As the day wore on (or he thought it was day, there wasn’t a sun) the Knight learned a few things from the customers and Leyna.
Kent, the customer seen following Lerot, was part of the Horizon Exploration team. He had come in to purchase supplies for the next exploration to the Edge. Because this plane was not on a spherical planet but a sort of cut-out fold of space, it had edges where people could and could not safely go. The Horizon Exploration team was an organization put together to explore these edges and measure how it expanded or shrunk. Many countries that had borders at the Edge had similar task forces but this particular one was a part of the country Horizon Inova. Horizon Inova’s capital was Prismasia, a city north of Horizon Range. The city prided itself on its innovative abilities often to a reckless extent. Oddly enough although the country had originated in the caves of Horizon Range, Range Central was under control of the Ironcasts, an ally country that had acquired it a few centicycles earlier through a trade deal.
The town they were in, First Line Port, was within the territory of Horizon Inova. Although it was a relatively small port it still saw visitors from all over the plane. There was a furtive looking Horizon scholar with black rimmed glasses that came to gather some live mites for who knows what. She appeared to carry a bag full of parchment and mechanical parts. She hastily stuffed 4 mites into a bag, dumped a bag of Pieces on the table and scurried away. There was an Ironcast child accompanied by a guardian robot. The robot clanked and whirred as it simultaneously shepherded the child out of danger while processing orders from the child about various wants and needs. Another Ironcast woman stopped by to gossip about the latest vehicle being released. It apparently could run on both fuel charges as well as magic enabling you to save on costs.
Two Tower Knights, or also known as Knights of the Golden Order, came to the stall to buy some mite meat and outer shells. They chatted for a bit about the recent embargo on Horizon technology into White Tower lands. The country known as the White Tower was a country centered around magic use with minimal use of technology. They often butt heads with Horizon Inova on ideologies as they viewed technology as unnatural and saw Horizon's combination of technology with magic as an aberration. Still though, the knights pondered, this seemed like too sudden a shift in politics. The nobles had never moved this quickly before, often squabbling over minor details for cycles upon cycles before passing anything. Despite ideological clashes, technology was profitable. Passing such a huge law so suddenly seemed abnormal; not to mention there seemed to be an uptick of mage recruitment in the capital city, Magia, and knight investigations into the other countries. There had been a major military conflict recently as well, which also seemed out of the ordinary because the nobles tended to skirt from the idea of war.
As the White Knight helped Leyna with the various customers, he carefully studied the various passersby. He had been tasked with the retrieval of the president’s daughter and had been given an image file for the missing individual. He scanned each face trying to get a match. When the two Knights of the Golden Order mentioned the White Tower, he perked up. It was the first hint as to where she might be. Survive the trials and climb the White Tower.
He asked Leyna, “What’s this White Tower those two were talking about?”
“I guess being a Journeyman you wouldn’t know.” She paused to crack open another Cavern Mite. She deftly cut out the meat and wrapped it in a clear bag, tossing the shell to the Knight. He trimmed the edges with his knife and scraped out the residue as she had shown him earlier before tossing the cleaned shell into a barrel. He had his knife’s settings on low because he didn’t want to accidentally cut through and ruin the shell.
“The White Tower – which is what they named the nation after– is known as the center of Passaway.” She handed him a small piece of the mite’s stringy meat. He looked at the gray-white morsel and took a bite. It wasn’t too bad, it reminded him of a sort of crustacean he used to eat on Thear. Albeit a bit more bland and earthy.
She continued, “The White Tower is said to be the source of all magic and the origin of humankind on this world. Most historical data has been lost or corrupted but from what we know, we are not originally from this plane. Many scholars posit that perhaps the White Tower is some sort of doorway from which we came through.”
She shrugged, “Either way, the White Tower is a pretty important part of our daily life. Most of us use it as a way to navigate, it sends out a very powerful magic pulse every now and then and it can be used to locate where we are. The Golden Order are a group of knights that protect the White Tower though only the highest ranking officials and scholars are allowed inside.”
“Sounds pretty secretive.”
“Well no one knows what they do inside, but I suppose they study it or do some kind of maintenance.” She leaned on the counter. The large crowd seen early had died down to a dribble. “How's the mite meat?”
He gave her a shrug. “Not bad I suppose. Maybe could use some salt.”
The blue rectangle in the suddenly sky crackled again and displayed odd symbols before fading out in a droning warble. That meant light was going to start fading. Leyna had explained earlier that the sky crackled 3 times a day: when light was at peak, when light started to fade and darkness started to turn back to light. The whole cycle was approximately 25 hours. Perhaps an artificial day-night cycle, Jonit surmised.
It was time to close up shop. They scooped the last few mites and loaded the few leftover material back onto the cart. Leyna went up to where Yan was sleeping near one of the piers and tapped her on the head. Almost instantaneously the beetle got up, shook itself a bit, and plodded over.
“There’s a cozy place where we can stay and get food.”
As they walked up the road, the bright sky had started to dim. There was no sunset, however, it was simply as if the whole sky got darker and darker. The bluish hexagonal patterns across the sky became more pronounced. Streetlamps began turning on, emitting a yellowish glow. He could hear the beetle padding along with its 6 legs, the cart rattling behind. Jonit started to feel rather strange. His thoughts became more muddled, his movements became a bit slow, and he felt like he wanted to close his eyes. It suddenly dawned on him that he was getting sleepy. He shook himself, haven’t felt that in a long time.
“So, Sir Knight '' she cocked her head and gave him a look. “You’ve been pretty secretive today. What’s the deal with you and your ‘mission’. I think at the very least you owe me a bit of info for helping you out so far.”
Jonit sighed. She was right, he supposed. After spending a day with her, it didn’t seem like she was really hiding anything. He supposed it couldn’t hurt to tell her a little bit about himself, especially since it seemed he was going to be dependent on her for the time being.
“My name is Jonit Alba.” He began. “My… kingdom is slowly dying. The… king– I suppose he IS a king at this point– doesn’t have the abilities to keep it running, perhaps no one can. So he created someone hoping she would be superior to him and run the kingdom in his place. However, she has been kidnapped by an intruder. We aren’t sure how the intruder did it, it was almost like magic.”
Unlawfully taken from Royal Road, this story should be reported if seen on Amazon.
“Perhaps it was magic. “ Leyna surmised.
“Maybe.” Jonit admitted, “Either way the intruder– let's call her the witch– she brought me here and told me to complete her trials. Afterwards I could find the king’s creation – I guess if I’m calling him the king, she would be the princess – and bring her home.”
“Aha so that's why you kept looking at that picture of yours. You’re trying to find your princess.”
“Oh you noticed that? I mean I don’t suppose it would be that easy to find her, but who knows?”
“Hmm… hold on a moment. Let’s turn here”
Leyna gestured to the right, and they turned up onto a grassy pathway and began moving up a hill. By now it was dark and they had moved away from the docks. The lamps were farther apart so their way was dimly lit by the bright blue patterns across the sky. There was a gentle warm breeze. Leyna pulled a lamp from the cart and closed her eyes for a bit. The lantern began to glow. She spun it in her hands and it floated up above their heads, following as they walked.
“That sounds like the plot to a fairytale.” She looked at him with a bit of excitement and curiosity in her deep blue eyes. “May I see the picture of the princess? I’m curious now”
He brought up a holo-image on his left arm and turned it so she could get a better look. The picture was of a black haired pale woman with slanted eyes. She had a heart shaped face and a rather small flat nose. She appeared to be sleeping so he couldn’t get a clear look at her eye color, but a separate image indicated they were dark brown, almost black.
“She looks so different! I’ve never seen anyone with such dark hair. And her eyes!”
“People don’t have dark hair here?”
“Hmmm not black like that. It's surprisingly pretty!”
He activated a quick simulation combining the pictures of the princess to reveal what she would look like awake and moving about.
“Wow what kind of technology is that! Can you make the picture do other stuff?”
“Sure thing. Turn around for a second.”
Leyna smiled and furrowed her eyebrows questioningly, “Like this?”
“Like all the way around.”
A thin beam of light shone from his arm, washing over her as she turned.
“Ok now what?”
He pulled up the holo-image and now the princess was shown wearing Leyna’s orange sunset colored dress.
“That’s so cool!” she exclaimed, “Now do your armor!”
The system already had his armor’s data so he just pulled that up. The princess looked rather dashing in a suit of armor as a matter of fact. He even had her pull out a sword and swing it around a bit.
Leyna looked entranced by it. “That’s a very neat bit of tech I have to say.”
Jonit couldn’t help but smile at her excitement. “Well I’m glad you find it exciting. Hopefully it can help me find the princess.”
“We should show more people and see if they know of her. The place we’re staying should have a few.”
They were nearing the top of a small hill where a large wooden building could be seen. It seemed to glow golden in the darkness. There was a small field nearby where Jonit could see one or two large beetles munching on what appeared to be various fungi. There was also a dirt parking area on the far end where various motor vehicles were parked. It seemed rather isolated for an inn, but at the same time that made it feel a bit more cozy. He looked down the hill. The town twinkled in the night; its streets weaved light across the darkness, doubly so as they were reflected in the strangely still water.
The White Knight looked up toward the direction where he had first appeared on this world. It was shrouded in blue tinged darkness by this point but further up the trail where he had met Leyna he could see the looming shadow of a mountain. This was the Horizon Range. He could see glittering lights shining on various parts of the mountain.
Leyna followed his gaze and pointed. “See that spot over there?”
There was a spot that was brighter than the rest, shining through the trees like a beacon.
“That’s the entrance to the Horizon Caves and Range Central, where I’m technically from.”
“Technically?”
“Well I like to move around so… I mean I have a house there, but I spend more time traveling between the towns here. I can’t imagine staying in one place for too long.”
As they neared the inn, they were approached by a rather large muscular blonde woman wearing overalls. She had a lantern floating above her head bathing the area in a warm gold light.
“Hello! Leyna, is that you? And who’s this here?” She flashed Jonit a broad friendly smile.
“Sarith, good to see you again!” Leyna opened her arms and was buried in an embrace. “This is Jonit, he’s a stray Journeyman I picked up on the way.”
Jonit held out his hand, “I’m not really into hugs but nice to meet you.”
She enveloped his hand in hers, “Oooh a Journeyman, you must have stories to tell.” Sarith gave Leyna a sly wink, “a handsome one too.”
Leyna turned to Jonit, “This is Sarith, she owns and runs the inn. Her husband helps out too.”
“Come! Come!” Sarith motioned them along, “You can leave Yan there, I’ll make sure she’s properly taken care of.”
She opened the door to the inn and called out, “Juke, Trey! Leyna’s here. Come help move this cargo beetle in! And store the wagon away!”
Two men appeared. Juke was a big man who looked to be in his 30’s. He had brown hair and big rough hands that had probably spent many years working the fields. He wiped his hands on a cloth and gave the two guests a kindly nod. A lantern floated above his head as well.
Trey was more aged, probably nearing his 60’s. He was thin, but his body was lean. He had lighter brown hair that was streaked with gray. His right eye shone blue in the darkness, piercing the night with its gaze. His right arm appeared to be a prosthetic made from a metal of sorts; it glowed and let off blue fumes that lingered bright in the night. He looked at the guests, sweeping them with his blue gaze before tipping his hat. He was the only one without a lantern.
“Evenin’ Miss Leyna, how are you doing?” Trey asked with a rasp in his voice.
“I’m doing quite well, Trey. How are Lottie and Sammie?”
“Oh they’ve been out and about since Paern showed up! That kid of yours gets them all stirred up!”
“Oh my, what have they been up to?”
“Not a clue! They’re always off doin’ something or other, remember when they restored that moss golem? The sight of that thing almost gave Sarith a heart attack.”
“Shame you couldn’t keep it.”
“Coulda helped out quiiite a bit.” Trey said with a wistful smile. “Well head on inside now, the kids are already back. We’ll take care of Yan here.”
Sarith motioned them in, “We’ll bring your and Paern’s luggage up in a bit.” She paused for a moment then asked Leyna, a little conspiratorially, “Two or three rooms?”
Leyna responded with a smile, “Three, just in case.”
Sarith then turned to Jonit, “Your luggage…?”
“Oh no I don’t have any luggage, don’t worry about me.”
“Well alright then, easier job for me”
And with that, they stepped into the warmly lit building.