Beastia: The Land of Beasts

Calumiki and Alexen took off into a full on sprint towards the bridge that connected Glacia and Beastia, it was known as the Bisor Bridge. Glacia and Beastia had been allies for nearly their whole existence, so putting a bridge between the two island countries was an acceptable thing to do.

The pillars that dug into the ocean and supported the bridge were made from iron, something that is very commonly mined in Beastia. The iron was extremely worn down, yet still stood strong as the freezing cold waves slammed into it. The rest of the bridge was made from skillfully carved stone and the railings were encrusted in ruby, another material abundant in Beastia.

The two of them ran all the way to the middle of the bridge where the railings curved around wide into a circle, and on the ground laid two embedded stones. One stone, seeming to be lapis, was on the side they just came from, Glacia. The red stone was a ruby, which was on the side of Beastia border. As soon as Alexen and Calumiki stepped foot across the side with the ruby, the temperature increased significantly and Alexen began to sweat like crazy. On their way over to the gate, Alexen was already beginning to take off his jacket and his layered clothes, all the while complaining about the heat.

"Why is it so hot here?" Alexen whined.

"It's not hot here, it's just that Glacia is so freakishly cold." Calumiki argued.

And the sun was brighter too! Alexen gazed in awe of the sun's power, for he had never seen it so bright before. The sun caught his attention so much so that Calumiki had to tell him not to look at it for a long time. But now they've reached the gate.

There were two Beastial guards holding spears, one had big fluffy brown ears while the other had a grey fluffy tail much like Calumiki. They both seemed really youthful too. The two guards stood in front of the dark grey gate, now shining bright due to the sun generously bathing it in warm sunlight. When the guards saw the two of them coming, they dropped to their knees and knelt before them.

"It has been an honor to have you Glacials visit our home," the fluffy eared guard humbly spoke.

"And, it is so great to see you safe, Calum," the other guard spoke with such passion.

Alexen was dumbfounded. He expected the guards to raise their weapons at him, since he was a foreigner, especially the foreigner of a nation in war. But they dropped to their knees, exposed their necks to him, and exalted him so much so like he was a king.

The guards returned to their feet and slowly pushed the heavy gate open to allow them to enter. They looked to Alexen and Calumiki as they entered the country. "Best of luck to the two of you," They said in such a soft, caring voice.

Alexen gawked at the tall and strong buildings that filled the town. The buildings were so tall that he had to raise his head up a lot more just to see the top. He was also suprised at how wealthy it looked. Nearby food vendors were booming with business, and blacksmiths were backed up trying to make a surreal amount of swords and spears for crowds and crowds of people. Restaurants had decently sized lines just for entry, but what was thriving the most was the military barracks and camps.

"Welcome to the military town of Shieston. The nicest yet strictest town in the country!" Calumiki began to chuckle as if that were a funny joke that he'd heard.

All around them, people with wagging tails, fluffy dog ears, or both, strolled all across town and walked by as they went throughout their day. Alexen still wasn't used to this.

"Why do some Beastials have fluffy animal-like ears? I thought they just had tails?" Alexen's brain began to hurt and he began to question his sanity, since it it's not everyday you see people walking around with tails and freaky animal-like ears.

Calumiki got a chuckle from Alexen's expression then took a deep breath, sticking his index finger up. "Listen closely, not every Beastial is born with a fluffy tail, and not every Beastial is born with fluffy ears, it's always one or the other, or both if you're lucky. Although they may look cute, or even weird to foreigners, tails and dog-like ears are essentially for our survival."

"How?" Alexen interrupted.

Calumiki seemed heated like boiling water in a teapot, but maintained a smile while still holding up his finger. "Let me finish, I was just about to get to that." He cleared his throat. "Tails and animal ears give the person abilities and traits that give them an edge in combat. Tails enhance the person's reaction time immensely, allowing them to detect immediate danger and react quickly using the tail to negate air friction so they can move more fluently. Animal ears just simply give you the ability to hear much better and detect enemies far more efficiently based on the sound of their footsteps. There, you got your answer."

Alexen nodded his head, and suddenly remembered all those times with Calumiki before, especially that time where he tackled him to the ground and pinned him tight.

"He let me do that! He let me slam him to the ground! He could have easily dodged it, but he accepted it." Alexen thought to himself.

He also reminisced about the fireball that was hurtling towards the two of them. Calumiki grabbed Alexen by the collar, and pulled him close to him, using his own body to shield him, in case the fireball hit them before they hit the snow. Alexen had just realized this, how Calumiki was willing to give his own life to protect him. He started to see Calumiki in a new light. He was more than just a Beastial to Alexen now, he was like a companion. "No wonder," Alexen thought. "No wonder Mom chose him to watch over me."

Calumiki guided Alexen all around Shieston, they packed up on snacks and Alexen got to do sightseeing while Calumiki talked to the guards about his experience in Glacia, the guards seemed to be frightened as they coldly stared at Alexen. But while Alexen was following Calumiki, he turned suddenly into a small blacksmith shop.

The building was made from sturdy wooden planks, and the floor was made from polished cobblestone that glistened and held strong even when the heaviest person stomped on it. Inside lies a counter made almost completely from glass, it contained wooden frames. Inside the glass were weapons put on display, spears, swords, and daggers, the blades made from shiny and strong iron.

Alexen was ecstatic and ran up to the glass counter to catch sight of them glowing in the radiant sun. He breathed heavily as his eyes darted back and forth to the numerous weapons on display. His eyes were fixed upon the swords until they were satisfied and then moved to the spears, and so on so forth.

Behind the counter was a beefy man with long brown hair and thick fluffy brown tail, much fluffier, thicker, and longer than Calumiki's tail. Calumiki slapped down twelve rectangular shaped pieces of paper onto the counter. "Here, twelve bistons, just like you asked for. Now give me the dagger you promised to make."

"'Righty, alrighty." The man had a deep, intimidating voice as if it were as battle hardened as himself.

The blacksmith went into a closet in the back of the store and walked out with a medium sized dagger inside a black sheath. "Well here you are!"

"Thanks a ton," Calumiki said. They both grabbed their tails and pulled it in front of their body with one hand, and with the other hand they would place their palms on each other's as if they were measuring hand size. Then they stopped after a moment.

As Calumiki and Alexen walked out the door, the man called for Calumiki. "Hey Calum, did you hear?"

"Hear what?"

"I heard from some travelers that the humans had invented something truly extravagant. They call it a crossbow. They say it can shoot blades from hundreds of feet away. It's really scary… yet intriguing."

"Oh? I'll be sure to watch out then. See ya'!"

Alexen and Calumiki slammed the door shut and went out down the street.

"Make sure to watch out when we go out, there might be folks who got their hands on these crossbows. Truly scary."

Shivers sent down his spine as Alexen agreed with him. "Oh yeah! By the way, what was that thing you guys did?"

"Oh that?" Calumiki began to laugh as he explains it. "It's how we say 'Thank you' or 'bless your soul' in the Beastial culture. Exposing the ends of our tails to each other symbolizes trust, as we are grabbing hold of the thing that gives us great reaction time. With ears it's the same, it's just they cover one ear with a hand. And we place our palms on one another's to symbolize that apart of us will always stay the same, and we'll always have that bond together."

"Oh I see! But…why'd you buy a dagger?" Alexen pointed to the weapon sheathed at Calumiki's side.

"You wanted to speak to the leader of this country to ask for help right? Well to get to the King, we must travel through the plains, which is inhabited by ferocious Kordoks. Of course I'm not going in there without a weapon!"

Alexen suddenly grew pale and his legs began to quiver. Kordoks are surely scary in the illustrations of books, according to Alexen, imagine how scary they'd be in real life!

This town was surely a lively one, but it only acted as a military district for the Beastial army to protect the border that lies right next to it. Calumiki explained to Alexen that it would only get better from here once they passed the plains. After they passed the plains, they'd be entering the wealthier towns and royal districts.

Alexen thought it would be easy to talk to the leader of this country, but he could never imagine the complexity of the government. The King held fifty percent of the power, but three other individuals, leaders of their respective districts, held the other fifty percent of power equally. So in order to request an action from the government, the king and two-thirds of these leaders have to agree upon it.

Alexen was truly tired, and really not looking forwards to speaking with the king, or the three leaders. But he chuckled at the thought he had that maybe the King might have a large poofy tail with golden fur. It would fit his role of royalty, and would be extremely hilarious. Alexen feared if that was the case, he wouldn't be able to contain his laughter in front of His Majesty.

The farther out of the main area of the town Alexen and Calumiki went, the less houses there were, and the less people there were. No one dared to venture close to Kordok territory, unless they were escorted by soldiers, so the land near it was basically desolate besides a handful of soldiers that patrolled the outskirts to make sure no Kordoks venture into the city.

Unlike Glacia, which was filled with white and blue, Beastia had very lush and seasonal colors. The leaves on the healthy trees reflected a bright and vibrant orange, and the grass on the ground was long and luscious as they were happily battered by the wind like the masochists they were.

Finally, Alexen and Calumiki left the town and were now in Kordok territory. Calumiki took his dagger out of its sheath and it made an audible Shing! sound. He held it up, prepared for one to pounce on him at any moment. Alexen was frightened though. His legs were like wet noodles as he continued to walk with Calumiki. And he's never used his ice ability anywhere besides Glacia, he feared it might work differently in a place not blessed by Glacia.

"Wait!" Calumiki stuck his hand out to stop Alexen in tracks. "Look over there." He pointed to a patch of grouped trees, and Alexen turned to look at them. Hidden behind those trees was a Kordok lurking around. "It's a Kordok. Looks to be just one." He tightened his grip on the dagger, then took a deep breath. "We might need to take it out."

Alexen took a big gulp of air. "Why…Why can't we just sneak past it?"

"Because if it notices us or catches any smell it likes on us behind our backs, we're screwed. We gotta kill it before it stalks us later and comes to bite us in the butt, literally and figuratively."

Calumiki quickly, yet stealthily approached the Kordok, dagger ready with Alexen following behind. The giant wolf-like creature stood on all fours, about as big as a bulky plow horse, boasted brown and black fur, and showed off its pointy black spikes that grew around its neck like a lion mane. On top of that, it still had its sharp fangs, each tooth as sharp as a sword.

Calumiki walked silently behind as it roamed for its next meal. He jumped up to its upper back and struck the Kordok with his dagger. Blood wetted the Kordok's fur and it roared mightily as it turned around to face its attacker, a puny Beastial.

"Now! Alexen! Shoot!"

Alexen charged up an ice arrow and fired it at the Kordok's chest. It hit it directly, but didn't go deep in.

"What! Is my ice weakened?" Alexen panicked in his mind.

The Kordok was aggravated even more and charged at Calumiki, flexing it's spikes so they poke out more and impale the Beastial. But Calumiki used his superior reaction time to dodge immediately.

"Calumiki! My ice isn't very strong at the moment!" Alexen yelled to him from a distance. "What do I do?!"

"Ugh! Stay back! I got this!" Calumiki hacked away at the spikes that meant him harm, and some of them chipped off.

The Kordok stepped back, then thrusted it's spikes at him ferociously, and even tried to catch him by using it's fangs to bite onto his clothing. But the Beastial excelled at diverting the Kordok's attacks and evading them. It was only until the Kordok's fangs barely caught the side of Calumiki's tunic and tossed him to the side that he was in real danger.

Calumiki was dazed as he had been tossed hard to the ground, and his head began to hurt. So the Kordok advanced, until Alexen shot an icicle at it.

"Stay away," he said.

The beast stood tall and mighty, as if it knew it won. But it ignored Alexen and pounced on Calumiki. But then a large spear came hurtling towards the monster, hitting it in the eye and killing it instantly. It's massive body fell upon a nearby tree, and a loud crash was heard while the tree went down with the corpse.

A large man with a golden helmet and a tough leather set of clothing ran to the two of them, behind him were four other Beastials, two with fluffy ears, and two with fluffy tails. The big man had both fluffy ears and a tail.

"Calum! Young man! We must go now!" He sprinted towards them and outreached his hand.

"King?!" Calumiki was completely baffled.

"King?!" Alexen repeated.

His muscular, hardy hand latched on to Calumiki's arm and he pulled him to his feet. "Steadfast everybody!"

Multiple loud and furious roars rang from a distance away, sending chills down everyone's spine.

"The…the Kordoks… they heard that tree fall." One of the king's soldiers quivered as he spoke. "They're super sensitive to sound."

The group took off running, getting an early start before twenty Kordoks jumped out from the cover of the trees and began to pursue them.

"Guys! I have this!" While running, Alexen pulled out his Kordok necklace, the one he had purchased from that merchant, from the inside of his tunic and let it show.

"That stupid necklace won't work." Calumiki yanked the necklace off of Alexen and threw it to the Kordok's behind them. The monsters lashed out on the necklace, tearing it to pieces.

One of the Kings guards looked behind him and his face grew as pale as snow. "They're catching up on us sir!"

Up ahead, there was a military checkpoint, guarded and secured with strong and sturdy stone walls reinforced with iron. Seeing the group running. The men guarding the gate opened it up and men were hoisting up Kordok carcasses.

But as the group neared close, a Kordok closes in and snatches one of the royal guards. "Please! I don't want to die!" His voice was silent as three Kordok stood back to eat his corpse, bones and all.

The guards at the top of the wall tossed Kordok carcasses in front of the entrance, and the Kordoks dispersed, fleeing as they wheezed and whined in fear. Those monsters truly hate the corpse of their own.

Alexen and his Beastial companions rushed to the inside of the gate, but Alexen stared at that Beastials corpse—or what remained of it.

Nearly puking, the Glacial slowly walked inside the fort with his whole body shivering.