The Others

Chapter 2: Anderes

By that time, Elizabeth was mind blown. None of this should have ever been physically possible. But it had happened, and no one really disagreed. What Elizabeth really didn't understand was that, through everything, the librarian just sat there, going through papers, reading, and giving the occasional shush. But the thing that surprised her most was that the first thing they saw when Sam opened the door was a bright flash of light and two centaurs with broadswords guarding a gate. "Centaurs!" Michelle squeaked in delight. Her light brown eyes shone. For all they knew she dreamt about centaurs from the time she fell asleep to the time she woke up and started daydreaming about them. The two male centaurs were slightly small in build. One was tall with dark red hair that reached his shoulders, and had deeply set brown eyes. He had a beard that grew to his bare chest. His nose was quite large, and he was considerably older than the other centaur, which wasn't saying much. The other centaur was quite short with brown hair that was well cut and didn't even reach the beginning of his neck. His eyes were light hazel and he was clean shaven. He probably wasn't even old enough to shave yet. He had a small nose, and he had to hold his broadsword with two hands to keep it from falling. He couldn't have been older than ten. The group of friends couldn't see past the gate because of the ten foot hedge that surrounded whatever the gate guarded. "Who are you, and what do you want in Anderes?" the tall centaur called. He said the last word with a guttural flourish. "Yeah! Who are you and what do you want?" the younger one echoed. "Wait, what is this place called, again?" Nicole interjected. Elizabeth burst in, "Anderes. An-de-herz. That would be 'others' in German, wouldn't it be?" She looked at the older centaur for guidance. He nodded. "You speak German?" Sam proclaimed. "From time to time," Elizabeth said casually. Andy stepped forward and opened his mouth to speak. That dummy! Elizabeth thought. He thinks he can speak for us! He didn't even want to come! I almost didn't realize he was there. Elizabeth was just about to open her mouth, when Nicole strode forward with confidence and spoke. "I'm Nicole, and these are my friends Michelle, Andrew, we just call him Andy, Elizabeth, and Sam. We found a note in a book and followed it here." Apparently, she said something right, because the centaurs sheathed their broadswords and the tall one said, "The system selected you, so you must not be with the Celestial Wind." "Yeah, you must not be with the Celestial Wind," echoed the smaller centaur. "Can you please not do that?" the older centaur asked with annoyance. The small centaur shut his mouth. "What do you mean, the system 'selected' us?" Nicole asked. "The system doesn't let anyone from the Celestial Wind into Anderes," the older centaur replied. Then he said, "My name is Abraham, and this is my nephew, William. Welcome to Anderes! We haven't seen outside humans in years!"

Michelle's heart was absolutely racing. She had finally met centaurs! This is what she had been wanting for years! She had one question, though, "What's the Celestial Wind?" "Your questions will be answered shortly," Abraham replied. He took a key as equally glamorous as the one Sam used, and opened the gate. All of them gasped as they saw the whole of Anderes. They couldn't actually see all of it, because it was a kingdom, and had much space. Everything was medieval styled; there was no asphalt, just cobblestone. Nothing was categorized into rich or poor in the city; everybody lived in one section. There were mountains in the distance and a lake to the far right. There was a grey castle on a hill beside the lake, with orange banners with a moon-like insignia on them. The people in Anderes were weird. Not their personality, their physical appearance. Centaurs roamed around. Mermaids splashed in the lake, people with snake tails slithered around, a person walking by the lake turned into a swan, and angelic figures soared overhead. There was a Greek style temple on a hill to the slight left. "Who is that temple to?" asked Nicole. "Oh, that's our temple to the Anderean deity the Creator of All, or the Creator," Abraham replied. That's a pretty sweet temple, Michelle thought. Abraham led them through the town toward the castle. The castle was a dark grey color, with tall pinnacles waving orange banners depicting the moon-like celestial insignia. The gates were guarded by two amphibian-like creatures that looked like they could scale the castle with their sticky hands. They were armed with spears. The spear on the left was adorned with a blue gem, and the spear on the right was adorned with a red gem. The gate was ornately decorated with flowery designs and precious gems. Dragon-like figures were wrapped around each other to form a lock. It almost seemed to be depicting a scene. A history of Anderes. "We must see the queen at once," Abraham told the two amphibian creatures. They both took their spears and inserted them into the dragons' eyes, which had no eyes before. The red and blue gems fit perfectly into the eye sockets. The gate produced a series of clicking noises before opening outward. "Welcome to Castle Fidelity. Come meet the queen, friends," Abraham said.