Tales of Sillonia: The return of the darkness creatures

4

Talon woke up early the next morning. Alongside his new companion Aaron, they met in the stable, hoped atop their horse and set out. Luckily, the rest of the journey to Ker Halda was a straight road. The two rode on in silence. Wasn't it a nice coincidence to run into the son of the man he was searching for.

"Shouldn't you be in the castle in Shinnerok?" asked Aaron. "I mean, shouldn't you be sending out a soldier to do this or something?"

"No. This is something that I must do personally." Talon replied. Even though he trusted Aaron, he didn't want to expose the full reason of his trip as that would simply cause fear and panic. Talon decided to change the subject.

"What do you do Aaron? As in, what profession do you have?" Talon asked. Aaron looked at him as he was awaiting that question.

"I'm a hunter. Since my father retired from being a knight, we opened a clothing shop. We sell the fur and give the meat to the butcher," Aaron explained.

"Ah, so business is brisk then?" Talon said. Aaron laughed and nodded his head.

"I suppose you could say that!"

"And what about your mother?" At this question, Aaron lowered his head.

"No... She died giving birth. But my father told me all about her. A gorgeous maiden with flowing golden hair and eye which had a mixture of blue and green. He called them earth colour," he said sadly. Talon was about to tell Aaron he knows how he feels but then he stopped himself by biting his lip. Aaron was not aware that Talon was now king and that his mother was dead and that was information he couldn't share. Instead he simply said.

"I'm sorry to hear that... She sounded like an angel," Talon said. Aaron smiled.

"Oh, she was... At least, that what father told me," Aaron said. He then set himself up straight and added. "But we mustn't dwell on the past now. Let's focus on the task at hand!" They rode the rest of the journey in silence. Talon was constantly thinking about Aaron's story. It had just struck him how hard it must be for someone to live their whole without a mother. Talon could hardly cope with the fact that his mother was dead, and that only happened about a week ago.

They came to a halt. Before them stood a metal gateway. Behind it lay a bustling city.

"We have arrived," He said smiling.

Ker Halda was a strange sight to Talon. Since he had spent near enough all his life in Shinnerok, he saw huge differences between the two. Firstly, it was poorer and less developed but good enough. It was like Lourdes to Paris, not as rich but still good looking. Secondly, the street was flooded with people. Men, women and children all going around in different directions making it very loud. The buildings were tall. Suddenly a giant beast flew over them and landed somewhere further away in the city.

"What was that?" Talon asked frightened. Aaron grinned.

"Don't worry. That's just a griffon coming in and delivering resources from Griftus," He explained. Talon had heard of Griftus. It was a lonely city, seated at the edge of the Sillonian sea. It was the city that got all the materials due to its placement. Also, Griftus was known for it's large number of griffon's inhabiting it. That's where the name was from. They used these griffons to deliver all their products around Sillonia, though Talon had never seen one up close. Griftus was a very mysterious city in Sillonia. No one knew who formed it and how they even got there in the first place as it was behind the wastelands of Aragose which, like the Maxym mountains, were considered impassable. But no one asked many questions as Griftus was the major provider and without it many people would die out. Talon faced Aaron.