It was late in the night when they left the orphanage, Kassius had not eaten and was feeling fatigued, and then a thought suddenly came to his realization. “Um, why are we walking? Don’t you have a car?” asked Kassius. The two looked back at Kassius slightly dumbfounded.
“Well……we don’t, and we don’t know how to use one…” Meos said. Kassius looked at them confused and puzzled, how can they travel without one.
He didn’t want to pry any further as they seemed so embarrassed at the fact they didn’t know how to use a car, he didn’t want to come off as rude. They reached the entrance of the village and they suddenly stopped.
“Don’t worry, Kassius, we won't be walking the whole way,” Fara reassured him, beaming at him. Kassius didn’t know what they had planned, while he knew that he shouldn’t expect anything that would be considered “normal”. “I suggest you stay close, Kassius, this may be a little overwhelming the first time,” Meos said cautiously to Kassius. That made Kassius even more anxious, he thought of anything even remotely dangerous that could possibly happen. “Oh never mind Meos, and his warnings. We’ll be fine,” Fara said reassuring him, though as soon as she looked away Kassius noticed her smile straightened.
“Alright, shall we mosey on dear sister?” Meos said. “Mos, stop treating me like some pampered doll, let’s just get on with it,” Fara responded. They both took Kassius’s hands and Fara reached into her pocket and pulled something out.
Kassius couldn’t see what it was, as nothing protruded out of her fist. She put he fist up to her lips and opened her fist. Kassius saw dust on her palm. She blew the dust from her hand and it spread through the air and covered them in a cocoon. Fara and Meos closed their eyes, Fara whispered something but Kassius could barely hear her nor could he understand what little he heard. The dust began to swirl around then, growing faster and faster each time it swirled around them, and Kassius closed his eyes, hoping that nothing bad would happen.
He heard strong winds blowing all around him, getting stronger and louder every second. Contrary to the ruckus that the wind made, he could not feel the dust he knew was all around him. The noise and strong blow of the wind went on for minutes, but Kassius tried his best not to move for fear of accidentally doing something wrong and paying for it. Suddenly the noise stopped and the air was still, Kassius relaxed his body but kept his eyes closed. He felt the hands of Fara and Meos release his hands, and he opened his eyes. He found himself in a small park garden under a bunch of trees. Across from where they were, he saw a clean street with buildings lined on the other side of the street.
“Where are we?” Kassius asked. “My question exactly, Fara.” Meos followed. “Hmmm, I don’t quite know myself.” Fara responded appearing to be unfazed by the uncertainty, unlike Kassius and her brother. “Fara, what were you thinking of?” Meos asked.
“Well….I may have thought of the park Ma and Pa took us to when we were younger.” Fara said, lowering her voice as she continued. “Dear sister, we were meant to depart straigh–” “Stop being such a twat, Mos. Auralius told me to as soon as we are able, and Kassius is NOT able.”
Fara interrupted her brothers’ attempt to nag her. “What are you on about?” Meos asked with a slight frustration present in his voice. “C’mon Mos, use that thick head of yours. Kassius has nothing for himself, not even clothes.” Fara said.
Kassius had never really noticed before, but she was right, he had nothing of his other than the necklace gifted to him by Miss Jean and the book. “Anyway, we have money. Auralius gave us money for just such an occasion.” Fara said, pulling out a pouch of gold.
“Oh, you don’t have to buy me anything,” Kassius said as kindly as he could. “Oh nonsense, Kassius, it’s the least we can do since we took you away from your old life,” Fara said happily.
“Oh, I almost forgot, Auralius wishes you a happy birthday, so consider this your birthday present.” Kassius felt a warm sensation fill his stomach and cracked a small smile from his straight face. He saw Meos ready to protest, however, one look from Fara prevented him from doing so.
“Well, lots to buy and little time, shall we get on with it?” Fara asked, enthusiasm ever so present in her mannerism. Kassius nodded with a smile, while Meos simply nodded with a straight face. “Ah, now I know where we are, Central Park.” “Central Park?” Kassius asked. “Yeah, in New York.” Fara answered.
Fara crossed to the sidewalk lined along with the building, Kassius and Meos followed suit. They walked along the sidewalk for a few minutes and Fara spoke. “Ah, here we are.” They stopped in front of a building, three windows, one on top of the other, and very narrow, identical to the rest they found along the street.
“Why are we here?” asked Kassius. “It’s a bit late innit? A place to stay would be nice don’t ya think?” said Fara. “I do hope you have a good reason for breaking into a home that is not yours, Fara,” said Meos judgmentally. Fara gave him a glare in response and turned towards the house. She approached the door and put her hand on it.
Lights appeared around the edges of the door, the lights were symbols that were unfamiliar to Kassius. “See Mos? Don’t be such a prat.” Fara said proudly, as she turned the knob and opened the door. While Kassius was wondering what happened to the door or why they were in New York, his fatigue got the better of him and stopped him from asking. “There’ll be time tomorrow.” he told himself.
As they entered the house, Kassius saw an empty room, with only a few chairs, a small fireplace, and a kitchen. While it didn’t look like it fit the house from the outside, the room was still very small. Fara put her coat on one of the chairs and turned on the lights of the room. “Mos, would you mind helping me with dinner,” Fara said.
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Before Meos could say anything she spoke. “I have ingredients, stop fussing.” Meos closed his mouth and proceeded with her to the kitchen. “You can rest while we cook dinner, Kassius,” Fara said kindly. Kassius sat on one of the chairs and waited.
The rest of the night was pretty mundane, they had dinner, cooked by Fara. After dinner, they proceeded upstairs to the bedrooms, Fara gestured Kassius to the one farther from the stairs and pointed her brother to the one after. She kept the room nearest the stairs. They all quietly went into their rooms and shut the door and went to bed.
The morning after, Kassius woke up to loud noises coming from the street below. For the first time in his life, he heard crowds of people and cars passing by almost continuously. He got out of bed and was startled for a minute seeing a completely different room than his old one. He quickly came to the realization that he wasn’t in the orphanage anymore. He would have been cheerful at the thought of leaving, under different circumstances, though he figured life is funny that way. He walked around the room for a moment. While it was empty just like the ground floor, he noticed that the furniture was big. The closet was big enough to fit him and the bed could fit two people in it and it was extremely soft, like a marshmallow. He was used to the hard bed and the small closet, he was used to having the bare minimum. While the room was nothing special, it was more than what he had.
While he was deep in his thoughts about all that had happened the night before, he snapped back to the present when he heard a knocking from the door. “Kassius, are you up?” Fara’s voice yelled from the other side of the door. “Yeah, I’m up,” Kassius yelled back.
“Come on now, we have a long day ahead of us, and it’ll be fun,” she said in her usual enthusiastic manner. “Alright,” said Kassius, then he heard her walk off and go down the stairs. Kassius still didn’t feel really comfortable around Fara and Meos.
To him, they were still strangers, even if they knew who Auralius was, Aurelius was also still a stranger to him, just as much as they are. He left his room and went down the stairs to see Fara and Meos tidied and ready to leave by the front door. “What are we doing?” Kassius asked.
“We will be getting you the necessities that you need.” Meos said, in a dignified tone. “Loosen will you.” Fara nudged her brother. Meos looked unamused. “We’ll be getting loads of new stuff but first let’s get you something to eat shall we?” Fara said, smiling at Kassius. He only noticed now that his stomach was rumbling from hunger. Fara opened the door to a bright snowy day and Kassius followed behind her.
As they went through New York, Kassius looked in awe of the many tall buildings, the noisy people-filled streets, and all the cars passing by. He would get startled by the honking of the horns of all the cars, he thought that he would die of fright. The only thing that calmed him was the numerous restaurants they passed. He had always been content by the simple food from the orphanage, but now he knew that he was missing out. He saw so much food that he knew that there was a lot that he didn’t even know existed. He hoped that Fara would walk into any of them saying that that’s where they will have their breakfast but she kept walking.
After a few minutes of walking, Fara stopped at a store that looked abandoned. Kassius then looked at the street ahead of them and noticed that compared to the streets they passed, the street and all the properties ahead looked destroyed or abandoned. He saw that the division between the clean and fixed part of the street and the abandoned side seemed like it was perfectly separated by a line. He shrugged it off and turned his attention to Fara. Fara looked up at the faded sign of the store in front of them, studying it as if making sure she was in the right place.
Fara smiled and went into the store. Kassius stood confused for a second and followed Fara in. Kassius was shocked at how dirty, unkept, and cramped the place was. The glass displays that were on either side of the store were dusty and full of rusty and old swords and odd artifacts. The walls were filled with more artifacts hanging on supports. The glass displays only left a space in between for customers to walk in. At the end of the store, a rugged bearded man stood over the display waiting, Fara approached him.
“Ello there Samson, how are things?” Fara said cheerfully. The man looked at her but did not answer. “No fun aren’t you?” Fara said, pouting. “You here to buy something, or not?” Samson said in a serious tone. Fara frowned in disappointment and said, “I’m looking for something.” Fara said. Samson’s barely visible brow raised. “Looking for what?” Samson said. “A place unseen,” Fara said. Samson smiled at the response and raised his hands to both his sides.
Kassius stood anxiously, not knowing what to expect. He then heard simmering from both sides, he turned to see that the artifacts around the room were changing, shedding their old and rusted appearance for a shining new exterior. He also noticed the room itself beginning to change. The walls glowed with a dark wood now becoming visible rather than the crumbling wall that was there. The bland decorations began to change into shining candle stands and a small chandelier appeared on top of Kassius. When the room stood still, and the transformation finished, it was as if he was in another building entirely. The store looked brand new and resembled an expensive pawnshop if they were such a thing. Kassius rubbed his eyes to make sure he was seeing clearly, and he was.
When he turned back to the direction of Fara and Samson, he noticed a clean-shaven man with long silver hair standing where Samson was. “Welcome to my humble shop, Horacion’s Emporium.” the man said gracefully and bowed his head. “We’re not here for your wares, Horacion.” Meos said.
“You’re here to use my entrance aren’t you?” Horacion said disappointed. “I wish more of my customers came in for my products rather than my entrance,” Horacion said gracefully yet sorrowfully. “Oh stop pouting would you?” Fara said. “Ah Miss Fara, tactful as always,” Horacion said with a bit of sarcasm. “The entrance, as per your request,” said Horacion as he raised his hand to present an archway on the left end of the room.
Meos nodded and went through the archway and disappeared. Kassius stood shocked again at what happened and stood still. Fara took his hand and Kassius looked up at her. “It’ll be alright Kassius, you won’t feel a thing,” she said smiling. He plucked up what courage he could find and trusted her. Nodding at her, Fara guided Kassius to the archway and as they both stood in front of the archway, they both stepped in at the same time.
As they stepped through, their whole surroundings began to warp and transform. Instead of a dusty backroom, Kassius saw a clean and bright alley leading to an equally bright street. He saw stores bright with lights and glittering dust floating around them. He also saw men and women with wings contributing to the brightness of the alley and he saw people with animal features, such as a man with a monkey tail, a girl with cat ears, and a child with whiskers. He saw what looked like food stands and restaurants on either side of the alleys with food he had never seen before, some he couldn’t have even seen pictures of from the books. Overwhelmed and excited by the initial sights he had seen, Kassius’s jaw dropped and each end of his mouth curved upwards. He had never seen such a magical sight in his life. “Well then, shall we mosey on, Kassius?” Fara said. Kassius nodded happily.