Welcome to Gaia! :: View User's Journal | Gaia Journals

<br></br>
Chapter Thirteen: Between a Rock and a Hard Place

Then entrance to Rock Ridge was made entirely out of a dark brown stone. Almost like a darker version of Aurum Rock. The gate must have been at least 10 feet tall, and made out of extremely thick stone. Lucky for Koza and Tera, it was already open. If it had been closed, they never would’ve gotten in.

“After you,” Koza said, motioning for Tera to go on in. She thanked him, and entered, with Koza right behind her. The entire town looked like it was inside of a giant crater. There was a giant, circular wall that circled around the whole place. Tera knew it all too well, but it was new to Koza.

“Is this place inside of a giant crater?” he asked.

“Looks like it doesn’t it?” Tera answered. There were shops that lined the outer wall, but instead of regular buildings, there were simply rugs on the ground with merchandise spread out over them, with people sitting in the middle. The few buildings that were there were made out of rock, and had square openings where windows would’ve been, along with large openings covered by tapestries where doors would’ve been.

“This is new…” Koza said slowly. “The building design makes sense though.” He was talking more to himself than to Tera. It wouldn’t have mattered if he were talking to her, for she was already off checking out the different shops. Looking back over, Koza laughed and followed her around to see the town for himself.

Most of the merchandise at each shop looked like it was stuff that could only be found around the general area. Trinkets and knickknacks galore, but nothing that either of them really needed on the open road. There were a few fruit stands as well as the others. Tera asked if she could buy some, but Koza said that he didn’t think it was a good idea. Who knows how long the fruit had been sitting out in the heat? Upon hearing this, Tera shivered and kept going, with Koza close behind.

“You want to look for an inn again?” Koza asked.

“Nah. I don’t really want to stay here for very long,” Tera replied.

“Why? What’s wrong with this place?”

“Oh, um… nothing, nothing. I’d just like to keep moving is all.”

Koza raised an eyebrow, causing Tera to laugh nervously. He shrugged and agreed. It’s not like they had any business here anyway. They were just passing through.

After entering, they realized that the town was enormous, slightly bigger than Aurum Town. It being inside of a giant crater, all of the shops and whatnot were lined up along the outer wall, leaving the entire middle portion completely empty. The only thing there to take up space was a large water tower, smack dab in the middle. It took both of them a good half hour to reach the back gate, even though they could see it the whole time due to the emptiness.

“At least we don’t have to be anywhere, or we surely would’ve been late,” Koza said, making Tera laugh to herself.

“True, true. Any idea where we’re going after this?” she asked. Koza just shook his head.

“Do we ever?” he asked.

“Good point…”

“In any case,” he continued, “I hope it’s at least somewhere as cold as Winter Ridge.”

“You and me both,” Tera added. Stopping for a minute at the rear gate, which looked identical to the front gate, they pulled out the map again.

“Ok, if this is Rock Ridge, then…” Koza followed a path on the map with his finger. “The next closest place is… Brannoch Village, right over here.” He pointed at a spot on the map. They nodded, put the map away, and left via the back gate, which had high walls made out of rock on both sides that formed a pathway out of the town. It reminded them of the path outside of Aurum Town. A while later, when they had stopped to rest for a while, Tera heard something up above from one of the rock walls. Looking up, there wasn’t anything there.

“What’s up?” Koza asked when he saw her looking at the wall.

“Oh, I thought I heard something is all,” she said. Koza just shrugged. Shortly after, another noise was heard. This time, both of them looked around.

“Did you hear that?” they said in unison. Just then, two loud explosions could be heard from atop both walls, causing tons of rock chunks to come barreling down on top of the two travelers. Both of them scrambled to their feet and tried to get out of the way, but they weren’t fast enough. The rock came tumbling down, burying both of them under a large pile of debris. After the initial crash of the rock, silence started to settle again, with no sign from either Koza or Tera. It took a while for the dust to settle, but when it cleared, a few men in ARK uniforms could be seen running on top of the rock walls. They were convinced that they had finally gotten rid of the troublesome duo. One of the men, however, stayed behind. He wasn’t convinced, not after all that he had heard about these two. It was a good thing he chose to stay, because after the others had all left, the pile of rock below started to rumble and shake. Within the course of a few minutes, a few sword tips broke out from the rock, and eventually they both emerged, fairly unharmed. Upon seeing this, the man took off after his comrades to inform them.




Next Chapter: Calm Before the Storm