"Elia!" Somewhere deep in her subconscious, she heard Muriel calling out to her. "Elia, wake up!"
There was a sense of urgency in his deep voice. He wasn't fooling around. Suddenly alert, Elia opened her eyes and jumped to her feet. From the shadows cast from the sun, she could tell she had napped for only a few hours.
"There's something coming our way." Muriel told her apprehensively. "Something big."
Elia could hear it too, thundering through the trees, as well as something else. Screaming.
She drew her light crossbow. If it was a minor dark creature, it wouldn't approach anywhere near Muriel: they would sense his threatening aura right away and run off. This must be a forest dweller then.
She readied and aimed her weapon in the direction of the noise. It was coming closer. Whoever was screaming was giving it a good chase.
As the sound reached its pinnacle, a small boy popped into the little clearing. He saw her weapon and froze, gasping for breath.
"Don't shoot!" He yelled, his thin arms coming up to shield himself.
Elia didn't reply, just shot at the giant arachnid that jumped out of the forest right after him. With its eight giant legs quivering with anticipation, it seemed to think it had finally caught up to its prey and had been about to strike him when the bolt hit its vulnerable underside. It died instantly.
The boy ducked into the ground as the spider fell next to him, dead. In his fright, he scrambled away from it before realizing it was dead. He started laughing hysterically.
"I'm alive!" he cried, looking at Elia. "I'm alive. You saved me! Oh, you're a-" He must have noticed her sharp red eyes and opted not to finish that sentence. Instead, recovering quickly, he said, "I was lucky you were around. Thank you."
Lowering her weapon, Elia studied the boy warily. He couldn't be more than twelve. He wore light raggy clothes and his dirty blonde hair was a curly mess. Even in this heat he was unnervingly pale, but he had a nice, dimpled smile that he probably used to get out of trouble.
He looked somewhat familiar to her but she could recognize he wasn't an immediate threat. She turned away from the boy and withdrew her crossbow.
The boy followed after her. "I hate spiders. Even the smaller ones," he said, attempting to make conversation. "I'm Eden, what's your name?"
Elia ignored him and started to pick up her bag and shove Muriel into it.
"No!" Muriel cried out loud in horror. "Not the bag again!" But the unfortunate demon was helpless as Elia stuffed him into her bag before he could say anymore.
"Did that skull just... talk?" the boy asked in surprise.
He followed her all the way to the main road, asking questions non stop.
"Where are you going?"
"Are you heading to Khore? Me too!"
"Why do you never smile? Is your face broken?"
Maintaining her silence, Elia endured the interrogation all the way to the gates of Khore but then she decided to deal with the unwelcome addition to her party. "Alright, kid, look," she said finally, "I have brought you to the gates safely. Now move on."
The boy smiled at her. He smiled a lot, she noticed. "I should pay you back for this."
"That's really not necessary." Elia turned her eyes to to the gates, waiting to see which guard was on duty. Some liked her more than others.
Finally a guard approached. "Ah. It's you," the guard, Hal, said in recognition. He was the same one that was on identification duty when she left a few weeks ago.
"Hello, Hal."
Hal gave her the once over and grimaced at her dark trench coat, skin tight leather pants and knee high boots. "What's with all those layers of clothes? Just looking at you makes me melt," he commented.
Said the person in full leather armor.
Elia handed over her ID to him and waited as he verified her papers. It didn't matter whether it was on a temporary basis or not, anybody staying in Khore required an ID or they would be thrown in the dungeon.
Satisfied, he gave her card back, but couldn't help passing off another comment on the midsummer weather. "You should've just stayed at wherever you went off to, Lady. This heat is going to be the end of me."
"Hang in there," Elia replied monotonously. "The sun is already setting."
It was true. The sun was casting long deep shadows everywhere. Already she could feel the atmosphere changing from the boiling hot temperature of the day to cool air of the night.
"Still," Hal said, frowning as he signaled the rest of the guards to let her pass through. "I don't think I can handle a few more weeks of this torture."
"Just keep thinking about your paycheck. It will be over before you know it."
"Well, I suppose it is worth the money." Hal waved on for her to move on.
As Elia passed on through the gate, she couldn't help but pity the guard. In the summer, Khore would sleep during the day and wake during the night. It was already located in the warmest region of Athia, but when summer comes, everybody, save a few workers, would stay indoors due to the unbearable killer heat. Hal was of the minority.
At least he gets paid well enough to fend for the rest of the cycle.
Hal was checking out the boy's - Eden's - ID.
The wind blew downstream and her sharp hearing caught on to what they were saying.
"Back so soon, my friend?" the guard asked. "You only left this afternoon. Couldn't last even a day out in this heat, could ya?"
So he was from Khore. She had thought so. Elia walked down the main road that led to the giant statue of the great hero Darion who guarded the city gates with a ferocious look in his face. He held a torch in one hand, a spear in the other. At night, that giant torch would be set aflame, brightening up the gates.
This was the city she had made temporary home in for the past year.
It was still early, but she could already see a few people lighting the lanterns on the empty streets that would make their city as bright as day during the night.
As the capital city of Awhar, the only people who choose to come and live in Khore are those hoping to make it big into the world. And people liked to dream big.
She reached a small door and knocked gently. It opened not too long after. Elia's client was a small bald man with a big generous heart. Once he'd recognized her, they exchanged envelopes without a word before shutting the door again.
Elia opened her envelope and flicked through the money. Obviously he had been very pleased that she had delivered his gift safely, and even happier with the love letter he received in return from his long distance lover. He had paid her handsomely.
"Hey," she heard someone call as she stepped out into the street. "Hey, wait up!" Footsteps pounded behind her; someone was drawing closer. Alarmed, she whirled around, pulling the katana from her back.
Eden just managed to stop spiking himself on it. The point pressed against his tiny chest.
"You, again." Elia frowned, more than a little annoyed. She sheathed her weapon. "What do you want?"
"I just want to repay you for saving my life from that terrible monster spider." The boy's cherub face smiled.
"Your thanks is enough. I told you anything more is unnecessary," she told him. "And that bug was no monster. You probably walked into it's nest, and made it angry. You're the one who invaded it's home. If anything, it's you who was the monster," she called over her shoulder as she started walking away from Eden. Her next personal mission was to head home, take a bath and clean off all the filth from her long journey.
The boy followed, unrelenting. He showed her two slips of paper. She glanced at it curiously.
"They are holding a magic performance at the Midsummer festival two days from now. It is said to be very interesting, and this time the chief mage himself will be performing one of the magic tricks."
Elia stopped walking, as that caught her attention.
Eden kept on talking. "I happened to have two tickets and nobody to take with me, so I was gonna offer it to you, but if you don't want it-"
"I want it." Elia held out her hand for her ticket.
The boy raised a surprised eyebrow. "What happened to 'your thanks is enough and anything more is unnecessary'?"
"You didn't seem the type of person who had anything worth offering," Elia countered impatiently, her hand still outstretched for the ticket.
The boy smiled cheekily. "I like you," he said. Before she could say anything, he withdrew the tickets and ran off. "Meet me at the market entrance after sunset!" he yelled. "I'll be waiting!"
Elia watched him disappear into the crowds that were starting to fill up the streets. She was too exhausted to run after him. She was going to have to meet up with the boy there, and if he didn't show up, find a way to get into the magic show unnoticed.
How lucky was she to have arrived back at Khore when she did. To think, the man she spent the past year looking for, was going to show up at that festival.
Ticket or no ticket, she was going to get in.
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