Shiki listened attentively as Saya described the path they needed to take to get to Atland. She then mentioned she smelled the river nearby that they could follow. Saya grabbed her brother's hand and took off in its direction. Shiki also caught a whiff of the unique river smell; it was his first time. "[i]Wow... That smells amazing.[/i]" Shiki thought. To the young dragon, the surface river smelled so clean - there was a crispness to it. Rivers that flow underground smelled much darker and more earthy. It was quite the new experience. He can only imagined what the surface river water tastes like.

After a little time has passed, Saya let go of Shiki's hand in order to put the map away. This allowed the young dragon to scan his environment for a bit. Everywhere he looked was a new experience - a new memory. The "new" types of flora and fauna, the sights, sounds, and smells almost gave Shiki a sensory overload. Saya then cautioned Shiki to be careful of their new environment. Shiki nodded and smiled. "So this is what 'daytime' is like. We never got to experience 'day' and 'night' properly living in Drakehaven." Shiki remarked. It's true. While the concepts of "day" and "night" still existed underground, neither Shiki nor Saya knew what they truly are until now.

As the early morning passed, noon came and, then, afternoon. Shiki and Saya followed the river diligently while taking in the new sights and smells along the way. They then arrived at the forest on the outskirts of Atland. Fortunately, there was a crossroad sign that pointed them in the right path to their destination. After just a bit more of a walk, they passed the forest and arrived at the human capital of Atland. There, they are greeted to a most alarming sight: humans. Shiki quickly became unnerved. "Th-Those are humans... right?" Shiki asked his sister; a bit of fear was in his voice. There were a lot of them - humans. Of course that is to be expected of the [i]human[/i] capital.

What's stranger is that a large assembly of humans were gathered at one part of the gargantuan wall that surrounded the capital. And the wall really was gargantuan. It dwarfed any dragon Shiki has ever seen and that includes Draken-King Deidreig. Atop of the seventy-foot-or-so wall are more humans. They all dressed in similar uniforms and carried weapons. The curious dragons decided to investigate the gathering taking place. After all, the best way to infiltrate human society is to socialize with other humans. To the nervous Shiki, however, it will be a daunting task.

"Welcome to the Wallguards. Go on ahead and report to Training Area One" a uniformed human told another human while handing him a small map of the Wall.

Shiki gave Saya a look of bewilderment concerning the human gathering. Just what are these humans doing exactly? "Hey are you guys here to sign up for the Wallguards too?" the voice of a young man emanated from behind Shiki and Saya. The voice caused Shiki to jump out of surprise. Turning around, the two dragons see a bespectacled young man with a shaved head and a friendly smile on his face; he looks to be around their age.

"H-H-Human..." Shiki muttered fearfully.

"Hmm? Did you say something?" the glasses-wearing human asked.

"Alright, it's getting late and we can't waste any more time jotting down everyone's name. Go ahead and grab a map and head to Training Area One, recruits." the uniformed human from earlier announced to everyone gathered here.

"Oh, I guess we should get going before they close the gates." the glasses-wearing human told Shiki and Saya before grabbing a map and heading inside Atland.

Shiki, once again, looked to Saya. "What should we do?" he asked.

[Outskirt Forest]

After hearing Alere's report, Quince looked to the sky. He noticed the same thing too: that there isn't much daylight left. "We've been out here this long?" Quince asked no one in particular.

Mira smiled. "I guess [i]we[/i] didn't really notice."

"Yeah, you're right. I'm having so much fun scouting that I sorta forgot about everything else. It's okay. Mags needed the exercise, don't you, boy?" Quince asked his wyvern as he pat it lovingly on its side. The wyvern responded with a satisfied purr. Quince grabbed hold of his shell necklace once more. "Okay, you guys keep scouting this area. Mira and I will go ahead and find a suitable campsite-"

"Quince, watch out!" Mira shouted before rushing towards Quince and using her wyvern to push both him and his wyvern aside. Suddenly, a huge net came crashing into Mira and her wyvern, sending both of them towards the forest floor below.

"Mira!" Quince shouted out in concern. Quickly looking back, he sees another net heading towards him. Working quickly, Quince maneuvered his wyvern out of harm's way. He knew exactly what was happening: a goblin ambush. Those nets are specially designed to withstand the varied arsenal a wyvern possesses. However, the more alarming issue here is that none of the party's wyverns could sniff out the goblins. In any case, to avoid more nets, Quince retreats to the ground to regroup with the rest of the party. Down below, the goblins arrive in troves; all of them ready to defeat and capture the party of Wallguards. The party was completely surrounded. Mira, herself, was still tangled in the net with her wyvern. The net was weighed down by heavy rocks.

"Hahaha! Stupid humans! You couldn't sniff us out, can ya!? Now you're cornered like mice!" one goblin, most likely the captain of the bunch, boasted.

"I'm sorry... They made me... Please, you have to help me!" a chained young woman led by a goblin told the party.

"Shaddap, filthy human!" the goblin scolded before punching her in the stomach and causing her to fall onto her knees.

"D-Damn it. I get it..." Rei, the mage of the party, started. "The girl's a mage and they forced her to use magic to mask their scent. That's why none of the wyverns could detect them." he explained.

"Enough talk! Capture them alive! They'll make great slaves! But remember: a hand or leg missing isn't such a big deal, hahaha!" the goblin captain bellowed.