Keeper of the lost cities: Survivor

𝕮𝖍𝖆𝖕𝖙𝖊𝖗 6

(1299 words)

"Woah" was the first word to come out of their mouths when the six elves fizzled into view.

And woah was right.

At that moment they stood in the shadow of a huge, graceful iron tower. The steeple teemed to tickle the stars, hundreds of feet up. It was a peculiar triangle like shape, with its steel structure overlapping almost gracefully.

Underneath, hundreds of humans milled about, posing for photos and snapping pictures. There were also people having little picnics near the base of the edifice.

"Soooo..." Dex said, breaking the silence. "Any idea where we are?"

The others glanced up a the tower.

"Well considering we're right by a ginormous thing and there are lots of humans adoring it, it's probably a tribute to me and my kingdom of good hair." Keefe joked.

"I think this is the Eiffel Tower." Fitz guessed, ignoring Keefe "I think I went here one time when looking for Sophie. It's like this really big monument in Paris, France."

"That's good then because that where the bridge is." Said Dex. "And if this is the Eiffel Tower than..." he started muttering.

"We're right next to it in fact!" He shouted excitedly.

"How long would it take to walk there?" Biana asked.

Hopefully not two hundred eighty seven hours  Keefe thought bitterly.

"If I'm remembering right it's a less than 45 minute walk." Dex replied.

"Good then let's get going!" Fitz pushed.

"Wait." Stopped Tam, being the voice of reason "We have no idea how to get there, and we can't afford getting lost."

"He has a point." Linh agreed.

"We could go to another one of those cafés." Suggested Biana.

"But who knows how long it will take to find it. I think we should try to leap as close to the bridge as possible." Fitz argued.

"No can do," Dex apologized "I got as close as I could get."

"Ok then what other ways could we get there." Linh thought.

They stood there a minute pondering over different plans, but subconsciously they had all came to the same realization.

"I think we all know what we need to do." Dex finally said.

They let out a collective sigh. 

Biana glanced at a passing bus miserably.

"I hate this." She mumbled.

"Same. I suppose we should go find a... er... bus? Stop then." Fitz decided, defeated.

They walked over to a teal sign that wrote bus above a bunch of stroked words, written in a foreign language.

After a few moments of waiting, another teal bus screeched to a stop in front of them. Biana whimpered a little. 

They cautiously climbed onto the rumbling machine. They handed the driver a crinkled euro that matched the ones others were handing him. 

Then they dragged themselves down the aisles, passing, staring people. They stood out like a gnomes green thumb, on the bus of  exhausted humans. 

Eventually, they plopped down on a row of plastic benches at the back of the bus.

"You'd think they've never seen hot people before." Keefe scoffed, glaring at a woman staring at him, with her jaw slack.

The auto groveled back to life, making them jump. They clutched each other's hands and braced for impact. The other people on the bus stared at them with confusion.

Maybe we should try to fit in a bit more. Fitz's mental voice said filling their minds.

All but Tam and Linh retracted their hands into their laps.

"Why do humans use these?" Whined Biana "They're so dangerous. You always hear about crashes with them, you wouldve thought they would have found something else. It's not like people ever die from light leaping."

"I agree that they're stupid, but the humans can't light leap. Besides fading while light leaping is a thing." Fitz pointed out. 

"Yah well that's happened to what? Ten elves." She huffed.

"Honestly I don't think it's that bad," Dex decided "compared to how I thought it would go, if you  don't think about it, it's like a eurypterid carriage. Just run by an unstable driver who dosnt really know what they're doing."

Despite his efforts, Biana still spent the rest of the ride with her eyes squeezed shut, and her fists clenched.

After a short five minute ride, that was worse than leaping with the unmapped stars, in Keefe's opinion, the bus stopped and the doors, slides open. 

Fitz, then Bina, Linh, Tam, Dex and Keefe in the rear, disembarked the shaky, transportation.

Keefe's stomach felt queasy and his legs shook on the stable pavement. 

The others looked just as green as him.

All except Dex who looked pale, with his eyes glassy and his lip slightly quivering.

Keefe followed his gaze to a lantern lined bridge that stretched across a calm river.

"That's it isn't it?" Fitz asked, also staring at the moat.

Dex's silence served as confirmation. 

The friends slowly made their way towards the paved overpass. The road portion was thankfully pretty empty, most of the daily commuters, long gone. The sidewalks were also vacant disregarding the occasional stragglers. 

They began the search for the lamp with the runes, and leaping crystal.

Dex provided little help, as he stumbled along in a flashback induced daze.

Without knowing where it was, they were stuck inspecting each post, after post after post.

Tam suggested they split up, but Dex instantly shook his head, so hard it looked painfull.

"They said they watched this bridge closely, we can't have another person missing." Said Dex.

The others agreed and they continued, carefully scrutinizing each lamp until their eyes were stinging, and watery.

It was about three - fourths way through the bridge when Linh spotted the right light lamp.

"I found it." She called to the rest.

"That's the one." Dex murmured.

Ancient runes, were carved into the intricate metal. And on the tip top, blended in a glittering crystal. 

"I gotta give it to them,"  Fitz observed "You never would've noticed it wasn't like the others unless you knew what you were looking for."

"Or you spent the last hour staring at every one on the whole bridge." Keefe grumbled.

"I guess this means we're going to need to light leap again." Tam sighed.

"Nope. You're coming with us." A voice said from behind them.

The group whipped around terrified, as strong hands seized them, and covered their mouths before they could scream.

Oops looks like I left you on a cliffy. What a shame I must say. This author is such a monster. *sigh*