The Legends Of Chima: Journey to the Lands Below

Chapter 17- Eris

(Note: this chapter is set at the end of chapter 14)

We were led away from the courtyard out the side and to a car surrounded by those same soldiers we saw on the wall, some were bigger than others and looked completely different. Some looked like lions with trimmed maned tied up in buns, another was even bigger with short, orange and black stripy fur, the smaller ones were fluffy with tall ears with their face wrapped up and others were athletic with short, spotted fur. All of them had geometric looking guns and armor matching their body type, big ones with metal plate and small ones with leather and chain mail. Ry'Tharr spoke with a one of them for a bit before we were allowed past but we got let through eventually.

He and Laval sat up front while me and his wife sat in the back, she had a pretty black dress on and in stark contrast a massive sword on her back, akin to a meat cleaver, she had a scarred face and arms and was very muscular, something told me she wasn't much for politics unlike her husband. she must've noticed me eyeing the weapon in curiosity when she started talking to me.

"You must be Eris right, The one from Cavora? I've heard tales about your people." She said with a nervous quiver.

"Yes, well up there Cavora is a mountain, the land part we live on is called Chima." I corrected her.

"That's strange, this whole planet is called Chima. Ehh who knows, maybe all you islanders call your home Chima." She said, correcting my correcting. I guess by islander she just meant me and Laval.

"What did you mean by "tales"? Are we that important?" I asked her, going back on what she said earlier.

"Oh yeah, back during the Invasions snake and eagle warriors like you were instrumental to holding them off on the Relanakiiv front. I don't know if
It were your ancestors who were there but you look a lot like their depictions." She told me as what she said went through one ear and out the other and I struggled to understand what she could've possible meant. All I could conjure up in response was a simple "What."

"Oh, do you not know about the Technotians? Wouldn't be suprised since La'Gravis likes to hide that part of his father's past. I'll tell you about it some other time." She said, waiving it off as common knowledge.

"Can you at least tell me what this place is?" I asked her

"Yeah, this is Tetsu'Aagra, oldest city in the world and home to about 2.3 billion people. This is just one of the four districts of the whole city and we're going to the center of it." She told me, at least I found out something about this place.

"What's it like there?" I asked

"Oh it's amazing, wide open plains, crystal blue water, colorful buildings, breathtaking views, you really should see it." She said with a dreamy expression.

We got out of the car and were surrounded by another crowd of guards in front of the large building cover with plants that we saw when we got here. We went up the massive set of stone stairs and inside was thousands of people at least. And at the center was a stone of a lion, black as night and on all fours, like the legend beast. The guards which gave us a good five feet of space between us and them were now crammed in close to us. The big orange ones, whom I had been informed were called "tigers" were in front of us trying to forge a path through the crowd but progress was slow. After about 15 minutes of pushing through the masses we were led to what looked like a janitors closet at the far end of the station. We followed a set of stairs down and came upon an empty room with several terminals like the public station had.

"This is how I get around the city undetected, can't have a public figure such as myself tread the streets." He told us. "A lot of people want my head and I don't like being out in the public often."

He looked around the room for a little, seeming confused until he perked up and led us to a single train car made out of glass that barely fit us four. Thankfully the small army of guards were left behind.

We crammed into the glass pod and accelerated quickly, we were in a dark tunnel only lit by lights on ceiling of the tunnel, quietly exchanging looks. I decided to break the silence by asking Hynetta about the sword I saw on her earlier.

"So Hynetta, where'd you get that sword you have? It's looks peculiar."

"Oh this? I got it from my days as a warrior on Relanakiiv. During my adventures I spent some time in a dragon stronghold, I helped them out some and I got this sword as thanks. Helped me out a lot and still does." She told us while unsheathing it, even though we barely fit in here to begin with it.

"What's Relanakiiv?" I asked.

"It's one of our moons, and the home of the snakes, who we have a shaky peace agreement with." Ry'Tharr chimed in.

She went on explaining its history and the meaning of every engraving on it, prompting Ry'Tharr to show off his, a long, slender, curved blade as black as night with light grey decoration on it. It was clearly more of a decoration piece than one for actual combat but I could see some wear on it from fights. Pretty soon everybody had their out with Laval and his pronged, golden greatsword and i with my simple axe. After it was destroyed awhile back on "Cavora" I had a simple battle axe made with a wooden handle and a single blade with a spike on the back as a gift from Kyten.

After awhile of talk about our weapons I saw a light at the end of the tunnel. It approached fast and soon we were far above the ground, I looked out the side and saw a massive body of water at the end of a valley and the sunset met with the horizon. Where the track was going was a colorful city, cramped like the city we saw in the desert but the houses were nice and it was all built on a small mountain.

The track took a turn to a large house on a piece of land jutting out into the sea with a large field of some kind of fruit on a vine. We came to a stop on a stone platform in front of the house. We were taken in for a quick meal and anything else we needed before Ry'Tharr hurried off with Laval towards the city.

"Hynetta, show Eris around some, make her feel at home. Oh and tell her about that little proposition we made." He called out as he left for the city.