Edward shot awake as he grabbed his chest. His heart was racing as he scanned the small room around him. He wasn’t in the dungeon fighting arena, about to be clubbed to death by a fellow prisoner. He was on a train. A train back to his homeland of Atatin. Edward simply laid back on the small bed.
“It’s over. I’m free.” He repeated over and over. He looked over to the window right behind him. Sunlight had started to peek through the trees.
Soon he would arrive in Eldesan, the great regional capital of Atatin. It had been almost 10 years since he saw that great walled city. Last he saw it he was on the train to the great dungeons in the Imperial capital. He waved those thoughts away.
“It’s over. I’m free.” He repeated once more.
~~
The train slowed down as it pulled into the station before finally stopping. Edward was at the forefront of the small crowd of people that had gathered around the train door. As it was opened he shielded his eyes. They were very weak after 10 years of near constant darkness. He pulled out a pair of large sunglasses from a small canvas bag on his back and put them on. He felt instant relief as he took a few steps forward and breathed deeply. A large smile crept on his face as he walked down the station.
He saw a small stand selling fresh orcha milk on the side. He reached down into his canvas bag to pull out a small money bag and weighed it.
“I think I can treat myself.” He said lightly as he walked towards the stand.
“One bottle of orcha milk please.” He said with a smile on his face to the old man running the stand.
“Why of course young la-“ the old man stopped in his words as he got a good look at his customers face.
“Edward?” He said inquisitively.
“Been this long and people still remember me” Edward replied with a chuckle as he lowered his sunglasses partially to show his eyes.
“But-but everyone thought you died in the dungeons!” The old man said with a shocked look on his face.
This tale has been pilfered from Royal Road. If found on Amazon, kindly file a report.
“Damn near did…” said Edward as he stared at nothing. He snapped back into reality a few seconds later.
“But I don’t like talking about that. How about some of that milk?” He said as he put a silver coin down on the table.
“Oh! Yes of course!” The old man said as he pulled a large glass bottle from an ice filled bucket. He placed it on the table and grabbed the coin.
“Thanks… I’m gonna savor this” Edward said as he took the glass bottle and proceeded to walk off. The city of Eldesan had changed a fair bit since he had last seen it. Not drastically but he could tell if he wasn’t paying attention he could easily get lost. Edward took a swig of his milk as he walked down the bustling Main Street.
As he walked down the street a few people turned their heads as he passed them.
“Is that Nestin?” He heard one couple say as he passed.
“Edward? I thought he died” He heard a shopkeep say to a customer. Edward paid them no mind as he walked through Eldesan and basked in his freedom. The freedom to walk in the sun, the freedom to drink fresh orcha milk, the freedom to… the freedom to be free!
As he walked around he noticed more of the subtleties of this modern Eldesan. The car that passed him by was sleeker and faster than any old jalopy he had seen in his village. He turned his head to a local general goods store and saw the owner say a quick prayer in a way he had never seen before. As he walked and saw everything new his mind slowly relaxed. He began to savor his freedom and simply bask in the simple joy of living.
His peace was soon interrupted as someone shoved him to the side.
“Hey! Watch it!” Edward said with annoyance in his voice as he spilled some of his milk.
“Sorry about that. I just wanna make sure I get a copy of the newspaper before they’re sold out!” The man replied as he ran down the road. In fact Edward noticed the stream of people on the Main Street was shifting. People were murmuring amongst themselves as they followed each other to see the commotion.
Edward took notice as well and proceeded to walk briskly among the crowd until he reached a small boy with a huge box of newspapers. Edward was lucky as he got to him before the crowd formed around the boy, blocking anyone else from getting to him.
“Breaking news from the capital! Read it for only two duponds!” He shouted as he waved around a newspaper rolled around in string.
“I’ll take one.” Edward said as he pulled out two bronze coins from the small bag. The boy grabbed it from his hands and then handed a newspaper to Edward.
Edward left the boy just as the crowd formed around him. He removed the string from the paper and unrolled it. His eyes instantly caught onto the headline.
“EMPEROR BENJAMIN II ASSASSINATED DURING SPEECH”