The Tale of Xenosa

Into the City

Cheska's POV:

Now, this wasn't the definition of the "grand welcome" I had in mind. The moment Cresia and I stepped inside the gate we were instantly faced by spears. Long golden spears, that I was sure were as sharp as Nana's kitchen knife back at our hut in Samar. "Woah easy there," I said as I tried to get them to lower down their spears. There are about nine guards in front of us right now, all with a murderous look on their faces. Well, it wasn't the crazy kind of a murderous look, just the serious-one-wrong-move and we'll barbecue you with our spears kind of look. Cresia was beside me sweating bullets, she looks like someone who was about to s**t herself. The guards are tall and slender, at first, I thought they were just really tall mortals but now that I had a good look at them I noticed how their ears were pointed and their skin was as white as snow. They had long silky straight hair. And they had long yet chiseled faces as well. One good look at them you'll instantly notice they weren't humans. They were elves! There was something different about their scent as well. If the nymphs smelled of the ocean and the rivers they, the elves, smelled of flowers. Very very sweet flowers, it was intoxicating. I think this was the reason why humans find them super attractive. They can bewitch people using their scents so Cresia and I have to be extra careful when we are around their kind. I think they're the ones the natives call "Encanto" they are supernatural beings often heard from stories of myths and heroism. they are often depicted as tall and beautiful people, well they had the ability to show their selves as humans. They can be categorized into different kinds or species such as the sirens, tikbalangs, other dark creatures, and the elves that we are faced with right now. In the myths, the elves are described to have skin that sparkles under direct sunlight, fangs for their canines, and long light-colored hair. As of the moment, all I can say is that they looked as close to humans as possible. Maybe they were using magic to cover themselves up. Maybe they didn't want to scare us. Or maybe just like the other beings on this planet, they simply chose to evolve. The Encantos are easily upset, they are the ones that often meddle with human affairs. The phrase, "Tabi tabi po," was made just to give them a type of acknowledgment. It's like you're asking for permission to pee on the side of the tree or something. The natives believe that if you get them angry or like you did something that made them upset you'd suffer un-explainable maladies. But of course, those things happened a hundred years ago when hospitals and the science of medicine were still all too alien for our ancestors. Above all the species under the Encanto name, the elves are the ones who are considered to be the most considerate and loyal. That I think explains why they're here as guards to the city. They were dressed in silver armor with green accents on them. Elves are more curious than greedy and are extremely durable creatures as they are resistant to various types of diseases and to the extremity of the wrath of nature quite handy to set as protectors right? She looked constipated, to be honest. "Who are you? And what are you doing here? Answer directly and to the point or else my men will be forced to attack and bring you to the city's dungeons," a manly, gruff voice said as he stepped forward on the line. "I am Cheska Patterson," then I pointed to Cresia and continued to say "and my friend over here is Lacresia Tanica, we're both to look for somebody. My grandmother, Gemma Patterson, disappeared about a while back. We were told to come here, by her friends and colleagues." we're demigods I wanted to add but chose not to. The man might think that I was dumb or something. Can normal mortals usually see this place? Or was it only limited to demigods, witches, and well supernatural creatures?Now isn't the time to ask this kind of thing. Considering how things are right now, we did have nine spears all pointed at us. Well honestly I am dumb and stupid, I don't really know what we're supposed to do here. Until now all I thought about was being able to get here and enter the city, I didn't really think about what I should be doing here. "If that's the case, why haven't we heard of your coming? And how could you open the gates? The gates can't be opened from the outside. We didn't receive any memo from the higher-ups of your arrival, perhaps you're trying to trick us? Are you witches? I can smell a witch's scent from one of you," he says while his nostrils are flaring trying to get a whiff of the air. "I'm sorry if we came unannounced but we don't exactly know how to send a request for this place, okay? And no we're not playing any tricks, neither of us knows any kind of magic at all," I said trying to convince them of our innocence. I then remembered the key we have. The one that we got when we fought the Bakunawa! It didn't open the gate for us. Lady Katalina said it would though. Though I was unsure, I decided to get it out of my back and showed it to the guards, "Uhm, I'm not sure how this would work but we have here a key" I said to them. As if on cue he heard something that apparently Cresia and I couldn't. Were they wearing Bluetooth earphones or something? I looked at their ears and saw nothing.Yeah, I don't think so. Their eyes suddenly turned all white they lowered their weapons and bowed their heads. They looked they were suddenly taken over by an unknown force. "Xenosa and Lacrexia, we, the council, humbly ask you to join us here in the main building. Welcome to the City of Biringan. Welcome home demigods," the guards had said in perfect chorus. Okay, that was weird. That name, Xenosa I heard it again. Once that was over, their eyes returned to their original color. The first one to recover was the guard who was asking us questions earlier. "Ugh I hate when they do that" he grumbled to himself while shaking his head. Once he looked up he saw how awkward things were. I then slid the key into my pocket. Cresia and I were just staring at them shocked and a little confused about what just happened. The guard lightly scratched the back of his neck and said, "So Uhm, sorry about that." he trailed off. Then his eyes widened, shocked at how casual he sounded. He briefly poised himself back and tried to make up for what he said. He was making the whole thing a big deal. I lightly chuckled, amused at how he was trying to fix himself. He cleared his throat and said, "Let's get you both to the main hall. The council wants to see you. We've been ordered to bring you there unharmed and safe. Please excuse the rudeness we exemplified just a few moments ago. We weren't aware that the elders were expecting you both". I looked over at Cresia and saw that she was just as amused as I was. "It's fine. We were also to blame," I said with a kind smile. The guard just nodded at us and escorted us to the main hall just like what they said. Once we were actually in the city, we instantly knew that the gate was nothing compared to what we were seeing now. The buildings were as tall as mountains, we saw how they were equipped with technology that was far more advanced than where we came from. This was a fully modernized city and yet I could feel that the spirit of nature was strong here. The people that we saw were all so beautiful as well. Was this how the supernatural world looked? I couldn't help but feel in awe of what I was seeing. I couldn't help but pinch myself, just to check if I was dreaming. Nope, this was for real. Everything was real. How was this possible? There were no vines, trees, or even small gardens in sight. Only buildings, cars, and a bunch of holograms yet the entire place screamed of nature to me. I don't know why but I could hear the ocean waves from here. The magic sure is strong in this place. Though it was my first time here, it felt like it wasn't. Deja vu I guess? I ransacked my mind trying to remember where I had seen this place before. And that's when it clicked. This was the place I saw in my vision. This is the city of Biringan. I was so engulfed in my thoughts that I failed to notice that we were approaching the main building already. Only it wasn't a building. It looked like a castle! A big freakin castle! Out of all the buildings here, this was the only one that was out of date. It was huge and it was floating, hovering above the entire city. It actually looked as big as the entire city. My jaw dropped once I realized how we were going to get there. I saw a chariot waiting for us, it was silver and shiny. It looked like it was polished for every second of the day. Damn just how magical was this place? We then rode the chariot to the palace. To my surprise, there was another gate there. And this time it had a keyhole. This one was even taller than the one outside. They were so tall that they actually reached the clouds. The guard that came up here with us then said, "This is as far as we can go. Use the key that you have to open the gate." I nodded my head and carefully reached for my key again. I slowly slid it into the hole and turned. I heard a clicking sound. I looked at Cresia and together we pushed the gates open.