Everglow: The Trials Of Agaron

2 - Amaryllis Falls

The ominous silhouettes of the skyscrapers loomed over them. They watched over the enormous city, covered in lights. They had a strange design to them, splitting into diagonal segments as they rose. The two biggest buildings had a spiraling white beam that wrapped around them from the top to their foundations. Fischer found himself staring up at the towers in awe with his mouth hanging open. They were so high he had to strain his neck to take in their full view. 

"Holy shit man. This is insane," he muttered under his breath. The pair stood on the bank of a small river with a tiny bridge that lead across. On the other side of the river, the city began. From where the two stood they could see rows upon rows of what looked like streets and shops, similar to what cities on Earth looked like, just with a lot less rubbish everywhere and a lot more green and blue neon lights. In fact, everywhere they looked seemed to be dotted with green and blue lights, giving off a magical sort of aura.

"Well. . . wh-what do we do now?" Ko asked, turning to her friend.

"Uh. . . well, good question. I guess. . . maybe we could ask for directions?"

It seemed like the only thing they could do for the time being. It was the middle of the ight  however and they hadn't seen any signs of life apart from the city itself. 

Making their way across the bridge, the two of them arrived at the foot of the city. Again, Fischer found himself gazing up in wonder at the sheer scale of the skyscrapers.

"They gotta be at least three times the size of the tallest building we have on earth. Over a kilometer high, easily. Bloody hell," he marveled. 

"I just hope the people who built it are nice. I really don't want to have to run anymore," Ko whimpered. 

"You and me both. But hey, we made it this far didn't we? We can't turn back now."

Ko gave a slight nod and wrapped her cloak tightly around herself. The two pressed on. 

The streets of the city seemed almost like a ghost town. There was no sign of any life at all. But they were in top condition, almost looking like they'd just been built. Whoever made this city definitely had good hygiene standards. The alien architecture truly seemed out of this world, like something you'd only find in a move. The bases of most structures seemed to be simple rectangles or parallelograms. But they were adorned with curvy white accents that added an alien feel to it all but also made them look quite pleasing. All around the curvy detailing as well as the windows were colorful lights that illuminated the streets beautifully. 

Then Fischer noticed something strange. There was a sign on one of the buildings that said 'The Swimming Sailor.' But it wasn't written in English. He was somehow able to read the strange symbols as if it were his first language. From the name and it's appearance, it looked to be some sort of tavern or bar. 

"Hey. . . Ko. Can. . . can you read this?" he asked, pointing at the sign.

She turned her attention to where he was pointing and found that she could in fact read it.

"Yea. Why?"

"I-I've never even seen these symbols before but I can understand it perfectly. That's. . . weird."

Ko shot him a confused look. "We've travelled through space portals, are on an alien planet in a huge city that doesn't have anyone in it and this is what you find weird?"

"Fair point," he scoffed. The two continued down the street until they came to an intersection in the road. Ahead of them the area seemed to open up into a main highway. And this time there were signs of life. There were a few vehicles traveling down the road at a considerable speed. They looked like cars from Earth but with way more curves and ridges, almost like they were designed as stealth craft to deflect radar.