'I am almost there'

It was winter and I could see the flakes of snow raining down and settling in the already laid layer of snow from the train. Winter was only just starting and snow and frost had come to stay for at least a few months.  I had come prepared, but at the moment I was guarded by the warmth of the train but there was still a further way to go to arrive in Sivas, a town to the north of the kingdom, known for its cold winters and alcoholic beverages but most importantly for me : education.

Sivas was a town renowned for being the cultural center of the empire even if it had never actually been the capital of the kingdom and over the years the capital, Hax, had also established itself as a center of education and culture.

However, It was not a difficult decision for me to make when I decided to come to Sivas instead of the capital because not only it had a lot more history due to its age and perhaps surprisingly, it is only a town with a rather small population regardless of its importance. Though this is probably a reflection of its difficult accessibility because of the harsh geography, not only because of its based on a mountainous region but also the thinner air as a result of the higher altitude. Of course, this a great cause for difficulty in the development of its economy and this was probably the reason it has never been the capital apart from periods of wars when it was used as a defensive fortress.

The train came to a stop in the last station which was just a few miles outside of Sivas. It did not take much time for me to notice as I strolled out of the small train station with my bag strapped to my back that this was going to be a tough walk. Winter was not the best time to travel to Sivas and even the train journey that took me here was the last one till spring, so everything was empty within the station and besides it was pretty much more of a stop rather than a station.

'I already miss the warmth of the rain', There was a path that led to Sivas, the carriages services stopped running during winter because of the frequent heavy snowfall. It was currently snowing but it was still light and It would probably not become a problem if it continued at this pace like while I made my way to Sivas. A carriage ride to Sivas from here from what I heard took twenty to thirty minutes depending on the horses and the weight carried.

'I did kind of put myself in this situation'

I could only ruffle my grey hair and bitterly smile at the somewhat difficult situation I placed myself in. I say that because I could have made my way here earlier but some difficulty in my village delayed my journey, and I knew travelling in winter would be difficult. I could choose to stay in the little cabin in the station and take a wait and see approach to see if the snow passes but that was a risk itself because it could get worse after all. 'Let's just take a chance' Perhaps abruptly and rashly, I decided to set off. Walking would probably take longer because of the snow than usual but I expected to reach it in a couple of hours. The snow was slowly pulling up but in a few hours it would not be too thick yet.

A few hours later, I arrived at the entrance of Sivas. There was a rather small gate when compared to the high walls surrounding it which were over ten meters high, unlike other cities like the capital, Sivas had not reformed its old high walls to open itself instead it retained its long standing walls from the past when it was a true fortress. The gate was open and was just about tall and high enough for a normal horse drawn carriage. However, the stoppage of any service to Sivas due to winter meant the gate was unattended. After walking through the gate there was an area that resembled an empty moat of around two meters with a rather tight set of stairs that led up towards the city entrance. At the end of the stairs there was an entrance and walls albeit a much smaller one that reached up to my waist.

If you stumble upon this narrative on Amazon, it's taken without the author's consent. Report it.

This was the entrance to the city, I knew and it directly led to the commercial district of the city which held basically all of the city commercial stores of various kinds.  Of course, the district was empty probably because it was the evening but also because it was winter. I had read that due to the harshness of winter here items were stockpiled by people by the start of the season, so commerce was significantly slower during Winter.

I had to make my way to the residential district where most residents lived and where I would be living as well. One of the things one could immediately notice from Sivas was the smaller size of windows to minimise the amount of heat escaping. In addition to that the fact, buildings were mostly made out of log walls and to withstand the cold I had read they were insulated with packed wool.

I had soon bypassed the commercial district which was not in itself large but it covered a round plaza. After the commercial district a road directly led to the residential district. The residential district was significantly different but the snow was really starting to pile up so I picked up my feet to reach home sooner instead of looking around curiously.

The residential district was formed of  pathways unlike the commercial district, it was closely knit together but it had many houses of various sizes. It was easy to get lost as it had many paths and that was why I had come prepared and took out my map. The map neatly detailed the location of the house I would be residing in. The residential district due to its size had allocated zones which went from A - F. I was in zone D and I soon found my house. I gasped in surprise as I had never seen it before and was marvelled at the small log house covered in snow in front of me.

After entering, I was positively surprised at the coziness of the place. It was rather small just like the outside suggested but that was not a problem since it would be only me living in it. In addition, the fact it was pretty much a one room house meant it was easier to maintain it heated. After all, there was a fireplace right at the center of the house that doubled as the place for cooking and for heating the house and not too far away from it was was a bed and a set of drawers beside it. I put down my bag with just a few belongings and laid down in the bed for a moment.

'So, this is my new life...'

I shuttered due to the cold and decided to lit the fireplace for some warmth. It was rather easy to light the fireplace with a piece of chert and some fired powder and soon enough there was a soothing warm fire. I sat in front of it placing my hands that seemed to be frozen cold to feel the heat. 'This is really great', I felt like I had come back to life.' It was probably too late to wash myself so this would have to do.

I looked out of the back window. There were only two small windows, one in the back and one in the front, the one in back oversaw a small garden. It was my first time in this place, so I was rightfully curious about it of course and I spotted a door to the small back garden but it was not the time for that after all, the fire was ready and I was rather hungry.

After some grub, I put a few more logs on the fire and laid in bed. 'So this will be my life from now on. 'It is not difficult to get here but I am here now, that's all that matters'. This was not an easy world for a person from the outskirts of the empire because it felt like our homeland would  would perpetually be left to the side by the administration of the empire which focused all resources and attention to the bigger and central cities of the empire. I did not dream that I was able to change this but I at least wanted to try.