Et Voila!
Here's a NEW PART, yes you're reading right, A NEW PART to the Nali skins story..
Hope you enjoy reading it.
Part 7: So the quest begins…
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Meanwhile, in the Skaarj hellhole…
“Are you ok, Gruba”, George asked him, somewhat concerned about his mate.
Gruba was staring down his second glass of red rum, his forefinger tasting the liquid.
“Hm? Oh yes, don’t worry about me George”, Gruba smiled.
“I was ehm.. zoning out a bit.. thinking about things. It’s true you know, you really can’t turn your back on anyone!”
“Always be prepared”, George said while scanning the bar.
Gruba emptied his drink and burped.
“Damn right friend. You know, I have been thinking about this one clan fellow …Fagrao.. I should keep an eye on him. Don’t know why.”
George poked his nose.
“Nasty habit you got there friend”, Gubra whispered.
Immediately George yanked his finger out of his sticky, smelly nose.
“I know, I should probably get some counsel…”
“What about those Necris you were taking on this fantastic tour.. through ..Bouvaja and Nalina? Where are they now?”
George looked a bit surprised. He had almost completely forgotten about them. The Skaarj hellholes still had a great influence on that poor guy.
“Probably in one of the dark nightclubs, but we promised to meet each other at red moon, on the seven Krystalz square.”
“Well, it’s a green moon already…”
“Good thing that techno shield is transparent now, otherwise..”, George smirked.
Gruba nodded. “Sure right friend! Want another red rum?”
“Bring ‘em on!”
“This is great news! The best of news I’ve heard in years! I still can’t believe it! And these 2 Necris and one Acron are going to do the job for us?”, the old man laughed.
Visse squinted her eyes.
“Excuse me”, she said with a bizarre smile on her face, but we still don’t know your name?”
The old man leaned against the wall and studied Visse and the others.
“My name, young blaidenmaiden, is Ygian. I’m part of a … lost world. Yes, that’s what you could call it. A lost world. Once, this world was free of sky demons, the Skaarj. That’s what we used to call them.”
“Sky demons?”, Neoknight grinned, “very interesting.”
Of course Neo was putting all of this down in his notepad.
The old Nali appeared to be irritated and slammed his hand against the wall. One second later, he wish he hadn’t, screamed and started swearing.
“Now look, SON”, Ygian said with a grim voice,” I’d really appreciate it if you would show some respect towards the old Nali generation?”
Neo blushed.
“Ok, I’m sorry”
Rumiko was looking at him, nodding her head.
“You writer types are like so .. weird!”
“May I continue?”, Ygian spoke.
“Sure, go ahead old man”, Visse answered him.
Ygian muttered something and continued.
“One day, the Skaarj came to our planet. They destroyed most of our villages, we still don’t know why. Those sadistic bastards. Anyway, it became worse when they stole our sacred skins from the temple of Shalan.
Those skins belonged to high priests..”
“Yes, Agouba told me. And the Skaarj have hidden those skins in the valley of the dormant dragons.”
“But you do understand that, we the old generation.. we want them back! In honour of the old priests, the old faith. I know most of the younger Nalis don’t give a damn.”
“I give a damn”, Agouba muttered.
“Of course you do Oguba”, Ygian smiled and patted him on the head.
“For the love of, it’s … ah forget it!”, Agouba yelled.
“Ehm, say”, said Neo,” but when are you going to invite us in to your eh home?”
“Oh ho ho ho why indeed”, the old man laughed, his belly shaking up and down, almost dancing,” I’m so sorry, but in all the excitement of hearing this great news.. come in come in!”
Neo looked at Rumiko.
“Do you like where this is going?”
“What?”
Neo looked at her and sighed.
“Nevermind.”
“What? Hey come back here, you you .. writer person!”
Meanwhile, George had left the Skaarj hellhole, said goodbye to his old friend Gruba and was standing in the middle of the street.
Surely there was nothing dangerous in doing this. The only traffic was right above their heads, hovering small ships, Necris aerocats, Skaarj Rippers etc…
“Hm, the moon is shifting it’s colour a bit, it’s turning into a slight red. Is that red? It could be red.”
George looked at the thick crowd of nocturnal creatures and sighed. And sighed again.
“Bouvaja sure looks cool at nitetime”, he smiled.
All of the sudden, George his eyes glanced. An idea had hit him.
“Hey, what if I’d surprise my 3 companions? I could easily hide in the crowd and watch them when they arrive at the 7 krystalz square. They’ll probably be confused, and then I jump out of the crowd, scaring the living daylights out of them! Crappy movie…”
George had a big grin on his face as he walked towards the square.
“Here’s a map”, the old man whispered. He sat down in his chair, and relaxed.
“A map, and what kind of map exactly?”, Visse asked him, apparently confused.
“Oh I’m sorry, guess I’m more tired than I thought. This map could lead to the Valley of the dormant dragons.
But we’re not sure.”
Visse frowned.
“Well that’s great. You have a map that might lead to this valley.. it might, you’re not sure. Great! Fantastic!”
The old man shook his head to the left and right.
“What do you mean by no-no?”, Visse groaned.
“Eh? No no, this is merely an exercise, I got a stiff neck you see, oh my old and withered bo..”
“C’mon old man, give us some more information”, Rumiko all of the sudden yelled, “from what I’ve heard we’re supposed to go on this adventure right? Now, I’m not EXACTLY the adventurer type, but this.. this is very silly. A map, and you’re not sure it’s correct. You nails.. incredible.”
She opened her mouth and slapped her head against her left cheek.
Agouba looked at Ygian at smirked.
“She’s right you know, it is very silly… and very stupid. An incorrect map.”
The old man was becoming irritated again, and wanted to jump out of his chair and teach that arrogant Acron a lesson.
But he liked his chair, and was far too lazy to get out of it.
“Listen young lady, it’s all we have ok? Now, please, I know it’s not much. But I did hear that Necris are good trackers right?”
Visse stared at the Ygian and slightly nodded.
“So? What if there are a couple of errors in that map? I’m sure you could easily find your way.. look it’s just so important to me, to all the old Nalis, the old ..”
“I know old Nali”, Visse interrupted him, “ but we need something more I’m sorry. I’m not insane. Nalina is not a planet I know by heart.”
Neo looked up from his notepad, turned his eyes to the left, to the right and back to the left. Maybe he was thinking? Maybe he had this really annoying habit..
He was thinking.
“Agouba, won’t you come with us”, Neo smiled.
“Me? Me going on a trip with you guys..”
“Ehem”, Rumiko coughed and stared Agouba in the eyes.
“Eh he, you guy and girls”…
Visse coughed.
“OK OK, you guy, girl and woman.. better now?”
All 3 of them grinned.
“I don’t know you see, I’m only a waiter in a dark.. nightclub and..”
Agouba scratched his head. The other 3 arms seemed lost.
“To Demoncrater with it, I’m going with you. I know my way around Nalina. Well, I .. know parts of this planet.”
Visse walked up to him and pulled his cheek.
“Parts?”
“Most parts..but the valley of the dormant dragons lies in the forbidden area.”
“Forbidden area?”, Visse whispered.
“Yes”, Ygian continued, “no Nali may enter the forbidden area you see. If a Skaarj sees one of us in there, we’re .. history.”
“And still YOU, agouba, want to come with us”, Neo said. He seemed to admire the courage of the young Nali.
“I got nothing special to live for … you know?”
“How do we get to this forbidden area? How do we cross .. is there a border? A Skaarj outpost?, Visse asked Ygian.
Ygian sank deeper into his lazy chair, but Visse yanked him out of it.
“Hey take take it easy on an old man you crazy Necris!”, he yelled.
“I just want you to stay alert her, Ygian”, Visse smiled. Again, that bizarre smile. Ygian didn’t like it.
Visse continued:
“Well? How do we travel to the forbidden area? And once there, how do we continue our journey?”
“Agouba can fly a Phynx, one of the fastest small cargo vessels on Nalina. Most of the times Skaarj won’t stop you for a routine control. You can set the ship down near the forbidden area. Indeed, there’s a Skaarj outpost there. The best chance you have, is sneaking past it when it’s night time, when there are 2 azure moons at the sky.
Agouba will fill you in on the details, I’m sure. We’ve been “planning” all of this, and now that the time has come.. we’re very nervous you have to understand?”
Visse did and looked at her travelling companions.
“You heard the old Nali. What do you think? Care to join me on this wild adventure? Feel like some pure excitement? This might spice up our trip a bit!”
“Sure I’m in”, Neo said while putting the notepad back in his backpak.
“I guess .. it’s ok. I’m in”, Rumiko sighed.
“But what about George?”
Visse squinted her eyes.
“We have to get rid of him. When we’ll meet him at the 7 krystalZ square, we’ll tell him our interest in this planet is over, thank him for his services and .. “
Visse smiled.
“It’s a plan”, Neo shouted.
“Okeydokey smokey”, Rumiko said with a high pitched voice. She really wasn’t that excited. But she had always fancied the word excitement.
“Mouvaga”, Agouba grinned.
“Yeah back at you pal”, Neo smirked.
The 4 of them left the “home” of Ygian, he waved at them when they disappeared into the dark passage…
“I sure hope they succeed. The last group ran out of luck when they reached the outpost.. idiots. I have a good feeling about those Necris.. and that Acron.”
He went back inside and fell down in his lazy chair and smiled. It was a bizarre smile.
Arriving at the Square, Visse looked up at the sky. She looked at the red moon and nodded.
“Well, this is where we were supposed to meet George, at a red moon”, Rumiko said with that typical snobbish tone in her voice.
“Oh wait a couple of trinitons will ya?”, Visse snarled.
Rumiko raised her chin and sat down near the fountain.
“Show me that map again”, Visse said to Neo,” George probably won’t arrive for a couple of dozens trinitons.”
Neo grabbed the map out of his pocket, and gave it to Visse.
“You’re very excited about this, aren’t you?”
“Damn right I am”, Visse said, smiling, showing all her white teeth, “I’m a blaidenmaiden, Neo, I need adventure, action.”
“Just be sure if you see George you..”
But Visse couldn’t finish her sentence, George jumped out of the crowd, with a silly grin on his face and before she knew it, he had gotten hold of the map.
“Is this a drawing you made Visse? Maybe one of me?”, he smiled.
“NO don’t!”,Visse shouted!
The smile on George his face disappeared when he looked at the “drawing”.
