Dawn's Light

Chapter 52

Celia and Xan's boots thumped against the cobblestone streets coated in a thin layer of melting frost. The city of light surrounded them in all of its glory. Thanks the small glowing orbs, very few dark shadows lingered. Strange stringy black and green plants Celia had no name for carpeted every surface other than walkways and doors like the moss of her hometown.

Merchant and trader stalls lined the streets between the entrances to shops, and people darted between them on their daily routines. A symphony of the voices of the sellers rose like a chorus in Celia's ears as they advertised their wares to the passing public. Scarves, jackets, magical artifacts, jewelry, weapons, and more were all for sale in the extensive marketplace.

As the female rider looked around the vast area, she found that her eyes began to burn in slight pain from the bright landscape. Celia momentarily shielded her eyes as they struggled to adjust to the bright world that sharply contrasted her own. "This place is bright," she whimpered slightly kept her head low and one eye closed. She lifted the clear-lensed riding goggles off of her eyes as she walked, which helped a little, but not all that much.

"You will get used to it, eventually." Xan attempted to assure her as he looked around the shops that lined the streets. "I'd buy you day goggles, but neither one of us have the coins to do so. We're not going to be here long, so the light hurting our eyes for a little while is not that big of a deal."

Celia nodded a bit as she attempted to look up to the busy streets. Thankfully, the light no longer stung as much as it had when she entered the massive complex of buildings. "It's amazing to see so much life above ground," She awed, "I never believed it was possible."

The green-cloaked rider looked to the townspeople as she and Xan wandered around the city. Almost all of the people wore dark colors that stood in stark contrast to the green and blue cloaks of the foreigners. Also, people donned thinner clothing than people from other towns.

Celia jumped back as a bleating animal ran across her path in a frenzy. "What was that?" She stopped in her tracks and watched the black-furred animal race over to some of them dangling plants.

Once the animal arrived at the strange greenery, it ceased its senseless bleating and began to mindlessly munch on the greenery. Since it stopped, Celia gained a chance to get a good look at the scruffy creature. It had strange horizontal lines for pupils in its golden eyes and large curved horns donned its head. As it ate, it's bobtail wagged like a happy dragon. It reminded Celia of a similar animal in Rien that ate mosses of the underground town.

"Hey! Come back!" A villager ran past Celia and grabbed the strange creature. When he reached the animal, the man grabbed the animal and slung it over his shoulders while the beast continued to chew on the plants.

Celia blinked, then noticed Xan had gotten a massive lead and ran to catch up. "Xan! Wait for me!" She called her footsteps clattered against the stone as she caught up to the older boy.

Xan briefly paused, but when Celia eventually caught up to him he continued walking. "Once we look at the obelisk, then we will go get some sleep." He shielded his eyes and looked ahead of them to the spire. "The Garden of Light is free to enter, but the castle is not open to the public. We can get up close to the obelisk to see it and discuss our plans later."

Celia nodded to Xan as they entered the garden through a plant-covered archway. Once she fully entered, the human gazed around the large space full of green plants and marveled at the sight. Though there were beautiful spots in Rien, nothing in the town under the mountain compared to Urre's garden.

Tall brown pillars supported masses of strange greenery and colorful spheres hung among the wide and flat plant matter. Smaller bundles of similar plants also stood around the space beside large bundles of long needle-like bundles of plant matter similar to the trees in the Ulven Lands. In the center of the garden, a massive tower of dark stone stood with the glowing ray of light at its peak.