Meanwhile Uriel and Joel had infiltrated Pakresia, the former Abalon capital. It was rebuilt by the Onisians and the Abalonian slaves with stone, bricks and roofing tiles. The city was built like Adonis with domes, archs, Minecrafts and castles. The slave section was the only part of the city that was built using wood and thatched with grass.
Joel had never been this far from home in his life. He was impressed by the architecture and the lay out of the city. He was a 14 year short and daintly boy with short copper hair and honey eyes. He wasn’t the most attractive but also not the most ugly. He was quiet and down to earth.
His brother Uriel was very good looking. He had handsome features. He was tall and beefy and had the coolest walk in all the kingdoms, emanating power and confidence. He was always the center of attention wherever he went. The girls adored him. They all, at some point imagined a life with him. The only thing similar about him and his younger brother was the colour of their hair and eyes. The most different was their mystical powers followed by their looks. Though they were siblings, Uriel was talented. Joel on the other hand struggled practicing magic. He was still violet ranked, the lowest rank in magic. Uriel took him on his least dangerous missions so that he won’t feel left out as he was not strong enough to be assigned on missions.
They entered through the main city gate on horseback and fastened them by the visitors stables. They paid a penny to the stable boy and strolled around looking at the breath-taking view of the city. Their mission was to steal a book that was at a library 40 years ago during the invasion. A book about their bloodline magic. They are the sons of the first born son of Daniel. April and Ethan are the grandchildren of Raphael. The boys then went to the city market and to Joel’s surprise, there were many fruits and vegetables he had never seen before. All in different colors and shapes. One that particularly caught his eye was red and small as his finger. He gave the woman a penny and grabbed an orange and the red strange looking fruit.
‘It looks edible,’ he thought as he was taking a bite.
‘Hooooooot hoooot hot.’ Joel spat it out quickly as his tongue and lips ignited.
‘Why did you eat that boy?’ The woman yelled.
‘When you bought it, I thought you wanted to use it for cooking.’
‘Here drink some water.’
Uriel was some distance away when Joel ate the chillis. He only saw him drinking water like a mad man.
‘What’s wrong Joel?’ He asked anxiously.
‘He ate chillis.’ The woman shrilled to Uriel’s amusement.
‘How does it taste?’ He asked while sniggering.
‘Like my mouth is burning.’ Joel replied with teary eyes and a perspiring face.
This tears were preparing him for what was to come that fateful day.
After some time in the market they left and went to the slave section. It was a gruesome experience for the boys. More especially Joel. It hit him the hardest.
‘This are my people and they are suffering this much.’ Joel thought trying with all his might to hold in the tears. He saw most of them, thin as Uriel’s katana blade. Not because they were sick but because they were under fed by their masters yet expected to do hard labor. Another frail one dropped a heavy log he was carrying and a man whipped him. The whip cracked as it sliced through the air giving Joel chills. He flinched like he was the one at the end of the whip. At the next block he saw a dirty little boy, younger than him, mounted to a carriage like a donkey and pulling it towards the market. The carriage was loaded with stones packed to the brim. You could tell it was heavy but for some reason the Onisian saw it fitting for him to pull it. They spend just one hour at slave section and Joel was already sick to the stomach. He couldn’t wrap his mind around what was happening to his fellow Abalonians. Not only the way they were treated but also their living conditions. He learnt that about 10 people live in a small house enough to fit only 3 people and the food they had was nauseating even for dogs. What shook him to the core was when he heard a woman crying and when asked what was wrong the woman said they killed her new born baby because her master said he wants her working and not tending the baby. Tear streamed down Joel’s face and when Uriel asked if he was crying, he blamed the chilli.
Joel is a sentimental person. This quality is his only weapon against Onisians.
‘I have heard stories of how it is like here but nothing comes close to what I have seen today.’ Joel ruminated sorrowfully.
‘This is what happens to the weak, they are oppressed by those who are strong.’
‘And as weak as I am, I could have ended up like them if I was alive at the invasion.’
‘I am going to get strong, not just for me but for this people.’
‘I will be the strongest shinobi mage in all the kingdoms and I will free my people from bondages.’
Taken from Royal Road, this narrative should be reported if found on Amazon.
Joel turned the gloomy feeling inside him to motivate himself to do whatever it takes to get stronger. If this doesn’t motivate him to find a way to tap into his magic powers, nothing will.
They left the section for the library. Joel was stirred, inspirited and determined to get powerful. He knows he has magic, he just can’t tap into it. When he was doing first grade, the teacher had them perform flame kindling magic and he was the only one who could not. He kept trying when everyone else was on a break, playing outside. Two of his classmates came early from the break and laughed when they saw him struggling with the most basic of magic spells. Instantly white incandescent flames were set ablaze. Joel panicked and the flames vanished in a flash. The two boys, shocked and amazed, ran outside and spread word that he kindled the unknown white flames and they knew without a doubt that he possesses magic. However he never managed to kindle them again since then.
It was a long walk as the library was on the other side of the city. After an hour, it was in sight. They went around the citadel and there it was. A huge Minecraft library with a dome at the center. Daniel gave them a description of the book and the boys were hopeful to find it. Joel was even more determined to find it after his visit to slave section. He believed it was the key to unlocking his stubborn magic powers. They reached the library and the entrance was as big as the largest house in Yoshino. It had no doors because they believe no reader can be a thief. That is true unless the thief is only trying to take back what was theirs in the first place. The boys climbed the large stone steps at the entrance. It was not only their feet that were pounding, their hearts too as they had waited a long time to come looking for this valuable book. They went inside the library and they were lost for words. There were so many books they had ever seen in one place. The library was bigger than they had hoped and it seemed the journey from slave section would be shorter than going from one end of the library to the other end.
‘Try not to act suspicious.’ Uriel warned.
They went through the library till they found the magic section. They scoured it and found nothing. At first the search was quite and composed. As they got more frustrated they searched more wildly and frantically. Out of exasperation, Uriel pushed a stack of books to the ground and they loudly thumped on the floor of the quite library. To the librarian in the next row it sounded like glass shattering, judging by the way he reacted. He rushed towards the end of his row and appeared on Uriel and Joel’s row.
‘Did you drop books?’ he inquired.
‘Yes I did, I lost balance, I’m sorry.’ Uriel replied as he was putting the last one in place.
‘Okay please be careful, especially in that section.’ The librarian insisted sternly.
‘Before you go, can I ask?’ Said uriel in a hushed voice
‘Does this library have a private collection?’
‘Uh yes it does, that hallway leads to the private section, however it is not open to the public. Only staff and high officials have access to it.’ The librarian replied boastfully.
‘Okay thanks sir.’ Uriel said.
There were two armored guards by the entrance of the hall wielding wand blades.
‘We have to find a way inside the private section.’ Said Joel in a low voice.
‘Yes let’s go.’ Uriel replied grimly.
The boys fluttered towards the guards and passed between them. The eyes of the guards moved with boys as they passed. You could tell they wanted to stop them but their bodies seemed to have frozen. They were just armored statues. At the end of the hallway were two more guards. Uriel muttered words and knuckled his right hand. One guard took out a key, unlocked the door and opened it wide for the them. The other guard was immobile. The guard shut the door behind them and he too became a statue. This is sleep paralysis technique. Uriel traps them in their subconscious minds. They could see and hear however they can not move at will. No one had ever broken free from this technique.
The boys rummaged the private section and turned it upside down. No matter how much they tried the couldn’t find the book. As they were searching Uriel unlocked a hidden drawer by mistake and inside was a blue stone they had never seen before. They had heard stories about magical stones but never seen one. He did a spell on the stone and it vanished. As they continued their search, they heard multiple footsteps outside inching closer to the door. An afternoon shift had just begun and when the new guards came to report at their posts they found the men unresponsive. The librarian from earlier was nearby and by instinct he knew the boys from earlier were behind this.
‘Some boys asked about the private section, if it’s their doing then they must still be inside.’ He said in faltered voice.
They marched towards the entrance of the private section and found two more statues worthy of a museum.
‘We have to go.’ said Uriel calmly.
‘The book is not here.’
‘Wait I think I found something.’ Joel gibbered.
He lifted a book and Uriel glanced at it.
‘THE DROUGHT WAR.’
‘It’s about the invasion.’ Uriel said.
‘Let me transfigure it.’
He uttered words and the book vanished just like the blue stone.
The guards stormed the door and shouted, ‘freeze!’ Pointing their wand blades at the boys. Immediately they were the ones who froze by the door. Three on one side and the other three on the other side of the door. They saluted as Uriel and Joel passed between them. The librarian was further along the hallway and when he saw the boys walking out the private section, he made a run for it towards the public section. Uriel cast another spell and instead of running towards the public section, he turned and ran past Uriel and Joel. He went inside the private section and returned with a book. He gave it to Uriel and he froze right there. Uriel manipulated his mind to think of the most valuable book in the private section and to bring it to him and that’s exactly what he did. Uriel cast a spell and the book vanished. They walked out of the library without raising any suspicion and went towards the city gate.
Along the way Joel remembered the slave little boy.
‘Can we buy a slave?’ Joel asked somberly.
‘We don’t have time to go to the slave section, and why do you wanna buy a slave?’ Uriel replied perplexed.
‘It’s just that I saw a little boy being treated badly and worked like a donkey. I wanted to buy and free him.’
‘How long can you hold that spell?’ Joel asked.
‘I can hold it as long as we are in about a 15km radius.
Go buy him and you will find me by the horses.’ Uriel said and gave him 5 gold coins.
Joel went to the slave section with a brisk pace. After looking around for a while he found him and bought him from his master. They met up with Uriel and headed for Yoshino, leaving a turmoil behind when the lord of Pakresia heard that the book of the laws was stolen.