Alcor – The Capital of Eagleon

There’s so much one can write about the city of Alcor. I guess being the capital of Eagleon means you also get first dibs into the latest in scientific advancements.

The outskirts are the deceiving part. Stay there for ten minutes, and you’ll think you’re staring at the middle-class town of Cardel with all the homeless people. Move inwards and things start to progress. Buildings blend into towers of white marble, local business shops merge into corporate towers that control trade from the East to West, and carriages phase into the city’s sky bullets that zip around towers like streaks of light. Amazing.

Located in the city square is the headquarters of the Investigations Bureau. Easily identifiable by the giant element hand boasting a pair of scales. The entire face of the building shines with a tan-yellow hue, like gold. I tried going in there but got turned away at the door by some burly guard who was in serious need of a shave.

If you look up and to the East, you’ll see clouds of smoke billowing into the air from the industrial district. Haven’t been there, but I’m sure I will down the road.

There’s a specific street, Tibault’s Avenue, where Dark’s Hotel is. At first glance, I can totally understand why they call it ‘dark’. The entire building is black with gold edgings and a silver-tinted roof. It’s scary and I’ll avoid it if I can. Then of course, there’s Irmgol’s Notary. Don’t really imagine myself messing with official documents or legal stuff – unless I get a house here – so not much to say there.

Ah, yes. There is Darco’s Diner. Owner there is pretty nice. Food is excellent. If I’m lucky to have enough money, I might consider that a spot when I’m on vacation next. This restaurant is in the city square. There’s a specific table in the far-right corner of the diner where you can sit and stare at the Spire. The view is breathtaking – especially just after five in the afternoon. The lights are still on at the spire and the whole scene is romantic. If ever I meet a girl, I’ll take her here.

Speaking of the city square, the entire place is empty from 8pm onwards. But the shops during the day… whew! Crazy!

Almost every square inch is packed with merchandise of sorts. There’s probably a hundred vendors throughout the day peddling their goods to every unfortunate bystander. Weapons, underwear, jewelry, furniture… You name it! It can be quite annoying when you’re just trying to make your way through and you keep getting pulled aside. Oh well, I suppose they need to make their money.

There are some parks in Alcor, but I haven’t had time to explore. Maybe next time.

Taldor and Eldora

The other day, Mandel mentioned the Library of History. I did some research and found that it’s quite the institution! The structural and architectural designs were contributed to by an ancestor of Thomas Aquilo, himself. More specifically, the Great War’s hero’s grandma! For over two centuries, it’s amassed a wealth of knowledge and lore from the four corners of the earth and at least five of the unknown regions.

It also contains the original manuscript for Taldor, the Ill-Fated Lover, who supposedly passed away five centuries ago. It’s a common Cardellan bedtime story. The story goes that Taldor, a young elf, ventures into Cardel from the unknown lands. Wanting to disprove his father’s belief that humans are greedy, shallow individuals, he attempts to court a human girl.

The first girl he tries is a simple Peluvan girl. Beautiful and from a small family… of demons who prey on the misfortunate travelers along the Apallian road. Taldor remains unaware of this until one day, in an inn on a date, he mishears the girl asking for a glass of dragon’s ale. In truth, the girl is asking for a ‘flagon’ of bombeer ale. The dragon’s ale reveals the girl’s true form and it chases Taldor across the entire town. Taldor is saved by a demon hunter, a woman by the name of Eldora.

Taldor falls head-over-heels in love with Eldora, and makes various attempts to court her. Eldora remains uninterested, much to his dismay. After spending a month, Taldor decides to rid his mind of her and takes a ship to the Alfor nations – now known as Eagleon. Here, he immerses himself in element studies for a year and takes a position at the local university as a teacher. To his dismay, Eldora shows up to his first class on element alchemy.

Taldor ignores Eldora and treats her with the utmost professionalism. Eldora (who has just gotten over a personal problem), however, sees the more mature Taldor, and attempts to gain his attention. Taldor rebuffs her various attempts and becomes annoyed when she boldly invites him to go demon hunting with her. The young elf-man scoffs at her poor idea of a romantic outing and insults her as a shallow and greedy woman. He is promptly rewarded with a heavy-handed slap on the face.

Taldor spends the next week reflecting on what has happened and realizes that he is being shallow by not giving Eldora a chance. He invites her out to have a drink and both reflect on how they have grown in the past year. Taldor accepts Eldora’s invitation to go hunting and they both begin to travel and have adventures around the globe. Years later, they marry in Taldor’s family castle.

Well, that was quite a story! The actual text is more comedic than my concise version, and I hope to read it in full. It’s just a story, though. I mean, really, whose love life is that crazy?

Alcor City – September 26, 1637

Was in Alcor yesterday. It had so many blazin’ things I’ve never seen. But first, let’s talk about that carriage ride. The seats were made of velvet. Good quality cushions that I sank into the moment I sat down. Worth every coin I spent on it. Hopefully it won’t happen too often as they’re expensive those rides.

Now, onto Alcor.

The transportation network is mind-boggling. Tracks that are suspended in air by levitation stones as sky bullets zip on them through the buildings. It’s science at its most advanced. Makes me wonder if it’s worth studying electricity, but I’ll worry about that some other time.

The city itself is quite enormous. Every building you walk by feels like it has its own history. You won’t see two shops that are alike. Except for the residential district. Everything there looks the same. But everything else, even the lightstone posts tell a story. I’ll show an example. The benches in Garden Park were donated by the original governor of Alcor. He was a carpenter and personally constructed all forty benches for the park. They’re all still in use to this day! The bevels and carvings etched into the wood show portions of history. Tessa told me that if you link the pictures on the benches together, they form the full story of Alcor’s spire from construction to its use during the Great War. I won’t have time to do that today, so I’ll just add that to the saddle list.

Still, you don’t see this sort of inter-connectedness in any city. I guess that’s why Alcor’s the ‘Crown Jewel of Eagleon’. Even the door handles to all the shops are made of silver. I wonder how expensive that is. The roads are also well-maintained. Most people here wave and greet you as they pass by. It’s a nice feeling and certainly unlike Artela.

Maybe next time I’m here, I’ll visit the entertainment district. Tessa says there’s a lot of fun to be had there.

My Last Declaration of Sanity – September 23, 1637

Blazes! Blast it! By Bongo’s brilliant buck-up, I did something stupid. At least I think I did. I was in the school’s commemoration room when I saw a statue of someone called Tessa Marlise. All’s well until something snuffs the fire right out of the room and knocks me out. Next thing I know, there’s a voice in my head.

Maybe it’s a cold. I fell into the sea today and had to sit through half the class in drenched clothes. Then perhaps when I was in the commemoration room I passed out and hit my head. Thus the voice.

But what about that thing I found in the school?

It’s all driving me insane. I haven’t even tried to talk to the voice again yet. Could she be a ghost? I’ve never been one to believe in ghosts until now. But maybe she is. In which case am I possessed? And if I’m possessed, am I writing this while under the possession of said ghost or am I still in possession of my own wits?

I hope Headmaster Dunan forgets the whole thing tomorrow. I acted like a complete idiot today after that incident.

Weird. The ‘voice’ hasn’t tried to talk to me since I got back home. Maybe this is all a dream? Or maybe these are the last few moments I’ll be myself. In which case, I’m writing this diary entry for someone to find. Hopefully I haven’t turned into some flesh-eating, rabid monster by then. Or maybe I’ll end up like the Night Elves from the bygone age.

Oi. I’m going to bed now. Or maybe I should talk to the voice again and try to reason with it?

In any case, this is perhaps my final statement:

I, Jimmy Chartron, was possessed by a ghost in the Navale Academy of Eagleon. Having been coerced into finding an evil beast, jumping from the fourth level of the school into a river and who knows what, I write this in the hopes that someone will discover this and end up rescuing me. If I’m not dead by then.

Well, I suppose that’s it.