Baths

Looking at the city adorning the sea that spread across the horizon, the beautiful starry sky, and the sailors as they preferred to be called moving about on the ship, everything looked to be normal, except for the abyss that was surrounding the limitless sea that seemed to fall through to the abyss. If he gave his opinion, it looked like Asgard from the movies he used to watch in his past life, baring, of course, the gold look, it was humbler than that, stone that shone a gray color enclosed the city. It was a fortress in the middle of the sea, defended from all side by walls he couldn't even see the edge of.

Seeing the city only conjured up more and more questions inside Curtis' head. Why was he brought here? Thinking back to the questions he was asked before, he was asked many whys, why did he go to the forest, why was he there on that day, why was he alone, why did he feel like something was calling to him. It felt like he was fighting a hydra from Greek mythology, with one question he answered, two more popped out. His thoughts were only interrupted when someone tapped him on his shoulder.

"Hey kid, you alright?" Rook called out from behind him, to which he could only give a weak nod. "Sweet right?" Came the cheery voice of Masha, one which you would not expect to come from such a dangerous person. "I had the exact same look when I first came here," she added gazing at the huge walls surrounding the city.

As their ship was getting closer and closer to the city, Curtis felt dwarfed by its walls, the city was huge, bigger than what he had thought before. When he first saw it he thought they were close, but that couldn't be farther from reality, in fact, they were far, farther than he had initially thought. The single entry point to the city was a gate big enough to let the ship he was on, pass. Past the gate was what Masha called the *Grinder*. It was a dock enclosed by another layer of walls, with a few buildings specifically built there to house fighters and longshoremen to keep the docks both guarded and running smoothly. Apparently, it was both the heart of their trade and the graveyard of their enemies. It made sense, it was the only point where they could be attacked, and where they stood their ground. Looking at their docking point, hundreds of soldiers could be seen waiting for them, all lined up to welcome or kill them if they were enemies. And farther up were the workers gathering about, readying themselves if a fight broke out.

As the sailors were lowering the gangway Curtis finally had time to observe the soldiers up close. They looked like walking tanks, they wore full plate armor, shining with a grey glint, armed with a spear and shields, with a sword strapped to their side. In the middle of their formation one knight was standing out, he had a different helmet, he had one with a plume of black feathers, probably to distinguish him as the commander. The formation was neet, they had probably done this a thousand times. Curtis' eyes turned to the Captain of the ship, she jumped from the deck onto the dock. "Berrick! Come on my love. Help us with the cargo," she shouted out to the knights. Curtis could almost hear the audible sigh of relief from the side of the knights.

The commander of the knights disengaged from the formation, which was quickly filled with one from the rear, and came forward towards the ship, as he got closer Curtis saw that he was fairly tall, standing about 8 feet tall in comparison the tallest person Curtis saw in his hometown was his father who was close to 6.9 or so. His features were hidden by his helmet, but he swore he could hear whatever beard he was growing scratch against the metal when he spoke."What's the passcode, Edna?" The tall knight asked.

"Oh come on Berrick you know I'm not that good in remembering those stuff." Edna gave a shy laugh which earned a stink eye from the knight and a laugh from the crew members of the ship. "Ohh Alright." she finally gave in to the unyielding gaze from the knight. "Turtles that could fly are the gods of the new age." to which the knight finally relaxed and lowered his sword.

"As per protocol, everyone needs to stay in the designated bungalows until the verification has been completed, understood?"

"Oh no no no, I am not staying in those bland stinky huts, YOU HEAR ME?" Edna was practically shouting at this point. She knew how her husband kept to the protocol, and she did not want to give him any more trouble than what he can handle. Then her eyes landed on Curtis on board the ship, her stare caused him to flinch.

"I almost forgot about you!" she came aboard so fast that Curtis couldn't even react, and she practically dragged him down the walkway in front of the knight, and stood as straight as a rod, pulled out a small emblem from her chest pocket and announced. "I Edna, Captain of the Weeping Bride, under the direct orders from the council, have accomplished my mission. I am to report to the council asa- as soon as possible to announce the success of my mission."

The sudden announcement drew a confused look from the knight, which he aptly fixed. "Under my authority, I verify your token as true, I will escort you to the council." Berrick the knight threw a salute as soon as he saw the emblem. He signaled to the knights to relax and called out to a few of them to form a squad to escort Curtis and the Captain inside the walls.

"Your tongue alright there love?" Berrick called out to his wife.

"Let's take Rook with us, he can help explain what happened," Edna said flatly.

"Sure call out Rook, I always did like him."Berrick nodded "I'm sure I have something for it back at the barracks, shall I have one of the guards get it?"

"I'll also get Masha, she was the one to find the boy," Edna replied, ignoring the latter part of Berrick's answer.

"You know, biting your tongue like that, you looked quite cute." Berrick couldn't hold it in anymore and just laughed out loud.

"One more word about it and-" Edna got cut off when someone shouted out her name "Edna! Thank the gods you're back." The newly arrived person cut in between her and Berrick and gave her a hug. "Sally! Put me down, you're sweaty! I'm on official business here."

She was a tall woman, taller than even the knight who welcomed them, 9 or even 10 feet tall from what Curtis could see, she was a tall beautiful woman, she wore a plain black shirt that matched her raven-colored hair that was tied in a bun, the shirt hugged her slender figure accentuating her toned body, and brown slacks that failed to hide the beauty of her admirable legs, but she was matte with sweat it looked like she was training when she rushed here."What do you mean put you down? you left me here when I gave you that mission!" her gaze turned towards Curtis at the side and asked. "Is this the one?"

"Hello, my name is Curtis." facing the woman who apparently ordered for him to be here. Trying to get a read on the situation Curtis promptly introduced himself but leaving out his last name. He didn't want to announce it just yet, he wasn't sure if that even meant anything here. But, better be safe than sorry. He felt the gaze the woman gave her and Curtis felt like he was being assessed.

"You're a bit young." She gave her comment, "But, I guess you will have to do." something which just made him feel even more helpless. "Cut it out Sally. Rook and I just grilled him earlier, we should just deliver him to the council and be done with it, I miss my bath already." Edna spoke out for him, and it relieved some of the pressure Curtis was feeling. But with that pressure off of him, the time to address the elephant of the room was coming. "What did they want with him?"