We’ve only just entered the city and boy, it’s just incredible. Now that could be because of the fact I’ve never been in a city before but I think it’s because of all the magic everywhere.
Magic street lamps line the pavement stretching into the heart of the city, before splitting off into different directions. Flashy mages are sending magical sparks flying above the heads of a small crowd and seem to be telling some kind of story. A few horse drawn carriages cross in front of us as we make our way slowly into the capital.
I stare at the white painted houses and shops with their wares displayed in windows. A shop that’s selling wands and magic items is next to a produce store, then followed by what look like homes. People in all sorts of clothing and backgrounds pass us by, some pale like those back home and others similar to me. I even spot a few of the other races while we move, a couple of gnomes pushing a small cart filled with trinkets, a dwarven man helping move a large pile of stone bricks with a single hand, even an orc carrying a stack of books walking besides a wizard in long flowing robes.
“Is this what all cities are like?” I ask, still looking at the new world I’ve ended up in.
“No, Golosumna is a special place. Bards have a funny way of doing things, which is they mostly don’t have any kind of organization except for the one major one.” Mom doesn’t take her eyes away from our front and steers us down a street, south of where we entered. “The whole city is divided up into different groups, each following a different form of education. Where we are right now is called Mage's Landing, you’ll see a lot of casters and various magical shops here.”
“Where are we going then?” Charlie pipes up from inside the wagon, across from me.
“We’re heading to the southern side where a place called The Practicals is. It houses the general education schools and shares territory with another district called the Mathematician’s Court, which specializes in math and business.” Mom stops talking as we turn again. “The Practicals is also where the school we’re going to is located. The school is called the Pathfinder’s Institute and it’s where I studied before becoming an adventurer, it’s also where my sister is working.”
“So what are all the other sections of the city named?”
Mom pauses for a moment before answering. “There’s three main districts in Golosumna, the Artist’s Arena, Voyager’s Haven, and The Scattered Streets. We’re in Voyager’s Haven right now. It’s made up of Mage’s Landing, The Practicals, and Mathematician’s Court.”
“Wait then what are in the other districts?” I ask out of a burning curiosity to learn about the city we’re going to be living in.
“I was getting to that.” Mom chuckles a bit before continuing on. “As I was saying, we’re in Voyager’s Haven. Over in the Artist's Arena is Siren’s Auditorium, The Poetry Quarter, and Clean Canvas. Each of those places involve a different form of the fine arts like music, literature, and literal art respectively.” She makes another turn and smiles to herself.
I follow her gaze and spot a tall, proud building made of stone bricks. A large crest of a map and sword decorates banners hanging from the stone walls. Two massive stained glass windows are on either side of the front door, which is equally large made of wood and iron. It looks like those castle strongholds you see in story books.
We must have managed to make it quite far from the gate we entered from because I think I would have noticed this place. “Is that…”
“Yep. That would be the Pathfinder’s Institute.”
“It’s breathtaking.”
“It is. Would you like me to finish the rest of my lesson?”
I nod in response, staring at the school as we approach.
“The Scattered Streets is a mashup of whatever doesn’t manage to acquire enough space to be a massive part of the city. The only place that’s there by choice is Bard’s Crown, where all political decisions are made. Other than that, last time I was here there were two others there: The Greenhouse and History’s Mark.”
Charlie climbs out into the seat next to Mom and takes a good look around. “That’s a lot of places to remember.”
“Mmhmm it is but after living here for a few years you tend to get used to it.” Mom snaps the reins and pulls us over close to the side of the street. “Before we go inside, we should meet up with my sister.”
I climb out the back and Mom helps Charlie down from the front. I take a moment to look at the place Mom has stopped outside of, a small cafe called the Student’s Alcove. It’s a comfy looking place, small, wooden, charming, it reminds me of home a little. Mom walks over and motions for us to follow her as she enters the building.
As we enter the building, I’m immediately greeted by the smell of fresh bread and some kind of soup. There are a few younger folks sitting around inside and in one corner there’s a set of bookshelves next to a window that’s facing the main street. A burly man with a very full but graying beard and small spectacles looks up at us from behind a counter as we enter.
“Greetings!” He calls out gently in a voice that doesn’t match his look at all, it’s far more soft than you’d expect. “You don’t seem to be students of the institute, but you’re more than welcome to take a seat.” Suddenly his eyes go wide. “Ho! If it isn’t little Venna all grown up, good to see you again. Your sister said something about you dropping by soon. Though I didn’t expect you to bring some young with you.”
Mom laughs and walks up to the counter, giving the man a firm handshake. “Mr. Ciabatta, it’s good to see you too. This is my son Oliver and his friend Charlie, they’re going to be enrolling in a school here this year.”
“Wonderful to hear that. Hello kiddos, welcome to my humble little cafe. If there’s anything you’d like to eat or drink just let me know, I can whip up anything in a flash.” He winks and waves a hand through the air, revealing his Inkling which looks like a chef’s hat and some kind of bottle. “Magic however is no substitute for skill, I mostly use the stuff for flourish.”
“It’s nice to meet you sir.” I say, distracted by the smell of good food.
“Hi! I’m Charlie, it’s great to meet you Mr. Ciabatta.” My friend excitedly bounces up to him and sticks out a hand. He grabs it and gives her a good shake before letting go.
“Where are my manners! Sit down, you must have just gotten inside the city. I’ll go fix you something nice to eat. Venna would you like anything special? Or just the usual?”
Mom looks at Charlie and I before responding, “Keep it clean. I’ve still got things to do today.” The man smiles knowingly and walks through a door behind him. Then Mom walks over to a small table in the corner closest to the counter and takes a seat.
I walk over and sit down while Charlie goes over to the bookshelves to look at the various titles. The whole space has a very relaxed feeling, students of different ages are chatting about various classes they’re looking forward to and such, some even look like they’re studying some old tome. There’s a painting hanging on the wall next to us of Mr. Ciabatta in his youth and an older gentleman who looks like they’re related.
“So, Mom, when do you think–” I start asking before a loud sound reaches us. I turn around and see a woman, close to Mom’s height, maybe a little taller, come bursting through the front door. She has a casual but refined looking white ruffled shirt and standard brown leather pants. Her short hair is a bright blonde color and is pulled back into a small braid.
Mom sighs as she watches the woman enter and shakes her head. I’m going to take a guess and say that’s my aunt. The woman in question scans the room before locking her eyes on our table and rushes over.
“Venny!” My aunt cries as she runs over and picks my Mom up out of her chair, twirling her around in a tight hug.
“Hello Lia, it’s good to see you too. Now could you put me down please?” My mom struggles to break free with little success. She’s let go and my aunt turns her sights to me.
“Ollie, you’ve grown so much since the last time I saw you! Come here and give me a hug.” Before I can get up she grabs me and pulls me in tight. “Ah! Last time I saw you, you were so little. My cute nephew is all grown up.”
“It’s nice to see you too, Auntie.” I say, gasping for air. I don’t know how Mom managed to talk normally, this hug is like being crushed by a monster or something. “Should I introduce my friend who came with us?”
My aunt looks up and glances behind her at the other people in the cafe. She does a quick scan and seems to notice Charlie looking in our direction from the bookshelf. She lets go of me and brushes herself off before taking the seat next to Mom.
“Of course, the two of you are going to be students at my school after all. I’d love to get to know her.”
Charlie walks back and takes a seat next to me, setting down a book on monsters onto the table. “Hello, umm, what should I call you?”
“Oof. You had one of those kinds of upbringings huh?” My aunt sighs. “You can call me Lia, Sweetie. Or if you want to, Headmaster.” She smiles while giving a smug look to my Mom.
“Headmaster?! You?! How did you, of all people under the sun, get that as a job?” My mom looks at her a little confused. “I was already concerned when I heard you were working at a school, but you being in charge of one? Someone must have gone mad.”
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Her sister pouts and crosses her arms. “Oh come on, are you saying that I couldn’t be a good teacher?” The two stare at each other in silence, before they start laughing at some unspoken joke.
A plate of sandwiches and a few glasses of water are set onto the table by Mr. Ciabatta, who had apparently made his way over to us while my mom and aunt were talking. He gives them a smile and quietly leaves us to our food.
“So, Ollie, Charlie, I have a question for the two of you. If you don’t mind answering, that is.” My aunt shifts her attention to the two of us as Mom starts on eating her food. “What have you come here to learn exactly?”
I look over at Charlie and Mom, who both give me a nod. I take a deep breath before answering. “Auntie, I’ll tell you why but only if you promise not to tell anyone else about this.”
“Mmm, why so serious? It’s not like this is a matter of life and death right?” Nothing is said and she quickly shifts herself in her chair. Sighing she says, “Well that’s not a good sign of things to come. Perhaps we should move to a more private space, how about my office at the school?”
Mom at this point chimes in, “Only if you know of a way to stop others from listening in with divination or the like. We’d better not take any chances with this kind of information.”
My aunt looks at us confused, shaking her head. “Now I’m quite curious, I do have someone who could give us that kind of privacy. But they’d most likely want to join us.”
“Do you trust them?”
“Of course, she’s my wife after all.”
We all stare in silence, Charlie and I are quiet because we don’t really know how to react to that. But Mom, well she looks absolutely furious at this.
“You had a wedding?! And didn’t invite me?! YOUR SISTER?!” Mom stands up quickly, knocking her chair over and drawing the eyes of the other people in the room.
“Shhh!” Auntie stands up and tries to quiet Mom. “I would have invited you but I didn’t want to–”
“Didn’t want to have me around?” Mom scoffs. “I can’t believe this.”
“No, it’s because I wanted a more quiet ceremony. Both me and her agreed that we just wanted it to be the two of us. I would have invited you but I figured you’d be busy with something.”
“I would have made time for you.” Mom sighs and picks her chair up from off the ground. “Fine, if you think she can keep this stuff secret, then I guess it should be fine. Right, Oliver?”
I look over at the two of them and quietly consider it. I try reaching out for The Dreamer for any kind of advice, but nothing comes to me. “Well… I think so. I just feel like the more people who know, the more difficult it is to keep things secret.”
Charlie, who has been silently watching our exchange while eating a sandwich, speaks up. “If I could say something? It might be a good idea to start talking about it, you know? The more people talk about it, the more likely people are to be prepared for the worst. But that’s like the worst case, it’d be a good idea just to spread a rumor or something to start spreading the news.”
Sometimes Charlie really surprises me. She doesn’t always act in the most mature way, but every once in a while she gets it right. It’s a pretty good idea to do that, people could process the news as they will and it might get people in power to take notice of the looming threat.
“You just thought something rude about me, didn’t you Ollie.” Charlie glares at me while finishing off her sandwich.
“N-no. I would never.” I nervously try to defend myself. She doesn’t look convinced by me and hmphfs while taking a drink of water.
“We’re getting distracted, Lia, let’s go to your office and continue there okay? You can bring your wife too, I’d like to meet her anyways.” Mom, thankfully, comes in and saves our conversation before things go too off track.
“Sure, I’ll go get her after I take you three up into my office.”
“Actually, I’d rather go explore the city if that’s okay. I wouldn’t have much to add to all of this in the end.” Charlie says. “Plus, Mrs. Giterale mentioned something about a place called The Greenhouse. I’d love to see what plants are growing there.”
And so we agree to meet back here towards the end of the day, separating from each other. Auntie brings us up to the front of the school and opens the doors for us. We are greeted by a massive hall, stone from floor to ceiling, lined with various archways that lead elsewhere into the impressive building.
We follow Auntie down a hall to the right and up a few flights of stairs, eventually reaching one of the upper floors. Then she leads us to a purple door which has carvings of fire, water, earth, and wind elements. Opening it, there is an immediate rush of air entering the musty smelly room.
“Hello! Anyone home?” Auntie calls out into the darkened room. “Hmm, I could have sworn she was here just a few hours ago taking a nap…” We step inside and immediately the curtains that were blocking light from entering the room fly open, bathing the room in the late afternoon sun.
“Ughh… what time is it?” A tired sounding voice calls out from under a pile of papers and books on top of a well made wooden desk. The pile shifts as a woman lifts herself from underneath it, revealing her disheveled look.
She’s a tall woman by what I can see, at least a few inches taller than Mom. Wearing these beautiful purple robes that have silver embroidery around the edges that come down past her knees. A wide brimmed purple hat floats over and lands on her head of auburn hair, which looks extremely bed tossed. She rubs her eyes only to stop and look around before a pair of circular glasses floats over onto the bridge of her nose.
“Afternoon Sunshine.” My aunt says cheerfully as she walks over and plants a kiss on the woman’s cheek. “When did you fall asleep?”
“I don’t know… I think the sun was still down. Did you say afternoon? Maybe I ought to stop looking at old rune circles before bed.” The woman stretches out and continues to rub the sleep from her charmingly amber eyes.
Mom and I both watch the two get all snuggly with each other, Mom gives me an eye roll before walking over to the two of them. “Lia? Mind introducing us please?”
The woman looks over at Mom and makes a double take, then she looks over at me in horror. A flash of light and lavender smoke forms and when it clears the lady is gone. However the sound of someone falling over draws all of our attention to the retreating woman, who has landed on the floor.
“Lia! Why didn’t you tell me people were coming over?! I’m not even cleaned up yet!”
My aunt just smiles and says nothing while her wife panics over being less than presentable. “Sunshine, if I’m not mistaken you could just use your magic to do that.”
Another look of horror descends onto the woman’s face as her hand lights up briefly and that same smoke and flash return. After they clear, she again is missing, but when I turn back to face my aunt I see the woman, much more put together looking, standing behind her. Which is a little funny because she stands about a head taller than my aunt.
“Venna, Ollie, this is my wife, Clementine. Clementine, this is my sister and her son.” My aunt smiles proudly, while my other aunt, Clementine, gives us a calculating stare.
Her eyes look much sharper now than before, her demeanor has shifted from a semi scatterbrained person to someone who is refined and of high standing. “Greetings, I hope you will forgive my unprofessional state from earlier. I was unaware that Helia’s family would be stopping by today.” Her voice reflects her new found composure.
Auntie Lia pouts and turns around to face her wife. “Clem! They’re family! You don’t need to be all stiff around them. They won’t mind if you just relax a little, right?” She turns back to us and we nod in agreement.
“Still, I should have been prepared for this. I have left a poor first impression and because they are your family it matters even more.” Auntie Clementine frowns and walks out from behind the desk. “It is good to meet the two of you, Venna and Ollie was it?”
“Oh you can call me Ollie if you want, my name’s Oliver though.”
“I see, well if you want you can call me Clementine or Clem for short.” For a moment she looks like she wants to add something else onto the end of that, but decides against it. “And you must be my sister in law then, it’s wonderful to meet you. Lia loves to talk about you whenever she gets the chance.”
“I’m sure, but I’d much rather hear about you than my sister right now. Oh but wait I almost forgot the whole reason we came here. Lia?”
Auntie Clem looks over at Auntie Lia and says, “Right. We need someone to help us avoid being overheard by any form of divination. Do you think you could give us a hand?”
“Certainly, though may I ask why you would need to speak with your family with such privacies? This seems highly irregular.” Auntie Clem waves her hand and I catch a glimpse of her Inkling. It looks like a lavender colored staff with the different elements, fire, water, earth, air, swirling around it and gathering at a point at the tip of the staff. A faint glow of lavender covers the room and it becomes much quieter.
“Thank you Sunshine, now I’d like to know why we need to be all secretive as well. Oliver? Venny?”
I step forward and take a quick scan of the room. I still haven’t gotten any kind of warning from anyone so I’m assuming that this is fine. Sighing, I begin to explain what exactly is going on to the two of them.
“I, well there’s no really easy way to explain this huh, I have been in contact with someone who claims that the world could end soon or at least something will happen that will bring us closer to the end.”
The two only stare at me, neither one saying a thing, so I continue.
“It started a few weeks back, when me and my friend Charlie were out picking some herbs for the local church. We were looking for a special kind of moss and it led us to some nearby caves, where we heard voices coming from inside. The people inside were a group of cultists and captured the two of us, planning on using us as some kind of blood sacrifice. They were–” I pause to calm myself, as I found it was getting hard to breathe, before continuing.
“They– they were going to kill my friend and right before they could I heard a voice telling me to break free. The next thing I know I’m flying through the air and in front of the cultists’ blades and then lying on the ground in a pool of blood. Charlie screamed and I passed out, only to wake up in a place that was filled with stars and a woman dressed in a green gown. She pleaded with me to make a deal with her and, for reasons I don’t think I should talk about yet, agreed.”
“You said that this had to do with the end of the world? I know of stories where people are given visions before death, but this still seems a little far fetched.” Auntie Clem says, before Auntie Lia steps on her foot.
“Don’t. Just listen.” The two share a look. Auntie Lia’s eyes seem to have some kind of clarity to them.
I clear my throat and they focus back on me. “It’s alright, I know that what I’m saying sounds like the start of a fairy tale. But, we should get back to it, so please trust me.”
The two nod quietly and wait for me to speak.
“When I woke up the cultists were all dead, killed by the person I had made the deal with. I took Charlie back home and only a few days later, our village was attacked. I was knocked out in the panic and met the woman again who apologized for having forced my hand to take her deal. She then told me that I could choose to back out of it, but I refused. When I came to, I had my Inkling,” I hold my hand out and let the marking form and my hair glow a little, “After that I helped Mom clear the cultists’ leader out and she said that we needed to come here.”
My aunts look from me to my mom, who only nods in response, and then back to me. “Ollie, if what you say is true, then how does that tie into the end of the world?”
“Because a Nightmare is coming. And the Demon King is the one who is bringing them here. From what I’ve been told about this Nightmare is that it will destroy us for its own enjoyment and leave nothing behind.”
There is a brief pause before, “I’m sorry. What you just said is hard to believe. There hasn't been a Demon King since the Grand Departure over five millennia ago, and he died before choosing a successor.”