The World Towers

Chapter 2 - First Blood

The three humanoids entered the hall. They looked... odd. Their skin was a pale color; not white, but a light peach. The two men had dark hair, cropped short, while the woman had hers long and a dirty straw-like yellow. One of the men, the more slender one, wore a long, coarse, burgundy robe that looked hard to move in, while the other —someone who had probably made some mistake during their bear to humanoid transformation— wore a heavy metallic plate that covered his chest, but had his feet clad in lather and arms bare. He noted with some distaste that the large, stocky man's arms were covered in untended fur. How come he wasn't in pain?

And were those round ears? He touched his own pointy ears in reflection. Why would these strangers have such weirdly-shaped ears? The color of their skin and the asymmetry of their faces had made him suspicious but now he was reasonably sure that they were probably a different race than him. Staring at their genetic misfortune, he started to feel a bit better about his own appearance, despite how unfamiliar it was.

But why were these humanoids here? And why were they so armed? From the bedroom, he had assumed this place was his home but perhaps he was wrong? Perhaps, he was the trespasser? Regardless, these three didn't seem like the owners of a place such as this.

The larger of the men stepped forward as he unsheathed his falchion sword and shouted intelligible words at him.

Not wanting to believe that the screens held some prophetic nature, he left the knife on the arm of the throne-chair and stood up empty-handed. He tried to look as nonthreatening as possible, though with his nightwear on, it was difficult to look anything but.

"I am unarmed," he said, though he didn't think he would be understood. The male humanoid shouted something angry in response, before looking at the other man. The long-robed one spoke something in what seemed a horribly butchered phrase from another language that he still couldn't recognize.

Screens popped up on the side, but he ignored them.

"I can't speak your language. But I have no weapons. I can't hurt you," he waved a little as he felt ridiculous keeping his hands raised so long. The female's skin turned blotchy with pink under her eyes, such that he wondered whether she had some odd disease. He took a step back but the large man immediately started waving his sword threateningly and shouted indiscriminately at both him and his male companion. The shorter of the two men held onto his stuff tightly before bowing his head and mumbling some gibberish.

Immediately, he felt a tingling upon his skin before it disappeared as another screen popped up.

He lowered his hands and stepped back. Did that man just do something? The caster looked ill and pasty as his —spell, enchantment?— words were interrupted. He raised his staff and yelled in a fearful tone before the large men started walking purposefully towards him.

Seeing where this was going, he raised his hands again. "Wait! Wait, this is a misunderstanding!"

The large men broke into a sprint, surprisingly fast as he slashed his sword.

He ducked, evading without really knowing how, before running backwards.

"Wait!" he shouted. "I am not trying to hurt you!" The man slashed again, forcing him to flip sideways. A screen popped up. He dodged again and jumped away feeling pain on his left arm. The man pursued him, unheeding to his pleas and yelled explanations. He ran and once he gained some distance, he spared a glance at the other two. The woman was hiding behind the slender man as she cheered her companion on, while the other kept his staff on his direction at all times.

His attention was soon taken. His opponent charged once again, dealing a downward strike to the floor, granite chips and stone dust flying through the air.