The next few days were incredibly boring. I know I should have seen it coming, especially since I had been on a long trip a several months ago, however it was not nearly as bad as that previous trip. For one, I didn’t have to defecate where I slept! Having to do such a thing is both foul and unsanitary – I wouldn’t wish it upon anyone…well, maybe for Anders but he’s not a person in my mind.

One thing I am happy to report is the location of my seat for the remainder of the journey: as far away as possible from Anders. I suppose I should be thankful for the selfishness of the two girls – Dinara and Tabitha – for wishing to hog the closest seats to the man in black. Without their eager efforts, I would have had to endure possibly catching sight of Anders whenever I groomed myself.

Speaking of the man and girls, they never shut up for the entire journey. The first day was tolerable, possibly due to them being nervous about how to act around Anders. However, once they grew accustomed to things, they gabbled and garbled, chittered and chattered, discussed and deliberated…I think I’ve proven my point as to the mind-numbingly tedious talking that I had to sit through. That’s not to say some of the stuff they mentioned wasn’t worthwhile to know but the constant noise was not conducive, nor considerate towards those who wished to nap all day!

If I recall, one of their many varied topics of discourse was concerning the Schwarzerberg Clan and what to expect once we all arrived in the city. According to Anders, there were several representatives of the Clan who ventured out of the city to the nearby settlements. They did this so they could scout out potential Tamer talents not within the Clan and bring them back to aid in their development.

Dinara asked about what would happen if a lot of children were brought back to the Clan and whether they would be sorted into classes. I’m not entirely sure what Anders responded with, since I wasn’t trying to pay attention to their conversation, however I did catch him mentioning something about those scouted not being immediate members of the Clan. He said something about there being a number of trials those brought had to undergo, in order to prove themselves worthy of receiving the education provided by the Schwarzerberg. I wrinkled my nose at his less desirable way of wording it and decided to initiate my grooming regimen instead.

Another day, another question. This time, it was Teival who had asked – which surprised me since he usually remained silent with regards to inquiring about things in front of the other children.

“When do Clan members get the tattoo?”

“Tattoo? What’s that?” Puzzled over what my master had meant by that, I turned to stare at Anders and found him stroke the black symbol on his face. “Is that called a tattoo?”

“Only those of the highest rank, or those born into the Clan are permitted to wear the tattoo. You could think of it as a sign of status, where it truly shows who are the strongest and most important. As for when you’d have the chance…you’re years too early to even think of getting one!”

Tabitha queried over this matter, to which the Clan-man explained how people entering into the Clan were given the absolute lowest rank to more easily reflect their social position of still being considered outsiders. I felt this was quite unfair for those who were more talented than others already in the Clan, however I could understand the reason for establishing such a hierarchy. It ensured those who had shown their allegiance and trust would be rewarded with a better position within the Clan. “Crude but efficient…”

Pondering over the new information pertaining to the positions of people within the Clan, I realised that all I had to do to stop Teival from bearing that awful tattoo was to keep him from rising through the ranks! “I am a genius! I just have to make them not trust him!” I wagged my fluffy tail from side to side in glee over this revelation, which earned me a confused look from my master. “Don’t worry, Teival! I’m just thinking about how to improve your future, by not having Anders in it!”

+++

The days passed by at a slow pace, with us going through a forest, then over a mountain covered with black and brown crystals, dark rocks and black soil. At one point we had to stop for Anders to hunt a deer since their food had run lower than expected, however I didn’t really care about whether the others starved. Teival had been clever and packed tons of food for the both of us, whereas Dinara and Tabitha had filled their bags with way too many clothes and accessories. “This isn’t a holiday, you know?”

We eventually reached a point of the journey where the city was on the horizon. Anders took great delight in pointing it out – since the children had never seen such a sight before. Teival and I leaned beside the hard hole and peered out to see ginormous black termite mounds rising from the ground and piercing the sky. Well, I say termite mounds but – as we drew ever closer to our destination – the surfaces seemed far more streamlined, shiny and smooth.

With the boundary of the city a few minutes away from us crossing through, I analysed the scene before my eyes and felt stupefied. The black ‘termite mounds’ were almost a third the size of the mountain we had just passed over! All across the surface were many hard holes with crystal lights shimmering and glowing through from the rooms I presumed they resided in “Buildings and windows…Huh? How did I not realise that before?”

Outside the city was an enormous crystal barrier that slightly distorted the appearance of the settlement whenever a vehicle, or flying creature passed – or attempted to pass – through. The sheer amount of crystals needed to power such a barrier left me astounded as I recalled how much the village had struggled to maintain the few crystals keeping their own barrier running! It’s why they had to pool their resources together in order to bulk buy myself and the other crystal beasts!

Along each black pathway leading into the city, a number of adults clad in black attire were stationed with their intimidatingly gigantic crystal beasts. From my observations, I perceived them to be a kind of sentry unit placed at entry points to maintain the safety and smoothness of the foot traffic both coming and going through. I didn’t look at them for too long on account of a slight headache beginning to form from catching glimpses of tattoos on some of their faces.

Passing through the barrier, I was overwhelmed by a sense of inferiority in both size and strength as I realised that the city was – by far – vastly superior in both size and affluence over the market and village. Everywhere I turned my gaze, there were people milling about with their crystal beasts – going about their day as usual. I’d find a patrol of Schwarzerberg Clan-men making the rounds along some paths leading down dark spots between the black mounds.

As we ventured down one of the multitudinous black paths worming through the city, I saw so many crystal-powered vehicles that I had begun to wonder if I had stepped into an entirely different world from the village! The technology of this city was on an entirely different level compared to anything else I had seen. “Oh! Look, Teival! That vehicle’s not even touching the ground!” I wagged my fluffy tail in unveiled excitement over the scene I was experiencing – completely taken over by the visual impact of seeing a city for the first time.

“Look, Kia! Look up!” I heard Teival quickly say while pointing towards the sky.

Tilting my head in the direction of my master’s finger, I saw crystal birds far larger in size than Adah’s eagle. Squinting my eyes with perfect vision, I managed to make out large boxes being carried in their talons. Wondering what they were doing, my quandary was soon resolved when Teival muttered something about them being used for a delivery service. Not really understanding what a delivery service was, I still relished in the sight of seeing them flit from location to location within the city as we passed.

After around an hour of entering the city, Anders guided the vehicle to the tallest and widest black structure situated at the centre. With the vehicle slowing down, I glanced at the black building and felt it was exceptionally familiar but also not, at the same time. My headache from earlier resurfaced with a vengeance the longer I looked. Shifting my gaze to inside the vehicle, I snuggled into Teival’s chest and whimpered from the pain.

“What’s wrong, Kia?”

“Mm, nothing. It’ll pass…”

I ignored the pain as the vehicle stopped. Once we were at a standstill in front of the building, Anders opened the door to let us out. My master stroked my head and uttered reassuring words, like how everything was going to be okay. However, as we walked closer to the steps leading up to the entrance of the structure, my headache shifted into an intense migraine.

“It hurts! It hurts! It hurts! Teival, it hurts! I’m scared! Make it stop! I don’t like it! It hurts!” A piercing sound began reverberating in my mind as a conglomeration of emotions and pain engulfed me. I couldn’t move. I couldn’t speak. I couldn’t breathe. I couldn’t think. Then…nothing, as my vision faded to black.