Myla continued to look out the window as the carriage continued its path. It wasn’t long until my mother came to tell us we were there.
We just parked the carriage somewhere not that busy, grabbed our bags, and went on our way.
“Don’t we have to leave this rented carriage at a certain place or something?” I asked Zeph.
“Yeah, probably, but I’m sure it will be fine right here.” He said, without a care in the world.
I let out a sigh, “It’s all fun and games until you owe someone money.” I gave Zeph an appraising look. His clothes over the trip grew shabby and he looked more like a commoner than my family and I. “And you don’t seem to have much of it.”
He took confident steps ahead of me, “I wouldn’t judge a book by its cover, dear nephew.”—he gave me a look over his shoulder—“I might just be a rich man in disguise.”
“Yeah, right. I highly doubt it.” I mumbled under my breath. Not knowing whether to believe my own words or not.
Zeph had no indication about him that told me he had any type of wealth. But, on the other hand, I had seen people in my old world who would, as Zeph put it ‘be a rich man in disguise'. They would dress simply, not to hide their wealth, but because they preferred to be comfortable.
Ignoring the carriage and leaving Zephs words to linger in my mind, I followed after him and my family. We walked through the heavy crowd with our bags in hand. We maneuvered in and out of the swarm, somehow keeping up with one another.
Finally, we made it to what reminded me of a train station in my old world, but without the trains. There were lines of people at many individual booths that held signs above them with names of cities, which represented destinations.
From what I could see, each booth held a clerk, and the customer—or whoever—would pay, then the clerk would hand them a ticket which I assumed allowed them passage to the warp gate.
Turning my attention away from the busy customers and clerks I kept following my family. We eventually stopped in a spot not many people were and said our final goodbyes to my parents.
My sister gave my mother and father one last hug, “I’ll miss you guys.”
“We’ll miss you too.” My father said as he released his hug, his tone almost sad.
My mother was still hugging Myla tightly, not letting up, “Make sure to call us if anything happens.” My mother held out a pinky, “Promise me, okay?”
Myla held up her own pinky and locked it with my mothers, “I promise, mom.”
After their promises were made, my mother turned her gaze to me and gave me a warm hug, “Now you be good. And don’t cause any trouble.”
“When have you ever known me to do that?” I asked, in a joking manner. But despite my jokes, I was sad. This was probably the last time I would see my parents in person for a while.
My mother chuckled and held out her pinky once more, “You too, promise you’ll call me if anything happens.”
I locked my pinky with hers, “I promise to call, and of course, keep Myla in check.”
Although my words caught the laughs of my parents and an annoyed gasp from Myla. My mother seemed to take me seriously, giving me one last hug and saying, “Thank you, Fal.”
When my mother finally released her hug, my father launched his with the strength of a bear. “Train hard, son. And remember this, if you ever feel lost or you feel you're not where you're supposed to be, just keep moving. There is a place for everyone in this life and I don’t know why, but I feel yours is beyond my understanding.”—He released his hug and put his hands on my shoulder, his eyes looking somewhat watery-- “Although you're only a boy I can tell you’ll be a great man.”
I didn't know what to say. In my past life I could close off my emotions at a moment's notice, but although I tried, around these people...I couldn't.
Why is that?
I looked at my father with determination, but unwanted tears streamed down my face, “I'll make you proud, father.”
His watery eyes released tears as well as he ruffled my hair, “I'm sure you will, Fal.”
After a second he wiped away his tears, “Now, Faliya, if we don't leave now, we’ll miss the next gate.”
“Right.” my mother responded, as she wiped away some tears of her own.
They each gave one last goodbye wave before disappearing into the busy crowd.
Zeph gave us a moment before he interrupted our small moment of sadness, "Are you guys ready to set off?”
I wiped my face with my shirt sleeve, “Yeah, let's go.”
Due to the busy crowd, we walked for what seemed like hours until we finally made it into a line that would lead us to the capital. The line was somewhat long and we had to wait around twenty more minutes to make it to the booth.
When we finally reached the booth we were greeted by a young female clerk. Her almond brown hair and eyes seemed to match perfectly with her uniform.
When she noticed Zeph her expression changed from a smile to what seemed like shock. “Zeph? Your back already?”
“Well, if it isn't Carey. You look as stunning as ever.” Zeph shot a smile at the young clerk, whose face turned a shade red. “Yeah, I'm back.” --he pushed me and Myla forward-- “Meet my niece and nephew.”
The clerk gave us a warm smile, “It's nice to meet you both.” She turned to something in her booth, then said, “So two children and one adult to the capital. That will be four silver coins.”
Zeph slid her four silver coins and she handed him three tickets in return. Zeph grabbed the tickets and turned to walk away, beckoning us to follow, “I guess I'll see you some other time, Carey. Maybe we can go out for drinks again.”
I turned back to see her face, once again, turn beet red.
“How lewd,” I mumbled under my breath.
Myla must have heard me because she let out an awkward laugh.
From there, we once again continued our way through the crowd. Myla and I didn’t know exactly where we were going and just followed Zeph. We eventually made it to the entrance of a wide corridor. The ceiling of the passage curved, making the ceiling somewhat high. As we walked through I could sort of make out the end point.
There were armored guards, their swords kept neatly at their sides, standing as still as statues as if waiting for an altercation. They were standing near another clerk--this time, a man--and even though his uniform was similar to the female clerks, you could tell he was of a higher position. He would take the passenger’s tickets and place them on a glass-like table, the table would light up green at their tickets, and the armored guards would allow them passage, leading them to a large circular platform, and the passengers would just stand there waiting. We eventually made it to the line and I had seen them repeat this process.
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When the large circular platform looked like it reached its maximum number of passengers the clerk then spoke into something akin to a microphone, “Maximum capacity reached. Please do not move off the platform until your destination has been reached.” I could tell he had said this many times before because his voice sounded almost robot-like. The clerk then began to flip multiple switches and press a good amount of buttons until multiple glowing white runes lit up around the circular platform. As the seconds flew by the bright runes only grew brighter, until the passengers disappeared. And as if on cue, the lights dimmed until they weren’t visible any longer.
Myla nudged my shoulder, “Did you see it? It looks a little scary; they just disappeared.”
“Yeah.” I said as I took a step forward due to the now moving line. “What if you just disappear, never to be seen again?”
Her face paled at my somewhat dark humor, “T-that wouldn’t happen.”
“I’m sure it won’t.” I consoled, “Though, I didn’t expect the ‘Brave Myla’ to get so scared.
She gave me a light punch in my arm, “I wasn’t scared for me, I was just scared for my dear little brother.”
I rubbed my arm where she had hit me, feigning hurt, “Is that any way to treat your dear little brother?”
She took another step, moving up the line, “Oh, shut up.”
About a few minutes passed by and we saw the gate activate a couple more times.
At last, it was our turn. After all the waiting and walking we did in this station I was more than ready to leave
Zeph handed the man our tickets. The clerk placed them on the glass-like platform and it lit up green.
“You may go.” Said the male clerk.
At his words, the guards opened the gate. After we passed through they locked it and escorted us to the platform.
After a few more people filled up the warp gate the clerk did his usual robot-like announcement before activating it.
Multiple glowing white runes lit up around me. I looked to my left where Myla was standing and saw her eyes shimmering with excitement.
‘You ready, Rye?’ I asked. Rye hadn't said a word on our journey from the carriage to here, but I could feel him silently observing, trying to take everything in.
‘Yeah!’ he responded.
The runes kept glowing brightly until my vision turned white and I was unable to see anyone around me. After about a split second I was able to see around me again.
Myla was clenching her stomach, almost like she was going to puke. Zeph was doing the same but looked unfazed by it.
I turned to see all the other passengers doing the same, some people in a worse condition than Myla and began taking some kind of pill.
What's wrong with them?
“You have arrived in the capital. Please step off the platform!” Said a clerk in the microphone-like artifact. This clerk was much older than the one I had seen only a few seconds ago.
We all did as we were told. Zeph was helping Myla get off the platform and he noticed I was just fine. “Does your stomach not hurt, brat?”
“No, I'm fine.” I said with a shrug, “Aren't you guys overreacting a bit?”
We passed the guards and walked along a path leading us into another large corridor, this one much fancier than the other.
Myla seemed to be fine now and even had enough energy to say, “Overreacting you say? It felt like my stomach was being twisted from the inside!”
Zeph rubbed his stomach, “Even though I've taken many warp gates I still feel pain. For you to not feel anything at all is unnatural.”
“Well, I'm fine. What were those people taking back there? Some kind of pill?”
“Oh, that. It’s a non-prescription drug they sell at all stations to help with the ‘after warp gate ache’ as they call it.” Zeph said, “Sorry, Myla, I forgot to get some. I don’t usually travel with new travelers.”
“It’s fine.” She responded, as her walk began to look more stable.
“The more traveling you do, the more you’ll get used to it, so think of it as another form of training to toughen up.” Zeph said, shooting a thumbs up at Myla.
“You're just saying that because you forgot the pills.” I said as I walked out the large doorless exit of the corridor.
Our previous conversation was dismissed from my mind and I looked at the sight in awe. Large stairs from where I stood led down to the busy mass of people. Gigantic windows were on every wall I could see around the transport station, using the sun as an extra light. It gave it a different air than the dimmed corridor. The atmosphere here was what I could only explain as lively or bright.
After about a minute of staring at the sight, I heard Zeph. “Stop gawking and come on,” he said, hurriedly going down the steps, “Someone should be waiting for us.”
Myla and I quickly followed, probably both wondering who could be waiting for us. The three of us seemed to zip through the crowd, finally making it outside. Many buildings filled my vision, along with many more people. It was around midday and most likely the city's busiest hour. I saw many people across the street flooding the sidewalks and going into stores or restaurants. There were also many people with parked carriages in front of the station, most likely waiting for someone to come out. But even after seeing all this, I couldn’t draw my eyes away from the enormous castle way out in the distance.
I was fascinated by the sight. I don't know why, but the picture it painted in my mind truly gave weight to the fact that this was a magical world.
Finally, looking away from the castle I turned my gaze to Zeph, who seemed to be looking for someone in particular.
He held his hand above his eyes in a searching manner. Finally, he waved his hand, calling us to follow.
We walked up to a man in a fancy all-black suit. His hair was dark and neatly swept back. The wrinkles on his face and visible gray strands of hair told me he was old, though.
“Bertly, it's been a while.” Zeph said, conversationally.
The man smiled and bowed, “Indeed it has, Lord Zephyrus.”--the man turned his gaze towards us-- “They must be Miss Faliya’s children.”
“Right you are, Bertly,” said Zeph. “This is Myla and Falyn, my niece and nephew.”
The man--or Bertly--gave a bow, “It's nice to meet you, I am Bertly Hensworth, Lord Zephyrus’s personal assistant and butler.”
I looked at the man in shock, only snapping out of it at Myla’s words. She gave a polite smile, saying, “It's nice to meet you as well, Mr. Bertly.”
I quickly followed up with a response of my own, “Yes, nice to meet you.”
Bertly chuckled, “No need for the ‘Mr.’ just Bertly is fine. After all, I am your butler now too.” He then pulled out a small pouch from the inside of his suit, inside we're two, rather, uninteresting rings. “You're probably tired lugging all that stuff around, so I brought these.”--He handed the two rings to Myla and me-- “Just imprint your mana signature onto it, and will your items go inside.”
“Are you saying this ring is some kind of storage place?” I asked, my shock obvious in my voice.
“Correct.” The fancy butler responded. He turned to Zeph, “Now, should we set off?”
“Yes, I think we should,” He replied, already heading to the carriage.
While we were in the carriage, I kept observing the ring I had gotten. I was surprised that something so small could fascinate me so much.
In the middle of taking my bag out and putting it back in, playing with the ring like a child with a toy, Zeph interrupted me, “Is that ring really that interesting to you, brat?”
“I don't know why, but yes, it is.” Finally, I stopped playing around and I kept my bag in the storage ring. “How much stuff can this thing hold anyways?”
“You can probably hold two wagons worth of stuff in the one you have. The only things it can't hold are living things.”
“That's amazing.”
“Yeah, so don't break it. Those things cost a pretty penny, kid.”
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The ride went by smoothly. I hopped out of the carriage and found myself staring at what I could only describe as a mansion. The brilliant road that led up to the house and the water fountain that sat elegantly in front of it looked like something out of a fairy tale. The newly trimmed bushes and the way the trees swayed in the light wind only added to the prospect.
“So this...is your home, Zeph?”
“Yeah, it is.”
“And you somehow own this place?”
“Yeah, I do.”
An inexplicable sigh came from me as I accepted the facts. If Zeph was rich like this or even a noble, it made me wonder how the other nobles acted.
“Right this way,” Bertly said, gesturing inside, “Chef Loria has prepared a feast.”
“A feast?” Zeph asked, as he rushed into the house like a child.
And I could’ve sworn I felt Rye, somehow wagging his tail in my body.
This is going to be a long couple of years…