"Kil, Kil! Wake up!" My eyes began opening slowly, my vision still blurry. "We gotta go Kil, it isn't safe!" "W-what the. Nazeem, is that you?" "Yeah it's me, come on! We gotta go!" I got out of bed, vision still blurry. "Okay, okay. Let me freshen up a bit first." "What!? No way! It's an emergency!" My eyes began adjusting and I took a glance outside my window. Smoke was covering the sky. The atmosphere was much drier than yesterday. "W-what's going on!?" Nazeem was waiting by the door, "A fire has started in the village. It destroyed all our crops and has no sign of letting up. Fuijin is trying to slow the spread but one person isn't enough. Krill, Genia and Ginelle are downstairs packing. We don't have much time so hurry up!" I get it now. It makes sense that a fire has started since the climate has been heating up recently. I got up and began grabbing my most valuable items. A voice from the first floor echoed up to my room, "Make haste Kil! We're leaving now, so get over here asap!" I slipped on my shoes and ran downstairs, carrying a giant sack filled with grimoires and my sword. Nazeem's parents and my family hopped on a nearby carriage and we headed north. Looking back, the entire town was consumed in flames, spreading to our house and even reaching parts of the forest. My life began flashing before me. The time I spent practicing swordplay with father, my mischievous behavior crawling around every nook and cranny, and the many hours I spent studying through every grimoire I could get my hands on. A wave of sadness hit me like a horse, but I did not cry. "It's okay kid. Nobody's dead, so let's take this as a win." Father was stroking my head with his hand, trying to comfort me.
The carriage was a bit cramped but I had enough space to settle in and rest. We spent a few days on the road until finally making it to a city. It was the first time I saw anything like this. The city had gigantic walls which stretched across its entire perimeter. The inner city was filled with marketplaces and vendors. Eventually we made it to a residential area and stopped. Father got off and headed inside the largest building on the block. "Alright everyone, let's get down and wait for Krill." Everyone got off the carriage and stepped to the side of the road. After a few minutes, father came back out. "I set up three rooms for us. It'll only last us a week so we'll have to start making some sort of income if we want to keep a roof over our mouths. Now then, Nazeem's parents can stay in one room, Kil Nazeem and Ginelle in another, and then me and Genia in the last.
The next day, Nazeem and I went off to explore the marketplace. We went around asking for samples to every vendor we saw that was selling yummy looking food. After a few tries, people started to catch on and we were shooed off. By noon, we came back to the hotel and met up with father. Shortly after our arrival, everyone else began walking into the lobby. Once everyone was seated my father stood up to make an announcement, "Alright everyone. We've had a decent amount of time to find some jobs. Let's hear it." Nazeem's parents stood up. His father spoke out, "We've found jobs working in retail. We'll make just enough to cover living expenses and have a bit extra." He sat back down, and mother stood up, "I was able to curry favor with some nobles and they allowed me and Ginelle to work for them. Our pay will be quite good so we can cover two rooms with a bit of extra." I was surprised that mother and Ginelle were able to make so much progress in just one day. Mother sat back down and father chimed back up, "Alright, sounds good. It seems I'll have to unretire as an adventurer. I'm a bit rusty and my income will be pretty inconsistent, but this should leave me with enough time to help Kil and Nazeem with their magic and swordsmanship." Nazeem and I began smiling at those words. I didn't want to stop practicing, but this situation was quite drastic so I was prepared to hold off on my progression. Hearing this made me very happy.
A few weeks passed since we first made it to the city. I walked out of the hotel alone. The air outside was still hot and dry. Nazeem had stayed inside the room for some extra sleep, but I was eager to explore. Although we had been living here for some time, I had only explored half of the entire city. Taking one step onto the road, my father grabbed me and pulled me onto the sidewalk. A group of men on horseback came rushing down the road right after. "Careful Kil. Make sure you pay attention before crossing a road." The men on horseback wore black fur cloaks with swords at their hips. An ominous aura began emanating from their trail. Was this residual mana? Could they be some high tier mages? "Dad. Who are those people?" "Those are the royal guard. Apparently, some news is coming in from the nation's capital." I furrowed my eyebrows in confusion. "What nation?" Father seemed to have an aloof expression but then his eyes lit up, "Oh right! I haven't told you anything about this country, have I." It wasn't a question. His face was filled with enthusiasm. Apparently he had neglected to tell me anything about the country I was living in. "Well I guess we should start with the city we're currently in. This is the kingdom of Zuri'el. A northern kingdom which resides quite close to our capital, the kingdom of Aspira. Our country is made up of 13 different kingdoms, which each hold a large amount of land. Our village was under the jurisdiction of Zuri'el, so we came to the capital. The Kingdom of Zuri'el is also the northernmost kingdom within our country. While the country is unnamed, it still possesses a government which watches over the kingdoms and determines whether or not their guidance is required." "Wait, hold on a second. I thought the capital was the kingdom of Aspira." "Yes, that's true. Aspira is the capital of the country, but this city is the capital of Zuri'el. Each kingdom has its own capital." I find no reason as to why the country itself needed a capital if 13 kingdoms were already occupying every inch of the country's borders. "Welp, now ya know. Have fun Kil." Father walked off. I looked back toward the road but the men on horseback had already gone off to the city's central tower.
Before I began walking off, Nazeem came outside. "Hey Kil, isn't it a bit early to go goofing off?" "Don't worryyy. I just wanted to check out the city's central area. Apparently it's where the upper nobility tend to mingle. I just wanted to check it out." Nazeem raised his eyebrow, looking unconvinced. "Yeah right. Knowing you, I doubt you'll just be checking it out." He giggled and began walking with me. We walked for nearly an hour before making it to a giant gate. It was made out of barred metal and remained slightly opened. It was bigger than most houses and almost the same size as the walls which surrounded the city's border. I walked up to it and slid inside, Nazeem did the same shortly after. One glance around our new surroundings made it obvious that this was the nice part of town. Each building was made with sturdy, well painted brick. The roads were lined with cobblestone and gave more space for people to walk. We began walking for no longer than five seconds before a man stepped out from an alleyway and stopped us. "What do you boys think you're doing? This neighborhood is reserved, only to people of noble status. Judging by your clothes," His eyes looked me up and down with disgust. "Neither of you are nobles. So I'm going to have to ask you to leave, please." I don't understand. Why does nobility matter here? It's just a road, isn't it? Well, no matter. If we aren't allowed here, then we'll leave. "Alright, fine. Let's go Nazeem." We turned back and left the neighborhood. "Ahh, great! Now I'm in a bad mood. That guy was a real prick." I was visibly mad, and my mood had soured. "Hey Kil. That place didn't seem too fun anyway. Let's go to the market and play around, yeah?" I looked at Nazeem, making eye contact with him. His attitude doesn't seem too crappy, and his face held a smile. "Heh, yeah thanks Nazeem. That sounds good." We headed off to the busy market.
After taking a few samples from vendors, Nazeem and I headed into an alleyway to eat our earnings. Nazeem scarfed down his fill in a few seconds, but before I could take a single bite we heard a bloodcurdling scream come from deeper within the alley. Our eyes widened to the noise and we stood up, stiff as a board. "Uhh… Kil. I know we should probably go, but I kinda want to check it out." His head turned to me slowly, "I wanna check it out, don't you?" I knew my sense of curiosity was big but I never imagined Nazeem was this daring. Any normal kid our age would pee themself if they experienced the same thing. "Nazeem… we gotta be some stupid kids. You know what my answer is." We began walking deeper into the alleyway. It got darker and darker, stretching on for what seemed to be eternity. A small light was lit at its end. Two figures were mingling at the alleyway's end. "S-stop it you fool!" A girl's voice echoed out. My instincts are telling me this girl was in trouble. I took out my hand and began channeling mana. "Hey, leave that girl alone! Water gun!" I shot out a spurt of water at a high speed, hitting the taller figure. "Gyaah!" a man's voice grunted out, as he fell to the ground. We made it to the end of the alleyway. A girl was standing up with disgust in her eyes as she stared at the man who'd be harassing her. "Damn weirdo! Next time you want something from me, maybe don't drag me into an alleyway." The girl walked into the light exposing her long, red hair. She was no older than me and Nazeem. I chimed in, "Are you okay? That guy seemed to be harassing you so I decided to step in." "Yeah, I'm just fine!" She turned her head to face away from us, teary-eyed. "Uhh… alright then." I turned around and began walking out of the alleyway. "W-wait!" I turned my head back to look at her. "My name's Lura. It's nice to meet you." "Oh uh, yeah it's nice to meet you. My name's Kiliano." "And my name's Nazeem!" "Well Kiliano, Nazeem, do ya wanna play?" I looked at Nazeem, he shrugged his shoulders with a smile. "Yeah sure. Me and Nazeem were just going around taking food samples. Wanna go with us?" Lura closed her eyes and began smirking. "Well," she said, "I've got a pretty good spot for snatching up free food, if ya wanna check it out." I was sceptical at first, but what could a girl her age do to us? "Yeah, sounds good. Lead the way Lura."
We began walking towards the city's central district. Nazeem's expression began to show a hint of hesitation. I'm admittedly a bit nervous about this too, in all honesty. After just a few minutes, we had made it back to the giant gate which blocked off the noble district. "H-hey Lura. I don't think we're allowed in there," Nazeem decided to speak up, "y'know we aren't nobles right?" Lura had already made it through the gate and peeked her head out to say, "Don't worryyy. You guys are with me." I turned to face Nazeem, he was already looking at me. "Whaddya say Kil? Are we going in?" I nodded my head and walked through the gate. Nazeem followed right behind me. Lura was waiting for us on the road, "Took you guys long enough. Here, follow me, this place has got the best market in the entire kingdom." She continued off, with us following close behind. After taking just a few steps inside, I caught the eye of the same man who'd shooed us off earlier today. He was inside a building, looking out onto the road. His expression seemed agitated as he opened his door and walked outside, "I thought I already told you boys! This section of the city is reserved for high nobility." He walked up to us and began pushing us towards the exit. "Hey stop it!" I shouted, "We're with a friend." The man's grip on me tightened noticeably. "Alright, that's enough!" Lura spoke up, "They're with me, so I suggest you let 'em go." The man's head twisted around, looking Lura in the eyes. His face went pale and he let go of us. "O-oh of course. My apologies, I had no idea these boys were friends of yours." Lura put her hands to her waist and put her chin up, looking at us with a satisfied grin. "Let's go boys! We've got food to snag." I'm surprised, I didn't think she was a noble, let alone a powerful one. We continued off down the street with Lura.
We walked a couple blocks before I began hearing noises of busy people. I could tell we were getting close to the market. "Alright here we go, this is it!" Lura stopped right before a curve which led to another road, "Don't get caught alright." What did she think we were gonna do, steal? My question had gotten an answer before too long. She was already down the marketplace trying to sneak her way under a food-stand. Nazeem didn't hesitate before following after her. I took a good look around, the marketplace was busy, but its contents were of very high quality. Dried fish was being sold, ripened fresh fruit were dangling from street vendors' stands, and the actual market was nearly twice as big as the one I had been going to. "Hey Kil, you gonna come or what?" Nazeem was already up to no good, trying to pick off some fruit that was dangling loosely without getting caught. I quickly joined in, crawling into another vendor's shop, just a few houses down from Nazeem and Lura. We continued stealing food for hours, making our way down the street. By the time evening set in, we had collected two barrels full of food which we stored in an alleyway near the market's exit. "Alright, now for the big one," Lura Stretched out her back, looking as if she was preparing for battle, "I'm gonna need some help for this one 'kay?" "This entire time you and Nazeem have been working together, I can pitch in but you'll needa tell me what to do." Lura's face lit up, "Alrighty then, follow me!" Lura went off back down the road. Nazeem and I followed her for a few blocks until she stopped right in front of a fork in the road. We had originally come from the left side, "Alright, we're gonna go right." Lura began walking once again, Nazeem following shortly behind, with me trailing them from a bit further. The street began to curve upwards, which made it harder for us to walk uphill. "Luraaaa, how long til' we make it?" Nazeem's forehead had begun to form drops of sweat which rolled down his face. The heat made it difficult for us to continue on, but Lura continued marching forward at the same pace. Nazeem fell back and eventually made it to me, his head was getting red and he seemed out of breath. "Lura," I said, "Nazeem and I need a break. Let's take a quick rest, yeah?" "Oh c'mon, this is nothing compared to my training routine!" Lura said with an antagonizing voice. "I… I get that but…" Huff huff "I can't take much more of this." Nazeem fell on his back, facing the sky. "Pfft! Get up, pussy!" What was up with her? She hadn't seemed this hostile before. "A man should be strong. You gotta get up if you're a man!" Nazeem popped his head up, "I'm not a man! I'm six!" I grinned. "Well that shouldn't matter! You've gotta grow up at some point y'know." "J-... just give me a few seconds." Lura and I sat down on the side of the road, waiting for Nazeem to regain his stamina. "Alrighty!" Nazeem shot up onto his feet after a few minutes. "I'm ready, let's get goin'." Lura scoffed and continued walking up the road. Eventually, Lura stopped right outside a giant building. Its exterior was filled with people waiting to be let in. A line had been formed which stretched down half the block. Lura squeezed her way through the crowd and made it into the store. Nazeem and I did the same shortly after. "Stay close," She said, "The owner knows me so don't stray too far, got it?" The interior was filled with shelves of high quality food and fruits. The store was well-managed and everything was on shelves which lined up parallel to each other. Lura snuck over to the corner of the store and shoved a small shelf to its side, "Crawl through here." Nazeem and I squeezed through a crack. Inside the crack was a dark space which had just enough space for me to fit inside without touching the walls. "Keep going forward." Lura said from behind Nazeem. I continued onwards until I was met with an opening. "Here, squeeze through there and you'll be met with a giant load of free goodies!" The opening led to a different room. It was filled with shelves of food, lined up and categorized. "This here's their stock. Make haste, we can't get caught here." This triggered Nazeem to rush over to the meats and he began snatching up as much cooked beef as he could. I walked over to the fruits and to a look at their selection. After a few minutes I had gathered two bagfuls of fruits and meats which I planned to eat in my hotel room later. But before I could tell Lura I was finished, a door had opened and closed not far from my aisle. I ran over to a small section that was blocked off and peeked over its edge. The store owner had come back. Lura and Nazeem were quickly found and tried to escape but the owner was already blocking their way. He grabbed the two of them by their shirt collars and began dragging them back towards the door which he came out of. I was contemplating helping them but it was too risky to use magic in here. Right as the owner left the room I took the opportunity and made a break for it. I quickly slid through the crawlspace and made it back into the storefront. By the time I made it out, Nazeem and Lura were getting a stern scolding by the store owner, "You two should be ashamed, stealing at your age. I would expect as much from you, Princess but now you've brought along another one!? If I see you here again I will tell your mother!" My eyes widened, not at the scolding itself but of how he referred to Lura. "Princess!?" Nazeem's posture stiffened. "W-wait, you're the princess of Zuri'el?" Lura's eyes were closed and her expression seemed agitated, "Yeah what of it? You gonna get scared now that you know I'm royalty?" Now I get why the man at the gate went pale. She was the princess of this entire kingdom. And we made friends with her!? I scurried out of the store and made it back to them, after the shopkeeper walked back inside. "Hey Kiliano," Lura said, sounding a bit depressed, "I assume you heard all that, right?" "Yeah, but I don't get why you didn't tell us. And I also don't get why you came here to steal food. If you really are the princess, then you don't really need to do this, right?" Lura began walking back down the street, probably heading back towards our food storage. "W-wait Lura! What's wrong?" "DO you guys even know how crappy it is to be so spoiled? I understand that I'm lucky and all but I just wanna have fun, y'know? I probably sound pretty ungrateful for saying this but, being a princess sucks ass." I found some irony in those words. Mother would sometimes mumble to herself that she wished she was royalty. Probably because she was sick of doing chores. Nazeem walked faster in order to get closer to Lura, "I get it. You did this because you just wanted to have some fun, right? That makes sense. Being a part of the royal family has its upsides but I doubt having fun is one of them." He began chuckling. I couldn't tell from the back, but Lura's cheeks seemed to widen, which I can only assume means she was smiling. "Here! I can share these with you guys." I held up my two bags which were both filled with as much food as I could stuff in them. By the time we had finished most of our food, the sun was setting and we knew our parents wouldn't be happy if we stayed out for much longer. "Lura. We should probably head home." She nodded, "Alright, will you guys walk me home?" Nazeem pitched in, "Sure!" We began walking with Lura, and continued talking about random stuff like, our hopes for the future, and what we thought would happen to us if the weather got worse. Eventually, the three of us had made it to the city's central most tower. We stopped at a courtyard which led into a large building. I could only presume this was her residency, since she was royalty. "Alright guys, thanks for playing with me! We should do it again!" She ran over to the side of the courtyard where a man was waiting for her. Nazeem and I took one glance at him and knew he was dangerous. His aura was oozing malice. I could sense he had a great affinity for magic, but judging by the sword around his waist, he probably held an exceptionally high tier of swordsmanship. The man glanced at us and walked inside the residency with Lura. My body was nearly frozen. Just by glancing at us, he instilled a godly amount of fear in me. Nazeem was no better. I turned to look at him but he was sweating profusely. His face was pale and he was breathing heavily. After we took a few seconds to gather ourselves, Nazeem and I headed back to the hotel.