Eliona's War 1: Hesitant Healer

Chapter 37

As Rasin explained it, Two Bridges was far northeast of Ascendance. If one traveled through the forest and did not lose their way, they'd leave the forest boundary within three days. From there, the landscape would change from densely populated trees to rolling hills. Another day's travel through these hills would take them to the canyon where Two Bridges was.

Thanks to Rasin, however, they did not take four days to reach the city. Instead, they teleported directly to the top of a hill near the canyon.

Grass had overgrown much of the hilltop, but Severance still could see uneven mounds hidden beneath it. Moss covered stones lay nearby, too square to be naturally formed.

"Did a house used to be here?" he asked, looking up from the rocks. He'd been so intrigued that he'd barely paid attention to anything else around them.

"A watchtower," Rasin corrected. He raised an arm, and pointed at something in the distance. "Look. There's Two Bridges."

Severance looked and what he saw stole his breath away. Before them was a massive canyon of dark red rock. A huge plateau sat in the center of this canyon, its edges sheer cliffs that plummeted into a bottomless canyon. It was like the ground had cracked open and left a solitary piece of land untouched in the middle.

Upon this plateau rested a city that Severance could only describe as epic. A massive wall surrounded it, easily twenty or thirty feet high, but even it could not hide the grandeur of Two Bridges. Crimson banners gaily waved from towering spires of cream-colored stone, while its buildings rose several stories high. Stone bridges arched from one building to another, connecting them together.

From where they stood on the hill, it was easy to see that the only way to reach the city was a single suspension bridge that crossed the canyon.

"Oh wow," Severance breathed.

"It's quite impressive, isn't it?" Rasin said. "You can't see it now, but on the far side is another bridge. That's where the name comes from, although the city itself has many bridges."

"That must have been fun to build."

Rasin chuckled. "I imagine it was. It was started three decades ago, but when the original builders vanished, the Valkyrie took over and finished it about eight years ago. As you can see, they have a flair for the dramatics."

"I think it's cool that they have their own city," Severance said. It just reinforced the idea that the Valkyrie were nothing short of awesome.

The Veiled clansman gave him a sideways glance. "If that impresses you, you should have seen the Veiled lands of old. Those were truly something worth seeing."

"Uh huh, sure." It wasn't that Severance didn't believe that the Veiled once had a nicer place than their current House, but seriously—this was a huge city built out of bridges. If that didn't count as impressive, then Severance didn't know what did.

"Now you sound like Dhin. Very well, then just treat this old man's words as nonsense."

"It's not nonsense," Severance immediately blurted. Then he realized Rasin wasn't actually offended, because there was a very evident twinkle in those dark eyes. "I mean, I'm sure the Veiled lands were awesome and all, but this is, well, I've never seen anything like it. Even from where I am."

"No?"

Severance shook his head. "No. We have super big cities that fill the entire horizon, but they're just big and noisy and full of pollution. They're not amazing like this."

"Hm. That does sound somewhat unpleasant."

"It really is," Severance agreed. That was one of the reasons he liked it here. Perhaps it was because it was all virtual, but the air always smelled fresh and he had yet to find a single piece of trash lying in the road. There were tons of people still, but they all walked on foot. There were no cars roaring past, spewing foul exhaust. No sirens blaring in the distance, and no dogs barking long into the night.