Dramora, City of Wonders (1)
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It appeared that Pietro didn't just have a lot to learn, he barely knew anything. He had lived two lives, both long enough to make him far more mature than he looked, and yet, he felt as though he was nothing more than a newborn, a babe who grasped at the void and discovered all that surrounded him for the very first time. But there was something exciting to this idea, this idea that all he knew was just the first page of a gigantic encyclopedia. It was really just his curious that allowed him to remain fairly calm as the demon in front of him shattered his knowledge of the entire universe.

She had offered to accompany them back to the wall and explained a few things on the way there. As sweet as she was with Pietro, he knew that she mostly did all of that from fear. Asura had not stopped peering at her from behind, and she shivered every minute or so as he tried to get closer and her steps hastened.

What she told Pietro challenged all that he knew, but for some reason, he wasn't very surprised, he had always known in the back of his mind that his own kind was prone to letting their imagination run wild. They had based their knowledge of the afterlife on stories and myths that they couldn't all fully agree over, so it wasn't like the basis Pietro had was very solid.

Hell was apparently a planet, as was Heaven. The woman, who had presented herself as Nymra, did not know much about the cosmos and what it held, however, she knew one thing. Hell was more of a planet, a world than it was an afterlife. She had never seen large amounts of other species, and the ones she had seen were usually not quite dead. Pietro had to stomp on the nasty idea that sprouted in his mind at that revelation. But it kept coming back. He kept questioning how Hell could exist and yet not simply be a form of afterlife. If Hell was not filled with demons and the dead, where did all the deceased souls even go?

He actually voiced that question only when they had reached the wall, and in a way, Pietro knew that it took this long because he didn't really want to get an answer.

" Where do the deceased go? Can't say I know. You should find the answer in Dramora though. There is a lot of knowledge to be acquired there. To be honest, it's just about the only reason anyone ever visits that city. It is the city of knowledge and nothing else really." Nymra appeared to hold some sort of disdain for that city, Pietro could not understand the reason for that. 

And now, with a mind full of questions and no real answers, Pietro found himself at the bottom of the wall. It was time to climb it, or rather, it was time to climb on Asura's back and let him do all the work.

Nymra seemed quite amused by what she saw but still held herself at a comfortable distance from Asura who had remained silent during the small trip back to the wall. He had quickly lost all of his excitement after he was prevented from killing Nymra, but of course, that monster would become bored after being denied a literal murder. 

"So, here's the thing. The wall is exactly as tall as you think it is. Usually, most people would just fly over it, but if you have no wings as I do...Well, you either depend on someone who does or you run all the way up." Nymra explained as though it made perfect sense, and Asura even nodded! 

Pietro had to look left and right between them multiple times, just to make sure he had not gone crazy.

"Asura....Do you even know how to run on walls? I mean I do not doubt that it is possible, we are in Hell and you are a demon, but...How does even learn to do that?" He asked, more to Nymra than Asura, for he highly doubted that the fiery demon could even explain how he could do most of the things he was capable of. 

"You...Hmm, that is a good question actually. I never learned how to do that, but most of the warriors I have met did. I simply assumed this...Monster is capable of it too." Perhaps she had put more venom in her voice than she had intended to, but Asura did not take offence to it, he simply nodded once more and put Pietro on his back.

"Hang on tight, or I will drop you and I won't notice it." 

With this, Asura took off. Before Pietro could even make a remark on how non-reassuring his statement was, he found himself hanging onto Asura for dear life. Wrapped around the bigger body of his companion screamed the entire time, and it took at least half an hour for Asura to reach the top of the wall. At the end, Pietro had a raspy voice and the desire to never trust Asura with anything ever again.

Any complaints he had, however, died in his throat as he took in the sight that greeted him. Just as Nymra had explained, the 'ceiling' was the ground. After reaching the top of the wall they had somehow pierced through the ceiling without feeling anything and now...Now they found themselves at the surface, the real surface of Hell. Pietro could confidently state that his kind had at least understood one thing about Hell, it was hot. 

As far as his eyes could see, Pietro could make out mountains covered in lava. The ground was purely black, but it still felt like dirt strangely enough. The trees were gigantic and resembled oak and cedar trees. Thankfully, they were the right colours, or at least they still looked like they did when Pietro was still alive. In the distance, Pietro saw his objective and he marvelled at how more beautiful Hell seemed to get by the minute.

The city looked old, just like everything did in Hell. Pietro had lived in a much more advanced age than the demons seemed to. But perhaps they did not need to advance all that much when they had access to whatever their powers were. That was one more thing that the monks hadn't taught him, the different powers that demons had. Though according to them every species in existence could use them. He could hardly wait. Would he learn magic!? Or perhaps-

"Human, you appear to be drooling. Are you hungry? I can smell something behind us, it smells nice. I could kill it if you want." Asura's voice came to take Pietro out of his thoughts. He snapped his head to the right and took a moment to process what Asura had told him.

"You can smell something? Like...An animal?" Pietro looked behind them and tried to locate whatever Asura had smelled, but he could not. And then he did. He saw it, an animal with six legs. It held itself like a wolf, but it looked nothing like it. While it was long, it was not very tall and looked far more aggressive than any wolves Pietro had ever seen. It had thick brown fur and two long tails on which Pietro noticed multiple scars. Beyond its strange appearance which did not shock Pietro, for at that point he had learnt to expect the unexpected from Hell, it was something else that got his attention.

"Asura...That thing, it's at least four hundred meters away from us. How did you even smell it!?" Pietro expressed his disbelief with hand gestures that seemed to greatly confuse Asura.

"I just did. I can simply smell it. Human your desire to know everything is annoying, stop it." With a small glare that sent shivers down Pietro's spine, Asura turned around and walked in the direction of the city. It appeared that he no longer wanted to hunt the creature to get food. 

'Great, now he's angry at me. Then again, when is he not angry anyway?' 

With a last glance at the animal, Pietro quickly followed after his companion. And that, was when the ground started to vibrate. The wind picked up and sent Pietro's on his face, shielding his view. He quickly ran his hands through it to free his sight, and he almost wished he hadn't. The trees seemed ready to burst away from the ground due to the speed of the wind. It hadn't just slightly picked up, something else was going on.

Asura appeared far less worried about the trees and the win, and more so about something in the sky. The twin suns that had come back to shine light down on the duo when they had climbed the wall, suddenly disappeared. A shadow appeared in their place. 

Pietro looked all around him and his eyes nearly bulged at the size of the shadow. It was so large that even the bizarre creature he had seen was trapped in it. 

And so, he looked at the skies too. For a second, he could not comprehend what his eyes had locked onto. Whatever it was, it was moving. In fact, it appeared to be landing close to the city. 

It had wings, it had scales and a tail so long Pietro was certain that whichever creature it belonged to could, even all the way from the city it was landing beside, use it to flatten him. It was too large for him to get a good look at its face, but he did not need to. He did not need to identify for Asura did, and what a dark presage that was. Anything Asura knew of, could only be a creature of immense violence. 

"How great! A real one, right in front of me! A dragon!"

Pietro's entire face froze in fright and he did not even turn to look at his companion, for he simply could not. He was still trying to wrap his head around the sheer size of the creature. 

"That...How is that a dragon!? It's bigger than the city itself!"

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