Snippet #2767867

The two men clasped arms in front of Otis' confused face. Percy looked over Ash, the lantern light reflecting off his features. "My god you are a ghost of the past. You've aged, old boy..." Percy rose an eyebrow, giving a buck-toothed smile. "Just don't hold the mirror to me." Percy wheezed a laugh and glanced down at Otis. "Well hello son, what are you doing here?!"

Percy laughed again before turning to Ash, immediately dismissing the youth before he had time to respond. "I can't believe this! I can't believe you're here, I haven't seen you since... well, since things went all sideways with the occupation." He turned. "I've traded in a legionnaires uniform for another, but it's all right. Here, here! I have to show you about!"

Percy waved toward the city down the cavern path. "Welcome to Cobran!"

There was something strange. Two Sorillian boys from the legion, here, in what could only described as a magical place. "Trust me, old boy," Percy whispered as they looked over the city. "It's unlike anywhere you've been before."

***

The woman simply swayed down the city path. And Horik, for lack of a better option, followed. The underground city swayed in a stale airflow, and up some rock steps Horik spotted the woman again. She was standing over the pit of a forum, eating and merry-making in the light below. Tables of families entering the public spot, water flowing from fountains, warm bread available for all.

"Do you see that man," The woman whispered to Horik, her finger raising to a one eyed bald man sitting alone. "He was once a raider in the Badlands. He wanted all the gold in the world. And now he wants for nothing. All of these people here are at peace." The woman turned to Horik. "All have found a greater purpose here... in Cobran."

The woman shifted. "You've been taught all your life that things have a price, that ambition is security. That the more you gain the less you can fall... but they have traded everything, their ambition, their possessions, for if they stay here..." The woman turned to Horik. "They are forever safe. You still hunger... they have found their meal."