I put on my green cloak and ''took'' some gold coins from my father's office and put them in my pants pocket. The coins had a dragon's head on one side and a phoenix on the other, a really nice design. But that's not important right now...

I climbed up the walls of the garden, creating a ladder made of stone, and jumped off the wall. It was dark, the moonlight was reflected in the sea, recreating the magnificent view.

Julian told me that there was a dirt road that leads from the city to our house, which I could use to reach the city after about half an hour of hiking. And yes, I would take that risk.

Finding the road was easier than I thought, just as he had said, I walked a little to the left of our house, followed a signpost and the narrow road down the hill revealed itself. I moved slowly, taking my steps carefully, even if I had darkvision, there was still the possibility of slipping on a wrong step. It would be great to be able to cast a light spell right now, but Nazir said that it takes a lot of work to be able to use the that element.

As much as I was nervous about going out alone after so many years, and also about walking in the dark on an unfamiliar hill road, there was also a sense of excitement in me. I followed the road for a very long time and finally I could see the lights of the city. With a sudden smile on my face, I quickened my pace and stopped when I noticed someone looking at me from a distance.

The person looking at me was a cat-type argon, his fur was all red except for his face and paws, which were white. He was wearing a good quality red and white colored long coat. If the coat hadn't been so dirty, disheveled and torn, I might even have mistaken him for a nobleman, but his posture and his look were very timid. I took two steps towards him and looked into his clear blue eyes, but he ducked his head, took two steps backwards, and after his paw touched the city wall, he backed away with a shy expression. He looked at me, then he looked towards the trees, he looked at me, then at the trees, me, the trees, me, the trees, me, the trees, me, the trees. Then he walked to the right, then to the left, to the right, to the left, to the right, to the left, to the right, to the left, to the right, to the left, and finally, looking at the ground, he walked between the trees and disappeared.

It was weird, was he a beggar or something? Anyway…

I walked through the buildings into the city and looked at the hundreds of people walking side by side laughing in the streets. I was in a place like a bar street, most people had flasks with, I guess, liquor in them, and many people were sitting in front of different places drinking from wooden mugs. And the sounds... It reminded me of where I used to work.

As I was walking down the street I saw Wyll and, if I remember his name correctly, Euric, having a drink and chatting with 6 other people in front of a bar-like place with red walls. I immediately put my hood up and kept going, but I must have looked at him for too long because he seemed to notice me. I broke eye contact, ducked my head and disappeared into the crowd.

After a few steps I stopped when my shoulder bumped into a brown-haired half-elf boy who looked about my age. And the boy stopped, looked at me and shouted, “I think I found him!”

My eyes widened in surprise and fear and I was about to take a step back when the boy grabbed my wrist and said, “Where are you going, I thought we were going to play tonight?”

I paused in surprise, “What?”

The boy's eyebrows furrowed, and when he looked at my face under my hood, he had a surprised look on his face, “Oh! I'm sorry, I thought you were someone else!”

The relief I felt at that moment was indescribable.

This tale has been pilfered from Royal Road. If found on Amazon, kindly file a report.

We were approached by a boy with blond hair, a little taller than us but not much older. The two children were dressed alike. One was wearing a gray tunic and the other was wearing a similar white tunic. Their clothes didn't look torn or old, they were more like... common.

The blond boy came up to us and said, “That's not Len,” and the other one added, “Yeah...” The boy let go of my wrist but then immediately grabbed it again.

“Let's take him! It's not like Len's coming anyway,” he yelled and the blond boy looked at me for a moment and then asked, ”Are you from the Ocean?”

I nodded nervously and quickly added, “We just moved here.”

I didn't want to take any chances.

“New kid? Alright.”

“Come on, the others will go home!” The boy with the brown hair shouted, and they took me with them through an alleyway to an area with what looked like basketball hoops. There were nine other children on the playground, two girls and seven boys. I walked into the area with the kids looking at me strangely and the boy with the brown hair said, “We brought you here, but do you know what we're playing?” As I shook my head, he sighed and went over to the girl with the long brown hair and took from her the blue, weird gel-like ball-shaped thing.

“Have you ever watched anyone play falling spell?”

I shook my head again and he looked at the boy with blond hair with a sad expression.

“Can you cast spells?”

This time I nodded and he suddenly smiled with a joyful expression.

“The rules are simple, we play 6 v 6. You have to put the ball in the other team's hoop . You can use spells, except for things like fire elements that can hurt someone badly, and most importantly, if you have the ball and someone knocks you down without using spells, you are out of the game until one side scores.”

“What about fouls-”

“Let’s start already!”

It was really hard to get along with children of my age, but there was one thing I liked about them. They were very enthusiastic. Falling spell was a very strange mix of basketball and American football. In the simplest explanation, you took a slime-like ball and try to throw it into the opposing team's hoop, the ball was very sensitive to the elements, so even a small gust of wind can be used to push and pull the ball through the air, so when you threw the ball into the hoop, someone on the opposing team could push the ball with the wind, but in the same way, if you used a wind spell, you could help the ball keep its balance. If you didn’t want to risk throwing the ball, you could try to create steps out of the stone and try for a dunk, but getting that close to the hoop was a risky move. It was a game with a lot of flaws if you look carefully, but it was also a lot of fun.

After playing for I didn’t know how many hours, I left the area and went back to the street I first came from. And there was a problem... I think I was lost. The street was right, I was sure of that, but... Which alley did I take to get here? If I couldn’t find that path, it would be very difficult to return.

I continued down the street the way I had come and realized that Wyll was still hanging out with his friends outside the same place. That was a good thing, I was on the right track, but... Did this place get more crowded as the night went on? Maybe I should ask Wyll for directions - No! There was a good chance he’d tell my father I was here. I couldn’t risk it, best to ask someone on the street.

I looked at the people nervously for a moment, then gulped and held out my hand to a man with short hair, wearing a gray shirt and a long sword on his belt. Just as I touched his leg, he shouted “Hah!” and turned around and looked at me with an angry expression.

“There was something-”

“You fucking thieves are shamelessly trying your luck again!”

“What?”

After the man shouted, the people around stopped and walked away from us in surprise. I was saying “You misunderstand-” when the man interrupted me by shouting “What the fuck are you talking about, where the fuck are my golds!?”.

There was another person with him, wearing a long robe, and he looked at me and said, “I think I saw him with the other boys,” And he yelled, “The guards are not taking care of you anyway, I will do the punishment!” and he drew his sword and I took a step backwards as my heart started to race. My mana was too low from the game we had played, and even if I had my dagger with me, I didn't think I could resist with a small dagger against someone much bigger than me. I took another step back and the man shouted “Where are you running!” He pushed me and I fell to the ground.

As soon as I hit the ground, my hood opened, and in the split seconds that followed, the first thing I noticed was Wyll taking two steps, followed by dozens of people I didn't recognize, and in the blink of an eye, the sound of the swords coming out of their sheaths silenced the whole street.

All that people were pointing their swords at the man from all directions.