After some time walking they came across a deep gully, the weathered soil opening up to a creek bed at the bottom. A trickle of water flowed through, gently tumbling over the rocks on it's journey to Aynor. At the bottom, some small wrangled trees protruded out of the sheer sides of the gully, as well as pungent thickets brightly budding with flowers of pink and purple.
Rowan set his hands against the dirt and slid down the gully, with Alex and Bailey following. They knelt and cupped their hands in the stream, letting the cold water fill them before pouring it into their parched mouths. "I remember this creek." Said Rowan, water dripping from his beard, "It's been an aid to many going up to Uthulyr. It also means the road is on the other side of this gully. From the road, it's about a three-hour walk."
Bailey shuddered, "Three hours?"
Rowan looked up at the west-bound sun falling ever closer to the hilly horizon, "Actually, make that two hours, we need to move faster. Trust me, we don't want to be stuck out here at night."
"Faster? My legs are already killing me." Bailey muttered.
"Well if you can't handle it I'll give you a piggy-back ride, how about that?" Rowan grinned.
"Yeah- I think I'll make it on my own thank you." Replied Bailey, giving an awkward smile.
"Ha, that's what I thought," said Rowan. He hopped over the stream, leading the way once more. Taking hold of twisted roots that came out of the soil, he climbed his way up the other side of the gully, afterward lending a hand to Alex and Bailey, hauling them up as well.
Turning around, Alex and Bailey expected to see a road. Instead, all they saw were more endless hills, the blades of grass atop them rolling in silvery waves from the whistling wind.
Alex rubbed her eyes, They'd gone all this way, and no road in sight? Alex and Bailey both sat down defeated, resting their burning legs.
"Don't worry, the road is here, some magic just hides it." Said Rowan, then in a calm voice he slowly spoke,
Through the hills, through the ground,
Through land rising up and down,
Through the trees, through the mires,
Through bright gleaming wastes of fire,
Through the waters, through the deeps,
Through great mountain's dreary steeps,
Oh road of roads, oh path of paths,
Reveal us the way at last!
Suddenly, a line of hills vanished away as though they had never existed. A wide road stretched out before them, and it's white bricks, though somewhat overgrown with grass and weeds, still gleamed brightly in the sun.
"What the-" Alex gasped.
"Things are not always as they seem here, remember that thousands of years of magic have been worked on this planet." Said Rowan as they walked down to the road.
The road went straight through the hills like a deep ravine, with the hillsides bare soil to their left and right, brutishly cut off where the road lay and held back from collapsing onto it by some unseen force. It stretched for miles ahead, before finally winding up the face of the mountain to Uthulyr. Behind them, the road went on as far as the eye could see, lost in the golden haze of Lok-Dune.
After twirling around in wonder at the sight, Bailey spoke, "Well, now that we're on the road can we ask questions?"
"Go ahead," Rowan replied.
YOU ARE READING
Mystic: Sword of Kragnor
FantasySince before the first age, there has been a malice upon the children of men, a evil that manipulated the hearts of men. Asagorath was his name, and from his dark dimension he sought his return, a way to break free from his prison and rule the morta...
