A week flew by as Tara's departure day arrived. It was finally time she headed for the capital city of Baram. She woke up the morning of and threw on the white and gold trimmed uniform the academy had sent over. She brushed her short brown hair, grabbed her luggage, and ran downstairs. "Good morning!" Tara merrily greeted her parents. Though she wasn't necessarily happy about going to school, she was excited about going to a new place. She was most excited about the prospective fights she would be having with the strong people of the capital.
Ava and Christoph were in the midst of eating breakfast when Tara came into the dining hall. Tara had expected an eventful morning, but was instead met with muted reactions. "Good morning honey, would you like to eat breakfast?" Ava asked, her mouth half stuffed with food. "Uh, no thanks. I'll eat something once I get to the capital." Tara replied, confused at the normalcy of the conversation. She contemplated biting her tongue and just heading out, but her curiosity got the better of her. "Don't you two have anything to say to me?" she asked.
"Oh, yes, of course," Christoph responded. He rose from his chair and walked up to Tara. He placed his hands on her shoulders and said, "Tara, your mother and I are very proud of you. You have become such an amazing person. We are truly sad to see you leave, but excited for you all the same." He turned Tara around and gave her a small push toward the door. "Now, if you wait any longer, you'll be late for your first day. We wouldn't want that now, would we?" Christoph returned to his seat and continued eating his breakfast.
"Is that it? Really?!" Tara thought to herself. "Have fun honey!" Ava yelled out to Tara as she stormed out of the home.
A carriage was already prepared for Tara near the front entrance. She placed her belongings inside and set off for the teleporting gate in town.
The ride to the teleport gate was uneventful, but short. The carriage stopped in front of the building that housed the gate. Tara hopped out, strapped her axe to her back, and picked up her luggage. She waved at the carriage as it departed before heading inside. As she walked in, a small elderly man approached her. "Good morning Lady Tara," he said. "Today is the day you head for the capital, right?" Tara gave him a big smile. "That's right!" she replied back. He extended his hand toward the middle of the building, where a large stone archway stood. "Right this way."
The man lead Tara to a small podium next to the teleporting gate. The podium was also made of stone and housed a bright red gem in it's center. The old man placed two fingers on the gem and poured mana into it. As he continued to pour mana into the gem, a large clear substance draped the interior of the arch. Tara thanked the elderly man and walked through the arches. As she walked through the viscous substance, a massive room appeared before her. The room was filled with people and gates like the one she had just entered through. The liquid material around her popped. She had now fully arrived at the capital city of Baram.
Among the people who had traveled between the gates were the city employees dressed in white and gold uniforms. Behind a counter, a young female employee called over to Tara, "Welcome! May I help you?" Tara walked to the young woman and asked, "Hello, my name is Tara Bouvardia, can you direct me to Saint Agatha Academy?" The employee nodded. "Of course I can. Would you like a carriage to take you or would you prefer to travel there yourself?" she asked. "I would like to go by myself," Tara replied.
"Well," the employee began, "we have a map stone that you can purchase for just 3 silver. If you infuse it with mana, it will give you an overview of the entire city. You can also input commands to give you exact locations of anywhere in the city." She opened a drawer and took out a small lavender colored stone. "I'll take one please," Tara responded as she reached into her inner coat pocket and grabbed a few coins. Tara handed the employee the payment and received the stone. She thanked the employee and made for the exit.
If you come across this story on Amazon, be aware that it has been stolen from Royal Road. Please report it.
Once outside, Tara activated the stone. A small, 3 dimensional replica of the city appeared. It perfectly resembled the city, even down to how the buildings were colored. Tara's first destination was the food market. She input the request into the map and two brightly colored red dots appeared on the map. One dot represented Tara and the other was her destination.
The journey to the market showed to be a bit of a distance away. Tara was short on time so she channeled a speed enhancing spell and set off. She dashed past many people, all wearing worried expressions as they witnessed her powerful figure running through the streets. It took very little time before Tara was graced by the smell of cooked meats and bread. A long street of stalls appeared before her. Each stall had small crowds of people grabbing at all the different foods offered. Tara salivated at the thought of smoked meat and buns. She spotted a stall that sold skewered meat and freshly baked bread. She knew that she was destined to dine on the food there. Just as quickly as she had reached the market, she made her way to the stall.
The smell of the roasted meat was intoxicating, and the bread was clearly no slouch either. Tara purchased a dozen skewers and an equal amount of bread. As Tara received her bag of food, a young man yelled behind her. "How dare you disturb the peace of the city people!" Tara was shocked to to hear the booming voice of the young man. "Someone must be in some serious trouble," she thought to herself. She turned to see a finger pointed in her direction. The person the finger was attached to wore the same uniform she did.
"He's talking about me?!"
"What do you have to say for yourself?" the young man asked. "I don't have anything to say?" Tara replied in a confused tone. A small crowd of people congregated around the two students. Whispers could be heard drifting in and out of the crowd. The people were interested to figure out what had transpired.
"So you admit guilt! As a new student of Saint Agatha Academy, it is my duty to assist the people of this city. As such, I will be taking you to the nearest guard station to have you reprimanded for your disturbances." he demanded. Tara took a good look at her accuser for the first time. He was roughly the same height as Tara, but had a slightly smaller frame. He had neatly trimmed blonde hair with dazzling blue eyes. Even Tara could admit that the young man was one of the more attractive people she had met in either of her lives.
"Yeah, I don't really have the time to deal with this," Tara laughed, "but I wish you the best, I guess."
With those parting words, Tara turned toward the direction of the Academy. She remembered the general direction from when she had looked at the map stone. She channeled the same speed spell from earlier and set off. "GET BACK HERE!" Tara could hear the young man yell as she disappeared into the distance. "He wore the same uniform as me, I hope I don't meet him at the academy. I'm sure there'll be enough people there that our path's won't cross." Tara thought to herself.
As she ran, she tried to think of any possible way that she could have wronged the young man since arriving in the city. She stuffed a skewer in her mouth while she thought back on everything she did since she first walked through the gate. Tara zig zagged through the crowds of people, continuously stuffing her mouth and pondering the subject. "Nope, nothing comes to mind," Tara concluded, "I've done nothing wrong." She finished her food during her run and incinerated her trash with another quick spell. Her hunger now satisfied, she trekked the final distance to the academy at double speed.
Tara started to notice many young men and women, all wearing the same uniform. It was the same uniform that she wore on her body. "I'm probably close, let's slow down for now." She deactivated her spell and started walking. She followed the crowd of students to what she hoped was the right direction. She made observations on the people around her as she walked. Many of the students carried a weapon like she did. Many of the weapons carried were swords. She also noticed a few spears and even a large hammer. Other students carried around small stacks of books. One particular group of students carried nothing. Though they carried nothing in their hands, they all walked with an air of superiority around them. Tara decided that she wanted nothing to do with them as they seemed like a bothersome group to be around.
Along the distance, Tara finally noticed the cresting of a large group of buildings. As the buildings came more into view, she saw how large and ornate they were. The buildings were all clad in either marble or brick. Each individual building was outfitted with ornate windows and large beautiful wooden doors. Trees surrounded the buildings and a large iron gate stood at the entrance. Tara had finally made it to Saint Agatha Academy.