All of a sudden, we heard a loud siren coming from the outside. It seems that the Ward Smiths have arrived. Wearing their black-collared suits with golden linen accents running across the top to the bottom of their outfits, they ensnared everyone with their majesty and authority while striking fear into everyone's hearts. I found myself shrouded in awe as I see this group of five people walking gallantly to the scene. There’s a man with long flowing black hair, a woman wearing thick glasses, a gigantic man with large arms, one with a thin and tall stature and one with an unusually bright tinted hair glide across the rowdy crowd. As soon as they reach the middle of the squabbling group, everyone was dead silent as their eyes were fixated on one person.
She stands in the middle of the crowd with her long flowing blonde hair and a tall and powerful build. An unbelievably beautiful figure with eyes as grey as the moon, Atalia Reign, the Onyx Sword of Justice, commander of the Ward Smiths, is a beauty that legends have foretold. I have only seen her twice on the National Bulletin News Reports when they updated the Settlement bylaws a year ago and I was already struck by her beauty back then. Personally, seeing her now, I was lost in trance along with everyone inside the train carts and on the platform. Women of her kind are rare in the Lands of Iron. They say that these brightly-haired individuals used to be from very far lands, lands even before the Iron Colony was created. But soon after, they all mysteriously disappeared from the surface of planet.
“Everyone involved in this unsightly skirmish, come with us at once; in a single file and with your hands behind your backs,” She said in a well-composed manner.
Then suddenly, a man wearing a brown poncho rushes towards the train tracks; trying to flee from the scene as he desperately tries to make his escape. Atalia snaps her fingers and points towards the fleeing man. The large man behind Atalia starts running. We hear crackling sounds like raindrops hitting pavement as he runs at full speed, traces of broken floor tiles are left from his path.
The large man with huge arms easily catches up to the man in the poncho and clutches him by the shoulder. A loud scream filled the platform which could also be heard inside the train as well. The man's shoulder seems to have been fractured as he was stopped within his tracks. He was then pulled by the collar with his face filled with agony. They head straight down the stairs at the side of the train platforms that lead to the busy street below.
After the commotion, the large crowd cleared up and we were allowed to leave the train carts. Every individual who was part of the scuffle was cuffed and taken away in a detainment vehicle on its way to The Forgery. With my Transport Pass at hand, I started walking briskly as it was already 7:35. I can make it in time with five minutes to spare if I take the alleyway at Catharsis Street to the corner of Ditty Street, my usual shortcut on the way home.
I rush down the stairs but then I missed a step out of my haste. My butt bounced on the last few flights of steps and I found myself sitting on the side of the street while the people around look at me. I felt the embarrassment shoot straight up to my head. My face was red all around but I must push my shame aside so I wouldn't be late. My bag was half open when I slipped and a substantial number of items in my bag were scattered on the ground. I quickly pick up the things I dropped while I try to smile away the shame I felt as the people around me start to chuckle and snicker.
I stood up but I dropped some of my things as my arms were too thin to support everything. I then saw a hand that held my Transport Pass.
“Inara, huh?” the voice said.
I traced this person's arms with my eyes and to my surprise, I saw it was Atalia; as beautiful as the moonlight shining from behind her.
“Be careful, little miss. A lady should always have two feet firmly planted on the ground,” She says to me with utmost poise.
I could only look on as her beautiful grey eyes pierce through me like a needle in a pin cushion. How composed she is and the way she speaks. I start to think of joining the Service Corps and become a Smith as well. Learning the ways of royalty, being elegant yet fierce, maybe this is the life for me. I thought of these things while I messily shove my things back into my bag. Then I question my love for music and what it truly means to me.
I always contemplated on the fact that I have a hard time finding inspiration out of anything. It wouldn't be a bad idea to have a substitute path to take. But music is everything I have, the only connection I have with my father. Since I was a child, I’ve been dreaming of writing music every day like him. My mother told me stories about how great my father was. She said that he used to be this hot-shot pop singer, a man who truly loved his craft and took it upon himself to express his inner being and lay it all out on stage. But sadly, this is all I ever knew of my father as he suddenly disappeared one day after a concert while I was still an infant.
As I delve in deep thought, Atalia pulls me up, takes off her left white glove and dusts off my clothes with it.
“Come now, you're going to be late for curfew. Where do you live? We'll drop you off by the gate. I'll talk to the Arbiter for you as well,” She softly said.
“Oh, I cannot ask any more from you, my eminence, I'll be fine by myself,” I respectfully replied.
I was still in shock with the offer but then a black vehicle stops behind her. It’s a Regal Cruiser, a vehicle issued only to the elites of the government. She opens the door and invites me in as her hands softly guide me to the inside. I was surprised of her insisting on a nobody like me to join them, but then again, this is what I wanted all along.
She closes the door as I take a seat inside the cruiser. The car smells like something brand new, something that was just opened within that very instant. Surprisingly, the interior was white, accentuated with gold unlike their gold and black uniforms. Everything felt pristine from the seatbelts to the leather seat covers. It felt luxurious to its core and never have I thought in my life that I would have this opportunity as a mere Sevenite.
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