Chapter 1

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A few hours prior

The momentary blinding flash of light and the dizzying feeling of the emptiness in the void.

I shake my head to rid these from my senses. I look around and see an armed guard gesturing me to step of the platform I was standing on, a stone circle, engraved with a maw that seemingly devoured every bit of it but the edges.

I step of the platform and tighten my long flowing kimono around my waist. The teleportation room was small, and lacked any furniture, save for the stone circle in the middle, the guard, who is clearly uninterested in his menial task and the small hallway connecting the room to the exit. I take one last glance behind me into the room before I briskly traverse the narrow hallway.

At the end of the hall is a large brown gate, almost double my size. I admire the dull gleam it made, due to it being made of polished copper. 

Festivities can be heard through the large gate. Joyous music playing, children laughing and the general bustle of a lively city celebrating an occasion. 

Taking a deep breath, I slowly exert effort to push the large copper gate open and was amazed by the breathtaking and beautiful view of the city behind it.

Lush and varying colors of the stalls selling all kinds of objetcs, from food to clothes to the occasional dagger here and there.

I walk across the marketplace admiring the view, though I feel the unwelcome stares of some citizens. They're probably wondering, "What is a tribal like him doing here?" as I gaze at the overwhelming sight of the festivities around me.

A large fountain, beautifully crafted and made of marble stands erected in the middle of the marketplace. It sputs water that is collected at the large basin-like base of the fountain for the townspeople to use.

The enticing aroma of food catches my attention and begins to lead me towards a certain area.

The market is packed with people, citizens who are taking part in the current festival and also traders from the ground who feel that there is much money to be made in these sort of events.

I gently make my way past the crowds while tightly holding on to the two long objects wrapped in cloth on my left hip.

The aroma that attracted me brought me to a big shop, towards the edge of the market place. Unlike the other stalls, which are only tents, pitched for the festival, this shop is made of wood suggesting it is a permanent shop of the city, not just one bult for the ongoing festivities.

My stomach grumbles, so I make up my mind and step inside the shop. Inside, a heavenly smell of delicious food invades my nose and I savor every smell as I look around the store.

Many people are sitting down around numerous tables, wolfing down their respective meals. I wander around and find an empty table then proceed to sit down.

I call over one of the servers wandering around for orders.

"You don't happen to serve ale and roasted beef here do you?" I ask the server who had an initially hostile look as she was heading for my table.

She sighs and replies "We do, but that'll cost you 3 silver."

I rummage around and find my small coin pouch in one of the hidden pockets of my clothes. I proceed to take out 3 silver coins from the pouch and hand it over to the serving girl.

"It'll be ready in a few minutes." She says as she takes my money "Though don't think for a second that you can cause trouble here, tribal." She also sneers as she leaves to place my order.

As I wait for my order to be given to me, I sense the malicious and hostile stares at me from certain tables. I knew that preople from tribes like me were subject to some scorn from certain people since my elder told me, however I did not expect these hatemongers to be so open about their contempt for tribals.

The tale has been stolen; if detected on Amazon, report the violation.

After a few minutes, I recieve my order, a tankard of cold ale and roasted beef on a plate. I sniff the food and drink in order to make sure everything was in place and that no one had tampered with my meal.

I consume my meal in relative silence, taking gulps of the cold alcoholic beverage I bought. The meat was satisfactory, however it could not compare to the fresh and tender meat of my home.

As I mind my own buisiness eating my food, I hear a condescending voice behind me "What in hell is a tribal doing in here!?"

I ignore the voice and continue to eat, assuming that the tribal being mentioned was not me, however, the man continued to speak "Hey, you in the blue robes, Im talking to you, you damn trash!"

I continue to ignore the slight and finish the meat on my plate. I quickly down my ale and proceed to stand up to try and exit the premises without an incident.

The table in front of me suddenly flips over. The hateful man then grabbed my har, tied up in a single bundle.

"Look at this damn animal! thinking he can come in here and eat with us!" The man bellows to the gathering crowd around my table.

Most of the onlookers laugh, but some stay silent. A voice then broke through the noisy crowd "If you're gonna fight, I suggest you do it outside." a particularly deep voice insisted.

At that, the man let go of my hair and shoved me "Let's settle this outside."

The crowd around me encircled me and pushed me as I kept a tight grip on the objects on my hip.

The man, almost a head taller than me was bulky and wore a green shirt and leather pants. He had a pronounced belly, likely from drinking too much ale and mead. 

As I was being pushed the man dons a shining steel curiass and unsheathed a steel sword to match his armor.

He points it towards me and laughs "You never should've come here!"

I sigh and unwrap the objects bundled in cloth that I kept. The mans expression darkened when he saw the two blades I kept with me.

I slowly unsheathed the first blade, reflecting on the symbols inscribed onto it and the lessons they reflect. I make a small bow towards my aggressor and ready my blade, keeping my second weapon sheathed on my hip.

My opponent, underestimating my smaller stature, charges towards, blade first. No doubt he expects this to be an easy fight, thinking tribals beneath him.

His first strike was sloppy, a stab that even a toddler could avoid. I sidestep it and use my foot to trip him. He lands on his face and makes a satisfying grunt of pain.

Crimson with rage, he pounds the ground and gets up, intending to rush for me once more, though I quickly rammed into him as he was getting up, knocking the helpess man into some of the crowd.

They caught him and pushed him back into the center. Losing all his composure, he launches a flurry of uncoordinated attacks, leaving him exposed, but I do not strike yet.

I weave through his childish attempts to wound me and within a few seconds, he starts to breath heavily. He makes one last attempt to slash at me using a downwards strike from his sword, but this time I use my own to parry his blade.

The force of my swing and the quality of my weapon compared to his shatters his steel sword. He reels back from the unexpected force, stunned. I follow up and strike his center, cutting through his bone and flesh as easily as if it were paper.

The people around me gasp as they look at the bisected body of the man, with blood still oozing from both ends, and some of his limbs still twitching erratically. 

I turn around and spit on the corpse of my oppenent, making sure it hits the dead man's face that was slowly turning pale.

Onlookers scream and run away at the sight of the duel, while some continue to be horrified of my deed. I push my way through the crowd and make my way across the market once more, looking for the exit towards the city's royal quarters.

As I search, someone calls out to me "Boy, were you the one who killed that man?" 

I turn around and see an old man, bald because of his age and shorter than me. I reply "He deserved it, I wasn't bothering anyone in there."

He slowly nods "I agree, that man has cause more than one prolem in this city, and Im glad to be rid of him, to tell you the truth."

I furrow my eyebrows and ask "Why call me out then? just to thank me?"

The old man makes a sly smile "I saw how you fought, you are very skilled, moreso than others around here. Im called you out because I need someone like you, I have a task that may require someone of your exceptional skills, so to say."

"I don't need money old man, I have something that needs to be done." I try and refuse the offer.

"Oh but I wasnt going to offer you money, my dear boy, no, I know what you seek. You want an audience with the queen, no? You need to request a favor from her." He suddenly interjects.

"Do this small favor for me and I'll give you just that, a chance to meet the queen." He makes another smile as he says this.

How did he know what I was tasked to do? How did he find me among all these people? Questions rushed through my mind as I thought about accepting the offer.

I sigh and concede "Alright, fine, I accept, You'd better not be lying though......" 

"Whats this "small favor" you need though? I think a lot of people fit the bill if you're just looking for someone skilled." I ask as he smiles eerily.

"I can't reveal that here, not outside." He says  "Come with me first"  as he gestures at me to follow him.

I trail behind him, following his slow, snail like pace.

"Ah, I forgot to ask, what's your name kid? It would be unbecoming of me not to ask now that we have a deal...." He says as he walks towards our destination.

"Reykel, my name is Reykel." I respond to his question.