Dreams of Saloria

[Swift]

There was an age, long, long ago when the very existence of time had only just begun. A time when people of all different races were given the gift of life and allowed to walk upon living realms we know as planets. Each one of these worlds held the miracle of life and magic that influenced it every second of its own existence. It was a relatively simple time where the only thing people ever worried about were their basic needs—there were no quarrels over politics or what lands the kings shall rule… for that time, everything just seemed to be in peace.
Of course, as generations went by, the many races of people began to move on from their primitive cultures. They began to wonder about how things came to be, strived to see how far they could go, and some were centered on being the best at any range of aspect. The Era of Magic soon began, paving the way for many large cities and trading posts to be built to connect each person to the lives of many others. They learned how to sail over the very large seas, how to tame massive beasts, and most importantly, discovered the true power of magic. Through these great accomplishments, the realms of life began to take form and continue to grow over the years.

…That is the tale of the heavens—how it is said that Saloria brought this world and many others everlasting love. But out of the millions of these living realms, only one, the world of Maya, was given the miracle of having the presence of the goddess herself living upon it. Unlike the many other worlds, Maya was entirely different from them—Saloria was a very powerful governing force that changed and shaped the world every day from what crops flourish to what directions the rivers flow. It is all very possible because of who she is… she slumbers in solitude throughout her entire existence, bringing her dreams of this world to life and sharing them with all of her children. But, with much power such as this comes great care—the wise fear that if anything of evil roots should ever happen to her, the world of dreams will descend into a realm of nightmares and constant fear. Because of this, Saloria was gently placed at the top of a huge, spiraling structure called the Shining Tower—it gets its name because some believe it is made entirely from magic and crystal. Along with this fortification, there was an entire faction of the most gifted soldiers, nearly a thousand of them, trained especially for keeping their goddess safe from evil. For this was Saloria’s one flaw; she could change the world, but not the people in it. Even as peace still ruled over the world, evil still did exist, but for the most part, had been driven into seclusion with the teamwork of the enlightened races of Maya.

At this point, many stories have opened up to your eyes—the tales of the past and the power that Saloria commands.
But more important that any of these, will be your own story.
And so it shall begin…

[Swift]

Another day...
So far have I traveled, seeking to shed light on the questions I cannot solve meerly by thought. But as long as there is soil to step upon in this world, I will travel on until I find what I seek... it's just another day, another sun to light my path, another chance to feel the wind against my face... another attempt at what seems like the impossible...

I'll find my answers or walk into my grave trying... I swear it.

With the soft folds of his cloak gently brushing against his arm, and his shield gently bouncing against the sheath on his back, Aueron finally came to a stop right at the edge of a decently-sized town; but nothing really stood out in it at first glance. Though, it was easy for him to tell by the signs and the looks of the buildings where a shop was open, which were housings, and there even appeared to be a lodge, not including the many citizens carrying on their daily tasks or chores. The hum of collected speaking ringed in his ears as he peered upon the many people in the dusty street.

The town seemed to be located in a sandy gulch, and the smell of distant sea-water filtered in through his nose. There was natural shade spaced out at a decent rate enough to not make the terrain look harsh and humid, but the sun above wasn't that strong either way. Aueron's leather boots moved from their former possitions and carried him down towards the town--he had been traveling for the past three days, and he figured this was probally as good a place as any to rest and gather supplies before continuing on again. In his left arm he carried a fairly light ruck-sack that was slung over his shoulder holding what food and supplies he carried with him from that last town he had stopped in, as well as, more importantly, a small coin purse to purchase the little things he needed to get by.

With his stomach on the brink of growling for food, as Aueron hadn't eaten since the afternoon before, he slowly moved through the criss-crossing pedestrians in the street on his way to what he thought looked like a tavern, hoping they served some sort of food he was familiar with... excluding ale.

[Lyra]

~Isra looked up as she heard the door swing open. She watched the unfamiliar man enter and approach the woman behind the counter, the owner's daughter, and ask her a question. Interested, though only slightly, she turned her attention back to the people of the tavern. The chair beneath her creaked as she shifted her weight, then recrossed her legs. The tavern was a busy place. It did good business.

Isra took another sip from her glass and set it back down upon the table. Having only arrived in this town today, she was curious to see wat kind of people lived here. She turned back to face the man who had just come in, who was still at the counter. Though she did not know the people here, she could tell this man was not from around here. The worn boots, dusty clothes, and bag over his shoulder revealed he was a journeyman.

Isra sighed and laced her fingers together, elbows on the table, resting her chin in the net her hands made. She waited to see what would happen next.

[Airkshil]

Iro was going about his daily routine of searching for work. It had been several weeks since he had steady work as a mercenary and he was almost ready to break down and get a decent job. Almost. He had a room at the local inn but he barely afford it with what he made in the best of times and, with no money coming in, they were going to make him work off his debt eventually.

He was barely paying attention to where he put his feet on the way to the tavern. Not to drink of course, but to ask the local bar maid if she had heard of work for him. Drinking cost money and he wouldn't have drank even if he did have the money. Iro despised drinking.

When he got to the tavern, Iro pulled open the door without truly thinking about it, and was startled by the sudden onslaught of noise. Not that it was much louder than usual, but because he only just then realized what he must look like. A dark, almost scary looking man with a sword, if half hidden, staring intently at...nothing. Iro shook his head and started toward the counter. Engaging the barkeep in conversation, he quickly learned that nothing had changed since the weeks before when he had first arrived. Sighing briefly, and spared a quick thought of, As if anything ever changed in this town, he sat down at nearby table to sort out his thoughts. Giving no thought to where he sat, Iro simply grabbed the closest chair and plopped down in it.

((OOC: jeez this turned out to be longer than i meant.))

[Lyra]

~Isra was startled as she heard the sound. She turned to see a dark looking man seated at the table next to her. He seemed a bit worn out. 'Must be another traveler' she thought to herself. Feeling bored, and bit more outgoing than usual, Isra faced the man completely and smiled. "Hey there. Long day?" she asked, trying to make a bit of small talk.

[Airkshil]

Startled by the voice he heard addressing him, Iro suppressed the urge to stare holes through the woman. Barely. Trying, and failing miserably he thought, to soften his expression just a little bit, he managed to reply, "More like the long haul of the century it seems like." He realized suddenly that the girl might find him just the least bit rude, sitting down at an already occupied table without invitation and all. "Sorry, if I was interrupting anything." came the hasty apologized.

[Lyra]

~Isra shook her head. "Not at all. I'm Isra."
She extended her hand for the stranger to shake, notcing how worn his hands looked. This man either worked like a dog in a field or a similiar occupation, or he was a mercenary. Glancing at the partially hidden sword, she would hazzard a guess at the later.

[Airkshil]

Iro noticed the woman, Isra she said her name was, glance at his hands, then at his sword and nearly rolled his eyes. It was a common enough reaction but one he tired of easily. Iro tried to shift his cloak so as to better hide his sword in a way that seemed natural. With the same movement, he moved forward to shake the proffered hand, "I'm Iro. Nice to meet ya." Leaning back in his chair slightly once again, Iro struggled for something to say. He never was very good at small talk. "Know any good places to make money around here? I'm out of job right now, see?" He idly wondered what she thought about the sword she had glimpsed.

[mutilateddragon]

To the far right of the worn, beer splattered bar sat Aeron, his head resting heavily on his right hand, left wrapped tightly around an empty bottle of whiskey. The man stank of alcohol and to those passing by he looked to be in a deep, drunken sleep.
A sudden draft from the door being slammed open caught the man's dazed attention, and his glazed, blood-shot eyes flicked over to the entrance of the tavern.
Stood there were a group of five men, all heavily armed with swords and axes. The man at the front seemed to be looking for someone, raising his bald head to look over the crowd of people until his black eyes caught sight of Aeron near the back. A small smile crossing the man's lips, he turned and motioned with his head for the rest of the thugs to follow.
Aeron groaned, swinging his body violently round on the chair so that he faced the oncoming mob of people.
"What do ya want?" Aeron's speech was heavily slurred by alcohol, his tongue so numb it could barely flex in time to pronounce the words properly.
It was the bald man at the front who replied, his name was Bane, a tough and intelligent man, whose enjoyment came primarily from the torture of others. This close Aeron's blurry eyes could just make out the thick plate metal armour encasing his chest and bulging stomach. The mark of his clan carved into the metal on the top left of his chest plate, just the same as his own, however Aeron preferred to keep his hidden when he was 'off duty'.
"Oh, you know very well, mate. The boss sent for you personally for this one!" The rest of the men chuckled behind him. None of them looked very intelligent, behind their eyes there was nothing, they lived only for the pleasure of causing harm to others and making them feel lower than themselves.
Aeron sighed and with a slight shake of his head turned back to the face the woman behind the bar, she was stood almost directly behind him and had the guilty expression as if had been standing there for a while listening to the conversation.
"Another bottle, if you would, miss...wait no, make it two." The woman nodded in reply, hurrying to fetch two more bottles a mocking wolf-whistle following her.

"You shouldn't drink so much, Aeron. You stink, you know that?" It was Bane again; his face was bent down so that he was only a few inches from Aeron's. After getting no reaction he grinned maliciously and carried on, "If you ask me, you need to stop morning about that b****. You killed her three-" A strangled noise came from Bane's mouth, as Aeron's hand tightened it's grip, crushing the man's trachea. Aeron was on his feet, eyes burning with hatred at the red-faced man spluttering before him. A blow fell to the side of his head and Aeron dropped like a lead weight to the floor.
Bane rubbed his neck and spat at Aeron.
“Meet us at the shelter in two hours. And don’t be late.” Then after kicking the man he turned with the rest and left the tavern, pushing people roughly out of their way.

[Swift]

Aueron felt a few stares and glances come over him as he had walked into the tavern, pacing himself kind of slowly as he moved towards the counter. His leather boots added to the sound of conversation and clinking glasses and untensils while he slowly weaved past the drunks and waitresses towards the inn-keeping with his question forming into his mouth.

It only took a few moments to get a reply--Aueron didn't bother using a greeting to the woman behind the counter, but rather just a quick "Do you happen to serve soup?"
The inn-keeper nodded slightly with a soft "Uh-huh..." as she waited a moment to take on other requests and conversations before she would proceed to inform the kitchen of them. Aueron might have ordered a lighter meal just so he could move on from his hunger more quickly, but he could be patient enough to wait for his turn; after all, there were way more people there than only him.

Though, as he turned around to get another glance across the people scattered about at the tables, a fairly loud thump sounded, quickly quieting the tavern in the matter of a second in slight surpise--and armored man kicked another who had been knocked to the ground before storming out with his small band of cut-throats behind him.
"Must be mercenaries..." the wanderer wispered to himself as he watched the last of them pass out of the door once more. By the way the armored man spoke to the drunk, it seemed that they both belonged to the same organization, if not at least knew eachother fairly well. Given that piece of given information, Aueron refrained from going over to help the fallen man up:
He's probally a killer all the same...

Slowly, the ambience of the tavern started to work up again as though there was a sense of 'okay, the show's over' comeing over them all. It seemed that while the world was meant to be peaceful--there hadn't been any wars for a good number of years--tears and bloodshed could still be found if you knew where to look, and it's not like many people did.
While his order was still pending its arrival, Aueron turned to his curiousness and made his way after the door that still swung with some of the momentum left from the last exiting cut-throat. But as he pulled into the view of the outside once again, a cold breeze suddenly came over him that brought him some surprise. Aueron held out his left hand with his palm facing up towards the sky, and a small snowflake soon landed on it, soon followed by another--it was snowing in a place that was very warm only about fifteen minutes ago.

"...must be pretty breezy up in that tower," the adventurer overheard someone else say before lowering his hand again and turned back, seeing a waitress bring a bowl out towards the counter.

[Lyra]

~Isra shook her head. "I wish I could help you out, Iro, but I just arrived here today." Isra sighed softly. "Sorry, but you're on your own there." Her attention turned swiftly to the skirmish by the bar. 'More merceneries?' she thought to herself. 'What's with this town?' After watching the men leave, she turned back to Iro. "Are you from around here?" she asked.

[Airkshil]

As the sense of a forthcoming bloodbath left him, Iro wondered whether the lone man would need help. He rejected the idea in the end but came to the conclusion that it was about time to head to the next city. When mercenaries ran amok in a city the people tended to scorn all of them for a while.

"No, just staying long enough to get some money." In his head he added and not a second longer. Iro could almost feel his luck starting to bend, that was the right word for it. After so long of nothing happening he only vaguely remembered the feeling. Whenever he felt that certain way something big always happened. Last time it had sent him packing away from home with no money or food and only his sword and clothes to make his way.

Trying to ignore his foreboding, Iro attempted to change the subject. "Do you happen to know the direction of the nearest town from here?" He hoped that wasn't too forward but didn't know how else to phrase it. Maybe he would end up leaving tonight.

[Lyra]

~Isra nodded. She sensed the man urgency to leave, thogh she did not know why. "Follow the path to north out of town, and head north-east. From what I recall, there is a small town there. Maybe you could find some work there. It's been a while since I've been there, so I don't really remember." Trying not to be rude, but knowing th man would be going soon, Isra said quietly, "I wish you luck," and went back to her drink, hoping something more interesting would happen soon.

[ev1lpoptart]

Pritchard led his horse to the stables of the small tavern. As he approached the door, he saw a band of sell-swords leaving, and he figured this to be the right spot. The captain of the guard had told him there may be some key in this town as to what was disturbing the tower as of late, and had further charged him with looking into it. some dubious mission, he thought. He checked his blades in their sheathes, then casually raised the hood of his cloak, pulling the cowl over his pulled back hair and his elven forehead. Those with a discerning eye would know him to be a guard by the hunter green cloak, but he figured most in the tavern wouldn't be any the wiser.

Pritchard pushed the door open and stepped inside. He stood at an empty spot in the bar and waited patiently for the tender to approach him. "your finest wine," he said curteously, and began sorting through the crowd, trying to find some sort of clue. When the barmaid brought him a fine glass of wine, he smelled it and proceeded to a table in the back corner of the tavern's main room, by the stairs, waiting to see what might transpire...

[Airkshil]

As he stood up to leave, Iro saw an elf walk in who was obviously out of place in a tavern, and slowly sat himself back in his chair never taking his eyes off the new comer. As a child, Iro had always been fascinated by the lore of the elves and since leaving his home he had gained personal admiration of them for their natural skill with a blade. Despite all that he felt he shouldn't approach this one. He rather felt wary of him rather than awed. "I...I think I'm gonna stay for a while." He said to Isra without actually thinking about it, still staring examiningly at the elf.