A Spark of The City
Chapter 5
It was late morning, the sun high in the sky. As he was stepping off the train, Jack stopped mid-step and he was almost bowled over by the crowd trying to exit behind him. He quickly stepped to the side, straightening his new uniform. The Uniform felt tight, but Gant had assured him this was how his clothes were supposed to fit.
As the train approached the city, Jack had been amazed by its beauty. Gant had told him many tales of the city describing it as a spectacle. But now seeing it for himself he couldn’t believe what he saw before him. Jack was enraptured. Every building in the city looked like it was created by a master architect and could have been a wonder in any other city. But here the buildings just kept getting more absurd and spectacular the more you looked.
The buildings were painted with a beautiful variety of colors, and no one seemed to have spared expenses on furnishing their mansions. A marble and gold palace sat in the middle of the city, towering over the surrounding buildings. Along the same horizon was another impressive building that Jack had never seen anything like. The building consisted of spires reaching high into the sky in all shapes and sizes. Each spire was a different color and shape and looked like they were made from a different crystalline material. With the sun reflecting off the spires it looked like a giant permanent rainbow in the sky. that must be the academy he thought.
“Excuse me.” a young man, looking like Jack’s age walked up and said, “Are you going to the academy?”
Jack noticed that the boy was wearing the same uniform as him. He was taller than Jack, had blonde hair, and bright blue eyes, and looked incredibly fit. He was unbelievably good-looking, so much so that Jack saw a couple of girls gawking at the boy from a distance. The boy was slouched, he stood there awkwardly, his body language showing very little confidence. It was extremely clear that his appearance and attitude were very different from one another. Lost in thought Jack finally realized the boy had asked him a question.
“Oh, uh Yes, I’m going to the academy”
the boy sighed with relief. “Oh, thank God. I don’t know how to navigate the city; can I stick with you?”
Jack was hesitant, but then darkness passed overhead, and the other boy looked up nervously. An airship flew overhead, blocking out the sun for a second. There were hundreds, they littered the sky like clouds. The blonde boy seemed genuinely alarmed by the ship passing overhead. This interested Jack, he was used to airships from his city, but this boy seemed genuinely scared of them. Jack was slightly interested in the boy’s unique behavior, so he said.
“Sure, I guess. I’m Jack”. He reached his hand out like Gant had taught him and the boy shook his hand.
“I’m Sable,” he said. His grip was incredibly firm, and Jack could feel big callouses on his hands.
“I’m not used to the city and It’s a lot for me,” Sable said eyeing the airships above. Spending his entire life in the city Jack didn’t really understand what he was talking about, but he did notice a few of the small towns they stopped at along the way to the capital had almost no advanced technology or magic. Jack got to see fields of crops growing for the first time and he was amazed by the abundance of food and open space. He imagined he would probably be overwhelmed if he was suddenly put into one of those huge open fields, the city always being a very compact place.
This tale has been pilfered from Royal Road. If found on Amazon, kindly file a report.
Sable was walking about with two large bags—one in each hand—and a massive rucksack on his back. The young man appeared to be leaving home for the first time and had entirely too much luggage. Looking more closely, he had a strange-looking gun on his hip.
It was an outdated revolver, Jack realized. Most people, even in the slums, were too sophisticated for such a crude firearm. Sable saw Jack looking at the gun and said, “It’s a hand me down, it’s been in my family for generations. I know it’s not much, but it means a lot to me.” He spoke as he pulled it out and looked at it with reverence
Jack was still trying to get used to everyone openly carrying weapons. He came from an industrial town named Carcas. The average person in that city was overworked and underpaid. Most spent all their excess coin on drugs, liquor and someone to keep their bed warm, anything to forget the day.
The workers didn’t carry weapons because they were too expensive, and nothing was valuable enough to steal or protect. The Citizens of the state were a different matter, citizens of the state were encouraged to carry weaponry openly to show the strength of the nation. Jack had been made a Citizen of the state once he absorbed an element. He was subconsciously fiddling with his new sword on his hip as he thought.
The train whistle suddenly blasted, indicating that it would shortly depart from the station. That knocked the guys out of their thought and served as their cue to leave the platform and proceed towards the academy in the distance.
For both lads, the journey through the city was a memorable one. Neither had ever seen such a luxurious metropolis, and everything they encountered left them in awe. Both guys learned something new on the trip, though for different reasons. Jack was accustomed to cities, but not wealthy ones like this. Everywhere traders were selling all kinds of commodities, and the city's shops had enormous glass windows showcasing their offerings.
The wares they were selling were things Jack had never seen and couldn’t have even imagined. Carcas the city Jack grew up in didn’t have much magic and here he was constantly being barraged by magic items and features.
The city was so huge that it had these giant circular floating platforms throughout the city. These were like subdistricts. Most of them seemed to be housing while the main city was on the ground. At one point they had to ride an elevator to a higher plateau to traverse through the city. The elevator was enormous and appeared capable of transporting huge pieces of equipment.
Jack was able to demonstrate how to use an elevator to Sable because he had used them frequently in Carcas. They were treated to a stunning view of the city as they began to rise, but regrettably, it turned out that Sable had a terrible fear of heights. Jack saw his knuckles were completely white as he gripped onto the railing as they ascended into the sky. His eyes were closed, and he appeared to be about to collapse. For the remainder of the journey, Jack silently laid his hand on Sable's shoulder. As they walked across the plateau Jack continued to lead the blind terrified boy to safety.
When they landed on the other side, they reached a more developed area where each shop appeared to be a specialty shop that had exquisite items. One shop grabbed the attention of both boys. It didn’t look as well maintained as the ones around it, but what was inside intrigued the boys. The shop was full of a wide variety of interesting-looking items and some sort of commotion was occurring inside. As soon as they entered the store, they were both astonished at what they saw.
The shop was full of shelves, they were arranged tightly together, and they were absolutely jam-packed with interesting-looking items. Some looked magical, others looked scientific. Other items looked like complete garbage. But on top of all of that; the shop was jam-packed with all sorts of various little animals, and they were scurrying, flying, and jumping all over the place. A small frog instantly jumped into Jack’s hand. He looked closer at the reptile; its craftsmanship was incredible. It was made out of small brass parts, its internals looked like a clock, and a small round piece would spin, ticking at constant intervals. The frog had almost no weight and didn’t have any vibrations, even though Jack could see many moving internal parts. The frog’s little mouth opened, and it let out a small metallic-sounding croak.
“This is incredible,” Jack said out loud. The shop was slightly dim everything seemed to be made of a pleasant dark wood and the entire place smelt like there was a nice warm fire somewhere deeper in. Suddenly an old man came running out from the back cursing wildly and abruptly smashed the frog right out of Jack’s hand with an old worn broom.