Zakarias Audric sat in his bed contemplating. He had just finished his discussion with his father and had a slight argument with his sister, now he was alone soaking everything in. His dad had gone off the rocker, first they completely limit the library on the history of the world and their ancestors. Now he was talking about the stars not working. Like what.
Zak sat with his hands massaging his head and then heard a knock on the door. "So it's you Elder Long." Zak opened his door to his villa and saw an older looking gentleman standing there looking at him. Elder Long discussed the rules for his challenge more in depth while Zak stood in silence listening to everything. After all that was said Elder Long left the villa and Zak shut the door, returning to his room.
'You know what, fuck the rules. I'm gonna go now.' Zak said to himself and stood up getting a bag from his closest. He walked out of his room and towards a certain building on the mountain. The building was only one story tall but it was built into the side of the mountain. Zak walked in and was met by a young looking dragon curled up in the corner of the room. "Ah, if it isn't the young patriarch. What can I do for you."
Zak looked over at the dragon and smiled. "Little brother, can I take out all my savings as well as the funds for my trip into the Archipelago. I want to start budgeting for it." Zak looked expectantly at the young dragon.
"Of course young patriarch, let me go grab it from the back and cross it off the records." After saying that, the young dragon got up and lazily made his way through a sealed door at the back of the room.
Zak waited patiently for a good half and hour before the lazy dragon returned. In the dragon's hands was a large bag that seemed filled to the brim. "10,000 gold, reduced down to 1,000 platinum coins and 1,527 from your savings," The young dragon said showing another, even fuller bag to Zak.
Zak thanked the dragon and took the bags and stuffed it into his larger bag that hung off of his back. He turned and left the building and quickly made his way to the edge of the mountain when no one was patrolling that particular area. He jumped off the edge of the mountain and sprouted wings from his back. Scales started covering his whole body as it elongated and after a moment he had transformed into his dragon form. His bag seemed much too small for his current form now.
Zak soared over the jungle and quickly got to the edge in under twenty minutes. Along the way he noticed a clearing that was on fire. He glanced briefly at it, 'Not my problem.' He landed close to the edge and transformed back into his human form before walking out and into an open field. He saw the town city of Newport up ahead and walked towards it.
He reached the city gate and was quickly brought before the guards due to there being no line at that particular moment. One of the guards stopped him and asked for his identification. Zak looked at the guard in confusion, "I'm sorry sir, this is my first time entering the city. I don't have any identification."
The guard frowned at him, "Then do you have identification from any of the other towns or cities on the island." Zak stood there not knowing what to do for a moment as he realized he probably wasn't going to get in. 'Maybe I should have had Elder Long come with me, this isn't going to work.'
Speak of the devil, Elder Long in his human form strolled in from the other side of the gate, coming from the city and looked at Zak. "Took you long enough boy. Come on then." Elder Long said to Zak before flashing an emblem at the guards. The guards' mouths opened slightly in shock and they then gave Elder Long a slight respectful bow before returning to their posts, asking no questions.
Zak stood there flabbergasted staring at the elder in front of him. Elder Long patted the boys shoulder and Zak walked through the gate. Once the two were out of eyesight Elder Long turned to Zak and smiled. "Way to get ahead of the game. But you really shouldn't leave on your own, your father will get worried."
Zak furrowed his brows before letting out a laugh, "Yeah, sure, sure, I'll let him know next time." Zak turned to look back at the Elder only to realize that he was now gone. "Huh?" Zak spun around and didn't see a single trace of the Elder. The only thing that was left was the emblem that Elder Long had shown the guards from before.
'Bro... Alright then.' Zak thought as he picked the emblem off the ground. He looked around at the city before him taking in the new view. He had never left the mountain before and was sort of awestruck. The feeling wore off after a few minutes and he continued to walk down the road while glancing at the surrounding buildings. He saw many happy people walking down the streets and to the central area down the road that had a fountain. Walking down the road he saw a disheveled woman carrying a bloodied teen into one of the homes.
He didn't give it a second glance and walked to the fountain. He felt a wave of pure mana wash over him. He basked in the feeling for a few moments before realizing that none of the people that were walking around the fountain did the same as him. 'Maybe they're just used to it,' Zak pondered, scratching his chin.
Finishing his thought, Zak started to pay attention to the people around him. All the happy people would mingle with each other and spout nonsense. Two things he did notice, however, was that they avoided all of the small streets that went off of the central area and only went down the large and maintained roads that branched out. The other thing was that they offer coins to the fountain and close their eyes for a few seconds before proceeding.
These coins would shimmer in the water for a few moments after the people would leave and then disappear. He watched this phenomenon for a while trying to figure out what was going on but came to no conclusion by the end. He the turned his attention to the side streets that these people would even glance at and noticed a frail boy walk out in tattered clothing.
One of the people nearest to this side street saw this happen and frowned very deeply at the boy and walked away. The boy made his way towards the main street where various people were walking in and out of buildings with an abundance of different things. Food, clothes, bags, weapons, and all sorts were carried in these peoples hands.
The boy was shoved this and that way by the people that couldn't stand the sight of him until he made his way to a relatively clear side of the street. Watching this happen, Zak became intrigued and started to follow him. In the clear space the boy sat down on his knees and started calling out to people in a very sincere but weak tone, asking for food. The boy looked to be no older than 14 and not many people gave him a single glance. On the off chance though, some person with too much good in them would walk up to the boy and give him a small thing of bread or maybe a container of water.
The boy would very discreetly hide the food in his tattered, yet oversized clothes, and continue on with the begging. Zak was more and more intrigued as more time passed and the boy had way more food than he would need to sustain himself. Zak stood on the opposite side of the road watching this all go down for a good couple of hours before the boy suddenly got up and confidently made his way towards him.
"Do you need something mister?" The boy's voice was nothing like before. Instead of frail, his tone was confident and had an almost threatening tone to it. Zak was taken aback by this sudden change and looked at the glint in the kids eyes. A sneer appeared on his face, "Just wondering why you have all that food. There is no way you could eat it by yourself before it going bad."
"Where are you from?" The boy ignored Zak and asked another question. Zak squinted slightly and looked at the boy again. "The Mountain." Zak jerked his thumb in the direction of the city gate.
Silently standing there, the boy pondered over the meaning of this message he wracked his brain. 'I don't know that code. Is it a new one, or perhaps really old. Maybe...' The boy squinted back at Zak. 'No he can't actually be just from the mountain.'
"Well nice to meet you, My name is Adrian and since you're new around here how about a tour of the city from yours truly. Only 20 copper." The boy, Adrian, Said with a sudden beaming smile that showed his unusually white teeth.