It had never crossed my mind that I would ever meet this girl again. On that first night, I was mesmerized when I first saw her soaring in front of the full moon. A teacher I once knew had said that we, boys, would sometimes do stupid things for a girl. I, for one, ran an entire section of a castle wall just to check her out. She was even more beautiful at a close distance; crystal-blue eyes, a heart-shaped face, and red freckles on cheeks resembled autumn leaves. Now that I got one last glimpse of her, it was time to leave.
I did understand why my heart right now was hammering like crazy, but for me to go and talk to her was impossible for two reasons. One, I had zero experience in making the first move to woo a girl; I even stuttered when I got nervous. Two, by the looks from her sad eyes staring at the moons, something must’ve happened that made her unhappy.
Deciding to leave her alone, I tiptoed my way back toward the entrance.
“Hello.” As I whirled around, she already caught sight of me.
“Um, h-hi,” I stammered. “I w-w-as just leaving. S-sorry to bother you.”
“No, no, please stay. I really could use a company right now.”
“Company?” I was right. She did have some personal problems. Since she asked me to stay, my conscience told me not to leave, so I agreed with a nod. To give her some space, we were two crenels away from each other, but I couldn’t muster up to say anything. There was a long silence between us.
“Ugh, this is frustrating!”
I got startled when the rainbow-haired girl began flailing her feet and fists in the air.
“Sorry, I got into a fight with my boyfriend.”
She had a boyfriend, good to know. My throbbing heart and nerves went down to my relief.
“He said I was too perfect,” she complained. “He said he could never keep up with me.” She then looked straight at me, raising her voice in anger, “What’s that supposed to mean?”
Perplexed, I got nothing to say. I didn’t even know the details of their quarrel.
“Oh, sorry,” she apologized again. “You don’t know what I’m talking about, do you?”
“Well, the whole boyfriend part. That I understand.”
“Right, but I’m….” She paused, clenching her fist before releasing them along with her sigh of frustration. “I don’t know what I’m going to do before I could face him again. I just need to get away from everyone.”
Ah, I got what she meant. “You want to go somewhere where you can clear your head.”
“Exactly, somewhere I can distract myself. Somewhere I can be me again.”
“And to have fun?”
“Right, you’ve been through this before, have you?”
“Um, it’s a different problem.”
“Oh.” She paused again. “Perhaps, you could recommend a place where, you know — to have fun.”
“I wish I could.” I shrugged. “But I’m a newcomer. I’ve only been here for over a month.”
“A newcomer,” she gasped. “Are you from the Twenty-First Century?” The moment I nodded, she excitedly flew in front of me. “Is it true your horseless carriage can fly? Is it true your iron towers had finally reached the stars? How did your cities manage to harness the power of the sun…?”
Wave after wave, question after question, she didn’t give me a moment to answer. She stood so close, our noses almost touching each other; when her twinkling crystal-blue eyes locked into mine, my pulses sped up again. What happened to her being sad and all?
The rainbow-haired girl blinked. “Sorry, I haven’t talked to a newcomer for a long time. I’m from Eighteenth-Century Denmark. Whenever I hear that Earth has become more and more futuristic, I get excited to learn more about them.”
She flew back on top of a merlon, overlooking the city’s nightlife in amazement.
“Look at what your people from your era have given to this world. Iron towers, horseless carriages, light bulbs, and this thing —” She pulled out a pink phone from her pocket. “I had a hard time on how to use this. But once I master it, I feel like I’m looking at a window from another world.” She blinked again. “By the way, do you have other places for you to go?”
I shook my head. “Not at this moment, but I could leave if you want me to.”
“No, no, please stay,” she pleaded. “Tell me everything about your timeline.”
After a brief pondering, I shrugged. “Sure, but only if you tell me about yours. I always wanted to know what’s like in the Eighteenth Century.”
“Sure.” She grinned. “I’m Marseille Thorkellson, by the way.”
“Sam, Sam Roche.” I sat on a merlon next to her.
It had been a long time since I opened up to someone. Marseille and I kept talking and talking, not caring if an hour or two had passed or the people spying on us somewhere. We had such a good time sharing the windows of our timelines that we almost forgot our problems from earlier.
“Hang on,” Marseille began, “how did you get into Rad’s par-tay? It’ll take newcomers like you several months to save enough money just to buy one ticket.”
Dang, glad we all got in for free. “H-he invited me. And my friends too.”
“Oh, may I know why you are here? Out in the castle.”
“I just ate,” I lied. “I came out here for some fresh air.”
“But aren’t you going to enjoy the rest of the par-tay?”
Sighing, I mustered up the courage to admit, “I’m not a party-goer. I thought it’d be different if I got friends with me — I was wrong.”
“So we’re the same,” Marseille gasped. “I’m not into these balls either.” She leaped onto her feet and thumped her fist on her chest. “Because I’ve got the blood of an adventurer running through my veins! I’ve no need for those pish-posh snobs with their puffy dresses and their cheeky laughs behind my back, and those — corsets, ugh!” She trembled with a chilling terror. “And those lead makeup, I didn’t realize those can kill you.”
“I get what you mean,” I said. “I learned that from a history book I read.”
For some reason, Marseille was staring at the city, immersed in deep thought. After another long silence, she returned to me with a smile.
“Do you want to get out of this place?”
“What?”
“Out of this city,” Marseille said. “Out there. See the world. Go on adventures.” I lost a word for a moment there. “W-w-what makes you say that?” She chuckled, “You didn’t come out here just to get some fresh air.” My cheeks pinked to my embarrassment, then reddened when she flew close to me again. “Call it a woman’s intuition, but I think you and I are pretty much alike.” “Alike? H-how?” Marseille jumped back on the merlon, gazing at the city again. “Here we are, standing alone in the middle of the night, looking beyond this city, beyond those mountains, wondering what’s out there.” She shrugged her shoulders. “Sure, there are many dangers in the Yellow Zone, but there are other Blue Zones and wonderful places as well. Sometimes I wish I could go out there and visit them all.” “And leave all your problems behind,” I agreed with a sigh. She nodded. “But something weighing us down that we couldn’t.” I knew the a
There was no point in lying to my friends anymore. “Yeah, but I never told anyone about it,” I admitted. “Who’s Hercules?” the Shaolin asked. “I’ll tell you about it when we get home,” Wilt replied before turning his attention to their leader. “You must be a Jormungand commander.” “What makes you think that, newbie?” Wilt turned his glare toward Del Rio. “We’ve already acquainted with the lieutenant during their last caravan run. And this guy —” He then turned to the biggest person in their group, a towering Indian, about a head taller than Li, wearing formal clothes from his homeland. “I’ve heard some gossip here that you’re famous. Captain Madhur, I presumed?” The towering captain bowed to greet our leader out of courtesy. “So seeing you leading this group with a ranked captain like him,” Wilt continued explaining. “I’d say that makes you their superior officer. And the way you stand there like a posh with an English accent and fancy
It was late in the morning. There was a knock on my door. “Sam, sweetie, it’s us,” Katie said in a motherly tone. “Please open the door.” “Go away.” I was sobbing on my bed, curling up like a cooked shrimp while wrapping myself in my blanket. I heard Li’s voice said that they thought I might be okay in the morning, but last night was beyond embarrassing; I couldn’t bear to go out in public again. I was hoping to wait out inside my apartment for weeks until everyone forgot the whole thing. “Come on, Sam,” Katie exclaimed. “We all know that was a fruit punch spilled in your pants.” “That wasn’t pee?” Brock said. There was a brief pause before Katie threw him a flurry of scolding words. “Sam, open up.” Wilt banged the door. “Please, I don’t want to talk right now!” They didn’t leave, and they’ve been hounding for twenty minutes. Sounding impatient, Wilt ordered, “Brock, break the door.” “If you say so,” he agreed in a sing
Along the road, starstruck eyes followed us from the sidewalks and from the vehicles that got close. Zeki pressed a remote, which automatically shut all the window curtains. It was strange that a modern feature was included in a unicorn-drawn carriage. It might be one of the Party King’s eccentricities. “Sorry,” Zeki apologized. “It’s not every day that my king gets to go out in public. Unless they’re holidays.” “What can I say? I am a celebrity.” Rad relaxed on his cushion. “No one can throw parties better than me, the Party King.” He sat beside Zeki with Shandao and Shaozong. Each of them sat beside the doors with their arms crossed and their faces scowled. We were on the opposite side with a table at the center, with snacks and drinks on top. Our cushion was large enough to fit six people. Perhaps seven since Li was twice the size of a regular teenager. “I heard that Wilt’s a sword brave,” Alex asked. “Care to elaborate?” “You should ask him yourse
“Again, Li?” Wilt sighed. “Can’t you take a break from eating?” We were in the forum today, taking a day-long break after we finished another iron-class quest. During the past couple of weeks, our party went back to doing odd jobs and part-time. “But, I’ve never eaten this one before.” The Shaolin bought his seventh food from a nearby street vendor. This time, it was chips and fondue. Even though the big guy ate a lot, he was happy to share his snack with us. “Tastes like any regular fondue.” Alex tried a piece. “Guys, about our flag….” Brock began, lending our ears to him willingly, unlike before. To our surprise, Brock worked twice harder than any of us, not like in our early days. It was King Rad’s new proposition on why the jock was doing this when he told us about Sweet Haven. Located in the northernmost Sleeping King Forest, the City of Sweet Haven was the only settlement in this world having an actual government. It was a sort of republ
As we approached the fountain, the debate raged on. The crowd at present was divided into two sides; one side spoke against modern technologies, and the other defended them. “This so-called internet has no physical substance,” a Victorian-era gent addressed the crowd. “How can we trust this invisible entity? If we lose the power of electricity, so is all the stored knowledge of our magnificent civilization.” Those who nodded in agreement were from the sixteenth to early twentieth centuries, based on their clothes I recognized. “Bah, you bunch of old-timers.” A toga-wearing Greek came forward to disagree. “Every generation with grays on and inside their heads feared anything new. In my days, when scrolls first came to be, the old fools feared that these tools and written words would make learners forget. They encouraged that knowledge must be memorized, word by word.” “That’s stupid,” a surfer-looking dude exclaimed. “Does anybody here want to memorize
Abraham told everything about Sweet Haven, its rules, benefits, and all. I assumed Alex’s reason for asking was to confirm the city’s details matched what King Rad provided us. “…And I know you’re all newcomers,” Abraham said. “But if you stay with us for a couple of months, you’ll gain enough experience on how to survive in the Yellow Zone before you go to Sweet Haven. You will also get free food and accommodation.” “Just for a couple of months?” Katie’s face expressed that she wanted more explanation. “The Crimson Shadows said this Red Flight Crisis is going to be over soon,” Abraham explained. “Probably by the end of the year, now that all of Blood Eagles’ former lands have been taken. That leaves everyone to deal with the pesky raiders sooner or later. If you get rid of the raiders near our home, we will offer you a big bonus. What do you say? It’s a good deal, right?” It was tempting, but we all glanced at Wilt to hear what he had to say.
Only two hours before dawn, I made a stealthy run through the empty street. At random times, I stopped to check if no one was tailing me. If that wasn’t enough, I leaped from one building to another before finally reaching the trolley station in the northern part of the Eastern District, still operating through the night as dozens of people came and went. At the ticket booth, all of my friends had gathered. It seemed that I was the last to arrive. “Sam, it’s good that you came.” Katie was the first to notice me. “We can get out….” She and everyone gawked at something on my back. Behind me, nine crates tied together in the shape of a bed frame with thick ropes as slings. I was carrying it like a backpack. It took me until midnight and eighty-nine chaffs to build this. I brought my entire belongings now that we were moving out of this city. Most of them were gifts from guilds that wanted to recruit me. “It isn’t heavy, right?” Katie asked. “A bit, but I