The Chronicles of Zestra

Chapter 6: Ciol, The Capital of Addikus

4 days have passed since the goblin attack on the bridge, and we have stopped to camp out for the night each night before getting back on the trail. The field of blood dream came up during each night, and with each time, it felt like more was revealed, but I couldn’t tell what exactly, as each dream ended the same. I told our mom, and she soothed my mind with her healing spell, and I fell asleep. On our journey, we saw more goblin groups wandering around t he plains hunting down sheep and boars, and Cynth pointed out a sleeping dragon being awoken by a small Calio Serpent as we were traveling through another small forest and passing a lake clearing.

They began fighting, and flames and water bolts began launching from the clearing, almost hitting the wagon and starting a small fire in the forest. After leaving the forest, we continued down the path and rounded a hill to see Ciol, built on top of a small hill surrounded by a row of trees, acting like walls. Most of the city was covered, but I could see the castle, standing higher than the trees, but I didn’t know why.

We got closer and saw that there was no guard post or any visible guards. We drove in and saw nothing indicating a guard post, so we began driving towards the castle, passing through quiet streets after quiet streets. It felt eerie, but as we got closer to the castle base, we saw more people walking around, and the streets began to fill with more wagons. There was also a large market close by where most of the wagons and people were coming from and going to, and we continued past the crowd to another quiet street until we rounded a corner and saw a hill. We looked around to see if we were missing anything, but we only saw more streets leading out towards the edges of town, and mom pulled out the Ciol map she had borrowed from grandpa to see where the castle is at.

“We should be here by now. The map should be correct, but I don’t see the castle anywhere.” Mom whispers quietly, and me and Cynth keep looking around. I decided to look up at the hill, as I remembered the castle was high up compared to the rest of the town, and I saw the castle atop the hill. I pat my mom and point up to the castle, and she knocks on her head to signal an “oh right” gesture.

Cynth points out the entrance to the right leading into the hill, and she maneuvers the wagon around to get to the opening. “Thank you, you two.” Our mom thanked us for finding the entrance and patted us on the head. “It’s been a while since I’ve been here, and the layout of the city is confusing sometimes, even after multiple visits. Alright, let’s get to Nikolai.” We nodded in agreement and began making our way up the ramp leading into the mountain.

The inside looked artificial and metallic, with each wall lined with metal plating and steel wires running through each wall. There was a panel with numbered buttons on one of the walls to our right, from B7 to 3, but I didn’t know what it was for. I got pulled from the buttons by mom, and as she did, the panel closed, and a guard’s figure appeared out of nowhere and began speaking. “You have entered the Castle Elevator. State your purpose, or you will be ejected back out.” His voice didn’t sound human, but it did at the same time, and Cynth smiled gleefully like he knows what this is.

My mom begins talking to the guard, and Cynth whispers in my ear. “I read in a magazine that Ciol was so technologically advanced that some of the people here are robots. I’m sure that that’s a robot and the townsfolk were also robots.”

“Don’t be silly, Cynth.” I whispered back, “It’s probably someone talking to us using magic like the Chancellor.”

“But don’t you hear how his voice is void of emotion? Just listen into their conversation and tell me that doesn’t sound like a monotone robot.”

I begin to listen into our mom’s conversation with the guard, and Cynth does as well.

“King Nikolai is currently attending a political matter and asked not to be disturbed until the matter is resolved.”