“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 answer to that. “Responsibilities.”
“See, Sam.” She grinned. “We’re both alike. The only difference is that you are a newcomer. You have a choice to stay here or get out there. All it takes is a leap of faith.”
What Marseille said was all true. I had thoughts about leaving this city. With Hercules’s powers and the thousands of chaffs stashed in my apartment, I might survive out there in the Yellow Zone. Like she said, all it took for me was a leap of faith. However —
“I wish I could leave. All my responsibilities are back on Earth.”
“So what’s stopping you?”
Before I could respond, memories of my time with Wilt and the gang flashed in my thoughts. I almost cracked a smile as I answered truthfully, “I have friends. I can’t just abandon them.”
“Good for you,” she heaved a long sigh, “I have real responsibilities.”
We went quiet once again.
Wanting to break this silence, I opened my thoughts out loud. “You know, if I want to leave everything behind, all I need to do is to have enough money to survive out there until I find a decent job and a place to live. Sure, I’ll be struggling at first, but things will get better in the long run.”
“That’s a great idea!”
I blinked. “Huh?”
“Run away and leave everything behind,” she said. “I can do that too.”
“B-but, that’s….” Trying to think of a reason for her not to proceed with that idiotic plan of mine. I didn’t want to be a bad influence on her. “Are you willing to leave all your responsibilities behind? That’s — you know, a leap of faith. Like you said.”
“Leap of faith, huh?” she chuckled bitterly, then her shoulders sank. “You’re right. How stupid of me.”
I felt guilty for saying that. Wishing to cheer her up, then I just remembered the chocolate squares inside my coat. I took the chocolates out and unwrapped the tissues before offering them to her.
“Would you care for some?”
“Chocolate,” she gasped. “I love chocolates.” Before she could pick one, she noticed something odd about them. “What’s with these colors? Why are those ones green?”
“They’re different flavors.” I pointed my finger at each of them. “These are dark chocolate, and these are salted caramel, and these are green tea.”
“Green tea?” Out of curiosity, Marseille took that piece first. Her lips wiggled to her delight upon placing it into her mouth. She gobbled all the green tea-flavored chocolates, enjoying every morsel. “Where can I get those?”
“There’s plenty back in the hall, along with twenty-five other flavors.”
“There are more of them,” she gasped. “I’m going inside.” She jumped into the air and landed in front of the entrance.
“Wait, Marseille! You need an invitation for you to get in.”
She stopped to beam at me over her shoulder. “Don’t worry, I’m from the Dragonheart Guild. I can get into this par-tay anytime I want.”
So Marseille was from Dragonheart. After gathering some clues about who she was, and the fact that she said, “Real responsibilities.” This girl must be one of its high-ranking members.
Before Marseille could step inside, she glanced back. “Aren’t you coming?”
“I just ate,” I replied with an excuse not to go back in the hall.
“Do you have room for more desserts? I could still use a company there.”
“But, there are other Dragonhearts inside the hall, and King Magnus’s in there too.”
“I know, but Magnus told everyone to leave me alone, so I’m free to do anything until I settle the issues with my boyfriend.”
“Is he in there?” I asked reluctantly.
She smiled again. “Don’t worry about that jerk. He’s on a quest somewhere. So, how about guiding me to those treats.”
“I don’t know.” Wanting to decline, I gestured to the chocolates in my hand. “Also, I already have these.”
“Come on,” she begged. “We’ll be back here once we grab more, please.”
I thought very hard about this. As much as I didn’t want to get stared at again, there was no harm for me to go back, and she did say we would return here once I helped her little quest.
“Alright, I’ll take you there.”
“Yay!” She shot her arms in the air.
We headed inside, munching the rest of my chocolates along the way. Marseille stated she enjoyed the green tea flavor more than the others. Too bad that I didn’t get to taste one.
Back in the hall, we stealthily approached the long tables. As we stood in front of the twenty-eight chocolate fountains, Marseille’s wide eyes sparkled.
“I think we found El Chocolato, the lost city of chocolate,” Marseille said, letting her imagination ran wild. She must be getting her inspiration from El Dorado, the lost city of gold.
“Which one would you like to pick first?” I grabbed a few paper plates nearby.
“Green tea, I love them.” She paused for a bit until her face frowned. “Great, he saw us.”
“Who?”
“Magnus.” Across the hall, the King of Dragonheart was giving us a small wave with a toothy grin.
“Are w-w-we in t-t-trouble?”
“Just him.” Marseille pouted. “Wait here, Sam. I’m going to talk to that dummy for a second.” She angrily marched toward her king. I was impressed that she was going to confront him and call him by his first name. I was right about her.
“Ahem.”
All the hairs on my skin shot themselves straight. That was Katie’s voice. Upon turning around, I was stunned to see Katie and Brock grinning ear-to-ear.
“Smooth, Sammy, smooth,” Brock exclaimed. “I didn’t know you had it in you.”
“Who’s the girl?” Katie asked. “She’s beautiful.”
“No, no, you got it all wrong. I was only guiding Marseille to the chocolate fountains.”
“She has a French name.” Katie’s grin grew wider. “Oh, la, la.”
“No, she’s Danish.” Crap! I shouldn’t have said that. They were going to tease me more.
She gasped, “And you already got to know her.”
“That’s our Sam.” Brock slapped my back with his metal hand. I grunted in pain.
The two kept teasing me until I glowed red, wishing I had my hoodie coat right now to bury my face in shame.
“Knock it off, you two.” Alex arrived with Wilt and Li from behind. “Is this what you called, little encouragement? We’ve talked about this,” she scolded.
“You heard the lady,” Wilt said.
“Sorry.” Brock and Katie chorused to apologize.
Alex motioned me to go after Marseille. “Go have fun, Sam.”
I blinked. “But, she’s from Dragonheart.”
“Does that matter?” Katie said. “Look around us. Everybody here is supposed to be enemies, though they’re having a good time. Tonight, we can do whatever we want.”
“So go to her,” Wilt coaxed. “We’ll be far away from you two.”
“Just be yourself, okay?” Alex added.
I blew a sigh of relief. Having my friends’ support, I gathered up some confidence to go with Marseille. Well, it wasn’t like we were dating or anything.
“Hercules’s Brave!”
The pupils of my eyes immediately contracted.
Hercules’s Brave. Those words caught the ears of every person in the whole castle. In an instant, voices went silent, all the feet on the dance floor ceased tapping, and lastly, the music stopped. Chills were shivering down my spine as every gaze in the hall fell upon me, but my biggest concern was the group of nine approaching us. Seeing Del Rio was among them, they must be from the Jormungand Guild.
Cold sweat started running down my forehead. There was no way for me to escape back outside, so I turned to the guy standing in front of them. He must be their leader.
“What are you talking about?” I kept my tone calm and held my shaky legs.
“Come now, how else can you explain the truck you lifted in the air?” His voice! It was him who called me out. He ordered Del Rio to pull out her cell phone, showing everyone a video of me beating up the raiders. I was astounded that they figured out my powers.
“Sam, is it true?” Katie asked, surprised. “Are you Hercules’s Brave?”
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
After we went down the slopes, we were about to enter the town when five horsemen appeared before us. One of them came forward. He had the look of a sheriff from the Old West; his right chest had a gold shield badge engraved with a weighing scale. He must be a Libra member. “Greetings, Sheriff Earp,” Zeki said. “Mr. Zeki, howdy,” he greeted with a Texas accent. He then turned his piercing, steely eyes to us. “Where y’all headed?” “Rockflower,” Zeki answered. “I’ll be tagging along with their quest. Coupled with my guild’s business, you see.” “That’s a shame,” the sheriff explained, “all the roads to the north are still infested with dang outlaws. My advice is for y’all to wait until you gather up three caravans before departing.” “Much obliged, sheriff,” Zeki thanked. “Much obliged.” Once the Libra members departed, Wilt asked, “Are we going to wait for three caravans to gather like the sheriff said?”