner of the room. Beyond the ships, there seemed to be an assortment of giant metal boxes and other machinery. One other oddity John picked out was the lack of rust anywhere within the ship. The walls floor and ceiling all gleaned like they had been polished the day before. Braziers that glowed with a golden light lined a path up to a large open door. The light caused streaks of yellow to play off the silver metal. John looked back down to the pile of rubble in the corner of the enormous bay.

It looks like everything in here was thrown down into that corner when the ship crashed. I wonder if it's all been picked through. There is no telling what could be in those ships, they look like they were built for combat. He thought as eye eyed what looked like guns on the underbelly of the strange ships.

The cart's wheels clunking against the metal panels of the ship's floor took John away from his musings and he looked up to the open door in the wall of the bay. The uphill climb was rather steep but she pulled the cart up the slope with seeming ease. As the pair came through the door John realized that a large oval had been roughly cut into the floor, he saw large wooden planks that leveled off from the slope. As the pair passed through the opening the cart clattered off a small lip onto the wooden planks. Heavy stripped logs sat stacked ten feet high to the sides, the walls lead to a large wooden gate laden with wrought iron. Several men stood above the gate on a wooden battlement, they held bows, and spears were strapped to their backs. Several of the guards began to draw, but quickly release the tension on the strings as they saw Rayne.

"Hey guys, can one of you get Captain Keller? I've brought a friend, he needs a gate check."

One of the men leaned over the wooden half-wall and laughed. "Rayne, did you bring home another stray? You know Bugsy doesn't like when you capture wild animals." Several of the other guards laughed, and the back of Rayne's neck turned bright red.

"It was one time Marco! That belswine didn't act up once until it was through the gate. How was I supposed to know it was afraid of heights?"

"Tell that to Parcival and his precious garden."

"Enough Marco!" Rayne shouted. "This man is injured and my uncle will have your hide if you keep delaying his healing, go get me Captain Keller."

The man sighed and muttered something unintelligible as the clomps of his boots receded. Several minutes of silence passed and then the gate swung open partway with a ponderous groan. A large man with salt and pepper hair and a clean shave stepped through the gate and began to walk towards John. He was wearing a dark brown leather jerkin with a stiff collar that covered the sides and back of his neck. His leather pants were a softer shade of brown, and around his hips, he wore a leather wrap lined with fur that split in the front to allow for ease of movement. On his hands and feet were metal sabatons and gauntlets. They shone in the golden lights of the braziers. John was so distracted by the man's armor he missed the first question the man had asked.

"Hello? Son, can you hear me?"

"Uh, sorry. Yes. What did you ask?"

"I said, what is your name?"

"Oh, John, Im John Krieg."

"Mhmm, John, and what is your business in Valorwood."

"I think Rayne is going to take me to her uncle's to be healed, and then well I, I'm not sure what ill do," John replied meekly to his interrogator. The man looked at Rayne and she nodded back.

"Alright, last question, where are you coming from?"

John's heart sank, and his mouth dried out.

Can I lie to him? He is a guard captain. What if there are lie-detection skills or maybe he has some weird lie-detection amulet? A hundred scenarios passed through John's mind and he realized he was taking too long to reply.

"I don't remember," he blurted out. The captain furrowed his brows and began to ask another question when Rayne cut in.

"I found him at the bottom of a tree this morning, his leg was all torn up and there was blood all over the branch above where I found him. He also told me he doesn't remember where he is from earlier today. It's likely he hit his head when he fell from the tree."

Internally John sighed and thought.

Wow, she is convincing. Why is she backing my lie, though? I'll have to apologize to her when we get to her uncle's house. I had no clue how I was getting out of that.

The captain looked at Rayne for a moment before saying.

"Alright then, straight to your uncle's house. No delays, you interrupted my lunch for this so I expect getting him healing should be your top priority. No?"

Rayne nodded as the gate swung open fully, she walked through the gate toating the cart behind. What was revealed behind the gate took John's breath away. A picturesque gable-roofed village sat on multiple wooden platforms that hung suspended over the askew cargo bay. The cables that supported this impressive feat of engineering were as large around as John's body. The platforms sat at different elevations all connected by rope bridges like the one Rayne had just pulled them onto. A massive rent in the wall flooded the cavernous bay with natural light. People walked along the bridges to platforms that clearly held shops, as the signs of a blacksmith, a tailor, and even an alchemist or brewer were visible from where John sat. Another of the platforms held up ancient trees that looked like oak trees but their bark was a deep bronze color and their leaves put off a soft emerald glow.

"This place is beautiful Rayne."

Rayne nodded but stayed quiet. Shortly after she stopped the cart in front of a rather unassuming house. It wasn't small compared to many of the other houses on the platform but it lacked the colorful flares that were seen around. John was caught up in all of the sights when a finger jabbed into his chest. He looked at his attacker, Rayne was standing leaning over the side of the cart scowling.

"You made a liar of me. There had better be a damn good reason for me having to lie to Keller. I expect an answer to that John, but after the healing. Now come on." She said holding out her arms. Rayne helped him down off the cart and caught him as he stumbled. Lances of pain crawled up and down his leg and he groaned. The door to the house opened, and John looked up to see an older man with long soft tipped elf ears like Rayne's. He looked John up and down and asked.

"Well, Well Melrayne. What have you got there?"