The lands of kushan part 2

Doreen was in the middle of bathing when she heard a rustling noise coming from the nearby forest. Instinctively, she summoned her weapons and prepared to fight. As she turned around, she was surprised to see a naked man walking out of the woods.

"WHAT THE FUCK DO YOU THINK YOU ARE DOING? AND WHERE THE FUCK ARE YOUR CLOTHES?" Doreen yelled, raising her shield.

"SHUT UP LADY. AND SAME TO YOU! WHERE ARE YOUR CLOTHES?" The man, whose name was Edward, replied aggressively.

Doreen and Edward stood facing each other, their well-tuned-out bodies exposed to each other's eyes. Suddenly, a spear came flying toward them, but Doreen deftly deflected it with her shield.

Realising they were under attack, Doreen knew she needed to focus on the situation. "Edward, cover my back. AND DO NOT DARE TO TURN AROUND!"

"Yeah, yeah...." Edward said and readied his sword.

They could hear rustling in the bushes and the occasional snap of a twig. It was clear that they were dealing with clever and sneaky enemies who knew how to conceal themselves well.

Suddenly, the ground shook, and the trees started moving out of the way. A monstrous beast emerged from the forest, ridden by a sassan controlling it with spikes and chains. The beast's massive claws dug into the earth as it charged toward them, saliva dripping from its jagged teeth.

The monster roared and tried to slam its paw, but it was slow, and Doreen and Edward easily dodged the attack. Edward quickly seized the opportunity and cut off the monster's arm. The beast howled in pain, but its rider only used cruel methods to make it more aggressive.

The monster rushed towards Doreen, but she was ready. She made her spear grow in length and punctured the monster's head, putting it out of its misery.

The rider was furious and took out a club, but Edward quickly disarmed and defeated him. Doreen, however, was not happy about it. "Why did you do that? We could have interrogated him for answers. To know where in the shit place we are," she asked.

"I don't like animal cruelty..." Edward replied, his voice trailing off.

"You think there are any more of these bastards around here?" she asked, changing the subject.

"I can't sense anyone else. Seems like we spooked them," Edward exclaimed.

Edward went and picked up his clothes and Doreen put on her toga. They continued to move forward until they found a paved road.

"What do you think?" Edward asked.

"Don't think those savages we saw built this road. It's pretty well done," Doreen thought.

As Doreen and Edward walked, they noticed that the landscape around them was changing. The trees were becoming sparser, and the ground was getting rockier. Instead of trees, they saw fields of grains and rice paddies coming into view.

Suddenly, riders mounted on kevahs appeared and stopped. The riders wore armor and different-looking clothing, unlike the savages they had encountered before.

"You two humans. What are you doing here?" asked one of the cavalrymen, "These parts are dangerous. The multans have been spotted here."

Doreen and Edward exchanged a glance, unsure of what to say. They had never heard of multans before.

"Follow us, the city of Phala is near," the rider said and offered to show them the way.

Edward whispered to Doreen, "These people seem unusually friendly towards us, considering we are both humans."

"Let's just go with the wind and improvise later if need be," replied Doreen.

"Look at you, choosing to improvise," joked Edward.

Doreen ignored his comment and nodded to the rider. "Thank you, we appreciate your help."

The riders led them to the city of Phala, which was much larger than they had expected. The city was surrounded by high walls made of stone, with gates guarded by heavily armored soldiers. The outside was littered with remnants of old battles, centuries old, with the armor of soldiers scattered on the ground.

One set of armor caught their attention. It was an incredibly heavy and thick-looking armor that shone brightly despite being very old. It had been impaled on a spike as if to leave a warning or symbol of "never again."

"Wow, must have been one hell of a warrior to be able to use such heavy-looking armor," remarked Edward, but he noticed that Doreen had walked off the road towards the armor. "Hey, wait up!"

Doreen had to see the armor up close. She stood before it, lost in thought as she stared at the intricate details etched into the metal. The owner of the armor was long gone, but Doreen couldn't help but feel a deep sadness in her voice as she spoke.

"This is a silver shield..."

"A what?" Edward asked, trying to understand the significance.

"The elites of Iskander. The greatest warriors of the universe and the bane of all the gods," Doreen replied, her voice heavy with emotion.

Edward looked at her, noticing that she was clenching her fist tightly. "Hey, are you okay?" he asked, concerned.

Doreen didn't answer but looked clearly frustrated. She was clenching her fist hard and looking furious.

Edward noticed. "Come on. Let's go before our escorts get irritated," he said, pulling Doreen back to the road.

Doreen and Edward followed the riders to the city gates, where they were greeted by more heavily armed soldiers. The riders explained that they had found the two humans wandering on the road.

They still wondered how come they were so hospitable towards them, considering they had a silver shield, a human's armor, laid out as a warning and how the parsana sassan had viewed them.

"Humans, come with me," one of the riders yelled.

He led them to a grand palace, built from clay. Inside the rider opened the doors and they met the ruler of the city.

"Humans. It has been centuries since we have seen any of your lots here. Welcome to the city of Phala. I am Roxetta, the queen of Phala," A ghastly and fat sassan said while sitting atop a throne.