Felarya's Nightmare

Chapter 17 - The beginning of a bigger problem

Entering the innermost part of the city, they end up seeing a crowd crying, wounded, dead and some without some body parts, a scene of pure violence and nightmares that would be in their mind forever and so Richard then lowers his head and tries to avoid the agonized screams of victims of the naga attack, because he can't do anything else, what he could do was save those few people who were now helping other people heal from their wounds, comfort loved ones, and bury and/or burn the bodies, which were piling up in huge piles.

Richard then asks Saknesh if he has seen any kinda separate group of a half-spider woman, a neko, an elf, a small naga and a fairy but he unfortunately shakes his head saying "no". His group was somewhere and needed to be found, he knocked on every door of every house and establishment he came across, but all the answers were negative, hours had passed since his first failed attempts and still no sign of them.

Finding a tavern, he enters without hesitation because it is the best place to get information and or if better, they were there, so he opens the door but what he sees is not what he expected, the tavern has become a kind of hospital for the injured but even so he went to ask who attended that place and asked about his group, behold, Richard finally had some information about them, the owner said:

- "Yes, I saw them, they were all together and dirty, a naga that was with them was crying a lot and the others were trying to find something to eat or drink, while that spider woman tried to calm the crying naga and while a bloody battle was taking place there in the other city, with each bang, this specific group was attentive, as if they were waiting for something or someone just to appear from the door, I was very suspicious of them because, hey, a group of several races entering at the same time like that? I suspected and I watched them until a man came to the group and started talking to the spider-woman, the conversation started to take a violent direction because she started to argue loudly with the man and he told her to calm down because it would be worse, then she slapped the man in the face and they left and the man followed them and I went to follow him and when I opened the door.... I didn't see them anywhere anymore.... I looked around but I didn't see them. I saw, as if they had disappeared, I'm completely sorry my friend, but that's what I can tell you, are you Richard?"

Richard: "Yes... it's me, why?"

Owner: "When I got back to my place here, there was this letter that was written for you"

The owner reaches the letter to Richard who takes it very nervously and opening it, he begins to read:

"Richard, we've been watching you since you arrived in Negav, you seem to be a different boy from the rest of the humans, your every step and that of your friends are being watched very carefully. The giant naga that entered the city was your fault, you allowed hundreds of people to die, our scientist wizards are already studying and we know there's something strange about you... You belong to us, just like your friends now, if you don't want them to suffer what the city suffered, come to us, in two days from now, on the Street of Red Flowers, to the north of this place, there will be no delays.
P.S.: Friend"

Richard holds the letter so tightly that he ends up crumpling and tearing the letter a little, with anger bubbling in his blood, the only thing he could do is ask where Red Flower Street was and wait for the "Friend" to contact him.

In the meantime, Richard was too restless even to sleep, he wanted the day to come, but he couldn't even stop sitting in one place, so he went back to the tavern and asked if the owner would like any help and the man soon said yes, that he was very tired and he hadn't slept in two days, so he trusted Richard to take care of the establishment and the people who were there.

After the owner gave Richard the keys, he went up the stairs that were behind a room of his workbench and closed a door and then Richard looked at the room full of wounded and started to see what each one needed and started talking to them and noticed that the non-human races who were injured were being treated in a separate corner from the humans. He started helping humans first, hearing many whispers from people saying that this all happened due to the "dangerous races" being in his midst, referring to the races of Neko, naga, elves, fairies, etc. He couldn't say anything about it because he didn't know the political state of the city, which he could get involved in something very serious, so one of the people called him:

- "Hey! You boy with an overcoat, come here!"

Richard got up and went towards the person - she was a lady of about 60 years old, she was bleeding a little on her arms and face and with some cuts on her neck - and she looked at him a little strange saying:

- "I... I think I know you... Rimber?? IS IT YOU???"

Richard more than quickly replied: - "I'm sorry ma'am, but my name is not Rimber, my name is Richard, I think you confused me, but I can take care of your wounds if you want"

Lady: - "Oh... I'm sorry then... I must have confused it with my grandson... I think... he's dead now" and then tears started streaming down her wrinkled face, joining with the blood that was on her face and arms and then she starts to cry, Richard didn't know what to do, the most he could do is comfort the lady and said: - "No... I don't think so, have faith, he It could still be out there, waiting for you, ok? But now we have to take care of your wounds first, I'll be right back, I'll get a cloth to try to get some of that blood."

Richard gets up and looks for some very clean cloth, but he doesn't find it and the ones he sees are already soaked in blood, so he goes up to the owner's bedroom door to see if it was there and arriving at the door, he raises his hand to knock and call the owner, but he hears voices in the room, believing the owner was supposed to be sleeping, he stops the action of knocking on the door and tries to listen more carefully to what is being said and hears the owner say a few things:

"What am I supposed to do with that kid huh? He's down there tending to the wounded, if he was evil he wouldn't give a damn for the people down there, please let me, you know you don't have to that and also he's just a boy, i saw innocence in his eyes, there's no way he's the monster you're talking about"

And then a strange voice speaks: - "I feel sorry for you human, you don't know the magical potential of that boy, you humans are useless for some things and this is one of them, your luck that if you "disappear" more humans would mean more roles for me fill in and that's annoying, but I want that little shit out of here asap, got me?"

Owner: - "Y-yes... he will leave and never come back here"

And then a noise of air moving abruptly, like wings beating in retract, is heard and the owner's low cries are the only thing Richard hears now. He thinks about giving up on entering the room, but he knocks on the door and the owner responds saying he can come in, Richard enters and sees that he is very nervous and his eyes are still kind of red from crying being held back, but he doesn't ask anything about it, just if he have some clean cloth and the owner reaches for all the cloths in the room, Richard thanks him, closes the door and goes back to the lady. He wets one of the cloths a little and cleans the lady's wounds while he takes the other dry cloths and wraps them in the elderly woman's arms, trying to make a bandage.

The lady looks at him, holds his hand and says: -"I know you are not my grandson... but I feel his kindness in you... Please be a good boy, we need this, especially now ..." and Richard puts his hand on top of the lady's and says: - "You can leave it to me, I'll do that".

After taking care of the wounded for some time, the day finally arrived, he called the owner, handed over the keys, took the letter and some groceries and went towards Street of Red Flowers, it was very early in the morning and he saw human people and non-humans on the streets, suffering, some that look like they died and stayed there the same way they were before they died, bodies burned, just a horrible scenario.

Finally arriving at the place mentioned in the letter, he saw that it was like a park full of red-colored plants, both flowers and leaves, it would probably be a very beautiful park if it didn't have people dying on the street floor and while waiting for contact, he started to take people off the ground and place them on benches or on props and then the contact arrived.... it was a hooded person, with a somewhat robust body. He seemed to be looking directly at Richard and he got the message, the hooded person with a cloak, what looked like a monk turns his back and starts walking, Richard starts to accompany him to the interior of the place, out of Street of Red Flowers, were cramped streets and full of bad smell.

The person stops in front of a door and says to Richard: - "Behave or it will be your last stay"

Richard came in and was very furious....