We descended the hill in silence, gazing in amazement at the incredible sight of the city spread out below us, enveloped in a silvery mist playing with the sun's rays. I was so happy to see this city. It seemed to me a wealthy and carefree city. And indeed it was. We found no defensive walls there. There were no guards either. We entered the main street, where a multitude of people were milling about. Or rather, these creatures could not be called people. Some of them looked more like animals than men. Peorth approached us and began to tell us about the city's inhabitants.
"These are Ogres," he pointed to a tall, stocky giant with bluish skin, enormous paws, and an unpleasant appearance. He wore dirty animal skins. His eyes were small and narrow, regarding everyone suspiciously. They moved sluggishly and slowly, but they seemed eager for a fight.
Owen nodded. I could see he was absorbing this information. He was probably very curious about all this. I was too.
"And these are Angemons," he pointed to beautiful creatures with four pairs of angel wings on their shoulders. They moved lightly, calmly. They wore strange clothes. With metal parts, however, it didn't resemble armor; on the contrary, it resembled decoration. We couldn't see their eyes, as half their faces were obscured by handsome helmets shaped like bird heads. I really liked these creatures.
He was silent for a moment, selecting individual breeds from the crowd. After a moment, he pointed a huge paw at another creature.
"These are Onyxes..." They were tall, humanoid creatures, yet their bodies were covered in metal.
They had no hair, and their eyes reminded me of a narrow strip of red light. The metal covering them didn't represent any clothing. It simply looked like a naked human, without detail, but like a human. They moved with grace. As if they weren't machines.
Soon we saw creatures similar to Peorth. They looked like a fusion of human and animal. Some had horns, others tails, others hooves or paws instead of feet, and instead of hands, they always had claws. And their pupilless eyes glowed red even during the day.
Peorth explained that this was a race of Denpons. Guide beings. Their task was to guide visitors through any land, for only they knew this place as well as anyone else. Their animal ears and the way they moved helped them in this. They derived endurance and strength from animals, making them incredible allies on the journey...
Immediately afterward, Peorth noticed some incredible creatures in the crowd that made my heart leap into my throat. They were half animal, half human. For example, the creature we saw first was half spider, but where its head should have been, it had a belly and then a human body. It was a woman with black hair and eyes, long black claws, and wore nothing. Then we saw a man resembling a centaur from some mythological film. There were other representatives of this race as well: half lion, half tiger, and other felines, then there were the bodies of ibex, zebras, enormous dogs, and the like. This race was called Gizmans; they were unpredictable monsters, from which you never knew what to expect. Because their connections to animals were particularly strong, they often behaved like them, adopting their customs. Peorth said it was one of the worst and at the same time the strangest races. I couldn't recognize anything normal here. Gizmans lived in the forests, but some of them had moved to towns and villages, which is why we encountered them here.
"And these are Lifaty," Peorth pointed to the shrunken, small creatures slinking among the other creatures. They were very small, dressed in black rags, and only a round, misshapen head with large eyes peeked out from under the rags.
We watched the strange creatures pass by us. The din of people speaking various strange languages surrounded us. On both sides of the street stood white houses, without windows. Sometimes, various creatures sat against such walls, closing their eyes and muttering under their breath. Peorth focused my attention this time on a green creature covered in scales. It resembled a fish. It had webbing between its fingers, gill lobes on either side of its neck. Its eyes were covered with webbing, and it looked out at the world in a strange way. They wore ruffled linen dresses. They had very long green hair that flowed freely down to their ankles. They moved calmly and gracefully.
"These are Oceans," he said. "They live in all waters. However, they can stay on the surface for a while, like they do now...
I really liked these Oceans. They seemed nice, at least.
" "And these," our guide said again, "are the Trensfans."
These creatures were already fully animals. Unlike animals, however, they walked only on two legs and wore clothes.
Soon we reached the orchard and gardens surrounding the square castle. Less than fifteen minutes later, we found ourselves in the courtyard. It was surrounded on all sides by marble arcades thickly covered with blue ivy that cascaded down. In the center of the courtyard was a huge fountain resembling three dragons breathing water. On the other side, in a vast corridor, where blue fire burned, stood a door. We dismounted our unicorns and followed Peorth.
"Your grandfather used to come here quite often; he said he felt connected to this place like no other in the whole Land, and for that, we were always very proud," Peorth explained. "Although our castle is the smallest building of Henry, our lord and master, it was here that he came most often..."
We entered through the door and found ourselves in a vast corridor with a semicircular vault. On its stone walls hung golden tapestries depicting unicorns in greenery, dolphins playing in the water, galloping horses, eagles soaring over mountains, lotuses, and other interesting things. I really liked them. After a while, we entered the dining room, in the center of which stood a table with two chairs. On the table stood a variety of dishes, all illuminated from above by a crystal chandelier. Peorth clapped his hands twice, and a blue fire began to burn in the wide fireplace. There were no windows, yet you could feel the fresh breeze coming in through special fans that quietly whirred from the ceiling. We both dove headfirst into the food. Our stomachs had been growling for a while. We devoured the food without even realizing what we were eating, but we agreed on one thing: everything was very good. Crunchy, square bread. Some round purple fruit, and other foods we hadn't tried before. Afterwards, we sat on a comfortable couch in front of the fireplace, sipping some strange, sea-green beverage, and began to talk.
"How do you like it, sister?
" "It's amazing here; you know, I still can't quite believe it all. It's so wonderful. And think that it all belongs to us.
" "Exactly," he agreed with a smile. "I wonder if we'll go anywhere else?
" "I think so, because this is only Grandpa's first city, and as future rulers, we should know the most important ones.
" "Right. We'll ask Peorth later. And what did you think of the races of the inhabitants of this Land?
" "Apart from the Ogres and the Gizmans, they seemed very nice. I'd like to get to know them all better..." I mused.
"We'll probably have enough time for that, don't you think?
" "I really hope so!"
Someone cleared their throats cautiously behind us. We turned toward the door.
"Would you like to go to your bedrooms now?"
We looked at each other.
"We're going," Owen replied. "I'm dying of tiredness."
We rose and followed our guide. He led us to the rooms on the fourth floor. They were two enormous bedrooms, each with a four-poster double bed and curtains on all sides. There were tall mirrors, fireplaces, and, like the hallways, various tapestries and paintings. There were also elaborate, heavy wardrobes and bookshelves. We thanked the escort and went to wash up. The bathrooms were accessed from our rooms.
When we returned, pajamas and new clothes for tomorrow were laid out on the deep, high-backed armchairs. I saw it was a dress. I didn't particularly like dresses, but after all, I was now in a world that had little in common with our world in the twenty-first century. Laughing, I jumped onto the soft bed and snuggled under the covers. The soft pillows that had been strewn all over the bed fell to the ground. Soon, I fell asleep peacefully.
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