"Now in my opinion," Started Andy. "Our best option would be to travel to Aemonsford; the capital of the 74th Fold. The Academy there has several bursaries and grants for individuals such as yourself; they would pay for room and board as long as you attended classes. Unless you have any other plans?"
"Not as of yet, no," Confessed Avakian. "I do have some interest in the city you mentioned, and an academy sounds perfect. Are you sure you're willing to take me there? I don't want to impose."
"You wouldn't be. I only live in this shack 8 months a year, the rest I spend at my other home in the city with my daughter."
"Alright, I would be very grateful."
"So be it." Andy clapped his hands. "Now the journey to Aemonsford will take about a week; three days of trekking till we hit Burford, then we can take the locomotive basically straight to the Academy. Pack your stuff up and we can get going before midmorning."
"I don't really have any stuff Andy."
"Shouldn't take you long to pack then." Andy chuckled at his own joke.
---
The duo departed at almost exactly midmorning, just as the moisture on the local flora had finished evaporating. Andy had packed lighter than Avakian had expected, only carrying dried food and bedding.
"There are a few half-way houses constructed out here; makes it slightly easier for me to travel as I don't have to pack my own tent." He explained. "Surprisingly well maintained, I might add. Us hermits like things tidy."
"Why exactly are you a hermit Andy?" Avakian asked, from what he had gathered from the books he read, humans tended to be exclusively social creatures. He figured that Andy must have a good reason for his isolation; and he was proven correct on all accounts.
"I'm a baseline human Avakian, the city has a high enough void concentration that I can't stick around for too long before I start getting symptoms of twisting-sickness."
Stolen content warning: this tale belongs on Royal Road. Report any occurrences elsewhere.
"Oh. I'm sorry." Winced Avakian.
Twisting-sickness had been one of the many topics he had learned about that morning; it seemed a horrific way to die, with its victims suffering for great lengths of time before succumbing. He had been glad to learn he wasn't in danger of it, with his cells being adapted to 'The Void'.
Avakian had yet to learn what 'The Void' was, as Andy had scant knowledge about it, only that the study of Void was called 'Erebology'. He resolved to ask to talk to someone more knowledgeable when he arrived at the Academy.
"Not a problem." He replied. "It's peaceful out here; besides, I enjoy the wilderness."
On they trekked.
---
They arrived at the first halfway-house just as the light began to fade from the sky. As Andy had mentioned it was quite well maintained, with no outward signs of decay or mould. Inside was a very simple one-room interior; with two bed-frames and a fireplace.
"Set the bedding out and I'll get the fire going." Andy groaned slightly as picked up a handful of logs.
Avakian did as such, after which he enjoyed a brief meal over the book he had packed. Despite it being both completely infeasible and comically predictable he enjoyed reading the rest of "A Journey to the Depths", and fell asleep, dreaming of wizards and swordfighting.
---
The next day proceeded almost exactly as the prior, with the added excitement of Andy tripping over and landing in a small creek near the last leg of their journey. They slept in a shack largely the same size as the previous one, save for the fact it was constructed from quarried stone instead of wooden beams.
Avakian had now finished his first book and was now halfway through an academic primer on the history of the 74th Fold. The book was supposed to be for young children, yet Avakian still had trouble with some of the context, and had to ask questions of Andy nearly every page.
From what Avakian learned, the 74th Fold had been colonised some 1700 years before, by a human named Aemon. Aemon allegedly held more liberal ideals than some of his peers in the high-fold nobility, and sought out new land to build his own society. He discovered a traversable pathway that led from the 73rd Fold, and claimed the uncharted strip of land as his own.
The 74th had not suffered any catastrophic wars since its inception, at least if the book was to be believed, since it was sequestered in a location that was difficult to invade.
"I wouldn't take that book completely at its word Avakian," Andy cautioned. "As with everything the truth is hard to discern, and exists in more than black and white."