Zen did his best to stand up properly despite of his painful head. He needs to go home before it gets dark because that was his deal with Grey that morning.
As he walk through the busy streets of Andromeda, he can't help but to notice how beautiful his beloved city is. There are a lot of vendors selling different type of goods like foods, souvenirs, medicinal items, charms, variety of talismans and even weapons. The streets are crowded with different kind of races interacting with each other. Elves, dwarves, werewolves, and humans are among the commom races that swarm the whole place giving off a cheerful presence around. Also, the night life of Andromeda are one of the most famous among visitors and locals. The streets are filled with magic lights that glistens like gems in land. Sprites, the natural spirit of the non living things, as well as dustlights - the natural mana residue that the environment produces are both visible and floating in the air at night. It makes the whole scenery feel magical and filled with euphoria.
"Yo!" Zen greeted.
The person reading a book stared back and replied with a sweet smile making Zen's eyes twitch a little. Grey has green eyes which are almost identical to the shade of an emerald. His hair is silver, almost white and is cut appropriately to match his well defined face. His features are soft and delicate making him look vulnerable at first glance but he has a lean body figure due to his work as a helper at Coira Tavern. The owner, Miss Coira ,took a liking to him and let him do both the arrangements of deliveries and bartending.
"What happened to your head? Are you growing horns?" Grey starts raising an eyebrow.
"It's nothing." Zen replied ignoring the additional remark. He looked at the mirror and checked on his forehead. Maybe because of his loudness and wild behavior that people often oversee his features. But Zen is actually quite handsome and attractive. His eyes are dark red like it's always on fire. His dark hair have few strands of brown shades due to long sun exposure. He is just 17 but has a well defined abs and body due to his work in the sea port delivering products to the market. He is about 3-inches taller than Grey although they are of the same age.
"Here I brought us moonbreads for tonight." Zen took out a paper bag from his inside pocket.
"That's perfect. Miss Coira gave me a bottle of Milkieway on my way home." Grey replied.
Zen and Grey are living together since they were thirteen years old. They first met on the streets when Zen were quite in a bit of a trouble. They were both abandoned children because both of their parents died when they were young. Zen's face was swelling that time due to the punches of the other street children who beat him over a piece of stale bread. Grey, a loner who prefer doing things on his own, found him and shared his own moonbread to Zen. That was basically the start of their friendship.
"You can't really make a day without being stupid." Grey narrowed his eyes at Zen while they are eating.
"Hey! Stop sounding like Miro, he already ruined my day." Zen protested.
"You've seen Captain Yamiro today? Anyway, I've learned a new spell from the book that Miss Coira gave me. Let me try it on you." Grey's eyes shine while saying this.
Zen become a little nervous, "Okay, but what will happen if it goes wrong?"
"Nothing, you will just turn into a frog. Don't worry, I will let Miss Coira kiss you." Grey teases.
Zen's heart skipped a beat, "No way, I'd rather let you kiss me."
Grey replied with a soft laugh. He then put his left hand an inch apart from Zen's forehead while his right hand writes a magic circle in the air. As if in response, a white light glowed in the left hand of Grey. Zen can feel the warmth seeps into his skin. It's relaxing and comforting, then it stopped. When Grey removed his left hand, Zen's forehead is healed like nothing happened.
"Wooah, so you can heal stuff now? That's too cool. How can you learn these things without attending magic school?", Zen said in amazement.
"I'm just following the instructions. You're the first person I tried it with. I'm a bit disappointed you won't be getting a kiss from Miss Coira though.", Grey said with a wry smile.
"BOOOOOOOOOOOMMMMM!!!!"
A loud noise of explosion from outside startled the both of them. It was followed with three more consecutive explosions and screaming. They immediately rushed outside to check it.
Both of them can't believe what they are seeing. That thing is so huge and Andromeda is on fire.