To tread the plains in which the living reside is to tether one’s self to the coils of mortality. I dance upon a thin thread, dangling in between the shallow lines of mortality and mortalis. At one point, I had just given up on everything. What was the point of anything when you’re just going to see it fade away in time? What was the point of forming bonds– relationships with people, when in the end, it’s just going to be me all alone again.

“Halt!” A guard would stop me, “Sir–”

“Identification?”

“Yes, sir. As per the new reg–”

I’d stop him from continuing his sentence any further, “I know, I know.” I had been here over and over again, and they just kept spouting the same nonsense every time I came here. I’d take my identification scroll out of my bag and hand it over to the patrol officers.

He’d take a long and hard glance at the scroll, his eyes intently staring at my name on the scroll, as if it were going to pop out. “T-Talis? Is that correct sir?”

“That is correct.”

“As in…” He’d take a step back, his hand on the hilt of his broadsword, before the officer could say anything more his colleague steps in and puts his hand on his shoulder, “Sir, I’m sorry for the delay, you may enter! Welcome to Adria!” His colleague would say with the brightest smile on his face, handing over the identification scroll back to me.

That took much longer than need be. It’s a good thing the other officer stepped in, if not I would’ve been a wanted man even in here, the last thing I want is being forced to live in the capital, and god knows how much I wouldn’t want that.

Adria was a relatively large city, the bustling town center was filled to the brim with merchants, bards, tale-tellers, and even mercenaries. It was the perfect place for someone like me to lay low and live a somewhat peaceful life, even if it meant having to work under others for a change.

Walking around the city was… lonely, to say the least. I was surrounded by crowds of people, merchants yelling into my ears to buy their wares, mercenaries exclaiming their strength to onlookers, and bards singing their hearts out to the waves of people. All of this reminded me just how alone I was in this wretched world.

Though, once I went deeper into the city and headed into the slums, things took a turn for the worse. The slums were practically untouched by any of the riches and glory that the town center and other areas of the city bask in, rather– this place was where pickpockets thrived, thieving on the nobility and the unlucky bastards who managed to wander off into the deepest parts of the slums.

There was moss on the buildings, the floor, and even on the roofs of the buildings here, the complex architecture was nowhere to be seen here, buildings made of only hardwood and even some that seemed as if they were on the verge of collapsing filled the slums’ area of this city.

Wherever you looked here, it was just poverty and sickness. The fact that no help was provided by those in power at all, absolutely disgusts me. The local law enforcement did nothing to make my view of things here any better.

“W-Why are you doing this to us?!” A citizen would scream at the officer, on the ground– and begging for help to the bystanders, just watching this injustice unfold. Well, it’s not like they could do anything. What could an untrained citizen do against a Magus?

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“Why, you ask? Because I feel like it.” The officer would beat the unarmed citizen without a second thought. “You!” Splat! The blood spilling over the floor, the citizen’s face bloodied and bruised, “Fucking!” Whack! The sounds of the officer’s baton hitting him repeatedly echoed all throughout the vicinity, the officer unsheathing his broadsword, ready to swing it down onto the man’s body, “Rat!” Thud! Clang! I’d step in, using the scabbard of my sword to block the fool’s half-assed attack.

“Officer, I would suggest moving along back to where you came from.”

“Oh? We’ve got a real tough guy here now, don’t we?” He’d scoff at my words and outward appearance, “I’ll let you go for now, but the next time, it won’t end like this.” Sheathing back his broadsword, he’d take a deep breath and walk away.

What a bastard. The real scum of the world are people like this, abusing the power they have against those who aren’t even able to defend themselves– let alone live a normal life. The privileged only use their privileges to better themselves.

“Are you okay?” The man getting beat was just a young boy, appearing to be not even in his mid-twenties yet. What did he do to deserve such treatment, or rather– why did anyone deserve this kind of treatment? It was simply inhumane.

“I’m fine. Thank you, by the way.” His legs were trembling, just barely able to stand straight.

“Let me help you, young one.” I’d use my magic to levitate him and drag him alongside me, his wounds slowly healing as my luminos seeped into his wounds and undid the damage done to him. “Where do you live?”

“J-Just a few blocks eastward..” His voice was trembling, his hands were shaky, as if surprised to be seeing something. “I-Is that magic?”

“Yes, it is. Have you not seen magic before?”

“No… I’ve only read about it in books!” His face was in disbelief and in awe at the same time, “H-How did you do that?”

“I’ll have to teach you some other time. But, you channel your luminos anywhere in your body and you’ll learn how to do it eventually.”

“What type of magic was that, sir?” He’d ask me so diligently, his eyes sparkling with excitement and curiosity.

“Tempestum.”

The boy was confused, it was to be expected. Tempestum wasn’t something that one could find in mere history or magic books, rather this was an element that was exclusive only to those who have devoted their lives to researching the history of magic, thus only a limited number of people knew what Tempestum really was. To others, it may seem like it’s just ordinary Gale magic, but it was much more complicated than that.

“What’s tempestu– oh! We’ve arrived!” Unbeknownst to him in the short time that we’ve walked, his cuts had already closed and his wounds healed, it's as if he’d been treated by the divine physician.

His home was just like every other home in the slums, everything was made of hardwood. Though the inside was surprisingly clean and tidy, it was well organized and there was a lot of furniture which gave it a comforting feeling.

“Oh, I’ll prepare food for you, sir!” He’d rush off to his kitchen and start preparing our meal, I had been wandering around aimlessly again that I hadn’t even realized it’d become evening already.

It had been a long time since I’ve been invited inside to the comfort and warmth of someone else's home, but I should head out first thing in the morning. I don’t want to form an attachment to this boy. I don’t want to have to watch him die as time passes by in a flash.