Draped in minimalist working attire he marches down the road with his satchel on his back, he prepares himself to reluctantly work at Ms. Atsul’s stall. Though the sun had just risen, vendors had been up hours before–for their time he would’ve surely never been able to set it up in time. Regardless he never cared that much for working–he was just doing what his mother asked of him.

Crossing the bridge into the town, he looks ahead to see a small crowd form. They seemed to be gathered complaining about something, as a human male wearing black trousers coupled with a blue top as their uniform. “Have any of you seen him last night?”, he asked the crowd looking around at them.

“He was right here last night”, “It was that fortune teller lady”, “She was a he?”, some of the voices from the crowd answered. “He should look like this,” he said, as the officer began to take out a horribly drawn sketch of the culprit. As Cadryn draws closer intending to pass the morning commotion, he gets a glimpse of the man’s face, a picture resembling work done by a child no further beyond the age of six. He took note and never fretted, as he knew his master’s safety wouldn’t be at risk, as this wasn’t the first that this had happened to him. He figured that if anything he’d be away in the mountains, waiting for the tension to die down before coming back down once more to ‘terrorise’ the town. As he passed and walked into town.

Finally here…

Arriving at the market, he was endowed in its atmosphere groaning to himself about the noise, the stench and everything undesirable. There wouldn’t be any pleasure somewhere he despised being on the other side. “Cadryn!”, a croaked voice called out as he looked around to see who it was, and a middle-aged Talestrian woman waved at him. Looking to see no other than Ms. Atsul, with crates of goods below her feet. “Sorry son, I woke up late,” she said, now trying even harder to suppress his feelings towards the day's proceedings, trying to forget that dawn had barely arrived.

Now noon, as the sun pelts the worn cloth covering with the sun striking him through in a fashion reminiscent of that of Singo blows, something he could do to no avail. Buyers come and go as and the constant sighs and phrases of

I can’t do any more

Rang through his mind. To Ms. Atsul, it had so far been one of the better business days, while she worked on dealing with clothing and crystals, Cadryn had been left in charge of poultry and all other meat kind available. On top of that dealing with her troublesome son, Barru, as per the request of Cadryn’s mother, her reason being as she put it ‘Let the problem deal with another problem’.

Constantly needing to remind him not to touch the ground and then touch anything being sold at the stall. Behind his groans though, he admired the different articles of clothing Ms.Atsul happened to sell. Though most townsfolk tended to buy what others considered modern clothes, she made and fixed traditional clothing. One of them even caught his eyes, though unlike any of the worn and torn ones he had, a poncho dyed with fine stripes on them resembling that of the first one that Singo had given him when they first met years ago. If he wasn’t already acquainted with Ms. Atsul and her words of ‘I hate liars and I hate thieves’, the thought would have already gone through his mind if it hasn’t already.

While off in his wonderland, after a few attempts of clearing their throat next to him, and looked around and saw a man in front of his stall and that Ms. Atsul had probably stepped out, and as for Barru, he was packed to playing in the dirt again. He was the same as his kind but the man wore very unusual clothing, something alien even to the entire Republic, he looked past him to see both buyers and sellers sharing quick glances at him.

“Hello?”

His orange, white and blue pillared uniform was woven to not be tight but well-fitting, probably that of a stretchy fabric, on the left of his chest was a crest that was that of a Rose–Silver Rose it read below the emblem. There’s also a name on his shirt and it readsss…

“Hello??”

oh

The Cadryn stood up, trying not to give him any more of an awkward impression than he’d already seen, “Good Afternoon sir, what would you like to buy? Beef? Poultry? Reptile? Mutton?” he asked him quickly a puzzled look on the man’s face. “I didn’t ask to buy something, I’m here to ask something of you,” he said to the now even more embarrassed Cadryn. “Yes, what’s that,” he responded as the man then said to him, “Is this Ms. Atsul’s stall?”

How am I supposed to know that Atsul is a common name

He looked down to see Barru on the ground as he called out to him, Barru’s face lit up as he ran and hugged him. Only then was Cadryn able to get a good look at his name: Atsul. “I’m not sure where your mother is?”, Cadryn told him as the man nodded his head in assurance. “So, you’re her son, Dydra,” Cadryn asked him, “You’re mother told me you went off to work, in the city…?”

Did you know this story is from Royal Road? Read the official version for free and support the author.

“Yeah in Lumina,” he said as he and his brother made themselves sit down in the stall. Cadryn’s day finally had another reason to be a bit more entertaining, asking him“What’s it like there?” curiosity had been a feeling he’d easily starve of, as his eyes widened. “A lot different than here,” Dydra said, “The transportation, the buildings. The people…yeah plenty. Even the metals.”

“What do you mean?” Cadryn asked him, not sure what that meant.

“Steelies,” Dydra said. “I still don't get you,” Cadryn said puzzled. “Robots and androids,” Dydra said, surprising Cadryn. “I’ve only heard of them, never seen them before,” Cadryn reacted. Talking a bit before Cadryn remembers to ask Dydra about the logo on his shirt he pauses their conversation and points towards it and asks, “What’s that?”

Tugging on his own shirt, as his hand eventually reaches the logo, Dydra looks down and understands what he is trying to ask of him. “Oh, this. I work for the Silver Rose” Dydra explained, “A private peacekeeping organisation.”

“Oh, so like hero shit,” his mouth slipped, though Dydra only grinned and acknowledged him, “Some consider themselves such, so I guess you’re right”, his face continued gleaming. “So… what do you do there?” Cadryn inquired him, as Dydra placed Barru on his lap and he said to him, “An operator. Or what you call the hero.” After hearing that Cadryn froze in thought for a while to process what he’s heard.

On his side of the world, though magic dominated technology it was controlled, partially due to the bad history with those who possessed magic, on purpose and by accident. Magic is taught or used by facilities, though it’s limited to professionals or those who are licensed. A few millenniums ago it was hard for some races to adapt to the change, especially the elves who’d rather keep their communities to themselves and teach the generations of the various chants and incantations. The Talestrian Republic has various books in a forbidden library in the capital and is considered the oldest known written source in all of Spectronia.

“Can you use…magic?” Cadryn asked eager for his response, only to be disappointed when Ms. Atsul’s son muttered to him, “No.” as his face saddened, being sorry for disappointing him, “Can’t do magic.” “I’m more of a tech guy,” Cadryn overheard him still muttering as if he was still unsure whether he wanted himself to be heard.

“Dydra!” Ms. Atsul called out as she approached the stall, while Dydra arose and he went to hug her. Needless to say, the day went back to how it was before, just now with the Atsul family’s business in his ears. He learnt that Dydra managed to get a scholarship in the Republic’s capital, Alvastor. Working his way up until he got a job at the Silver Rose, though one lie he made was him being a ‘hero’, he just worked around a desk keeping in contact with the different teams there. When Cadryn cheekily told Ms. Atsul about Dydra being a ‘hero’ at the Silver Rose she spared no mercy of scolding him, an adult, in the marketplace for everyone nearby to hear her. Dydra never spoke to him after that again, becoming bitter due to talking too much to his mother, especially how much she hates lies.

Now, as the day went on with the extra hands by the stall, Ms.Atsul gave Cadryn the freedom to go out and swindle buyers to his pleasure, while Dydra had taken his place there. This gave him the freedom to walk around for a while, and unknowingly being able to briefly escape the market horrible scent. Walking through the market, he stops when he sees some strange coloured graffiti on a wall, although it was of course illegal, the culprit did his piece justice, it was that of an elf wearing a robe and a beautiful wooden staff, with a crystal being coiled by the staff. Though being real, he was considered a figure of folk, across lands, known across the races, the old and the young–the chosen one.

Cadryn scoffed, he remembered all the times he did just that. The times he ended up getting caught. The times he would be bailed out of jail. The times his mother scolded him for having to break him out, smirking as he wondered to himself.

Yes…good times

Freshly drawn he knew it would soon be easily erased by the officials, who would’ve done so because it went against the law of: There should be no glamourization nor gratification of magic through whichever medium with proper authorization. He just had to get out of there before anyone familiar with him spotted him.

Now after remembering a memoir of his past he takes a deep breath and realises that he is faced with duty at hand, he reluctantly tries to win over buyers from other stalls, spotting them as they enter the market he decides to move over and wait near the bridge. Sitting on the wall he checked to see if anyone was nearing him, and then no sooner after did he spot his first potential buyer, a well-dressed Animalian woman, her tail and eyes reminiscent of that of a reptile. he calls to her and rises up from the barrier, she tucks her handbag in and briskly moves past him, unsure if it was something he did, he shrugs it off, to not try and give others the wrong impression noticing that more were approaching.

With his fair share of success and failures from evening till night, he’d managed to convince some passersby to buy from Ms. Atsul’s stall. To which tired he struts back over to take a seat next to everyone in the stall hunched over. About to doze off she said something to him which he could only hear her mumble, “Th-n-s -0- yo-r -elp, C--ry-,” before Dydra, noticing falling asleep, gives him a quick shove as Cadryn raises his head in response. “Huh, thanks…Dydra?” Cadryn said, as Dydra looked at him and turned away. “Thank you for your help Cadryn.” he heard her say to him replying to her saying, “It wasn’t a problem.”

Certainly wasn’t

Cadryn gets up and Ms. Atsul hands him an arrangement of items: a few small crystals, a few pounds of ground provision and a whole chicken to take with him, placing all of them in his now crowded bag. Reminded of the places scent he tries not to breath in it’s putrid air as he readies to walk off and head home. “Oh yes, Cadryn, one more thing.” he heard her call out, turning around to her removing one of her hand-made creations and folding it, the poncho he’d been eyeing earlier.

Raising his brow he asked her “Why?”, stretching out her hands and offering it to him. “I’m just giving away some of this stuff,” she responded, “No one seems to want them besides tourists anyways.” With a nod and a smile on his face, this was a surprise, getting something he wanted for once. Happily taking it instead of having it most likely getting stained in his bag. Waving them off, he leaves the market for his abode, constantly checking the unexpected gift for its catch. Reaching the town’s bridge he unfolds it and allows it to flow in the gentle breeze of the night as a small smile begins to form on his face.