#culora

     A young man stands in his bedroom. It’s a lifeless room, few decorations cover the walls. It was quiet too, there was only the sound of household servants and guards footsteps almost silently passing by. He went to step towards the bed, but as he did, a faint knock on the door could be heard. 

    He let out a sigh. “.....Yes?”

    “Your majesty, your girlfriend is here to see you” The door was still shut, but the guard’s voice could be heard clearly.

    “Let her in” At least one thing could go right today.

    As soon as the words left his mouth, there was a loud burst of sound as the door swung open and a much smaller girl with short black hair came running in. Immediately she scooped him up into a hug.

    “Drakor! How have you been? You’ve been so busy these past few days I couldn’t see you” She squeezed her arms around his waist, almost whining the last words.

    Drakor wheezed a bit at the sudden tight hug, borderline winded. He wrapped his arms around her back and head and cradled her for a moment, before remembering the guard still at the door. 

    “You’re dismissed, please close the door behind you.” Drakor made a gesture to the guard as he spoke, and they left quietly. He turned his attention back to the small girl. “Ok- Culora please you’re going to suffocate me-”

    “Oh oops!” She quickly let go, but not before taking her hands and ruffling up his hair. The black hair that was once lightly smoothed back was now a mess, a few small curls forming in at the ends.

    “HEY!” Drakor dipped backwards, but his smile only grew. He started running his hands through his hair to smooth it down, though the little amount of gel that was there to begin with wasn’t holding it down anymore. “You gremlin look what you’ve done, it won’t stay down now” 

    “That was the point idiot” She went to flop on his bed. “You look way better with your hair down anyway. How are you supposed to hit on guys looking like that”

    Drakor giving up on fighting his hair, joined Culora on the bed. There was a faint jingle as he sat down, as all the metal on his uniform clanged together. “First off, rude, my hair is fine. Second, as far as everyone else in this kingdom is aware, I’m straight and you’re my girlfriend”

    That’s the one thing Drakor always struggled with, keeping up appearances. Culora in actuality is more like a little sister to him. However, both of their families have appearances to keep up. Culora is the only crystalmage in this kingdom, and Drakor was the youngest of the royal family, and a hostmage. Essentially, the living crystal bank, and a mage who can do literally all magic types.

    “Ugh I hate this kingdom sometimes” Culora groaned. “Why are all the aquatic cities so homophobic? As soon as I can move out I’m moving to the mainlands, I heard The Fashion District is amazing”

    “At least we live in the one aquatic kingdom that isn’t submerged. As much as I love swimming, as all merfolk do, I like being able to style my hair. Plus! You’re just saying that cause your little crush Utrula lives there.”

    Culora had a clearly faked expression of shock. “Oh my, is Mr. Royalty accusing me? Of being a raging homosexual? How scandalous!” She gave him a soft shove on the arm. 

    “Speaking of Utrula, this is a new outfit. She make it?” Drakor picked up a small piece of fabric that hung off her waist. It was normal for Culora to suddenly appear with new outfits. Though he’s noticed they’re consistently off the shoulder crop tops and something with chiffon wrapped around the waist, whether they’re above the shorts or a part of a skirt. 

“Yep! I told her I wanted to try pink and blue for the lace this time, think it suits me?” She put her hands up to her face, making a cutesy expression. 

“That’s chiffon, not lace. But, yes, it looks cute”

“Close enough. What about you huh? This uniform has not changed in like, 6 years what is your family on? White is not your colour, no offense” Culora lightly yanked at one of the many chains that hung around the collar of his uniform.

“Public appearances Culora, I can hardly leave the castle without at least one nice thing on. Literally, I tried going out wearing something you’d see on the common folk and my mother nearly threw a tantrum” He threw his hands in the air to emphasize, before letting them flop back down.

“Not even a hoodie?”     “Nice coats only”     Culora made a disgusted face. “She is cynical”

    “That’s mother for you” 

".......Anyway. How's your sister?" Culora flipped over to lay on her stomach, arms propping up her head.

    "Culora. You need to be more specific. You know I have 3"

    "Fine, your brother"

    "And you know I have 4 of those!"

    "I know I know, I'm just teasing" Culora giggled. "I meant the eldest one. Veilannai”

    “I mean, I assume she’s fine. I don’t see her much since mom and dad drag her from lesson to lesson. Prized child, remember?” 

    “Ah that’s right” Culora nodded. “I mean, at least it’s not you”

    “Yeah…...Well enough about my family. What brings you here, surely you didn’t come all the way up here just to chat about my siblings and my uniform?” 

    Culora jolted upright, now sitting instead of laying down. “Oh right! We got the whole group together! Even Veryan and Porter took time away from their projects to come hang out! And you are coming with, even if I have to sneak you out of this castle myself”

    “Oh? Everyone? Even Vridak?” Drakor raised an eyebrow.

    “Of course Vridak will be there, he’d never pass up an opportunity to see everyone”

    “Let’s get out of here, we’ll use the servant's passage. I don’t want to be dragging a body guard around, and you know if mother sees me leaving she’ll make one come with” Drakor stood up from the bed. “But I do need to change first, I am not wearing this out”

-

    Drakor stepped out onto the mainland, a soft breeze hitting his hair. He had missed this. Between all the repetitive lessons and training, he hadn’t been able to visit the mainland in a few weeks. He took a moment to take it in. The environment was much different from the kingdom. While the kingdom wasn’t submerged like the rest of the aquatic kingdoms, it still didn’t have the natural charm. There were so many trees, and you could hear birds chirping. The kingdom was nothing like this. It was pretty sure, but only through architecture. There were close to no natural areas outside of the royal courtyard.

    “How mad do you think our parents would be if we just suddenly moved?” Drakor was facing the forest still. “If we just, took our stuff and left”

    “I mean, my parents would freak. And your parents? I can’t even begin to imagine” Culora scoffed at the question, though she’d be lying if she said she didn’t want the same.

    “I mean, we’re not teenagers anymore. We’re both 20. They shouldn’t get to dictate our lives anymore” Drakor turned to face the ocean behind them. “It’s not like I’m going to get to rule one day, I have 7 siblings, 6 of which are older than me”

    “...Hey, where’s this coming from? You were all excited to be out here and now you’re getting all existential on me” Culora had a look of concern on her face.

“I don’t know. I haven’t been up here in a while, I guess finally getting out of there is reminding me of how much I hate it there…….and I’ve been thinking about Areina again…”

    “That wasn’t your fault Drakor” Culora put a hand on his shoulder. “There wasn’t anything you could’ve done”

    “That’s not what Tyreena thinks” Drakor sighed, he closed his eyes for a moment before turning back to Culora. “Let’s get going. They’re probably waiting on us now”

    Culora was still worried for him, but let the subject drop. 

    “Yea, let’s go” Culora grabbed his hand and started dragging him away from the shoreline and further into the forest. “This way! The nearest town is just a few minutes away and we can transport to our meeting place from there”

-

    The cityscape was bustling as it usually is. People walked the streets, while many cars sped by. The city of Eventrus was one of the many big cities on the east side of the mainland, as well as one of Drakor’s favourite to visit. The tall buildings reflected brightly under the midday sun, perfect weather for a group outing. 

    The Eventrus town square was one of the busiest parts of the city. The large open space was full of passersby and a few pop up vendors that made a small market. The wide staircase that stretched around the town square had many groups of people sitting on them, including a particular group of 8. Who of which were causing quite a ruckus, thought it was pretty normal for others to see here.

    “HOLD ON, HOLD ON” A loud screech erupted from a horned man, his spaded tail flicking in agitation. A few people gave him awkward glances, as Scorched were not often seen in public.

    “Vridak oh my god are we doing this again-” A girl of similar height was facepalming, she had a soft appearance that contrasted with her sharp snake eyes. Anyone who looked at her could tell she was from The Fashion District, she had that somewhat strange but elegant look to her. The trail of her skirt was draped across the steps below her, borderline getting stepped on because of the length.

    “YES THIS AGAIN UTRULA” Vridak pointed his finger at the girl accusingly, before shifting to point at the Fae in the group. “CRAYTON LISTEN, HER SISTER WAS A WITCH RIGHT?”

    While Vridak was yelling, the Fae, come to be known as Crayton, was absolutely losing it. He was hunched over, laughing too hard to give a proper response to Vridak. Along with Vridak, Crayton also received some weird looks. One, because he was also a part of the loud ruckus, but two, he was a rare hybrid between cyber and nature Faes. Not a common occurrence, even in modern times. The giveaway factor was the standard hologram accessories for Cyber Faes, mixed with the very obvious Nature Fae wings.

    “AND WHAT WAS HER SISTER? A PRINCESS. THE WICKED WITCH OF THE EAST” Vridak continued on with his rant, not caring about all the people who were now glaring.

    “Someone please stop him, I don’t want to get kicked out of the square again…” A small Nymph softly spoke. She was practically glued to the arm of an Aviad sitting next to her, who towered over her even when sitting.     “Oh come on Dalira, they’re just having fun. Plus Vridak doesn’ have long tangents, he’ll stop yelling soon” The Aviad gave Dalira a soft pat on the head. 

    Next to them a Wood Elf spoke up. “I don’t know Porter, this one sounds long” She was tinkering with something in her lap, not looking up when speaking. She paused for a moment to retighten her ponytail, a mess of black curls swinging back, before picking up the object again.

    “You know Veryan, for being a mechanic you sure do have rather hazardous clothing. I don’t think flared long sleeves are ideal for machine work” Porter poked at the sleeves of her turtleneck. 

    The bickering of the group continued, yelling and jabs being thrown around. There was a huge shadow that covered the group, and upon looking up they saw 2 winged figures damn near plummeting towards them. 

    Scales of silver reflected the sunlight from the first winged figure, while the other figure had bright blue and white feathers. At the very last second both figures suddenly outstretched their wings, bringing them to a softer landing rather than a huge crash in the pavement. 

    “Hah! In your face Tyreena!” The feathered man out stretched his arm to point at the silver haired woman. As he moved his arm, the feathers retracted turning his wings into a normal pair of arms. 

    Tyreena put her hand to her chest, feigning shock. “No way, I totally landed before you Demitrius” She smacked his arm away with one of her wings. Unlike him, her arms and wings were separate. “Everyone knows dragons are faster than measly angel descents” 

    “Yeah, maybe in your full form! But you’re totally slower than me in your half form!” Demitrius was borderline screaming, while Tyreena simply brushed him off and untangled her hair from her horns.

    “Dear SiLENNIA YOU TWO SCARED US” Crayton was on his back, propping himself up with his elbows to look up at the 2 that quite literally crashed in. 

    Crayton’s complaint was drowned out by more bickering from the 2, as well as a few sudden yells from other group members.

    “Hey look! Sea Dwellers 5 O’Clock!” Vridak called out, frantically pointing in the direction of the approaching Culora and Drakor. Upon spotting them, Drakor broke into a run towards the group. Or more of, a bee line straight to Vridak.

    He practically tackled Vridak, ruffling up his hair. “How have you been dude? You never visit!” 

    Vridak ducked out of Drakors arms and quickly wrapped his arm around his torso and fell backwards, dragging them both to the floor. The roughhousing boys wrestled for a couple more moments before they were laughing too hard to keep going. 

    “I’ve missed you, you need to come up from that damn castle more often” 

    Culora quickly stepped around the boys and immediately ran up to Utrula, who was waiting ready with her arms open. Culora grabbed her from the waist and lifted her into the air, almost with ease. The girls were practically squealing with delight, spinning around a couple times. 

    While the 4 of them were greeting their best friends, the rest of the group welcomed Tyreena and Demitrius to the party. After everyone had settled down again, Veryan spoke up.

    “Now that everyone’s here, we should head into the market. I wanna see what vendors are here today” She had stood up from her spot on the staircase, trinket now in her side satchel. 

    There were murmurs and nods of agreement, and the whole group stood up and started to make their way over to the market in the centermost area of the town square. Pop up tents of varying colours were lined up, with even more varying types of merchandise. Many of the vendors were people sharing their crafts, jewelry, food, and other trinkets. 

    “Oooo look!” Tyreena was hopping up and down in place, pointing excitedly at a small booth towards the back. The tent was mostly enclosed, with just the entrance being illuminated. The part that caught Tyreena’s eye was the dragon symbol on the front, as well as the numerous, probably fake, jewels hanging around.

    The group weaved through the crowd to the booth, a few peeked their heads into the dimly lit tent. Shuffling in, they realized the space was much bigger than it had appeared on the outside.

    “Mmm, someone knows their magic it seems” Drakor gave the tent a glance around. “Not many people know this advance of magic, making a space bigger on the inside”

    Lining the many shelves was a mix of magic trinkets, the legal kind that is, as well as what appeared to be board game pieces. Crystal balls and glass figures reflected the fairy lights strung around the tent. The group spread out around the area, each looking at their own thing. 

    “Why hello there!” A voice suddenly invaded the quiet scene, startling some. An older man dressed in simple, almost wizard-like robes emerged from seemingly nowhere. “Welcome to Dragon’s Keep! My name is Iviar. I’ve got many little knick knacks here, please do not be afraid to ask questions” 

    “Oh! Uh, thank you Iviar” Utrula was slightly off-put by his sudden appearance. She grabbed a small mirror off the shelf, looking it over. “Is this enchanted?”

    Iviar clasped his hands together, making his way to her side. “Ah yes! This mirror is indeed enchanted. Simply look into it, state a colour and voila! Changes your hair colour in the blink of an eye!” 

    “Ah” Utrula gently placed the mirror back down on the shelf. “I think I’m ok with my current hair colour” She gave a small laugh.

    “What about this?” Tyreena had also pulled something off the shelf to admire.     “Ah well that my dear friend-...” 

    The voices faded out as Culora went further into the tent, something in the back catching her eye. A long table, large enough to seat 15, was secluded. Sprawled across the table were loose papers, plastic figurines and many dice. The face of the table appeared to be a map. Culora reached her hand out to touch the surface, only to be met with the landscape present to change. Curious, she poked her hand to the table again, this time making a swiping motion. The map on the table moved with her motion. 

    ‘Huh, cool’ She thought.

    “I see you’ve found the table!” Iviar had once again suddenly appeared, no signs of him walking up. Culora nearly jumped out of her skin. Faintly hearing them from the back, the rest of the group one by one showed up to see what was happening. 

    “Is this...a game? I see a lot of dice. Oh, and the table’s neat. Makes me think of a giant GPS” Culora stepped to the other side of the table to admire some of the figures and dice.

    “Why yes! This is quite the rare find too, the table was crafted by Hierophant himself! The table is set to this one map, but there’s many areas to it” Iviar made a pinching motion on the table, and the map zoomed out to show the entire continent and its islands. 

    “Hierophant? You managed to get your hands on an arcana craft?” Veryan was absolutely starstruck by the contraption. “What is this used for?”

    “Hierophant crafted this for his friends to play a game with him, I believe he has since made a new one and this one was gifted away. The game nowadays is referred to as Dungeons and Dragons!” 

    “The….the roleplaying game?” Porter stared at the items around the table. “That explains the dice and figurines”     “This doesn’t look like Lepliora, or even Zarithya. Is this map a fake location?” Porter was giving the map a once over, not recognizing any of the landmarks.

    “This is Luenia! Luenia may not be a part of our planet, however it is real” Iviar made his way to the head of the table, where a painted cardboard wall was set. He took a seat behind the wall, only his head visible over the top of it. “Would you like to try? Think of it as a free trial in case you’d like to purchase”

    “I mean, it doesn’t hurt to try” Veryan sat down at one of the seats, clearly still excited about the table more than anything.

    “I’m ok. I don’t even know how to play” Utrula was stepping backwards away. 

    “Nonsense dear! You’ll pick it up fast I assure you, plus I’m sure the others would prefer to have everyone here, yes?” Iviar made a motion for everyone to sit.

    There were a few unsure looks glanced at one another, but ultimately everyone sat down. Iviar waved his hand, levitating some papers from a shelf behind him to his hands. He put a small stack on the center of the table.

    “Choose a character sheet, make sure to look through and choose wisely. This will determine your skills and magics you can use in the game”

    There were a few minutes of shuffling papers around, everyone reading through descriptions until they settled on one. Iviar floated the remaining excess papers back to their place on the shelf. Tapping on the table a few times, he made another motion causing the landscape of the map to shift. It zoomed in on a kingdom and its town, before becoming three dimensional. The height of the castle stretched a little over their heads, the terrain popping up and out of the table’s surface. 

    “Welcome to the kingdom of Vaivern” 

    Suddenly, the map started to surround the room in a purple smoke. A few members of the group went into a coughing fit, others standing up in a panic. The room was fully encased in the thick smoke, no one could even see their hand in front of them.

    “Enjoy your stay~” Iviar’s voice faded out, the smoke finally dissipating.

    After a moment the smoke cleared out completely. The back area of the tent being replaced by a vast field, the clear blue sky overhead and the sun beating down on them.