The Warmest Welcome

The heat of the East was no joke, and the sun did not go easy on them. They have been walking for miles now, skipping through several hours like it never occurred. Yet, there was no sign of dusk, and the red sands of the East were coming to an end as they neared the gates of Wolkcaster. 

Vegas carried on walking between the verge of punching Tara to death and Neil for convincing her to tag along in the first place. She had the irresistible urge to go on an unstoppable rant about her ugly green hair. That was what she thought about her hair, but Neil, on the other hand, couldn't stop blatantly staring at Tara's beauty. Her green eyes and her triangular face. 

"Can any of you tell your friend to quit staring at me?" Tara side-eyed him.

"You're embarrassing us, Neil!" Colt was very disappointed with him.

Neil's face dropped from being joyous, and he continued walking without bothering her. 

The gates of Wolkcaster became visible. It was bigger than anyone had expected, apart from Lars that is, Wolkcaster was his home, until he met Yin and the others. 

"Oh man, I don't think we will have a warm welcome here. There's a bounty on my head; I really don't know how you're going to convince everyone." Lars was deeply troubled. 

"Convince? What's going on?" Tara inquired Yin.

"There's a war coming, and Yin is on a mission to unite the Realm to stand against it. So he's forming an army." Neil replied in his stead. 

"War? There hasn't been a war in so many decades. Prolly centuries." Tara reacted, refusing to believe it.

"This war is not for the Realm. It's mine. And we're not going to fight humans." Yin hinted.

Tara Elykis was puzzled by the whole thing.

"So what? You're going to be fighting mages and giants then." She giggled.

"More." Yin said it sharply.

Tara was silenced by the answer.

"And why did you name the Realm to Meilands?" She threw in another question.

Nobody wanted to answer it for him, so Yin said it himself.

"I come from another Realm called Earth. Mei is the name of the girl I love. I died saving her, so when I got put into this Realm, I named it after her. Now, I'm trying to get to her." Yin explained shortly.

"I see, and how does going back to your Realm work when you're already dead there?" Tara asked curiously.

"Xil. He's the God who chose me and gave me a second life. He promised me that he'd grant any wish of my choice if I took him back to his Realm and win the ultimate war for him." 

"And you think you can do that?" 

"I must. I'm not doing this for him or for me. I'm doing this so I can go back home to Mei." 

"I appreciate your motivation, but what if Mei has fallen in love with someone else by then?" She posed a logical alternate question.

"I don't care. I just want to see her again." Yin was not even slightly worried by that assumption. 

He didn't love her just because she loved him back; it's how she made him feel; she literally saved his life from the depths of hell. She could have been someone he just met a few hours ago, and he would've still not thought twice about dying for someone like her. She was everything to him.

"I don't believe in love at all. I've always thought of all that as fake."

"No, not at all. Until men like me and Yin die, love shall live on." Neil blurted.

"Shut up!" Colt and Tara reacted together at the same time and shared an awkward glance at each other afterward.

The eight of them finally reached and stood before the closed gates of Wolkcaster, built from dark oak wood with metal chains attached to them. It stood well above 20 feet, so big and wide that the Molten Giant could've easily walked through it. 

The gates were manned with long spears and heavy shields, with four fully armored men on each side, and they all stood firmly upright. There were four archer towers, two on each side, and inside it was spacious enough to occupy more than one man. 

"Eh! That's the ring boy! Guards! On your position!" Commanded, one of the guards with longspears.

"We come in peace." Yin said softly and continued.

"We want to meet the leader of the East." 

The guards reacted with a peculiar look on their faces.

"We are here to give in the boy for the bounty." Yin lied.

Lars looked at him, shocked.

"He's trying to get us inside, so shush." Vegas whispered to Lars.

"Is that true, you traitor?" Another guard asked, looking at Lars with furious eyes.

"Uh, yeah, they caught me." He trembled while responding.

"Where did you catch him?" 

"North." Yin said.

"North!?" The guards were stunned.

"How the hell did he make it that far?" The guards asked each other and went back to continue their inquiry.

"State all your names, outsiders." The guard ordered.

"Vegas." 

"Colt."

"Neil." 

"Mathen."

"Brody."

"Tara."

They all introduced themselves, one by one.

"And you?"

"I'm Li." Yin covered his identity by using Master's Li last name. His full name was Zhong Wei Li.

It was a smart move by him, and the others looked at him, impressed.

"Hah! Our leader is gonna like these bastards, Ey Tommy!?" The guards laughed among themselves.

"Alright, we'll open the gates, not for that bloody dork who ran away, but for those two hotties right there." Their eyes scanned Vegas and Tara indecently.

Vegas angrily clenched her fists, but Tara was not bothered.

Yin caught Vegas's hand and calmed her.

"Don't." He whispered to her.

The gates to the city opened, and it looked stunning, like a thousand Rovestones combined together. The people wore exotic and glittering clothes; some men were topless; some were underdressed to the heat; women were almost naked; cows and bulls casually roamed among the people; and there was a tall and magnificent statue of their leader, Jaquer Maclain. It was a pose of him with a sword, and he was smiling like a madman. 

The eight of them strolled inside, enjoying the grand view of Wolkcaster. Its shops, farms, huts, castles, towers, and more structures. 

There was a large castle behind Jaquer's statue, and they figured that's where he probably resided, so they headed there. 

"EH!" The people in the street gasped in disbelief.

And things escalated sooner than they expected.

Almost everyone of them instantly recognized that it was Lars who was standing among the crew. 

'Lars, the farmer's boy who escaped from East after stealing the ring of the Elders.'

That was the reputation he had now.

But,

They also recognized someone else from the crew.

"That's Yin Kang! The False Prophet!" They all exclaimed furiously.

No one expected that. 

"KILL HIM!" Some ran for their lives in fear, and some withdrew their swords. The people without weapons picked up rocks, and even the guards came in.

The eight of them were completely surrounded.