Oswin peers out his bedroom door, having taken time to carefully remove the boards and quietly set them aside. Hrithika's eyes stretch out cartoonishly through the crack in the door and look in either direction simultaneously.

"All clear." She whispers. They dash out, running to a nearby servant's entrance and slipping in just as a guard rounds the far end of the corridor. Hrithika leads Oswin through the narrow passageways, taking him as far as the servant paths can to a door outside the castle. As they traverse the walkways, reaching a four-way intersection, Hrithika holds a finger up to her lips and in a soft voice says, "Stay here. I'll be quick." And with that, she disappears down the left path. Oswin begins twiddling his fingers, checking down every path to ensure no one sees him. After a few seconds, a maid appears at the far end of the hall, Oswin jumps behind the corner and peers around. Before she reaches the intersection he's hidden behind, a cloth is thrown over his body from behind, covering him fully. The maid passes by, Hrithika resting her arm awkwardly on Oswin in an attempt to cover him, chuckling nervously. The woman doesn't mind, continuing whatever task she is set on.

Oswin whispers through the cloth to Hrithika, "How exactly is this any less suspicious? I'm not exactly a small person.”

"Well obviously not, but it's better than someone seeing you and going 'Ahh! The King is sneaking away!' and chasing us down, don't you think?"

"... You do know I'm your King, right?"

"Did I not just refer to you as the King only two seconds ago?"

Oswin inhales sharply through his nose and lets out a long, deep sigh. "So… how am I supposed to see where I'm going like this?

"Don't worry, I've got you." Her arm stretches out under the cover and takes Oswin's hand, guiding him forward slowly down the halls. Oswin reddens slightly, not used to gentle physical touch, unsure of how to respond. He creeps behind Hrithika as they turn down different corridors, soon reaching a point where Hrithika stops. "We're at the closest point now. I'm going to step out and check the hall, wait here for a second." She drops his hand and exits into the hall, Oswin waiting impatiently. A sudden bump into his back startles him and he freezes, not knowing what to do.

"Who blocked this door? I have somewhere to be, damn it." The unknown person had a man's voice, but Oswin knew that voice, it was one he had known for years, it was his childhood friend, Kendrick, Shit, what do I do… Hrithika should be back any second. "What's even under here?" Kendrick starts raising the cloth just as the door swings open.

Hrithika reaches under and takes Oswin's hand again, pulling him forward out the door, but Kendrick's grip on the cloth rips it off Oswin. Hrithika shuts the door before Kendrick can recollect himself, and begins pushing Oswin to run down the hall. Kendrick stumbles out the door, catching a glimpse of the King's attire as he slips out of the doors to the lawn with Hrithika on his heels.

They dash through the intricately laid raised flower beds, taking cover behind different statues and fountains to hide from patrolling guards. They must be on high alert, I've been gone for a good while. Hrithika ushers Oswin from cover to cover as they approach the main gate leading to the noble district. Hrithika stops behind the last of the cover and looks toward the gate, seeing a handful of guards standing in front.

"This will only take a minute, stay down."

Oswin nods and scrunches down lower, Hrithika goes bounding over the statue and the sounds of thudding metal follow quickly after. A hand snakes around the corner and grabs Oswin's hand, who nearly jumps backward but instead gets dragged out of cover and pulled up to the now-empty gate.

"Uhh, Hrithika, what happened?"

"They're sleeping for a little while. Don't worry, they'll be okay."

"Oh… Okay."

Hrithika turns the crank to raise the portcullis enough for Oswin to slip under, dropping it down and slinking her shifting body through one of the holes to get through. Oswin stares for a moment before remarking.

"That is one of the weirdest, most impressive things I think I've seen before."

"Yeah, yeah, I know. No time for that, we have to go."

"Right! The escape. Lead the way."

They take off down into the Noble District and leap into the first alleyway they can find. Slipping through different alleys, they reach a point where they are forced to walk out into the open. Hrithika stops Oswin a few paces before stepping out into the road, taking cover behind a small wall jutting out.

“Okay Oz, this is the hard part. Chances are someone will see us, and we have to move quickly from that point.” Hrithika whispers and Oswin nods understandingly. “Let’s just casually walk down the road at first. Maybe no one will notice us. Also… Maybe take this off.” Hrithika pulls the purple silken mantle off of Oswin, still dressed as he should be to host the Ceremony. He starts to protest, but she quickly cuts him off. “It’s not like you’ll need this anymore. You’re leaving, remember?” she says as she throws it on the ground and stomps it into the dirt, Oswin biting his knuckle while subconsciously letting out a withheld groan.

“Fine.” He huffs.

“At least this way, you look a bit more like a noble and not so much the King.”

She takes Oswin by the arm and pulls him out of the alleyway, entwining her arm with his, bringing herself closer to him, and starts down the road. She speaks quickly, hushedly to Oswin, who is growing red at this level of affection, “Play along, or we’ll get caught. We’re just a couple taking a stroll.” She nods respectfully to a family walking by. The woman does a double-take at Oswin but continues quickly after her husband snaps at her to hurry up. "Once we get past this ring, we'll have a much easier time. There's still a lot of guards roaming around and I guarantee they'll recognize you."

"Alright, so where do we go next?"

"There's a gate leading to the trades district not too far up the road, hopefully, it's not too guarded… "

Oswin nods as they walk arm in arm, soon turning the corner leading to the gate. Just as soon as they pass the corner, Hrithika shoves Oswin back to cover. She whispers to him, "There are about ten guards by the doors… And I'm sure there's more on the other side. This'll be fun," a smile creeps across Hrithika's face as she lets out a long sigh and draws a deep breath in, ballooning her body to an eight-foot-wide ball and rolling herself increasingly fast toward the gate, the guards noticing too late and trying to dive out of the way as she crashes through the doors, sending those on the other side flying off their feet.

Oswin trails behind, his face plastered with an expression of pure frightened fascination as he watches the rolling sphere of a person pop quickly back to her original shape. He hurries to catch up and hops over the knocked-out guards, a few of them manage to start regaining their senses and holler out for them to stop. They stumble up and begin chasing after Oswin, who has at this point taken off into a sprint down the declining road.

After passing a few hundred feet or so of well-trimmed colorful trees, and with the guards trailing further behind, Oswin reaches the trades district and scouts the crowded streets for the direction Hrithika might have gone. He feels a sudden tug from behind and is dragged into a nearby alley behind a shop, his mouth is covered quickly and he hears a small "shhh" from behind. The clatter of the guards running in their armor passes by, the one in front shouting out different directions for each guard to head to cover more ground. The hand drops and he flips around breathlessly, meeting Hrithika's eyes. She chuckles and speaks softly, "Told you this would be fun." Oswin swallows down some air, muttering quietly.

"You're crazy."

"Only a little." She giggles and slips out onto the road again, pulling Oswin with her. “Come on, we should keep going.” They slip into the crowds of people here to bargain or exchange goods, making their way down the busy street. Oswin holds his breath, realizing he hasn’t been this close to this many people before, and grips Hrithika’s hand tighter. Passersby shoot different looks at them as they scoot through, too busy in their own lives to recognize who they bumped into, each time causing Oswin to flinch. Hrithika notices the small squeezes of her hand and whispers softly, "Hey, it's alright… See?” Hrithika waves her free hand outward, and Oswin searches the crowd and starts to notice that no one is looking at him. "These people have too much going on to be bothered by us.”

Oswin drops the tensity in his shoulders, breathing comfortably for the first time since they left the castle. Their pace slows down as they blend into the waves of people. “What is even outside the walls of the Kingdom? What if that boy didn’t survive out there?”

“What boy?” She pries quietly.

“There was a boy during the Ceremony… It was his turn and when Viralia placed the crown on his head, the crown didn’t know how to react, it swarmed with different colors, and that’s when the visions started…" He twinges thinking about it, continuing in a hushed tone, "I remember seeing a name in an old notebook during that first vision I had…" He stews for a moment as he recalls a memory that feels so long ago. He glances at Hrithika and back into the crowd, lost in thought, "It was… Infernia... I had never heard it before that day, and I still have no idea who she was or is.”

“Never heard of her.”

“I was afraid of that… I believe that boy is the key to finding my answers. I just fear that I only succeeded in sending him to his death. But… I have to find him.”

“Hey, that’s what I’m here for! Don’t forget who got you this far already.”

“Very true, I wouldn’t dare overlook the help you’ve given to me.” Oswin’s mouth upturns into a genuine smile, a moment of fleeting happiness passing through him. Hrithika sees him smiling for the first time, and can’t help but feel her face grow warm. They walk silently for a minute, taking in their bustling surroundings and Oswin begins to notice the little things around them. A man trying very hard to convince the shopkeep that his produce is worth more than a couple of coats, a woman carrying her toddler in one arm and a bundle of branches under her other as she struggles to reach for another item, a shopkeep chasing a child down the street hollering 'thief!', the old man walking his rolling cart down the road as he shouts about a good deal on his different fruits. Oswin starts to gain a new appreciation for the lower-class people, seeing them living through their day working hard to make ends meet. Snapping him from his trance, he feels a sudden pull of his wrist.

“Crap, this way. Guards right in front of us.”

Oswin looks over the heads of the crowd and sees two metal helmets not even twenty feet in front of them. Crouching down quickly, he shadows Hrithika as she slips out of the crowd onto a less populated side road. “Good eye.” Oswin grinned. “How much further until we reach the outer district?”

“We’re almost there.”

“Okay, how are we going to get through the gate this time?”

“Oh, there isn’t a gate separating these two rings.”

“What? Why?”

“Oz, everyone in the outer ring barely has belongings to their name. The kingdom just deemed it wasn’t worth posting a patrol of guards to let them in and out of the trades district. Too much spent manpower that they ‘need’ elsewhere.”

“Things are really that bad?”

“... You have no idea, do you?”

“What do you mean?”

“You’ll see, we’re about to reach the entrance.”

Oswin looks up, seeing the road they’re on meets back up with the main street, and his nerves start to heighten. What is she talking about? What could be happening out here? As they merge back in with the crowded street, Oswin gawks at the large wall surrounding the trade district, a massive arch where the gate should be is in front of them, people pouring in either direction. As they pass under the arch, he looks up in fascination, admiring the stonework. Hrithika nudges him, he looks forward, and sees a sea of slums, shambling huts made of scrap material, and people wearing such tattered clothing that they may as well not be wearing anything.

Unauthorized duplication: this tale has been taken without consent. Report sightings.

“What the hell… So, this is how the people have been living? For how long?”

“Most of the time the Kingdom has been around.”

“Good god.” Oswin feels as though all the breath was taken from his lungs. So, THIS is what I’ve been a part of all of this time? This is horrendous… I can’t do anything now, though. I’m sorry, everyone. I promise I will be back to take care of all of you. They step into the denser crowd, Hrithika holding Oswin's hand tight to not get separated. Getting pushed around by the bustling horde of people, Oswin's breathing grows heavier, frantically looking around as he fights to wriggle through the field of clustered shoulders and heads. He loses sight of Hrithika in the crowd but grips her hand tightly as she ropes her arm to leave a trail for him. Following the hand and gently shuffling through for what feels like ages, he reaches a point where the crowd has dispersed slightly as he's pulled off onto another side road. Hrithika's arm retracts back to her body with Oswin in tow and finally having some space, he tries to slow his breathing, bending over with his hands on his knees. He rips open the top buttons of his attire as he struggles to bring air into his lungs, his heartbeat thudding rapidly in his ears. He feels the graze of a hesitant hand on his back, padding down more confidently once he doesn't outwardly react. The gentle feeling grounds him long enough to mutter out a small, "... This is what I've been allowing?"

"Hey… it's okay, you didn't directly cause it, you just kind of… maintained it. But that's not important, right now we should really focus on getti-"

"Oswin?"

Oswin and Hrithika's heads snap to the person who walked up on them, and Oswin's jaw drops as he meets eyes with Kendrick.

"Uhm… Hello, Kendrick. What brings you out to these far reaches of the Kingdom?"

"I could be asking you the same question. What the hell are you doing out here?"

Hrithika pops up between the two, turning to Oswin, "Hey, I'm really glad you got to meet up with your friend, but we really have to go."

Kendrick cuts in, "And where exactly are you two going?"

Oswin steps in front of Hrithika, bringing himself a foot away from Kendrick's face and pleading with him, "Kendrick, I beg of you. I can't stay here. There is too much to explain, but I can say this. I have to get outside of the walls… To find a way to right the wrongs happening within my Kingdom."

Hrithika's hand passes in between their faces, "Oswin! We really need to go, now!"

Oswin sees three guards slowly making their way down the road they're on and turns back, he and Kendrick maintain silent eye contact for almost too long before Kendrick nods. Oswin calls out, "Hrithika, he's coming with us. No time for questions, just lead the way."

"Works for me, this way you two." She extends a hand to both Oswin and Kendrick, and Oswin takes it confidently, glancing over to Kendrick who hesitantly takes hold as well. As she takes Kendrick's hand, the rest of her body takes off, slipping into the spattered crowd as Kendrick stares, gobsmacked, still holding her snakelike hand. Oswin checks left and right before disappearing into the cluster. Kendrick, making sure to not waste any time, follows him in. They all slip through the congested street, Hrithika staying a small distance ahead of the two, and eventually, Oswin and Kendrick catch up. Hrithika is stopped in the middle of the road, staring down one of the side alleys.

"Hey, is everything okay?" Oswin goes to put a hand on Hrithika's shoulder but she pulls away.

"I'll be back in just a few seconds. Stay. Right. Here." Hrithika vanishes quickly between the passersby, and Oswin looks down the alley she was entranced by. Sitting in the dark, curled up with their knees tucked and their head resting on their crossed arms was a small child, no older than seven. Their arms and legs were thin like twigs, and Oswin stared in disbelief.

"I can't believe… this is how my people have had to live." An uneasy feeling fills Oswin's stomach.

"I had no idea it was this bad either…" Kendrick's voice was barely loud enough for Oswin to hear.

A few seconds go by and Oswin notices a blob appear further behind the child, slinking toward them. Hrithika takes shape from the blob and extends something out. She says something briefly but they can't make anything out over the noise of the public space. Within the blink of an eye, Hrithika is back between the two men, hurriedly tugging at their hands.

"What was that, Hrithika?" Oswin spurts out.

"H-huh? I just had… a small task to take care of, nothing important."

Kendrick throws up an eyebrow, "All the way out here? What would you need to do this far out?"

"Hrithika, did you steal something to give to that boy?" Oswin whispers to her.

"Okay you two, this isn't the time. There are still a few guards out here, can we please go now? I feel like I'm the only one who is actually trying to leave right now."

Oswin and Kendrick stare at her for a moment before Oswin speaks, "Sorry, this has just been a weird couple of days. Please, lead the way."

“Thank you!” she hollers impatiently, and without missing a beat, she grabs both of them by the hands and pulls her arms tight to keep them just behind her. Taking off into the crowd, Oswin and Kendrick are dragged along, barely avoiding the people walking around. As they zip through the crowd, the sound of yelling comes from behind, and Oswin peers over his shoulder to see guards trying to push their way through to the three of them. The patrol gets lost in the sea of people, and Hrithika yanks the boys hard to the left, slipping into another of the many narrow alleyways.

Crouching down behind some piled-up junk, they all take a moment to sit and breathe. Kendrick is the first to break the quiet, “So… What’s the reason you’re attempting to escape?”

Oswin and Hrithika exchange a glance, unsure whether or not to give any info to him. After a short silence, Oswin nods defeatedly. “There was a boy.”

“That’s not a great start, Oswin.” Kendrick cuts in.

“Shush, let me finish. Do you want to know or not?”

“Alright, alright, sorry. Go ahead.” He bites his tongue.

“It happened during the Ceremony. The crown was placed on this boy's head and everything flipped upside-down for me. I started receiving these wild visions of different lives. Specifically surrounding this old family that had all daughters. They seem to be… The first.”

“Okay… ‘The first’ what,” Kendrick throws up air quotes.

“The first powers. The origin. The ones who started all of this.”

“Oh.”

“Yeah.”

“That’s uh… that is wild.” His eyebrows scrunch together, “So why does that equal you having to leave?”

“I’m not proud of it… I exiled that boy. But, I felt like he is important somehow, and I had no other way to ensure he had a chance.”

“Right…”

“And now… It’s difficult to explain… but it feels as though my soul is drawn to finding him. If only I could figure out why…”

"Those must have been quite some visions to make you realize you wanted to leave."

"They definitely got into my head a bit." Oswin looks around for a few seconds, "Are we clear now? We should probably find the way out before it gets too dark out."

Hrithika stands up, the other two following her lead, "Actually, we're almost there. The wall is about half a mile away."

"Wait," Kendrick utters, "The gate is at least a few miles down the road."

"Well, it's a good thing we aren't going out the gate then."

Oswin and Kendrick both freeze and the two exchange glances with each other, voicing a simultaneous, "What?"

"Come on, I'll just show you." She waves her hand forward as she turns away, motioning for them to follow. The boys look at each other and shrug, stepping in line behind her. They traverse the last stretch through the bustling roads without any issue and reach a point where the buildings space out and they're given some room to breathe.

Oswin's pace slows, trailing behind Hrithika and Kendrick. His vision doubles briefly and he begins to stumble over himself, his mind feeling fuzzy. This place feels familiar… have I been here before? I would remember that wouldn't I? Hrithika's hand breaks Oswin's spell, gently taking his hand into her own, and looking up, he sees the other two about ten feet ahead of him, her arm stretching the gap. Hrithika's eyebrows are drawn together as she's staring directly into his eyes. She retracts her arm slowly, pulling Oswin at his own pace to catch up.

"Are you okay?"

Kendrick speaks first, "He gets these headaches all the time. Here, let m-"

"No, this is different, Kendrick…" Oswin mutters, holding his head and Hrithika leads him to a nearby spot where he can sit down briefly. As both of them try speaking to Oswin, his hearing fades away, and momentary glimpses of a time in this location many years ago splotch his vision, a distorting blend of past and present as he looks around his surroundings. This all… why does this feel like I know this place? The plastering images of the past consume his vision, a memory he lost surrounding him frozen in time. Slowly, time creeps back to full speed, and Oswin sees a loosely populated street of people. A young boy runs by with frosty silver hair, and Oswin watches him carefully. Wait, that's… me. What is this place? Why do I not remember this? He follows his younger self down the road, and after a short while the boy breaks off, cutting through the sparse buildings this far out. They soon reach a stream of water around fifteen feet wide, and the boy runs alongside it, jumping onto logs and balancing his way across, and occasionally picking up rocks to toss into the water. They quickly reach the outer wall, and Oswin sees that the river is given a short tunnel to pass through the Kingdom uninterrupted. At that moment, he is flung backward in the memory to the moment he was sitting, and the vision of the past bleeds away, revealing the present time with Kendrick and Hrithika frantically arguing with each other in front of him.

"How are we supposed to get him out now?!"

"Kendrick, please. This happens all the time. I'll just carry him the rest of the way, I've done it before."

"How can you carry him? He's huge and you're… well…" His voice trails off, wishing he hadn't started this question, "Not so… large?"

Hrithika gawks at Kendrick, "I'm going to pretend you didn't just say that."

Kendrick lets out a sheepish, "Thank you."

Oswin sits fully upright. "I'm okay, you two." As Oswin starts speaking, both of their sets of eyes lock onto his.

"God, Oswin, are you okay? What was that?" Kendrick rushes to him, crouching by his knee.

"I'm alright, I promise. This, uh… hasn't been unusual for the last day or two."

Hrithika slinks close, "What did you see this time?”

"It was… an old memory I had forgotten. Me as a boy, running around in this outer ring…" His head snaps up, and he shoots up to a stand, "I know where we're going. To the stream, right?"

"Yeah, that's the spot," Hrithika confirms.

"Then let's go, quickly." Oswin begins leading the two the way he followed in his memory, having to make slight deviations to account for the new buildings, but still able to feel which direction is right. Soon reaching the stream without further incidents with the guards, Oswin calls out, "Alright, now we just follow this all the way to the wall. There should be an underpass to allow the stream through." Oswin strides alongside the waterfront and after twenty minutes or so they reach the outer wall, the large stream babbling through the ten-foot-long tunnel.

Kendrick whistles, "Well I'll be damned. You were right. When did you have time to come out here? And why wouldn't you tell me about this?"

"I'm… honestly not sure. I barely remember this." Oswin stares incredulously.

"How deep is the water?" Hrithika asks as she elongates her arm halfway across the flowing water, her finger lengthening and submerging down through the surface of the stream.

Oswin treads into the water confidently, announcing, "It's only a foot or two down. Come on."

Kendrick steps in gingerly, groaning as water fills his boots, and Hrithika pulls her arm back, trailing behind the two as they trudge through the knee-depth water. They step through the underpass, and their view opens up to a vast forest with trees scratching the clouds. For a moment, the group ogles up at the canopy above their heads.

Oswin opens his mouth first, "Have you two ever… seen anything like this before?"

"No." They utter together.

"This is incredible…" Oswin takes a deep breath, clean oxygen filling his lungs for the first time he's ever known. "It smells… so clean out here."

Hrithika hollers, "I was just about to say that!"

Oswin breaks his nature trance first, snapping the other two to attention, "There's no time to waste, this way." They step out of the watercourse and onto the untouched soil outside of the Kingdom. Oswin retraces his childhood's steps carefully, trailing a quarter of a mile into the woods before coming upon a trunk much wider than the trees around it. All of them stare in awe at this tree, easily over thirty feet wide and breaking into the cloud layer. As Oswin gazes at this tree, his mind is abruptly filled with static, sending him reeling onto the ground in pain. A shredding sensation tears over his body, a glow in the cracked amethyst on his immovable pendant forming. The light grows brighter as Oswin writhes on the ground, desperate screams escaping through labored breaths. As he takes another glance toward the tree, the amethyst shatters into dust.