Land of Discord Chapter 2: A Day in Orwallis
Imported from SF2 with no description.
It's a fine Sunday morning. The sun is just up alongside me, too. I went out from my bed, still in my boxer shorts, watching the sky and the sea that dominates my view of the balcony. The town, named Orwallis by its founders (from what I read at the plaque, it was founded around a hundred years ago), is a magnificent view, even if you have practically lived there for a year now.
Orwallis is populated by both sides of the race, but predominantly Animas and Mythars. I am a student at the college nearby, named after an influential Magus Dean named Argus Wilhelm. I don't really follow the history of the college since I won't be taking a history class soon enough.
Well, what do you guys want to know? I am a biology student, yes, but I am more to my fascination of Mythar biology, which for me is as mysterious as my heritage. What even more mysterious is how my body starts growing scales every morning, in an accelerated pace than before. I rub my horn base (it can get quite itchy as my horns starts to grow) and sighed.
Before long, I become bored and go to the mirror. I look at my face and I sigh again. My Hidden Beast mutation has accelerated to the point that my face is not even humanoid anymore. My mouth has jutted out and forming a maw. While I look bestial now, at least nobody is going to comment on how wide my face is. I won't even be called 'Mr. Wide Grin' anymore!
Before long, I hear a knock at the door. Realizing that I am still in my underwear, I hastily put on a jeans I tossed aside the last night after a night class that lasted longer than normal, then I covered my body with a nearby white shirt before looking through the peep-hole.
“Oh, goddamn it," I said under my breath. “She's early."
There is another knock again, prompting me to say “coming!" and open the door for her. As usual, she is punctual, tidy, and look as beautiful as always (what can I say? She has been my girlfriend for some months now).
She looks around my small studio apartment and make a sigh. “Hal, will you clean your apartment already?"
“Well, uh…I'm kinda busy these days."
“You should do it now, while you can. It's a weekend, right? Maybe you want to find easier things to grab?"
“Nah, I'm fine, Liz." I walk to my coffee machine and said, “Coffee?"
“As always."
In my eyes, Liza is a beauty, yet I'm not sure about you guys. She's a Mythar, too, like me, but unlike me, she is a pure-blood, meaning that she is draconic by the time she is born. I like her because of her personality and her color. I like purple, just like her scales, which has the amethyst color and brightness on it. Coupled with her yellow, sleek eyes and silver-colored horns, she looked like a human chick with purple satin dress. The only difference is that she is a draconian with purple scales.
Oh, and about her comment…it has no grim undertone, okay? The reason I took Mythar anatomy is because of my predicted bestial form, which looks like a wyvern. It is apparent now that I have a hard time grabbing things because I only have two fingers. The rest of them are elongated and forming wings. I mostly let them tucked into my long-sleeved shirts, but I prefer them loose and open when I am wearing a T-shirt. The wings need time before they are big enough so I can fly, or at least glide.
I want to know about this because my dad is a normal draconian with wings on his back, yet some explanations cannot be explained except if I refer to the magical creatures' department, which explained the magical mutation of the Mythars, but cannot explain the anatomy and the biological occurrence that happen in phases.
“So, Liz, where do you think we are going to eat?"
“How about Yylves' diner two blocks away? Hannah said it is a good place to hang out on the weekends. She's a local."
I sigh, not because of disappointed, but because of a normal date. We really don't have any quality time together because of our studies. But…if she likes it, then I'll take her there. I know the diner. My friend Holick works part-time there, but to be frank, I've never eaten there.
“You have a ride?"
She sighed. “Yes, I have my car. Seriously, Hal, buy a car already."
I quickly flash my hand in front of her, where she knows what I meant. “That is not an excuse, Hal," she said. “I have a partially transformed bat friend who drive a cheat scooter, and he doesn't have all of his fingers."
Seriously, how is even a bat ride a scooter? Considering that he is partially mutated, he might still have the functionality of his eyes. Full bat Animas are blind (not really 'blind', but they have a very bad eyesight).
Before the hour is up (wow, kinda poetic, don't you think?), we have reach the diner she mentions. Yylves's is not a big place, but it has a wide patio overlooking the sea, which is basically the whole building. It's only building is a light blue-painted rectangular building with a giant sign spelling 'Yylves's' with a font and an image of a shellfish. From the name I can see that the proprietor is a Magus, which I can see ordering some employees making the foods while she helps with cutting the ingredients with some kind of a levitating magic. As a magus, she is very skilled in that kind of magic. I wonder if she was a surgeon before becoming a chef.
My friend is not at shift today, so I might just be okay if I end up ruining this date. He is a friendly lagomorph Anima, but he can be too friendly, and with too friendly means that he is so easy to give out gossips.
Well, uh…not that I forget about you readers, but especially now, we are doing some 'slice of life' thingy with this story, but anyway, I've warned you about this story being an action-packed adventure. Believe me, while it might not look like something is going to happen sooner or later, it will, just wait….
Now, back to the story…uh, with a different scenario. As I sit on the table and open the menu, I notice a suspicious looking Mythar staring at me with piercing yellow eyes. I try not to make it my problem (some strangers claimed they know me, but instead, they mistaken me for someone else. Yeah, as if I'm not obvious enough), but he keeps staring at me for at least 5 minutes since I read the menu that Liza realizes I am spacing out.
“Hal, just stop thinking about college for a moment and order a food already," she said.
We end up ordering some simple foods and eat there. We talk about our lives and things that mattered. Liza, being a law student, is more likely to talk about her own studies. I don't like to talk about my studies to her, seeing that she gets bored (not disgusted) after a couple of sentences.
Now, that lunch actually develops into something far more than a simple date. We end up walking around Orwallis buying things. I am just taking her shopping around town, especially to the Mythar's stores because of her anatomy, but we kinda like it this way. Liza is not very money-wasting and she knows her stuffs. I am not into fashion, but she helps me buy some wyvern draconian clothes for me. While I normally would turn them down, I accept her help because I might not stay a partial Hidden Beast by the end of my college years. I am quite surprised they have some models for wyverns, considering my Mythar race is quite rare.
Well, as much as we have our fun, they day ends far quicker than we thought. It is in a middle of spring, but despite of having longer day time, we sometimes take a very long time walking around shopping. Luckily, Orwallis is not a small town with all activities ceasing past a certain time. Urban development helps it to become a bustling town, 24/7.
As Liza's car stops in front of my apartment, she parks at one of the spaces and said, “That was fun."
“Yeah…in the end you help me find some wyvern stuffs…"
“Oh, don't be such a regretful person, Hal. Not all Hidden Beasts can cope with their transformations. Believe me, I do. And don't worry, wyverns are not as rare as it was."
Yeah, because of the misconceptions that wyverns are also dragons. Seriously, why does the portrayals of dragons in movies are wyverns? Well, technically, I am a draconian, but we are completely different from majestic creatures like dragons. Many Mythars felt that the portrayal is grossly inaccurate, but what can we say? Some wyverns were so giant they look like dragons. By this point, wyverns are still considered a genus of draconicus, so there is still no proof whether they belong to a different race or not.
General public will not want to care if I am arguing my different race, since wyverns are draconians, too. Only those who care knows our peril, yet they, too, think my peril is not making any sense. They are right, but of course, not all draconians can shoot fire magic, right? Wyverns are known to have higher magical capabilities than most dragons, but they lack strength and body mass, making them like a bitch to a dragon.
But what can I say? Only our race have this kind of lethal magical capabilities. Minotaurs? To be frank, some can do shamanic magic, but their normal brethrens are considered Animas. Griffins? Yeah, as if this pairing of an eagle and a lion can fly without magic. Oh, don't get me wrong, they are strong bastards, but not magically. The magical community had proven that they fly with magic, for a lion's body mass wouldn't be able to be lifted with an eagle's wings alone.
Oh, look at me, ranting with the backstory of this world, again. Anyway, Liza dropped me at my apartment and I walk up the stairs to my top-floor apartment. Darn bent legs (yeah, my legs aren't completely digitigrade yet, so it's hard to walk up the stairs, though not to the point I am handicapped).
Now, there is a possibility the story makes a branching storyline. I might either get into my apartment, leave my clothes as it is, sleep with my undies, and contemplating life, or maybe there is an opportunity of action?
Either way, I am picking the latter. Narrative purpose, you see? Nah, just kidding. That's the one that's actually happening. I am not in a story with branching storyline. Kinda hard to put it if the media is written words. This is not a 'choose your own adventure' kind of story.