into hiding at the encroachment of humans.
The third deity, Manavell, was an extremely powerful woman said to have the gift of flight, worshipped as goddess by the humans for a short time. The next page showed a fierce woman with dark hair and eyes, hawk’s wings sprouted from her back as she flew above awe-struck humans. She was credited with giving them knowledge of sciences and engineering, and the wish to reach the sky themselves.
The last and most powerful of the four was Ishralik, a god still respected by the dragon-kin as their creator. He could not fly like Manavell, but had allowed his creations to have that power. Though, I now knew there seemed to be exceptions.
I frowned, flipping a few pages forward to the next illustration. Though retold time and time again, the old story never ended any differently: the overzealous and violent Ishralik turned on the others for seemingly no reason at all. The ensuing battle destroyed all four of the deities’ earthly bodies, though some stories among fauns said that Readimina alone survived for some time before her wounds consumed her.
The picture I looked at now depicted the four beings together, Ishralik having been painted to look particularly hairy and ugly compared to the others. If this is what all races saw the god of dragon-kin as, was it any wonder that we held a grudge against them from the start?
I soon felt my eyelids growing too heavy to lift. My body tingled from the alcohol and the warmth of the blankets. Even though I had slept all day, it had not been the most comfortable of beds, and I had not regained any energy from the night before. No wonder I already I felt sleepy. Stretching out on the sheets, I was happy to stick my face into a real pillow again. As I began to think about how I would start seeking a ship tomorrow, I wondered where I could go from there.
Really, the only option was Lahnfabon Harbor on the mainland. From there I could head to a number of human cities and eke out some sort of living. Fauns from the north continent often traveled no farther than Lahnfabon, and I had no desire to get mixed up with them. I would have to find a place where I was a rarity, though it would be a lot harder this time. The thought of fighting for business when I never had needed to before made me groan quietly. I was forced to realize yet again how cozy I had it in Readimina.
My thoughts began to muddle as sleep approached, but I was aware enough to hear the door to the inn open and abruptly slam shut. A rush of hushed voices from