Taken Horizon Origin, volume 1, Duality

Episode 14 ; arrival at a new city

Walking alongside the cart as it was pulled by ostrich like beasts i focused sharply on my connection with Thorn. He's been dancing on the borderline of being able to reform back in my chest for the last half an hour making me question when he's going to return.

I need to be ready as well as i don't know if he will immediately jump out of my chest to bitch about constantly being chased by Arthur for the last four days and i need to be on guard for if he goes berserk from overusing the skill of anarchy he has.

If he has I'll be able to beat him up for a valid reason and give him some much needed discipline. So i hope he does go berserk.

"Mister, can you show us your horn?" Bringing me out of my trance, Aster's voice pulled my attention to see her and Jamie leaning over the carriages side staring into me with boredom. "aunty Seer said she'll only show us hers if you let us see yours."

Wondering where this desire to see people's horns came from i turned the question around. "Show me your horns Aster and I'll consider showing you my one."

Pouting Aster knocked on her own skull as two very cute and very small horns curved out from under her hair. Cayde's were a lot bigger when they first grew so the small size of hers was a surprise as i had not seen any so tiny before.

Jamie reached out to poke them getting slapped in the wrist by Aster as he nearly did, "why'd you hit me!?"

"Who said you could touch my horns?!" All it took was a small trigger and the two went back to pestering each other like always grappling the others collar before slapping the others arm. They wouldn't admit it but it's obvious they're quite close.

If this were a biblical world I'm sure there would be a proverb for how humans and demons are nuisances to each other but as it's not I'm going to have to wait for Thorn to come back so he can make one for me.

"Aha! Ursen city! Just in time!"

Drawing my eyes front and center from the shout i saw Gundahar standing tall atop the forward carriage above the servant driving with the tree covered city quickly coming into full view.

Shatterre really is different from Laegii. Unlike most prominent cities in Laegii there theres no wall around it to help defend against beast attacks and control who enters or leaves like an immigration checkpoint. Instead its just defended by regularly patrolling scouts on the perimeter. I can't compare it to earth though since that planet has nothing but ruins in every city.

"Lord Lochness, it should only take an hour until we arrive now!" Gundahar shouted out loudly enough to reach the back cart getting an angry banging in response from inside the carriage Xuro rode inside.

"Has Thorn returned yet?" Popping up at my side Seer leaned in closely as she inquired

"He's far enough away currently. I think he just ran into some trouble or something thats holding him down. Shouldn't be long until he returns to mock me like always."

Nodding Seer looked past me to see the two kids slapping each other gazing intently at Aster's tiny horns. "i see they tried to get you to show your horn as well."

Looking at her funny i didn't retort. "on the subjects of horns actually, i haven't seen yours since we first met. Is it like a custom or something in Shatterre for people to keep their horn's hidden?"

"Kind of." Seer did a little twirl now walking backwards to face me. "As you know, our horns hold our supply of magic and are something of an amplifier like scintilla, people keep them hidden so that greedy individuals don't try to rip them off because they were flaunting the horns sharpness."

"So not much different than I initially thought then. But how does sharpness come into this?"

Sprouting her horns that circled her head like a tiara with three pointed ends spiking out of its rigid surface as the front aimed at the sky and the back pointed to the earth, Seer pierced her finger on the front spike letting out a little dribble of blood showing her finger to me. "See the frost?"