God Complex - Vol. 1

V. Naivety-Part I.

Jun turned around immediately, his hand gripping the covered bow tightly, as he saw a tall arched bridge over the river.

It looked very similar to the moon bridges in Huaza. Maybe it had been influenced by those bridges.

Jun saw that a line of women were crossing the bridge holding paper lanterns on wooden poles along with umbrellas. The umbrellas had ornate designs on them

They were dressed in expensive looking clothes that all had gold on the edges. He saw that the clothes consisted of chong kbens and sbais, typical clothing of places that had more tropical and warmer weather in the East.

Jun's grip on his bow loosened while he looked up at the women and their golden colored skin that was lit up from their lanterns. They looked down at them as they passed under the bridge.

He noticed as Misaki stood up and put the palms of her hands together in the middle of her chest, moving to where her thumbs touched her chin.

It only happened briefly but Jun looked up at the women and noticed they nodded their heads at Misaki. Eventually the bridge and the women got smaller as their boat drifted downstream.

"Was that a type of greeting?" Jun asked nervously and Misaki turned around to listen to him.

"It's a common greeting used in Pa Xing." He then watched as she gestured to the forests on the banks of the river. "Which we have already entered."

Misaki then yawned and stretched her arms. Jun decided to not ask anymore questions, unless if he wanted to be hit. He always had a strange looming feeling that he was going to be hit if he irritated her too much.

She went to lay down on her bed under the hull.

Jun walked to the end of the boat and took in the scenery once again. He had never been this far west in the East.

There was only Pa Xing and few other smaller kingdoms before they got to the Grand Wall of the East.

The wall was built as a way to block off the East from the West. Jun didn't know exactly why it was built, but he does have a vague memory of hearing that it was because of some plague that started in the West. He had never seen the wall, but apparently it was called "Grand" for a reason.

As the boat continued to drift downstream Jun soon heard the faint sounds of music. Drums, flutes, and stringed instruments were the sounds that Jun could make out in the music.

It faintly reminded him of the music played at the festivals in Huaza, but with a bit more drums and heavier instruments. While flutes and guzhengs were the dominant sound in Huazan music.

Jun looked out to see that there was light up ahead on the right side of the river as the music grew louder. He guessed this was one of the port cities in Pa Xing.

Having a city based on the bank of the Long River was a good strategy for trade, especially considering how much traffic goes through the river.

Though the time Jun rode with Misaki it seemed to be the opposite as he hadn't seen any other boats on the river.

In order to get to Vosorod in a timely manner they would need to keep drifting down the river overnight. But the music grew louder in Jun's ears and the lights became brighter.

Jun rubbed his eyes so they could adjust to the new bright light. He saw lots of docks on the right side of the river bank with lanterns strung up along poles to light them up.

He could also see some houses on stilts along the docks that all seemed to be made out of materials from the forest. Fireflies flew around him as he saw lots of different colored lanterns past the docks and into the town.