CHAPTER-I PLOT
>Lilly and Julian
It was early in the day. Lilly and Julian were all set up to get on their way to the port. Their mother, Carlin Normen, was the one taking them. Lilly and Julian were excited as it was their first visit to the port of The Kingdom of Maloon, a river-line island kingdom with a huge port. The kingdom was well known throughout the world for its limestone and copper exports. The Maloon River cuts the Dragos mountain range and forms an island where the kingdom is situated.
Lilly and Julian were going through the East market, which was filled with various street foods, Lilly and Julian's eye caught on roasted fishes, those fishes were large and fresh, they begged their mother to buy them, Carlin refused to purchase but did not succeed to argue with the kids. She bought two roasted fish and gave it to them, they started to fight as Lilly got the bigger one. Carlin snatched those fishes from them and bought two equal-sized fishes.
They entered the port through the East gate but the East gate and East market were on the west side of the island, it was named mistakenly and stayed the same for centuries. The port was filled with people, the crowd was bigger than that Julian had seen the previous year on the coronation day of the king. Julian's eyes widened when he saw the marvelous ships in the distance, they were of different shapes and sizes, but one ship caught Julian's eyes, it was huge and bigger than the others around it. Julian rushed into the crowd as soon as he saw the majestic ships, he started counting "1..2..3....." but Lilly dragged him out, "Mom look what Julian is doing." said Lilly, "Julian, you will be lost in that crowd, don't rush we will stay here long enough." said Carlin, "Mom, I just want to count the ships." Julian replied, Julian was 9 years old and Lilly was 11.
Then comes a man wearing all white and holding a captain's cap in his right hand and a small bag in his left, "Dad..!" screamed Lilly and Julian and ran towards him, he bent down and hugged both of them. "Dad! What did you bring for me?" asked Julian, he took out a small wooden ship from his bag and gave Lilly a silver necklace. He was Jackson Normen the captain of the largest fleet in the whole Kingdom of Maloon, that was the same ship Julian's eyes caught. That ship was called Eye of the Sea, it was the ship's first sail and all the people gathered there for its opening. The ship has a maximum capacity of 2400 including crew, but currently, it is ongoing with 1950 including a crew of 470. It was going to Gablon City which is 5500 Km and roughly takes a month to reach.
The port bells rang, "I need to go honey." said Jackson to Carlin, "OK bye then." replied Carlin. "Bye Dad," said Julian and Lilly, Jackson kissed them on the forehead and then kissed Carlin and left in a hurry. The ceremony of the opening of the ship started, the King Lucas Mentor II was the main guest of the ceremony. The port was not under the king's influence and was operated by the people of the kingdom themselves. The bell on the High Tower rang, it is a large tower near the east market. The king hoisted the three flags one after the other, the first flag was a blank white flag which resembles the peace that the kingdom offers, next was a red flag with a black ship on it, which resembles the port army and the last flag is the kingdom flag which has blue strips on red background with a white ship on top.
The ship started its sail, a guy on the ship horned, and everyone in the crowd started waving their hands. Papers were flying in the air, colors filling the atmosphere, it was like a festival like never seen. Everyone was happy and high, it was a proud moment in the Kingdom of Maloon.
>Emma Willer
Emma woke up with a strange feeling, she was a quiet girl with beautiful brown hair and amber eyes. She went out of her room and saw her father cooking food for them, there was also a small cake on the table. "Emma. You woke up, happy birthday dear!" said Steven Willer Emma's father, "Thank you papa." replied Emma. "I have made up my mind about your schooling in Glimstone.", "What do you mean papa?" asked Emma, "You can finally go to Glimstone as you dreamed." Mr.Willer, "But Papa, why all of sudden you accepted it?" Emma asked, "I need you to be happy, that's all I want." Steven replied. Emma thanked her father and hugged him in happy tears.
Emma turned 16 that day and lives with her father on the East Island of Gablon City, her mother died when she gave birth to Emma. Gabon is the largest city in the world by area and population, no one hadn't heard of it. The city is divided into two East Island and West Tide, where East Island is prosperous as the West Tide is filled with slums. The Gablon city is a free state ruled by people and has a working government, the government and the government policies are only applied in the East Island. East Island and West Tide were divided by the Narrow Channel and there were two bridges connecting both, the Bronsly Bridge is the main one and frequently used by the people, and the other one is Castly Bridge which is narrow and in a rough state.
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Emma went to take a bath, she rested in the wooden bathtub and started humming. The warm water in the tub got cold and started to bubble up, Emma was speechless when she saw the flouting bubbles, she didn't understand what was happening. Knock on the door, the bubbles fell into the tub, "We are getting late Emma." it was her father, "I am almost done, papa." She came out and dressed up, she wore a simple dress and went out of her room, her father was waiting there. They packed their luggage and kept in the horse carriage to be on their journey to Glimstone. It takes 3 days to reach Glimstone. Glimstone is a prestigious school in the Misty Mountains near Lake City, Its been the best school in the world for many centuries, there were times when Glimstone served as the people's shelter when the Rotten War took place a few centuries ago, the war lasted for 10 years and destroyed one-third of the human population. The Glimstone has been a haven due to a treaty in which no schools and educational sites should be attacked in any circumstances.
Back to Lilly and Julian, it was dusk and the sky was pit gray, it's been two days since the ceremony. Julian was playing with his friends in the central plaza and Lilly was sitting on a wooden bench under a tree, her head was down and cold air blew her hair revealing her eyes filled with tears. Julian saw Lilly and sat next to her "Are you alright?" Julian asked, Lilly shook her head and said in a low voice "No! I want to tell you something.", "What is it?" Julian, "I want to be an archer." said Lilly and started crying. "So you want to fight the bad guys on my ship when I become the captain." Julian, "Stop Julian it's no joke.", "Sorry, but I just wanted to comfort you. Don't cry, you will be a great archer," Julian said, Lilly thanked him and rubbed her tears. There is a strict rule in Maloon that no woman is allowed to be an archer, that was the reason Lilly was upset. Lilly wanted to be an archer from a very young age when her mother read a bedtime story where the princess becomes an archer and saves her kingdom.
Suddenly all the bells in the kingdom rang at the same time, even the castle bells rang, it was rare for the castle bells to ring. Carlin came to the plaza running and sweating, "Mom!" Lilly and Julian went up to her "We need to leave, now!" Carlin said, "Mom, what happened?" Lilly asked, "The Maldas are back." Carlin replied, "What?" Lilly, "They are back! Back!" Carlin shouted, she took both of their hands and rushed towards the city gate. There were three gates and three bridges on the northern side of the island connecting it to the mainland, the port is on the southern side of the island where the river is wider. They were going towards the third gate which is near the castle, they were going there because the other gates were packed with people, the third gate is far from the center making it less crowded, the middle gate is the main gate in the kingdom and the first gate was constructed to loosen the crowd on the main gate.
The ground started to shake, they were a little away from the gate and already the houses started to collapse. By the time they reached the gate many houses and structures were ruined. The ground started to shake hard, they went through the gate, and a stone slab came falling from the gate and fell onto Carlin's legs and then another bigger slab fell and crushed her both legs, she screamed too hard and the blood covered the floor, Lilly and Julian were not able to move the slab as it was too heavy for them, "Mom!" Lilly started crying and kneeled to the ground and Julian still didn't give up on his mother, he tried his best but didn't move a little, there was no one around them to help them. The water around the island slowly turned dark, "You need to go." said Carlin in tears, "We can't go without you." said Julian, and his eyes were overflowing with tears. "Go now, it's getting late," Carlin said. "But, no Mom-" Julian, the ground started to shake even harder, they heard a big sound, it's the first and the second bridges, they collapsed and the people on the bridge fell into the water. "Run! Run as fast as you can, don't turn back and Lilly take care of your brother," said Carlin. Lilly took Julian's hand and ran onto the bridge, as they were crossing the bridge started to chip out piece by piece. Lilly crossed the bridge and it collapsed, but she was still holding her brother's hand, she dragged him up and they saw their mother for the last time. There were small creatures in the water, and they crawled onto the island, Lilly and Julian saw their mother slowly eaten by those creatures, it was harsh as the flesh and bones were decaying in front of them, Lilly and Julian couldn't stop crying on seeing their mother's death before their own eyes.
The Maldas were coming towards them, "Julian run!" shouted Lilly, and ran in the direction of the mountains near them, they were running as fast as they could, and those creatures were faster than they thought. Julian saw a small cave entrance, and they both ran into the cave. There was no light in there, it was dark and they could hear the sound of flowing Maldas, there was a small stream of water in the cave. They didn't stop running, they were running running and running then they saw a bright light.
image [https://imgur.com/a/AsmG3Ax]