CHPT 557: Into Cidade De Escama

The screams and city wide disruption lasted another few minutes….

"[Theres truly something poetic about the Last Potential of Romulus being adept at large scale infiltration.]" Arne commented as Claude dropped an unconscious Hero from the rooftops.

His armor clanked and jingled as he crashed into a balcony on the top floor.

Claude was gone by then, sinking back into the deep of the city. Cidade De Escama. Helena translated it as, Scale City.

And the nomenclature made sense.

Too much sense, he thought initially as he moved through the crooks and alleys, flanked by snakes and small lizards. They slithered out of sewers and perched on window sills like live decorations, watching him with their slitted tongues.

In the distance, lower leveled Beast Tamers wishing to end their days work chased down their Primal Mounts as they chased Claude through the city.

He hid behind a trash collector like a vagrant.

"Infiltration…." He spoke back on Arne's initial comment. "If you think that's what I plan to do to the Lupines of Remus then maybe you aren't actually inside my mind."

"[Oh I wasn't referring to them, mate.]"

"Then what?"

A young girl inside one of the human built housing complexes approached the window. The warm yellow lights that spilled into the alley held her shape. Pig tails. Flamboyant and expressive clothing that was cultural beyond his understanding.

He watched her face take on a look of wonder. She was scared. But that fact was changing as the dozens of lizards and snakes interacted with eachother and her from the window sill.

"Olha, mamãe!" She jumped. Smiled, even.

"[I think you could infiltrate the mind of man and its current ideals. Bloody hell, I think you could slaughter this worlds homogenous structuring practically over night. ….Hmmmm Just as he wanted…..]"

"Homogenous." Claude repeated, "I don't know that word. Why don't I know that word?"

"[Because you're sixteen and nearing drop out status with all your absences for the sake of adventure. Speaking of, are you just planning to re-enter the Tournament grounds? You haven't thought about that bit of the plan at all, mate.]"

"Yea…. I don't— I don't know. I just need to get back to them." Claude shifted uncomfortably behind the trash collector before he scaled the building walls to reach the roof.

The young girls giggles at the sight of reptiles faded to the back of his mind as his claws scraped and sparked against the metal rooftops and scaffolding.

He needed air untouched by the city.

"SSSQWACK!"

A pterodactyl screeched at the sight of him from above.

"Pare!" The Sky Rider commanded as he aimed his bow. He could feel the crackle of magic igniting fire into existence. It made his fur stand on end where the arrow aimed.

He raced across the rooftops. Letting Wild Magic race through his expanded leg muscles and tendons. Flaming arrows sunk into the rooftops, lighting up his trail. Never hitting their mark.

He was gone in a blur. Finally settled with his series of small scale robberies without alarming the entirety of Scale City— though that wasn't really a realistic assumption to make considering the size of the City.

Even moving faster than the human eye could account for in the dark of night, it still took him almost an hour to reach the North end of the city where his pack awaited, listening to his bounding form in silence.

Like the south end, a massive guard post was built over the north end. Night Runners exited the barbed gates flashing ID's as they led their mounts and Tamed Beasts with bags full of repellents and gears. Some of them looked strong.

He watched from the air as he soared silently over the gates and landed in the rain forestry of the world beyond. His Lupine legs absorbed the impact as he hit the ground and rolled silently.

He got up, wiping the caught bits of the upper canopy from his clunky knights armor. He had a newfound respect for Samuel as he shrugged and adjusted himself inside the armor.

Things shuffled in the shrubbery deeper inside.

Claude looked ahead to find dozens of reflective eyes watching him.

Tom, Helena, Tara and Li emerged with the others close behind.

"Bag." Claude replied as he began tearing off his knights armor.

Helena stepped forward and threw him the second set of armor.

Before he dug in, he emptied his pockets, full of Hero Identification Cards.

"What are these?" A few of the younger Shifters asked as he passed them out with each card vaguely resembling its holders physical stature and build.

"ID's. They'll let us walk into Guildhalls without setting off suspicious alarms right away."

Tom nodded, "Good thinking."

"The rest is on us now." Claude pulled on his new set of light armor. Inconspicuous. Form-fitting. Engraved with bone and skull designs. Less edgy feeling and more ceremonial. Just like the mask. The top half of a Jaguar skull covered in ornate line-work and studded with stone jewels. The black mesh beneath hid the rest of his face.

Claude rolled up the back and shrugged on Alpha's longcoat before leading them to the entrance.

He could feel their tension as they completed their first true objective. Getting inside. The guards had no fear. They'd seem Primals of impossible power charge their walls. A few masked "humans" was nothing. The lack of fear made things easier. It left Claude with more energy to focus on tempering their impulses as they walked the streets.

Full of meaty fragrances and lustful undercurrents hidden in the sweet sweat and bile of city life.

The city was so large their ears caught a steady hum for miles. Impossible to truly make out conversation of any kind.

"Let it fade." He reminded as they passed a carriage.

"Do you have a name for us yet?" Don asked.

Claude spotted the first Guild Hall amidst the long city street full of New World skyscrapers fit with Pterodactyl Riders mounted like gargoyles and the familiar Electrists powering the city. In the backdrop, it felt like it never ended. Massive buildings, Primals, clutter, all symbiotically and purposefully merged with nature. But nothing rose higher than the statue he'd first seen. Titanoboa, The Irredeemable.

He wondered if people prayed— sacrificed in its name, like they did in other places he'd visited. Like Camaco.

If that was the case him and his Order were f—

***

The Saint Snake Guild. Roughly translated of course. It wasn't the largest building on the block— or most profitable since the skyscraper of painted stone and dark glass was split.

The bottom half was the guild hall. But above it was a place for Witches. Referred to as Bruxa.

He could feel their magic the second he stepped inside. Smelled like burnt Cinnamon and cat piss. It stained everything inside.

The green carpet that looked like grass lining the stairs and main hall. The sweat dripping from the resting heroes armor. The gloss of the desktops where the Clerks were hard at work.

"Don't touch anything. It might be hexed." Claude commented.

Many of the Shifters tensed at their own shared memories of HexBlades. Probably involving Vampires and their temporary demise to enslavement.

"You're fine. Just walk with me."

They entered the Guild Hall. Despite its difference in language and structure, it had that same feeling.

Suddenly he was back in SkyHaven with a camouflaged Frosty at his side.

He erased the thought before his chest started to hurt and approached the front desk.

Helena joined him and began speaking to the lady in their native language of Portuguese. There was only a moments hesitation as she got the newly improved name from Claude.

"We're members of the Vengeance Order, following a God-Bound Quest to The Sunlands. Where is your Portal Room?"

The front desk lady hesitated as she looked the odd group over a few times. Eventually she replied and Helena pulled out her Hero ID. Followed by everyone else doing the same.

She froze and referred to someone behind Claude.

He turned and found Li with his hand raised to overcome the height difference. He held his ID both upside down and backwards.

Helena chuckled dryly and said something to the desk lady who replied and waved them all off.

In between actions she repeatedly glanced at Claude.

"And What Higher Figures mission is it that you follow? I don't know of any Vengeance Order…."

Helena looked at Claude.

Tom placed a hand on his shoulder.

"Vidar, The Silent One of Vengeance."

BOOM!

Claude's Aura exploded, leveling the inside of the Guild Hall as it lashed out in thick green tendrils slowly fading to black purple and red murkiness.

He floated as his seemingly hijacked Aura lifted him off the floor on Wolven legs as large as pillars.

The shape continued to be molded to that of a monstrous wolf. His arm broke out of place as an unseen force yanked it upright. He roared in pain as the Phantom Wolves spilled out of his markings and gave the wolfish form dark solidity.

A dozen eyes all moving freely to scan over everyone held down by the pressure of a god.

"Which one of you downtrodden flesh born bastards said that name?….rrrWHO!? I'll level this whole city in minutes. Your children won't know peace. You won't know life….. WHO SAID IT?"

"[Claude are you alright?!]" Arne questioned as the chaos ensued.

He could hear people coming.

"Arne, we have to move... Any ideas?"

"[Uhhhhmm...]"

Closer. The Pterodactyl Riders overhead were divebombing.

The witches were realizing in real time that the hexes they laced the building with could do nothing against the unbound.

They snapped and popped against the spectral form of Fenrir like rubber bands.

"Arne, anything."

"[Ok! I've fought men in GodForm. They usually break after the human body takes a certain amount of—]"

That was all he needed to hear.

Ashe's snout appeared out of the shadows near him, whimpering in panic.

She coughed and out came the Lunar Artifact drenched in saliva.

Claude fought against the Aura that wasn't his own and grabbed it.

His power swelled. The transformation took over.

He pulled his now healed arm back into his own control and summoned the Dominance spear.

"WHO SAID IT!?"

"Me."

Claude ran the spear through the stomach.

SHLCK!

"AAACK!"

The aura shivered and began to fade.

"Be careful who you surround yourself with, boy. I'll kill whoever I need to. If I hear that name again….."

Fenrir vanished.

Claude hit the floor with a hole in his stomach.

All he focused on was the escape.

Guards rushed the doors and immediately fell to their knees as Claude aimed Overfang in their direction.

He stumbled to his feet. Watching as the spear shrunk in real time. Putting their escape on a short timer.

"LETS GO!"

The Shifters raced ahead to find the portal room.

They found themselves playing a game of homicidal red light green light as Claude left and reappeared in the main hall back and forth causing them to stop and go jarringly.

Until finally.

"Upstairs!" Tom yelled.

A dozen Shifters jumped and exploded through the floor to find Tom in the portal room.

They had one for The Isle's of Indus, Camaco, Kumataiyo Isle's other regions in Tierra Primazon…. And thankfully, The Sunlands.

"Get in." Claude slurred before turning away from them.

Gil's head burst from his chest and sent a stream of fire through the GuildHall.

Once everything was up in flames and spurring on patches of growth downstairs, he jumped in.

Bleeding and confused. Angry. As if just getting closer to his own already wasn't enough work….. a simple name almost sent him into a frenzy that wasn't even his own.

Even after finally doing it. Finally embracing all that it is to be Lupine. What Fenrir wanted. He still had to remind him they weren't anywhere close to morally— existentially, similar in many ways….