The Hunt for Peace

Chapter 7

Karro walked on the skybridge, in his periphery he could spot several golems of varying ages and sizes snickering about stones and swords. They played their games, gambled with their petty vices using whatever it is they had. Others carried body after body to be taken to the pyre, while others were brawling, the usual fisticuffs complete with a surrounding crowd. Many walked out of the rattler's path, looking away, especially if he were to look at them. His steps were loud, and it made others feel as if the section was about to give up at any moment and send them all crashing into the streets below.

Rain had begun to fall, and wind would begin to howl once more. In the middle of spring no less. Nature was no doubt trying to get as many strong rains as it can before summer finally rolls in on the last month of the year. The rattler of the Farseekers continued to walk, soon he'd find himself inside the building, heering the roar and cheer of some warsen, trying to make the most of their recreational time. The smell of fine fabric was in the air, followed by small chatter among the tailors. All warsen, like the golems, were natural warriors. All would eventually fight for all are eventually strong. But as they all refresh themselves from each battle to battle, or war to war, some people will eventually have to fill the other cracks that need filling in order to lay the foundations of society. Tailors, butchers, dancers, sportsmen. The weakest among them, those hardy enough to survive this long but too weak to pass off as anything other than a waste of good food rations, were thus the ones tasked with such life. They seemed complacent about it though, content even, or at least that's what it looked like to Karro. Then again, it's not like they can complain, not when everyone else is so much stronger.

The large golem walked through the spaces of the small shops. Well, they weren't really shops because they weren't buying anything, but that was besides the point. He walked through the sewing building until he reached the stairs on the other side, he descended, walked some more and continued to make his move. The rain outside would escalate its fury, pelting arrows of water down upon the earth and creating a cold chill as all heat from days past began to rise up. It was like the smell after someone's taken a bath, heat itself rising from the various soaked surfaces. Karro could tell that a fog may soon present itself, blanketing and blinding the entire Den. Thunder roared as Karro enters another skybridge, he sees small lads try to break out of formation, only to freeze still in fear at the heightened and stern voice of their proctor. With a small turn of his head, he could see the young Drew slip, only to be caught by his friend, Cyril. Both boys followed Carolus. All three boys were promoted rather recently by Karro. Yesterday, if he recalled. He watches them as he walks, seeing them quickly enter a stone building, the entrance into the sewers. Karro slightly chortles at the sight. No amount of raised voices can truly destroy childish innocence, it seemed.

Karro eventually makes his way to an upper terrace. On his way there, he could hear his son's loud voice which uttered several commands, as well as informal threats. Karro walks right next to another golem, standing there and observing the Farseekers train through the rain. Karro places his two large hands on the railing, "to persist in battle even in the harshest of conditions, a classic."

"Careful now, Karro," says the man, his arms crossed, watching them all. "You might break the railing." The man snickers as he spectates them all, blade clashing against blade, tires looted from Wheelsen corpses used as weights to be pushed or carried. Karro finds his son in the crowd, his voice audible even in the thunderous choir of the heavens, barking orders. The rattler remains silent, the man beside him however opts to keep their little conversation going. "Macario called for your name to be part of the melee."

"It was an inevitable outcome," says Karro. The man chuckles, "prideful as ever, aren't you, Karro? I know you to be a great fighter and a terror on the battlefield, you and I have both been to Old Shadow after all, but such hubris will only bring folly."