Chapter XXXIX: Return to Azurat
A farmer stood up upon a cliff ledge, taking in the fresh air. It had been recommended, since his terrible delusions of disappearing people, that he should go for walks up in the mountains to get some of the better and fresher air. Down below he could see his village going about its business of tilling the unfertile land. He sighed and took out his pipe, glancing around the beautiful and craggy plateau. There were so many shallow caverns up here that one couldn’t possibly explore them all. As a boy, he had tried, though some of them just seemed to go too deep. He leaned back, puffing on his pipe and reflecting on his boyhood memories. They were so vivid in his mind, he could almost hear the voices of his childhood friends.
“Damn rock is harder than hell to scale…..well yes, but you are practically made of it! Don’t you take that tone of snort with me! I happen to be a very powerful Preston in Azurat city!”
“That really doesn’t matter anymore. Not when existence is at stake.”
“Shut up, Thyrus.”
“Just trying to point out…..”
“Shut UP, Thyrus!”
“Oh, right.”
“Could you two stop bickering and move faster, we’ve been climbing forever.”
The farmer slowly rose up, opening one of his eyes timidly and taking the pipe out of his mouth, hoping that the voices would go away if he stopped thinking about them. He glanced around to see if he could spot any of his friends trying to play a trick on him, instead there was nothing. He waited for a moment, then slowly began to lay back.
“Ouch! You big moron…..I don’t care if you were swatting at Eza because she’s humming…..even if it is badly!”
“Would you two girls stop arguing and get moving, we have a world to save!”
The farmer bolted up right this time, staring around in paranoia. He climbed to his feet and began to take deep breaths, “This isn’t happening….this isn’t happening….this isn’t….”
“Excuse me.”
The farmer opened his eyes to stare in the smiling face of Thyrus Simon, screaming as he stumbled backwards. “Sorry about that,” Thyrus said after a moment. “I was wondering if you could point me in the right direction of Azurat city?” The farmer stared for a moment as he watched a large man, a Vasu warrior, a fairy, an elf, a Seph girl, and a man and a woman pull themselves out of a cavern nearby. The last one up was a furry Feralite. He glanced down at his pipe, then fainted with a crash. “Why does that always happen?”
West chuckled, “Natural charm, Thyrus.” He glanced out at the horizon, “But don’t you worry, I can tell you plain as day that Azurat is that way.” He waved in a general direction and set off, the others following close behind, Samden lagging back with Thyrus as they walked along and examined the desolate scenery. It was going to be a long walk.
“So,” Samden began after walking for sometime in silence, “Tell me about yourself, Thyrus.”
Thyrus glanced over a bit dreamily, “What? About me? Why would you want to know that?”
Samden shrugged, “You’ve been the most friendly to me and I thought we could pass the time. I’ve told you about me, when we were navigating the ship.”
“True, true.” Thyrus sighed, “Where do I begin? Talking about my past is one of the things that gets me tongue-tied.”
“If only we had known that earlier,” West jested.
Thyrus smiled, “Yes, I suppose that would have been helpful. Are you sure you want me to tell you? I mean, the others can hear and I don’t want to bother them.” He looked around a bit bashfully, suddenly ashamed that he talked so much. The yelling was finally getting through and wearing down his cheer, his voice a bit saddened.
“Forget them,” Samden said, patting him on the shoulder, “Just tell me.”
“We-el-ll.” Thyrus tapped his chin and reflected on what to say. “I guess, I might as well start from about where things got interesting.”