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tenminutesaday2022-03-25 07:04 am
lantairvlea) wrote in tenminutesaday2022-03-25 07:04 am
Entry tags:
Fill: Challenge 32 Original-Lemy'es
I had a brief two-sentence deal that touched on this previously and figured this was a good prompt to expand on it a bit.
Kallon is Sray's younger brother, he's about 15 here.
Kallon followed Luskan Pogenhyuns through the city. They had traveled south to buy supplies for the smithy. Jon wasn't exactly rich in ore being smack in the middle of the plains of Tromar so Pogenhyuns made an annual pilgramage to obtain what he needed to keep the town well-served by his blacksmithing skills.
Kallon had started his apprenticeship just after the last trip. Perhaps it was the work of loading and unloading that convinced Luskan that it was time to take on someone to share the load and spare his aging body. Kallon had proved a quick study and Pogenhyuns appreciated the boy's tenacity, even if he had a bit of a temper, but what teenage boy wasn't a bit of a hot head when they were trying to figure out how to be a man?
Kallon tugged the brim of his hat to pull it down further over his forehead to shield his eyes. He couldn't help staring at all the activity that bustled around the mid-sized border city. The majority of people were Ela'yan, fair skinned and curly haired, but there were plenty of Gollanan moving among them. Thick, dark, straight hair and brown skin that spoke to the long summers and more tropical climate that shaped it's people.
They came around the corner of a large building and Kallon stopped dead in his tracks. The combination of the sudden open space amidst the close quarters of the city, the temperature drop, the complete lack of people, and the blackened ruins was overwhelming.
Luskan stopped a few feet ahead when he realized Kallon was no longer at his side. He frowned back under his grizzled beard. "What's the matter?"
"What is this place?" Kallon asked, taking in the skeletal buildings. The wooden parts were blackened and crumbling, what were once thick beams that spanned yards were barely stumps and splinters, but it was the stone that really drew his attention. It wasn't just blackened and crumbling from some blast, whole sections of the structure were melted and fuzed together.
"Haven't seen the scars of war, have you, Hillenbohn?" Luskan asked.
"No, sir. I don't remember much about Kamenlohn."
"You wouldn't, too young and Jon didn't exist until most of the fighting was over." Luskan tapped a lumpy pillar that was nearly twice as tall as him as he walked past it. "This is what a Klamon can do. This place was some sort of university or craft school before the Klamon destroyed it. The locals think the souls of the victims are locked in here. They don't dare come through, believe it's haunted."
Kallon's stomach dropped and his mouth was suddenly dry. He finally managed to convince his feet to move and follow Luskan's track through the debris. "Why are we here?"
"It's the shortest way through. We go straight through here instead of skirting around a quarter mile on either side. It's narrower than it is wide. Ghosts can't hurt you anyway." He shrugged and kept walking, assuming Kallon would catch up.
Kallon touched the pillar Luskan had tapped so casually, marveling at the amount of heat and power it would have taken to reduce a multi-story wall into the blackened pillar in front of him. "I never thought about what we did."
"What was that?" Luskan called back.
Kallon jerked his hand off the object. "Nothing!" He jogged to catch up. "I just-you said Klamon did this?"
"Yeah, dangerous creatures, Klamon, wouldn't want to cross paths with one, that's for sure. Sure they'd kill you soon as look at you."
Kallon didn't say anything at first. It was eerily quiet, the sounds from the city were muffled and it seemed even the birds skirted the area. Finally Kallon couldn't help himself. "Have you ever seen one?"
"Me? No," Luskan shook his head. "They had mostly been pushed back by the time I came around, but my father and his were involved in the fighting. Never met my grandfather, died in the fighting when my father was just a boy."
Kallon didn't dare follow the conversation further as they reached the edge and stepped back into the bustle of the city. Luskan was never much for talking and generally didn't ramble on unless probed to do so. Kallon gave a final glance back at the ruin before he did his best to shrug it off and fall back into step with Luskan.
Kallon is Sray's younger brother, he's about 15 here.
Kallon followed Luskan Pogenhyuns through the city. They had traveled south to buy supplies for the smithy. Jon wasn't exactly rich in ore being smack in the middle of the plains of Tromar so Pogenhyuns made an annual pilgramage to obtain what he needed to keep the town well-served by his blacksmithing skills.
Kallon had started his apprenticeship just after the last trip. Perhaps it was the work of loading and unloading that convinced Luskan that it was time to take on someone to share the load and spare his aging body. Kallon had proved a quick study and Pogenhyuns appreciated the boy's tenacity, even if he had a bit of a temper, but what teenage boy wasn't a bit of a hot head when they were trying to figure out how to be a man?
Kallon tugged the brim of his hat to pull it down further over his forehead to shield his eyes. He couldn't help staring at all the activity that bustled around the mid-sized border city. The majority of people were Ela'yan, fair skinned and curly haired, but there were plenty of Gollanan moving among them. Thick, dark, straight hair and brown skin that spoke to the long summers and more tropical climate that shaped it's people.
They came around the corner of a large building and Kallon stopped dead in his tracks. The combination of the sudden open space amidst the close quarters of the city, the temperature drop, the complete lack of people, and the blackened ruins was overwhelming.
Luskan stopped a few feet ahead when he realized Kallon was no longer at his side. He frowned back under his grizzled beard. "What's the matter?"
"What is this place?" Kallon asked, taking in the skeletal buildings. The wooden parts were blackened and crumbling, what were once thick beams that spanned yards were barely stumps and splinters, but it was the stone that really drew his attention. It wasn't just blackened and crumbling from some blast, whole sections of the structure were melted and fuzed together.
"Haven't seen the scars of war, have you, Hillenbohn?" Luskan asked.
"No, sir. I don't remember much about Kamenlohn."
"You wouldn't, too young and Jon didn't exist until most of the fighting was over." Luskan tapped a lumpy pillar that was nearly twice as tall as him as he walked past it. "This is what a Klamon can do. This place was some sort of university or craft school before the Klamon destroyed it. The locals think the souls of the victims are locked in here. They don't dare come through, believe it's haunted."
Kallon's stomach dropped and his mouth was suddenly dry. He finally managed to convince his feet to move and follow Luskan's track through the debris. "Why are we here?"
"It's the shortest way through. We go straight through here instead of skirting around a quarter mile on either side. It's narrower than it is wide. Ghosts can't hurt you anyway." He shrugged and kept walking, assuming Kallon would catch up.
Kallon touched the pillar Luskan had tapped so casually, marveling at the amount of heat and power it would have taken to reduce a multi-story wall into the blackened pillar in front of him. "I never thought about what we did."
"What was that?" Luskan called back.
Kallon jerked his hand off the object. "Nothing!" He jogged to catch up. "I just-you said Klamon did this?"
"Yeah, dangerous creatures, Klamon, wouldn't want to cross paths with one, that's for sure. Sure they'd kill you soon as look at you."
Kallon didn't say anything at first. It was eerily quiet, the sounds from the city were muffled and it seemed even the birds skirted the area. Finally Kallon couldn't help himself. "Have you ever seen one?"
"Me? No," Luskan shook his head. "They had mostly been pushed back by the time I came around, but my father and his were involved in the fighting. Never met my grandfather, died in the fighting when my father was just a boy."
Kallon didn't dare follow the conversation further as they reached the edge and stepped back into the bustle of the city. Luskan was never much for talking and generally didn't ramble on unless probed to do so. Kallon gave a final glance back at the ruin before he did his best to shrug it off and fall back into step with Luskan.