The Quantum Wanderer

Marcelo’s POV

We wake up the next morning, and after breakfast, we get our adventurer gear, and portal to the forest near the centaur village. We start walking towards the small village. There is a group of centaurs coming out of the village, bows across their bodies, a quiver hanging by their waists. They are accompanied by some dire wolves. They are almost as big as the centaurs themselves.

The group immediately enters in protection mode, the bows are out, arrows docked, and the wolves ready to attack. I put my hands up. One of them kind of stomps the ground. I lift my hands up.

“We come in peace. We were invited.”

A centaur comes out of the village, it is Quiron. He sees us, and then he is mortified. He runs over to the first centaur in the group.

“Quincy, you moron. This is THEM!”

The hunter lower his bow, and then bows down.

“I am sorry, sir.”

“It is ok.”

I stop a minute to take a look at their weapons, they don’t have metal in them. They are well worked, with feathers, but no metal in the arrows. Their clothing is also made of leather, but a very simplistic armor. I don’t know how strong they are individually, but their weapons and armors are really bad.

Quiron turns to us.

“Please follow me, friends.”

He makes a point of taking us through the very middle of the group that was there.

We enter the village. It is a very small one. The village is shaped around a central fireplace. There are three concentric circles of houses around this fireplace. On the outside of these circles, there are several dens of animals. After that, some tall grass, and then a palisade.

I see that Quiron is also stomping the ground non an again. Some people starts gathering up around us. Then I hear some drums. I try to pay attention, it sounds like the drums sound like Quiron’s stomping, but it is hard to be sure. There are some drums that we can hear in the distance as well.

Quiron leads us to this covered platform, in front of the firepit, opposite the entrance. The floor of it is made of pressed straw. Quiron steps to the side, there is a part of the wood for the platform that is apparent. He stomps on it. He then comes back to the covered part.

“Welcome, friends. Are you hungry? Thirsty?”

“We just had breakfast, thank you. How are you guys doing?”

He looks down, and scrapes the straw lightly with his front left paw.

“We are well.”

I am looking around. There are some kids playing close to the grass fields. They are throwing these little straw wheels on the ground, and their friends try to hit them with an arrow. Some others were in some tag game.

I look at another place, and there are two kid centaurs that are spinning around each other, until they meet in the middle of this small sand arena. It looks like some kind of fight, but although it is brutal, it has no punches or weapons in it.

More and more adults are coming towards us. When I look around, there must be somewhere around 60-70 adults. Around half of them are males. All of them have their chests covered with some leather clothing. Several of them are couples, holding hands.

Quiron takes a look around.

“Alright, everyone! Huddle up!”

Everyone stops talking and starts paying attention to Quiron.

“As you all have already heard from me a week ago, we almost suffered a massacre. However, a human rose against the attackers, and defended us. I am here to present our defender!”

They are all stomping on the ground, with their little weird dance.

“I am sorry, but I never learned your name, friend.”

“I am Marcelo. These are my fiancées, Aquamarine, Ruby, Shandon, Opal and Cecilia. On my left shoulder is Muninn, and on my right is Huginn.”

He tilts his head. He is staring at Muninn. Then he stares at Huginn.

“They look like crows, but their shadows if of something else… something beyond…” He turns to Muninn directly.

“Hello, sir Muninn. What manner of creature are you?”

“Finally, some respect!” He laughs. “The truth is, no one of us know. We don’t have a word for it.”

“Can you show us your true form?”

Muninn looks at me, and I nod in agreement.

“Can you guys open up some space?”

The centaurs open up a large space in front of the platform. Muninn does the maneuver that he has been training, where he lands already in his normal shape.

“A godly brân.” Quiron murmurs. Quiron then kneels on his front knees. I take a look at the position, it seems very uncomfortable. The other centaurs do the same. Muninn turns his head to me.

“Father! I like them! Can I have a couple?”

Huginn turns around, and hides her head behind my back.

“You were doing so well so far… Why did you have to say that?”

He laughs, and then flies back to my shoulder, getting his size back to normal. He looks at all the centaurs kneeling.

“It’s ok, you can all stand up!” He gets close to my head, and plays with my hair with his paw.

“I am sorry, papa.” I do realize he is trying to mimic Huginn, but I know it is not sincere.

I turn to Quiron.

“He was joking. He plays around a lot. He almost scared a couple of people to death because it was funny.”

Muninn interjects.

“Hey, you laughed as well.”

I giggle. He is right.

“I did. But it still an asshole move.”

Quiron is looking at us appalled. He probably didn’t expect this kind of potty mouth on a godly brân, whatever that is.

At this point, there are some additional centaurs entering the village. I can see that they are also on the older side, like Quiron. The approach some people in the back, and start exchanging some words. Their eyes bulge here and there. After some lengthy explanation, they approach the platform. He places his closed hand over his heart.

“Good afternoon, sir. I am Quinlan. I represent another village, we have been invited to meet the friends of the centaurs.”

The group he was with is in the back, still talking to other centaurs. One of them starts laughing, really loud, stomping the ground with his front paw. Muninn turns to me.

“See? He liked the joke! You guys are a tough crowd…”

At this point, there is no way I can hold it in, I start laughing as well… Just when I think the situation cannot be any more surreal, it just blows away all common sense.

Quinlan join us in the platform. He touches the straw, and shakes his head, as if judging the place. Quiron sighs. These two apparently are not on very good terms. At least on the small stuff.

I turn to Quiron.

“There are a couple of things that I would like to discuss with you.”

“Of course, friends!”

I could swear the toned up the word friend, while side looking Quinlan. Then he continues.

“Some of us would like to present you with our gratitude.”

“Sure.”

They come up with a shallow basket, with a lot of grass on it. The centaur delivering it is a redhead. She has this big cleavage. She kneels down, her cleavage ever more visible. She hands me the basket with the grass, and comes back to her place. Funny, the females apparently shake their behind a lot more than the males. Almost like a labrador when compared to other dogs.

Cecilia has an inquisitive face. She is scratching her chin.

“If I didn’t know any better, I would say she is hitting on you.”

I look at Quiron and Quinlan, and they find the ceiling very interesting all of a sudden. Opal press her lips together and tilts her head.

“There are enough pheromones for a whole cave of dragons.”

I look at the girls, and it looks like she is waiting for some sort of answer.

“I am sorry, you are very beautiful, but I am already engaged…”

She doesn’t seem too happy with the answer. Then someone whispers something in her ear, and she starts looking at Ruby with the same eyes she was looking at me. I look then at all the other centaurs in the block.

“Thank you, I appreciate the… grass. And don’t worry about the event, I just happened to be in the right place to avoid it. Not much to it.”

I turn back to Quinlan and Quiron.

“There is still the matter we have to discuss.”

“Sure. This is where we discuss any serious matters as well.”

I shrug. It seems their government is really transparent. But then, for a small village of 100 people or less, it is way easier.

“As you wish. The problem is that this place is no longer safe. The Holy Kingdom already knows about you guys. Right now, they are not attacking because they are afraid because of the adventurers that died.

“I don’t think this is going to keep them away for a long time.”

“Why?” Quiron asks.

“They are bound to send soldiers to scout, to try to identify how you were strong enough to kill the adventurers. When they find out you are not that strong, they are going to assemble a military force, and then…”

The silence echoes around. A lot of front paws are scratching the floor, nervously.

“I did get in touch with the demons, they did tell me that they would give you a place to stay if you were willing to migrate there.

They are starting a lot of plantations, they are starting with this irrigation thing. It is starting to change the landscape. But you can have some peace there.”

“Are they trustworthy?”

I stop to think for a moment.

“That question is a lot harder to answer than one would expect. Or than it should be. I can tell that they seem a lot less inclined to persecute you based on your species. I see that they treat the lower classes with dignity. There are asshole nobles, just like everywhere, but in a general way, I would say that they are.

“Their climate is very different from the one you have here, though. They don’t have forests like these.

“Of course, there are other options. You could also migrate to a place in the Empire or some of the other countries. There is a lot of land in the continent, you should be able to find some empty place. You might even migrate to a place near one of the dwarves’ merchant cities. The cities they keep to do trade with other races.

“But the important thing in all this is that here, in particular, is not safe.”

A centaur, in the back, steps forward.

“You are talking about all those things as if they were easy. How are we supposed to reach the lands of the demons? Are you going to carry us there?”

“I do have a magic spell that can connect the two areas. But it is not something that is going to be available for you at all times. I am helping, I am not starting a life in this tribe.”

“What about the empire? And Arthuria?”

“If can be completely honest, I would wish you guys would not choose Arthuria. The kingdom there is very corrupt. Given the way humanoids are seen by the church, they may use that as a justification. The empire is a lot better. I haven’t talked to them yet. They treat the humanoids with respect, but humans in general can be assholes. While there are no laws in place, you are probably going to still suffer some discrimination. I feel like the demons are a little better in that regard.

“Just out of curiosity, how many of you are there, currently?”

“Around 300?” Quiron answers with a question, looking at Quinlan, that nods.

“Can we talk further about this, in the celebration?”

“Celebration?”

“Of course! That is the bare minimum we can offer for the… protectors that saved us!”

I look at the shadows, the sun is going to set pretty soon. I look at the girls, Aquamarine and Cecilia are nodding, Ruby is shrugging, and Shandon and Opal are uninterested as always.

"Sure, we can do that.”

The centaurs bring out a table, and bring out some trays, with fruits and a lot of grass. Meanwhile, some others go out.

I can see that they are looking at us with funny faces. Quiron approaches.

“Excuse me.”

“Sure, Quiron. What happened?”

“We don’t have… chairs. It is not something we use.”

I use some earth magic, and make a kind of a couch with the solid earth.

“Do you have some straw to put on it, to make it a little softer? That would work already.”

Quiron goes away, and comes back with this kind of straw carpet, that we put over the couch. It is pretty comfortable, given what I was expecting.

There are centaurs coming back into the village, this time with dried wood, from twigs to larger pieces of wood. They make a big fire in the fireplace in the middle of the village.

It is now night. I make our couch higher, like a bar stool. It makes easier for the interaction with the centaurs.

They have this big table, lots of fruits, mushrooms, leaves and grass. Quiron gestures us to it. I pick a fruit and taste it. It is really sweet. It is almost a candy. The dragonesses are not really impressed.

“Girls, you probably want to taste this. It is probably as sweet as the stuff you get in Aisha’s.”

Cecilia comes to the table and tastes a another fruit. She apparently enjoys it. The other girls taste it, don’t enjoy it as much as Cecilia and I do. The crows are really enjoying the food, though.

“This is a change from the usual, father. Not bad in that regard.” Huginn says.

I already know what kind of comment Muninn is going to make, so I just look at him and shake my head. His excitement dims.

“Sure, it is ok.”

They remove the straw carpet from the stand we were in, and a group of centaurs get on it. It is formed of 4 females and 2 males.

They start stomping and tap dancing on top of it. They have a nice synchronization, and the result is a music that reminds me initially of Japanese Taiko drums.

I keep listening to the music. I undo the couch in the position it was, and remake it in an angle I could watch the show. Four more centaurs go up there, they are to the sides of the dancing ones. They have an acapella sound that complements the drums. The music is very nice indeed.

We are again approached by eventual centaurs that bring us fruits from the table, and Quiron and I keep talking about our different experiences.

On my side, I explain to him how the capital of Arthuria is, the corruption. How I was forbidden to enter Angelica with my crows. The bishops trying to kill crows in my yard just because they are idiots. And I also explain the landscape in the demons’ empire, how their climate is a dry one, but they are now obtaining water from the sea.

On his side, he explains that they have been taming some creatures to help them survive. The dire wolves provide protection, and they are the ones that help keep monsters away. They also raise chickens for several reasons. They chickens are used to feed the direwolves, as well as control pests on their grass growing. They really like eating grass, but occasionally will have some eggs included in the diet.

They had been reduced to half a village several centuries before, but now had multiplied their number by 6. Centaurs don’t generally have a lot of kids. Their villages are usually small. When the village starts to get too much bigger than a 100, they end up splitting the village in two. They don’t have metallurgy, nor trade with other species currently, but they are willing to get those two, as long as it is something that they can do without sacrificing their freedom.

“How long do you need to think about your options? I can return in that time, to help you move.”

“Can we have three days? That way I can talk to everyone.”

“Sure.”

We end up talking a bit more about the differences in culture, and how these villages work. There is not a concept of ownership of things inside the village, but they don’t have anything really valuable either. Everyone knows how to make a bow, no one cares if their bow is taken by another.

After some partying, the girls and I decide to go back home. I end up opening a portal, and we go through. I had already mentioned the travel magic.

We get home late, and we end up eating some meat in the kitchen, that the girls prepare with their breathbecue. We go up, wash up, and retire for the night.

Next morning, after our daily fun, we go down for breakfast. Between one piece of meat and the next, Opal looks at me.

“My lord, I have to get things ready in Drakonia’s side. I was wondering if you could portal us there today and call for Troggar.”

“Sure, no problem. How is everything else for the wedding coming along?”

“Everything is looking good, my lord. Almost worthy of you.” Opal answers.

“As long as this makes you girls happy, I am good.”

The other girls nod at me, with a smile.

After an uneventful breakfast, I open the portal to Drakonia, to the beach. I really enjoy this beach. The sand is very white, and very comfortable. It reminds me of what a virgin Barra da Tijuca may once have been.

I take off my boots, to put my toes in the sand. The girls look at me, but end up trying it as well, and enjoy the sensation. Our feet can no longer be burned by hot sand, our levels are way too high for that. We just get the good sensation from this.

I open a very small portal to the opening of Troggar’s cave, something that an eye cannot capture.

“Troggar, come to the beach where the parade started.”

I close it, and walk a little bit on the soft sand. After some time, he arrives, and assumes the courtesy position in front of me.

“You may stand.”

He assumes his normal position.

“How can I help, my lord?”

“Did you talk to the elders about the wedding?”

“Of course, my lord. All the elders will be attending.”

“Did you talk to Skylar as well?”

“That was a strange conversation, my lord. He said that he might come by, as a sign of peace.”

“That works. Now, there are some arrangements that the girls would like to set up with you. Can you provide them a hand on whatever they request?”

“As per your orders, my lord.” He turns to the girls. “How can I help, my ladies?”

Cecilia holds her hand up.

“Just a second.” She turns to me. “This is supposed to be a surprise, so we prefer that you just leave us here. We are in good company.” She turns to Troggar, that nods.

“As you wish.” I give each of them a peck in the lips, and leave with Muninn. Huginn stays with them.

When I get home, I get some water in the kitchen. I meet Rudolph.

“Rudolph, do you have a minute?”

“Always, lord.”

“How do people view other races here in the Empire? In general?”

He thinks about the question.

“It depends on the race, lord. The more human like the race is, the less... The better people will treat them. A dwarf is going to be much better treated than a cat person. Elves are better treated than dwarves, and so forth.”

“How do you think people in general would treat centaurs, Rudolph?”

“Half man, half horse, sir? I would say they would suffer quite a bit from Nergal’s devouts. The issue is that there are a lot of devouts, lord.”

“Thank you for the input.”

“Of course, lord.”

It is basically what I thought. I sigh. I am going to check with Edward just in case, but I don’t see much partnership on this end. I leave the house, cross the street, and check if Edward is home. He is, once, again, working.

I look at Muninn on my shoulder.

“What do you say we visit Edward in the schools?”

“Sure, father.”

“Please don’t scare anyone, you already had your fill with that, right?”

“Ok… I will behave, father…”

I go to the dean’s office, and talk to his secretary. I don’t think she likes me, she always receives me with an unhappy face. Sometimes, even a little disgust, I don’t know.

“He is in a meeting with the different professors. Can you wait half an hour?”

“Sure.”