Draconian Bonds

Chapter 8: Cyrine

It was midday when we left the house to the kingdom of Vahanna. Where the path through the woods were dodging the trees. The birds chirping throughout the trees cheerfully as they sing their songs.

Despite the liveliness of the woods, boredom took hold within me as we walked down the path to a different unknown world. I look around to see the same old trees that I saw a few minutes ago. Everything looks the same as the world that I knew before this one.

I looked back at Yui to see that she looks alert and yet bored as I was.
This might be a good time to get to know more about Yui and this world. I thought. It might be safe to ask about this world first though... I don't want to be prying too much.

"So how long is it to Cyrine?" I ask a bit shyly as I rub the back of my head.

Her eyes seem to light up a bit as the boredom starts to fade from her face. "It's a day's walk from home," she says looking down the path. "We will have to make camp simce we left so late in the morning."

"It sounds as though you have been through here many times," I say raising an eyebrow.

"Ya, I've gone there many times with Al to help with his blacksmithing business," she says smiling a bit.

Al is a blacksmith? I thought silently to myself. The more I thought about it though, it made more sense as I feel the sword on my side. "Does he only works on swords or...?" I ask, leaving the question to hang in the air a bit.

"Oh, he works mostly with swords but he doesn't want to work with anything else to attract attention," she says, losing the smile a bit.

I thought about how they both mentioned that people in this world had hunted dragons. Maybe I should shift the subject a bit... I thought as we continue down the path.

"Now that I think about it," I say calmly. "I still don't know much of magic, races, and just this world that we are in right now."

She looks at me then giggles a bit. "I was wondering when you were going to ask that," she says with a smile. "What would you like me to explain first?"

I thought a bit about what would be a good starting place. "How about kingdoms?" I ask while rubbing the back of my head. "Like is there any others?"

Yui shakes her head and holds up six fingers. "There are six major kingdoms," she says seriously. "Vahanna, the Zydronic Empire, Rakel of the desert, Kragsgul the mountain kingdom of the dwarves, Tsebrin the mysterious kingdom of ice, and Mistral the island capital."

"That sounds like a lot of kingdoms," I say thinking about what they might all be like. "They all sound so different and unique."

Yui smiles a bit but then frowns. "Yes they are but they do fight over those differences sometimes as well," she says looking down. "Last I heard, Vahanna and the Zydronic Empire are currently in a war."

"Oh," I say sadly. "Hopefully we can get to Vahanna so we can enjoy that festival." I say, trying to shift the mood.

"Ah the festival of lights," she says beeming with joy. "I do hope you like it. It's always so beautiful each year."

"Oh really?" I say raising an eyebrow and smiling. "Do tell."

She goes into explaining that the festival is held each year to recognize the light in the world that prevents the eternal night of the moontouched. During the day, there would be dancing, feasts, shows, and competitions. As the sun goes down over the horizon, everyone gathers by the river and puts down lanterns for those who have passed on from the moontouched. Then when the night comes, all who are willing to, go and fight the moontouched that appear during the night.