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

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

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

“It’s good to see you again, Sam.” Marseille smiled. I never thought we would meet each other for the second time. My friends had told me Marseille did attempt to help me back in the incident with the Jormungands. Although she tried, I was relieved that she was willing to help, even though we only knew each other for one night. “I hope you’re okay after that pee on the pants incident,” she said. Much to my embarrassment, I was glowing in red until my bones turned jelly that I slumped on my chair. “That was a fruit punch spilled on his pants, by the way,” Alex clarified. “Oh, I forgot Sam did say that. It happened so fast when he smashed through the main doors. You’re lucky the Boston Tea Party got door braves to fix them.” Now that Marseille mentioned it, my memory of that night came back to me. I did crash through the thick double doors to get away. “So, you two know each other?” Wilt said to Marseille and Raja. “Inde

The three of us slowly and achingly rose on our feet. Ten armed braves approached us with nasty smiles. “We got ourselves a fine catch.” The voice came from a guy with a black tooth. “Isn’t that right, Captain?” A towering guy came forward with a rope in his hand. He was the one who lassoed us. What was worse, he was none other than Madhur the Maelstrom himself. “It’s that big blue guy,” Brock exclaimed, referring to Madhur’s Asura form. No wonder we didn’t find him in town. That meant they were all from the Jormungand Guild. I snapped the rope that bound us with ease while glaring at Madhur with my rage-filled gaze, though he was given me a stone face in return. “Never expected we would run-in with the Raid Breaker Party,” Blacktooth said. “We were waiting for a deserter in case he flees to Sweet Haven.” It must be their former Commander Raja that he was talking about. “But you, folks, would do just fine,” he cackled. “This is gonna be a bonu