- Thud!
A child fell to the ground, his body practically sliding on the concrete sidewalk. He tripped over his feet by accident while running and raised his arms in front of him to slow down until finally coming to a stop a meter or two from where he fell.
He lay on the ground, motionless for a second, and then out of nowhere, he started to cry.
His muffled sobs came from underneath his bruised face, completely ignored by the crowd of people that walked past him without even bothering to ask if he was okay.
His palms were now torn, along his knee and the side of his cheek that bled through the dirty cuts. The clothes his parents bought him were now covered in dirt and torn at the sides, making his eyes water.
He tried to stand up slowly with both of his little, frail hands, but his leg gave out, making his knees buckle and stumble back to the ground.
"Ngh!"
The child tried to wipe his tears, but his hands hurt too much, leaving him sitting there on the sidewalk covered in dirt. His hands wrapped around his legs, trying to somewhat hide the pain and the loneliness he felt.
'Mommy...'
A hand appeared in front of him, big and firm. It made the child's sobbing quieten and his breathing calmer.
Then... a gentle voice followed.
"Are you lost?"
It was gentle, unlike the other people who ignored him. He wiped the tears with his sleeve, snot running down his nose sticking to it as he looked up at the strange man who extended his hand.
He didn't look like others who ignored him; he had a light smile, that of a saint who would help anyone in need.
White hair that fluttered in the wind behind him and a pair of emerald eyes made the sight even more otherworldly, prompting the child to stop crying and reach for the man's hand.
"Cesar."
Suddenly, someone else called out from behind the man, and both he and the child turned towards him.
The man's eyes calmed down, probably expecting him to finally come and set out for their little journey. The same... couldn't be said about the child.
"Hm? Who is that?"
He asked, pointing at the kid with his chin as he descended the steps. The revolving door to the citadel still spinning right behind him.
"Oh, this?"
Cesar looked back at the child, his soft gaze disappearing in the blink of an eye after watching the child shudder in fear and try to run away from them.
'What a shame.'
Vlad looked at them for a second, then shook his head before muttering and going past them.
"Nevermind that, let's just go."
The child's gaze turned to Cesar, who simply shrugged and put one of his hands in a pocket.
"Aye, aye!"
Cesar said jokingly while saluting and gave something to the child.
He stood up from his knee and dashed to match Vlad's pace as they ventured into the streets of Grondier, the very city the citadel was in the middle of, and the place they would soon leave behind.
Vlad looked up at the street lights and exhaled with relief.
'I haven't been here for quite a while.'
The world inside the citadel and outside of it was like two sides of a mirror.
One of them was the grandiose interior made fully of stainless white marble that held order and power in its highest regard. People were scarce due to the long corridors, but there was enough to make an army of a million. It was just that the Citadel was so tall that no one would think it had just this many people inside.
But outside, where the air wasn't as clean and crisp as one would like, every direction was filled with people of sorts. There were women, men, children, and even the elderly who occasionally passed by without noticing the two of them. Without any order, it looked more like a circus as there was nothing to sort people by their size or capabilities, just pure chaos that no one had ever complained about since establishing it.
- Blare!
The light turned green, a sign that they could finally cross the road and get away from that place.
On the side, cars vroomed loudly with their engines, loud enough to make Vlad remember what type of vehicle they would have to use. They all looked just like the one next to them, with bright yellow car lights and tough, metal frames. The one-sided windows were dark and cloudy, making the people driving them indiscernible.
Unlike regular cars made of tough reinforced metal plates, they would have to take a train of sorts, something he only heard about from the workers and seen on the news. It was said that it could travel at the speed of sound, flying through the world without any limits, wherever one willed it.
"Hm."
Cesar hummed on the side cheerfully, his strange smile capturing Vlad's attention and making him ask what the hell he was so happy about.
"This? Oh, nothing much..."
He avoided his question politely, but still gave a vague answer that finally calmed down his clouded thoughts.
"...I just so happen to know a guy there, that gathering, it might not be so bad after all~."
He spoke like he didn't even care that the two would go and meet with the Sentinel himself, the person who wouldn't dare show his face to just anyone.
'Well...'
Vlad wanted to speak up, but stopped himself as he almost collided with a pole. He side-stepped through pure instinct before taking a sharp breath and sending Cesar a glare.
'That... scared me.'
"Bah! So boring!"
Cesar snickered, stuffing his hands back into his pockets and focusing on the road ahead.
Vlad glanced at him from the side, looking down at his callused hands. He turned his head to the buildings around them, the metal giants he always watched from above, and a place he wanted to once own in the future.
They rose tall, maybe enough to match two floors of the citadel. Outside, they were covered with Iron plates that held them in place and protected the tenants from threats up to silver grade. They stuck together, held in place by heavy rows of bolts and more. Windows were spaced evenly on each floor, making it feel like the inside was filled with identical rooms.
The only thing that gave them any sort of variation was the balconies, sometimes filled with different kinds of flowers Vlad had never seen. Some had some personal belongings, like a television screen or a telescope, and some had nothing at all.
He sighed, looking at Cesar with a smirk.
'Boring it is.'
They left the premises of the citadel silently, just a shadow of them left behind.