"He could ride with us." An angelical voice came suddenly from inside the carriage.
Jack turned towards the carriage trying to catch a glimpse of the owner of such a beautiful voice, but the curtains didn't let him.
"My lady, I'm not sure if we can allow that..." Eloi answered feeling awkward. Even though Jack saved them, he was sure that his superiors would be angry at him and maybe even punish him harshly if he allowed this.
"He saved our lives, this is the less we could do. I will take full responsibility if things come to worse." The person inside the carriage answered calmly.
"Yes, my lady! You heard us boy, do you want to travel with us? It would save you a lot of time and you wouldn't have to sleep on the open." Eloi turned towards Jack expecting an answer.
Jack thought about it for a couple of seconds before he answered. "Yeah, sure. It would be nice to save some time and energy."
Eloi smiled hearing Jack's answered and told Paul. "Ok Paul, I will drive the carriage and when you get better we can swap if you want. Go open the door for Jack, and then we can leave. I don't want to stay in this place much longer."
"As you say. Come with me young man. The door is protected by a charm that only we can unlock. It would take someone else some time to open it forcefully, and not necessarily would they be able to open it." Paul was explaining how the carriage worked to Jack while they neared it.
"That's interesting to say the least." When they got in front of the door Jack looked carefully at the door and noticed some similarities with the palace rooms doors, but the charm seemed to be way simpler. At least that's what it seemed to him.
When they got in front of the door Paul did something with his hands that Jack didn't manage to see and the door opened.
"Go inside and we can depart. I warn you, no funny business." Paul told Jack sternly.
"You have my word." Jack answered with a small smile on his lips before entering the carriage.
Once he entered, he saw the door closing automatically and the charm lock being once again activated. And with that, the carriage started moving on the road.
"Have you never seen a lock charm?" Again the beautiful voice was heard. And this time it was just in front of Jack.
Jack turned to see the owner of the voice, and he was immediately stunned. A young woman with long black hair was sitting in front of him. She was wearing a blue dress that showed her perfect figure and made her look holy and above human affairs. Her clean and pure emerald eyes would make any man lose himself in them. She was wearing a light blue veil on her face that didn't allow Jack to clearly see her face. But he was sure that behind that veil a great beauty was hiding, a beauty that would make empires fall. Jack was sure that the woman in front of him was the most beautiful woman he has ever seen. The only woman who could be able to rival her would be the woman he saw on the painting back in the palace. But Jack thought she wasn't real.
"Are you a fairy?" Jack muttered instinctively.
The lady looked at Jack weirdly for a second, but then she let out a small chuckle. "Hehe, no sorry, I'm no fairy."
Jack came back to his senses immediately after and apologized while he took his seat in front of the woman. "I apologize. I lost my cool for a second there. My name is Jack by the way. Pleasure to meet you."
The girl seemed to smile and answered Jack. "It's ok, don't worry about it. Your eyes were clean while you looked at me. It's been a long time since someone other than my parents looked at me with such clean eyes... I'm Luna by the way. Also pleased to meet you."
"Luna, do you mind if I ask you a couple of questions while we travel?" Jack asked respectfully.
"You can ask me anything you want, you saved both me and my guards. That's the least I could do." Luna answered calmly with a polite smile.
"They still wouldn't have been able to enter the carriage to take you, right?" Jack asked interested in the topic.
"They would have opened the door forcefully. I can't open the door from inside once it's been closed due to safety measures. My family gave me something to protect myself in extreme cases but I would prefer avoid using it, if possible." Luna answered with a somber face.
"I see. Are you not proficient in fighting?" Jack asked once again.
"I know how to fight and defend myself, but due to some circumstances, I can't..." Jack managed to catch her voice turning a bit sad, so he decided to change topic.
"Eloi said that we are going to the city of Luminens. I'm a bit ashamed to say this, but I'm from a small village and this is the first time I leave it. So, I don't know any of the cities that exist or about how our world is distributed." Jack scratched his head while saying that, trying to sound as convincing as possible.
"Oh really, you don't know anything? Well, we should start from big to small right?" Luna said before continuing.
"Our world is distributed between different continents. There is the continent of Inram where the elves and creatures of nature live. There is also the continent of Oqux where the demons and dark creatures live. The continent Titan where the giants live. The continent of Gruqor where the dwarves and gnomes live. And finally, the continent of Gaya, which is the human continent, which is where we are right now. There are also some islands, and smaller lands in which other species reside, but those are the main ones." Luna explained to Jack all she new about the world layout.
"I see. And in our continent is this Luminens city the only one?" Jack asked another question once again.
"Of course not. The continent of Gaya contains 4 empires. The Red Phoenix Empire to the south, the Misty Cloud Empire to the west, the Blue Dream Empire to the east, and the Silver Star Empire, which is the empire we are in right now, to the north. Those empires are formed by many cities and villages, and even though the city of Luminens is not the capital of the Silver Star Empire, it is considered equally important, if not even more important than the capital." Luna explained everything in one breath.
"Oh, and why is that?" Jack found it weird that a city could be considered even more important than the capital.
Luna smiled once again and answered. "It's because of the Glowing Star Academy. The Glowing Star Academy is the most important academy of the empire and one of the most important ones of the continent. People from all around the empire go there and try to enter. Just by graduating from there, you would have your future secured. So many people work hard all their life just to get a chance to be admitted."
"Wow, it must really be impressive if it has such good reputation..." Jack whispered while Luna just stared at him for a couple of seconds before she started looking out of the window.
Jack noticed that Luna didn't feel like continue talking, so he got lost in his own thoughts while also staring out the window.
The carriage continued moving to their destination, and neither the young man nor the young woman seemed like they wanted to talk anymore. Silence was all there was inside the carriage, an invisible complexity seemed to be flowing in the air. Many times silence would feel uncomfortable, but in this case both of them were enjoying the silence and the beautiful views.
'You know son? Sometimes no words are needed. Silence has its own voice.' Jack remembered his father words and a small smile came to his face, which didn't go unnoticed by Luna who also smiled for just a fraction of a second before looking out the window once again.
"My lady, the city is just in front. We should let the young boy go on his own. We can't let people see him riding with you." Eloi's words were heard from outside and broke the quite atmosphere that surrounded them.
"I'm sorry Jack, I'm sure both Eloi and Paul don't mind you going with us, but they could get punished for that, so please don't blame them." Luna told Jack with an apologetic face.
"It's ok, you bringing me so close to the city it's good enough. I hope fate allows us to meet again Luna, i loved the ride. Take care." Jack bowed politely and hopped out of the carriage once Paul opened the door.
"Fate, huh? I'm not sure fate likes me that much..." Luna muttered under her breath.
As Jack was going to leave, Eloi called him one last time. "Hey young man! I never asked your name!"
"It's Jack! Jack Immortal!" Jack shouted back.
Eloi made a strange face once he heard his name, but he answered quickly. "I'm Eloi, and he is Paul from the house of BlazeSword. If you ever need help you can look for us. Also, take this!"
Eloi threw a small bag which Jack caught. Jack looked inside it and saw some gold coins.
"With this we are even. Take care Jack, we will meet again if fate allows it."
Jack smiled and shouted. "If fate allows it!"
The carriage passed by Jack's side, and he looked at the window with a smile while muttering. "If fate allows it."
The carriage soon disappeared from his sight, and he started walking towards the big city of Luminens in a good mood.
This was Jack and Luna's first encounter.