Tai had finally healed from his wounds he felt flexible and strong again, unlike how he was before. He turned his gaze to the woman he had to thank for it, "Thanks for this, Nanny Leya"
Nanny Leya was an old woman whose hair had now all turned grey. She kept it neatly tied with a small head covering. She had rectangular glasses that aided her old brown eyes, which seemed to carry a lot of wisdom and experience.
She held a brown cane that was unwilling to put down, carrying it wherever she went, giving Tai the impression that the cane itself might be a weapon and who could tell, even after knowing her a while, Nanny Leya always seemed a mystery to him.
"You're welcome, Tai, am just happy to see you back. By the way, Lady Roxanne brought in a recruit". Tai scratched the back of his head, a hint of pride rushing into his voice, "I know I brought him".
"But how, she arrived three days ago?" Tai suppressed the feeling to shout as his voice now filled with panic, "Three days ago, she, what are you talking about? I brought HIM today"
Nanny Leya let out a chuckle, her voice hiding a taunting tone within, "We must be speaking about different people, anyway. Lady Roxanne had suggested you two should team up to form a party, so since you're back, I say give her a tour of the Hunter Residential area"
"Why me though?", she pointed her cane at Tai, her eyes showing exhaustion ", Just show her around, besides, I outrank you, so get to it"
Tai didn't understand the purpose of all this. Why was he involved, and what was Hal doing with Lady Roxanne? He sighed as he headed to the waiting room, where his supposed new teammate was expected to be.
He climbed down the stairs and reached the waiting room, where Tiffane sat working on her nails. In the corner was a cloaked figure whose face was concealed behind a hood. Nanny Leya had mentioned that they were a she, so Tai kinda felt nervous.
He steadied his stance and walked forward, reaching the hooded figure, who looked up at him, he really couldn't get a read on the girl, which left him more than nervous "I heard I was supposed to tour you around the hunter residential area, so would you be so kind as to follow me for a bit"
The girl simply nodded at his request and walked towards the door. Tai stared at her as she left a weird feeling overtook him, "Who does she think she is?" and why was it he who had to babysit her? Tiffane giggled behind him as he soon heard her sweet voice, "Don't worry, you'll be fine".
Tai joined the girl outside of the company building, where they came into the shower of the tower's fiery red glow. The girl was staring intently at the tower. Tai moved closer as he spoke in a reserved tone, "So where would you like to go first?".
The hooded girl turned gently to face him and lifted a finger to the tower. Tai's eyes followed her gaze as he spoke again.
"Sadly, we are not allowed to get to the towers, they're off limits to people like us. Only the dukes and whoever they invite are allowed there"
She lowered her finger, and to Tai's surprise, a lovely voice escaped from behind the hood, forcing him to pay attention.
"How disappointing, but can we at least get close enough so that we can admire its splendour and you can show anything else on the way there?"
Tai didn't think it was a bad offer, and besides, he also wanted to see the tower up close and personal, so why not agree? He faced the hooded girl and replied, "As you wish, I will give you the tour of your life."
He stretched out his hand to the hooded girl, who hesitantly stretched out her on and placed it in his. Tai would be lying if he said he was not nervous. The soft embrace of her palm in his made him question if she had ever even held a sword before"
The first spot they reached was a monument, there were a lot of these that depicted the past of the kingdom in stone, and this one told its own story.
The monument had a tall, bulky man wearing shattered armour. The man had a long beard that seemed to sweep through the wind, and he had a rough face with a scar on his forehead. The man held a sharp double-edged edged which the man had fiercely raised, aiming to stab it through the serpentine beast that was held down by the man's other hand.
Tai held his voice as pride found itself in his voice again, "This monument depicts the great battle that founded our great city of Ortario that where our king, His Majesty Damian Van Haverfield".
Tai turned to the hooded girl, and though she was hidden behind a cloak, he could tell that something was up with her gaze; it was scorn or disappointment. "Don't you like it?".
The hooded girl lowered and shook her head, speaking with a voice that hid a sense of melancholy, "No, it's just not how I remember".
The girl walked away from the monument, continuing to the tower. Tai was confused. He thought that the girl had never been to Ortario and it's not how she remembers, so then how did she remember it?
He chose to put that thought at the back of his mind, although it still whispered to him sometimes. She went after the girl, moving with quick steps to catch up to her, only to find the girl standing like a rigid pole as she stared at him intently.
"Is everything okay?" his voice carried concern and worry for his new teammate. She was silent for a while until she shifted, moving quickly to Tai as she whispered, "We're being followed".
Tai's eyes widened, and before he could think, she grabbed him by the hand and pulled him, beckoning him to follow. The two ran as he followed behind her.
Truly, Tai was getting tired of racing around, but it always seemed unavoidable. They zigzagged through the alleyways of the city, seemingly heading for the great tower, but what were they running from really?
Suddenly, he heard the girl's distressed voice shout out to him, "Tai, get ready," and in the next moment, the girl held out her hands and made an upward motion, causing the blocks that made up the road to rise into a staircase that led to the tower.
He almost hesitated when a voice swept through his mind "Don't think just run" and then he saw it a deep shadow that was formless and terrifying it seemed to quickly cover whatever it touched coming ever closer to them and so he took his friend's advise and ran up the stair case fall on to the balcony of the tower right Infront of the clock face that shone with a fiery red radiance.
What the hell was going on? What was that creature? He let out a hoarse breath as the exhaustion that had hunted him since the cave finally hit him. He raised his head, "Who are you? ..... And what was that thing?".
The hooded girl let out a sigh as a calm voice escaped her lips, "Isn't it obvious that shadow was your king, the one you love to worship and the one who stole from me?"
***
Hal was now seated in a room next to the window. This room was given to him after his talk with Lady Roxanne, and what a talk that was, she had explained a lot to him to help him understand a little more of the city.
Ortario was just one of the four great cities of Haverfield, with the other three being Elafist, the port city of Haverfield, Basofold, the city of art and architecture and Vaihola, the capital of Haverfield, where the king resided.
She had also explained to him how the city itself worked. According to her, the city was split into four residential areas, each serving its own purpose in the city. The red area was the hunter residential area, which housed the hunters who served the kingdom as protectors who received jobs to slay monsters, fight wars or even assassinate their fellow humans.
Then the blue area was the merchant residential area, which had the merchant companies. These people handled trade throughout the city and even aided in the kingdom's trade due to Ortario's proximity to the great city of Elafist. The city in charge of foreign exchange in Haverfield.
The next zone she talked about was the green one, which was the commonfolk residential area that housed the common folk companies. The people there were responsible for aiding the other companies with labour, and they also helped in the construction and renovation of the city.
The last area was the yellow area, which housed the noble men's companies, which handled the administration of the entire city and reported back to the capital. They were also responsible for giving jobs to each of the companies in the city.
Each area was watched over by a duke and their appointed noble men, each residing in their respective towers, making sure that each residential area functioned properly.
She also talked about the two kingdoms in alliance with the Kingdom of Haverfield, and she mentioned that to the east, across the vast Satlavian ocean, was the kingdom of Satlavia, which, according to her, was rumoured to be planning war against Haverfield and Eberlast to the west, past the amber mountain range which had stayed neutral in the rumoured upcoming war.
Hal leaned back in his seat as he glanced at the dazzling stars outside his window, and among them was a bright star. It called to him, begging him to leave the hypocrites behind to come and find it. He was taken into a trance listening to its call, and so he stood and headed to it.
Hal found himself in a field as he blankly stared at the sky, but how did he get there? There was no one around except him and that soothing whisper. His eyes twitched, the sky shifted as a great creature took its place, and the sky transferred and took the shape of a mighty dragon.
The beast was breathtaking, taking the moon lying at its chest, and the brightest star took the place of its eyes. The creature roared, but instead of a loud boom, the entire world itself shifted, and soothing whispers flowed into his ears. The creature looked down at him with a majestic gaze and began to lower itself to him.
Hal's eyes gleamed with stars as the creature came closer, and then he saw it all. He saw Tai look up at a hooded figure who took off her cloak, revealing a young maiden with reddish pink hair and dazzling blue eyes that gazed at Tai as she spoke, "I am Lyrrah White Van Haverfield, the rightful heir to the throne"
His eyes shifted as they now saw Lady Roxanne taking a sip of wine, a bold smile on her face "Tonight everything changes for the silver sword" his eyes shifted again and again, seeing people he knew and people he didn't, and as his eyes came to reflect the sky, his mind went blank as the boy touched the creature that was the sky.