The moon hovered low while Brax sat amidst a candlelit bar to the light strumming of a somber bard. The place smelt of booze stained wood and broth, its air stiff, yet welcoming after a long day of sweat-filled labor. Old men murmured about the terrible world over dusty tables, while drunk younguns complained to the bartender about worthless sons. It may have been a melancholic scene for strangers, but to the locals, it was home. A damp, smelly home, but a home nonetheless.
Brax was at his usual spot adjacent to the entrance and had ordered a familiar meal: a mug of mead with a side of roast river clams, placing it on a tab he could never pay back. He always wondered how the bartender survived when no one ever actually paid. He sighed as he took in the musty aroma of the clams. Salty and full of grit, as always.
When the night hit the hour, people were too drunk to see straight, and the bar doors slammed open. They were loose doors, and the only ones who weren't gentle with them were those who had never been to the bar before, namely, travelers. There she stood, triumphantly scanning the scene while everyone stared at her striking almond eyes and pink silk garbs. Their gaze was relentless, yet she seemed completely unbothered. When she locked eyes with Brax, her face lit up with a most pleasant smile as she ran up to his spot excitedly.
"Ah, it is good to see you, Brax! My friend!" Xinyu said. "Is this your hometown?"
"It is," Brax replied, trying to duck his head to avert the gazes that were quickly turning to him. "Shabby, I know."
"Shabby, yes, but familiar," Xinyu said. "The structures are so different, yet it reminds me of my own home in a way."
"In the east?" Brax asked. He wondered if the idea wasn't as far-fetched as he initially thought. Perhaps a mortal could have slipped past the devil that guarded the mountains if they were lucky enough.
"So, what brings you to the Westlands?" he asked.
"I am on a journey, you see!" Xinyu said, jumping onto the stool next to Brax. She almost fell backwards from the heft of her bag and had to grab the counter to catch herself.
"A journey?" Brax asked as Xinyu put her oversized sack on the floor beneath her.
"Yes! To the west! One that must be made so humans can be free from heaven and the gods," she said. "I have come to expose the gods' greatest secret!"
"Their secret?" Brax asked, trailing off as he began to grow worried. As soon as she said that, he felt a chill brush upon his spine. Glancing around, he noticed a pair of blue eyes looking directly at them, piercing into his soul with an icy glare that'd petrify even Medusa. The shrouded person's gaze quickly darted away, switching to the drunks bumbling around the bar. Brax downed the rest of his drink, trying to alleviate his discomfort. Xinyu leaned into his ear.
"Yes," Xinyu whispered in his ear. "I must travel to the Moonless Terra. At least, that is what Kitsune told me. Once I do so, I surely will have the strength to expose their secret."
Brax was about to laugh, but when he looked at her, he saw nothing but earnestness.
"The Moonless Terra?" he asked, taking another sip of his ale. "That ain't a place you can go, little lady."
"Oho? And why is that?" Xinyu asked.
"It was banned 'cause every ship that's sailed there has sunk into nothin', their crews missing without a single survivor to tell the tale. No one's tried in centuries," Brax said. "And that joke about being free from the gods is an odd sense of humor, that's for sure. You'll get yourself killed talking like that."
Xinyu shrugged. She seemed not to take in a single bit of his warnings, but instead stared at his eyes. It was like she was trying to see something in them, and it was making Brax uncomfortable.
"What is it you want?" she asked, changing the subject.
"Huh?"
"What do you wish to accomplish in your life?" she asked once more.
"I don't know… nothing I s'pose," Brax said, staring down into an empty mug, trying not to meet her gaze. "I'm a bit too old to do anything worthwhile anyway."
"I see," Xinyu said. She looked disappointed.
"Well," Brax continued, scratching his bristled hair. "If anything, I'd love to take my wife and daughter behind the safety of the walls. Ya know, create a world that's safe for them. One where they can eat 'til they're full and laugh and read and stuff."
"Create a world that's safe for them…" Xinyu muttered under her breath. Then, changing the subject erratically, she asked another question. "Hey, Brax! Can you tell me more about the land?"
"The Moonless Terra? No one knows much about that place," Brax said.
"Not there! Here! The Westlands!" Xinyu said, getting a bit too close for comfort. "For the longest time, I have dreamed of coming here, but now that I am, I find that I am lost. Perhaps you can tell me what I wish to know!"
"And what would that be, exactly?" Brax asked.
"Everything, of course!" Xinyu said with that greedy glint in her eyes. "I want to know everything, from the insects to the lands to the heavens, and everything in between!"
"I spose…"
Brax, though exhausted, found that he didn't mind talking to the spry young lady. Her smile and her wild aura made him feel at ease. It reminded him of Aziel and the dreams he had when he was a child. This nostalgia flowed over him like an ocean of warm water seeping into his skin. And it wasn't just the booze swashing around his stomach.
In a single night, Brax conveyed everything he knew.
He told of the freakishly cold Northlands where giant people lived.
The Southland's fiery deserts riddled with lost cities and underground ruins.
The lush plains and forests of the Westlands.
He recalled stories from his childhood about dragon-slaying heroes, the rise of King Arthur, and the gods of Zeus' kingdom.
He lamented about the myths of treasures that the poor passed around while drinking grass ale at night, and dreamed of finding them himself.
When Brax finally finished, breathless, Xinyu's gaze was wider, and her eyes were more open than ever. Her smile was bigger too, and there was a sheen on her face that beamed a hungry light that sought more.
"You are perfect for the first!" Xinyu said, loud enough for everyone to hear. Enough to humiliate Brax. Everyone had slowly turned back to their own business while Brax was talking about stuff westerners already knew, but their attention was right back on them as soon as Xinyu spoke, loud as she was. "You are knowledgeable about this land, and you have dreams. You should join me on my journey to expose the heavens. The fox told me I must find strong allies, and I have a good feeling about you."
"Ha, I'm too old to be fightin' gods," Brax laughed, not taking her seriously. The liquor was beginning to take his senses over. He would've never spoken so nonchalantly about something unthinkable had he been sober.
"That is fine," Xinyu said. "Nobody has the strength to stand up to a god. But I know a way to change the game, and it will shake this world!"
"Sorry, but I don't got any interest in dyin'," Brax said. " I'd rather get rich or something like that. Then I'd never have to worry about sickness or food again."
"An admirable desire!" Xinyu said. "In all the adventurous stories I have heard, there are always great treasures along the way! Enough to take your family behind those walls you speak of. I bet where we are going, you will become so rich that you can build your own walls!"
"My own walls, huh?" Brax said, hiccuping. "Yeah, and I'll have a castle too!"
"The biggest castle!" Xinyu cheered.
"Forget just being rich," Brax said. "I'll be a king! The king of a kingdom that puts this ol' one to shame. One where no one gets left behind and everyone eats until they're full!"
"The greatest! Yes! That is my desire as well!" Xinyu said. "Come, let us leave tomorrow!"
The girl's words are crazy to Brax, but he still found himself enjoying the nonsensical conversation. He was smiling and laughing for the first time in a while. Even though his words were drunk and without heft, the girl still held onto every phrase and took him seriously all the way through.
Time flew by like nothing, and Brax became so merry that he thought he might give up on his failures as a merchant and go along with her. Of course, that was the alcohol leaking into his brain, and not something he could ever do. He had a wife and a kid. He could never do something so brash, so selfish. He was not young anymore, either.
At some point, Brax drunkenly passed out, but he vaguely remembered Xinyu walking up to the bartender and asking about the Moonless Terra. The tall and well-dressed man scoffed at her and ignored her, then went back to work. Xinyu puffed her small chest out and pulled something out of her rucksack. Brax couldn't see what it was since his vision was blurry, but it immediately swayed the bartender and made him quite chatty. That was the last thing Brax dizzily remembered before he blacked out completely.