73 Light pt.1 4 (1/2)

Mao Lu walked towards Karne Village with Mero, unaware of the events happening elsewhere that were setting things into motion and bringing truths slowly to light.

Karne village was an underground paradise straight from fiction.

The ground was made of a reflective black crystal, when Mao Lu waded his way out of the lake and his trainers touched the black surface his steps became silent, as if the crystalline ground was eating the sound.

Surrounding the village was a large chunky wall made of blue and green crystals. As they got closer Mao Lu realised how tall the wall was, it seemed to stretch far and high inside the underground cavern.

Standing at the entrance were four guards. They were dressed in armor that was similar to Mero's, except it glowed.

They had large spears in their hands. These spears were three metres taller than the guards that held them. They seemed to be made of a strange blue metal and yellow crystals. There were several spiked ridges across the staff and the staff itself had a strange rune patterns decorating it. The blade glowed like a torch.

Despite the extreme height and probable weight of these spears the guards held them easily by their side and stood up straight with impressive posture and presence.

Their faces hidden under grilled masks.

They didn't make a movement or a noise as Mero pulled Mao Lu through the crystal entrance and into the village.

Inside the village the buildings were like small huts, the type you would see on a hawaiian beach, except they were made of a variety of different crystals. Blue crystals, clear crystals, white crystals, purple crystals and more. All of these crystals glowed iridescently, so despite being underground there was a bright warm light which stretched to every corner.

Mao Lu was mesmerised by the shifting and changing colourful lights and the peculiar architecture. He'd never seen anything like it.

The sound of children squealing and people chattering soon greeted his ears. The village was very lively. At the very entrance there was an open market and dozens of people were buying and selling all kinds of items. Food and creatures he'd never seen before were laid across some stalls whilst peculiar items and weaponry laid across others.

A band dressed in robes of red and gold played music and dancers in green and gold freely swayed around.

Children chased each other and played amongst the shopping adults.

It was all so beautiful and exciting.

A glowing ball bounced and rolled on the ground, stopping at Mao Lu's feet. A child with yellow eyes similar to Mero's, pointed ears, and scaled skin, ran up to Mao Lu. Grabbing his ball.

The dancers stopped dancing and the music abruptly halted.

Their pointed long ears twitching and their eyes flickering. Their fanged teeth moved as they chattered amongst themselves nervously.

Mao Lu was not perturbed by their reactions, it was only to be expected. He was the new person in town and he looked different from them. It was likely that they had never seen anyone who looked like him before.

\”Mero Karne!\” A loud voice disrupted the chattering of the villagers.

The crowd parted as a man dressed in a golden coloured body suit walked through. He had long white hair, yellow eyes, and his scaly skin was mostly white rather than patchy. Runes covered his armour and glowed warmly. At his waist he had two dual daggers holstered, a black cape fluttered at his back.

Mero seemed to visibly stiffen when this man came towards them. Mao Lu couldn't tell whether this was out of fear or whether she was just nervous.

\”General Xander\” she said rather respectfully as she bowed her head towards him.

He ignored her greeting and only curtly said \”You have things to explain to the council, follow me...you as well.\” Xander glanced at Mao Lu. His gaze filled with curiosity, apprehension and some fear.

His gaze didn't linger long before he turned around and began walking deeper into the village.

Mero didn't say anything. She followed General Xander and Mao Lu followed along obediently.

Mao Lu felt the curious gazes of everyone following them as they left.

....

As they walked Mao Lu couldn't help but think that calling this place a village was incorrect, it was more like an underground city. It was huge and the streets were like a maze, twisting, turning, and numerous. There was a variety of hut shaped buildings.

As they passed by Mao Lu noticed people quietly watching him from their windows.

They walked for perhaps thirty minutes before reaching a large waterfall. It lay between two large huts, the water fell from the ceiling of the underground cavern and disappeared into the black crystal ground. It was like a straight veil of water.

Xander and Mero didn't hesitate walking into it. They disappeared into the waterfall.

Mao Lu raised an eyebrow and did the same. He was confused, for a village of mortals there was quite a bit of magic here. This waterfall and that secret lake entrance as well. He found it all very peculiar.

Just like the lake the waterfall was some type of teleportation device, and when Mao Lu walked through it he found himself in a large field.

This field was several acres wide, it was made up of a long stretch of blue glowing grass and a variety of glowing flowers.

At the centre of this field were ten stone benches, all of which were placed in a circle.

In the middle of this circle was a large throne made of red crystal.

Sitting on these stone benches were five old women and five old men. They wore flowing silky platinum coloured garments which had runes running across them. Their clothes glowed a warm yellow light and made their jewelled headdresses glimmer. Subtle light shining on their wizened faces.

On the red throne was a man who appeared rather young, but his eyes betrayed his age. They were filled with the weariness of experience.

Unlike the elderly men and women his garments weren't luxurious, neither did they particularly glow, they were in fact rather plain and white clothing. His scales were a variety of colours like Mero's and his hair was long and silver.

Mao Lu was surprised, so far everyone in the village had been mortal but this man wasn't. The essence tended to be thin around mortals but gathered more around practitioners. Many of the essences in the area comfortably settled on this man. The life essences on his skin were lime green, if Mao Lu remembered correctly that meant this man had a lifespan of between 10,000 to 30,000 years. He was most definitely not mortal.

Even though they were still a great distance from each other their eyes still met. As the man's yellow eyes connected with Mao Lu's a variety of emotions showed on his face. In the end his expression became extremely cautious...

When Mao Lu, Mero and Xander had walked up to the council, Mero bowed her head low, \”I give my greetings to the village Elders and the village Chief.\” she said