When everyone was sleeping in the dead of night, two young boys sneaked out of the castle walls through a secret tunnel. They wore hoods with masks on their faces and carried the leather bag on their shoulders along with a sword strapped on their waists.
"I don't think this is a good idea. You should tell Dias and take a few guards with us for your protection."
"I have you, so what is there to be worried about? Also, we will be hiding our identities, so no one will know who we are. This will be our first adventure. If you are afraid, you can turn back."
"I would never leave you alone, I am your vessel, and I will follow you where ever you go."
"Let's hurry up, and we need to be there before the caravan leaves. We will travel to Florin with them and go to the Evernight Church for our awakening."
As the two left the secret tunnels, they grabbed the horses waiting for them and quickly travelled in a pre-determined direction.
The two young men were none other than Damon and Levi.
Damon's idea was to go for his awakening alone along with Levi. He wanted to travel through his fief and also gather experience. He had seen how Levi, who had fought in real battles, was better than him, who had never had a life or death battle before.
They had planned to reach Viela before sunrise and meet with the caravan that would travel to Florin. Many commoners would join this caravan and go to Florin to see if they would awaken or not.
Damon knew the risks of this journey, but he still decided to go alone. He could not be a strong warrior if he was always sheltered and protected by his Knights. He also knew that the chances of him dying were high, but he had steeled his nerves and made a plan for him and Levi to sneak out of the castle without anyone knowing.
He had already left a letter for Dias, explaining everything.
They rode their horses on a long road towards Veila City. The night was dark, and only the pale moon was what helped them see the paths ahead.
It took them six hours before they could see the gates of Viela City. Once close enough, they got off their horses and started walking before reaching a long line before the city gates.
The line was mostly made up of kids the same age as Damon and Levi and their parents who had come with them to travel to Florin.
"It is that day of the year again; we merchants will have a hard time crossing any city gates due to the long lines."
"True, but what can we do? We were once just like them too, excited to get an element and change our futures."
"But life is not fair; most of these kids would come back crying after knowing the bitter truth."
Damon and Levi heard the conversations between people who were ahead of them. They seemed to be part of a merchant group passing through Viela city.
"Excuse me, good sir," called Damon, "are you part of the merchant caravan that would leave towards Florin city?"
The men talking immediately turned towards Damon when they heard him speak. The man who appeared to be the leader of this small group gave Damon the reply.
"Yes, but seeing how long the line is, it would take some time before we can group up with the caravan," he said before giving a deep look towards them and nodding as if he understood everything, "you must be going to Florin for your awakening right?"
"Yes, my name is Amon, and this is my friend Baal," he introduced himself and Levi with different names.
"I remember the day when I was just as excited as you young ones for my awakening, only to come back with nothing but tears. But still, I wish you both the best of luck and since you and we have the same destination, why don't you come with us? We will pass you as a member of our group to save you some money, and I will also put in a word to our leader. You will be able to follow us to Florin; it would be a lot easier that way," the leader of the group said, and after thinking for a moment, Damon nodded in agreement.
"My name is Nash, and this here is Harlan," he said while pointing at another man and then at last, "and he is Marley. We all belong to the same merchant company while I am the leader of this group."
"We will be in your care," said Damon before he asked another question, "May I know which merchant company you are under?"
There were many merchant companies; while some were active in just one territory, very rare few traded throughout the Kingdom.
"We belong to the Sunshine Merchant Company," answered Nash.
Damon was surprised under his mask since Sunshine Merchants were among the few who traded in the whole Kingdom.
"What brings you guys here? From what I know, there isn't much of value in the Acheron territory," asked Damon. He wanted to use his disguise to gather information and talk to people about what they thought of territory.
If he were to ask the same question as a Baron, people would try to avoid saying the negatives in his good books; hence this was an opportunity for him to learn more about Acheron territory.
"Indeed, the territory does not have anything special," agreed Nash before he continued, "but that is not the case anymore. Acheron territory had one of the best harvests this year, usually, this won't be considered much; However, after the recent events, the food prices would rise to a sky-high amount. Hence we are here to buy as much food as we can," explained Nash.
"Recent events?" probed Damon though he knew what they were talking about.
"Kraghon Empire has defeated and overtaken the Caresta Kingdom, and the war would engulf the continent soon, at least the kingdoms that share same borders with Kraghon Empire. Food would become scarce very soon," explained Nasha, but Marley spoke soon after.
"But who knew that Baron Acheron would buy all the extra food from the people and horde it instead? It was nothing but a wasted trip for us. Not only had he taken most of the food from Foxridge Barony but saved all the food from his own," there was some regret in his voice.
Harlan, who was quiet so far, added to it, "true, it was a wasted trip for us. I bet he would sell the food at a sky-high price; why else would he horde all the wheat, barley and corn?"
"He may be young, but he has foresight," said Nash while nodding his head.
"We can only try our luck in other territories now."
As they kept talking among each other, Damon tried to extort as much information as he could from the merchants without sounding suspicious before they reached the city gates.
"Show me your merchant pass," said the guards.
"Here, it's five of us; as for those four, they are the mercenaries we hired, so they are with us too," said Nash as he introduced himself and his group, along with Damon and Levi.
The guard looked at the merchant pass before nodding and letting them through.
"We will be going to the caravan now; it will leave in two hours so you can explore the city if you want," said Nash.
"We need to eat something; we will meet you in an hour and a half. Thank you for helping us with the city gates," said Damon before giving a polite nod and walking away with Levi.
Once they were a little far away, Harlan turned towards his partners.
"Was it just me, or did you notice it too?"
"They tried to hide it, but their mannerism gave them away," said Marley before looking towards the direction Damon and Levi had left.
"They should be from some rich family and sneaked out to go on an adventure. But it has nothing to do with us; treat them like you would treat any other person," said Nash before he went into deep thought.
Marley and Harlan, who noticed it, could not help but ask.
"What is it?"
Nash did not reply, and he looked as if he was trying to remember something but could not. He gave a small sigh as he gave up before looking towards his partners.
"Those eyes, I think I have seen them before, but I can't point out where," he said while shaking his head.
"Is that why you allowed him to travel with us even without asking the leader?" asked Marley.
"Tsk, and here I thought it was something important. Don't sound all mysterious; let's go, we can't be late for the gathering," said Harlan as the trio walked towards the caravan with four mercenaries following behind them.
Damon and Levi, who had no clue about the conversation between the merchants, kept walking towards the food district of Veila City.
"I have come here many times before, and the wraps made by Viela Wraps restaurant are the best," said Damon with some water filling his mouth as he remembered the taste of the wraps.
"You love to eat my Lo..." as Levi spoke, Damon hurriedly covered his mouth.
"I am Amon," he said in a whisper, "or do you want to announce our identities to everyone."
"I am sorry," spoke Levi in a muffled sound while a hand covered his mouth.
"Let's go, and we should also stack some supplies for our journey."
They soon reached a restaurant, it was early in the day, but the line in front of the shop was considerably long. Most of the people here were either children and their parents who would go to Florin for their awakening or mercenaries who accompanied merchants during their travels.
Damon and Levi quietly entered the line, and it was not long before they got their turn. They ordered the food they would and some extra to take away.
The journey to Florin was not long; instead, the path led to it that was difficult, so people usually travelled in groups.
"If only we could have a church in our territory for awakening," a man said from the side.
"Yes, but I heard there are only a few churches throughout the Kingdom that do the awakening ceremony," replied another.
"I also heard that the priest who does the awakening are all sent by the Holy Light Empire who represent the authority of God."
"But we all know how difficult it is to travel to Florin, even if we follow the caravan. Who knows when we might lose our lives?"
"At least, Lord Philip clears the nearby forest of any monsters every month, so we are safe while we are in our territory. I heard in the nearby territories there had been many tragedies because the Baron neglected the threat of monsters."
Damon heard all the rumours and conversation while he ate his food, and he could help but have one thought.
'Why can't we do the awakening in our territory? Why do we have to visit Florin? What is awakening, and why do specific people carry it?'
He always had been easy going about the awakening but now that he saw the troubles people had to go through made him question why they could not do it un their territory?
He had no answers, but he was sure he would find out something during his visit to Florin.
"Baal," called out Damon with Levi's fake name before he stood up, "let's go, we should buy the things we need before meeting up with the caravan."
With that, Damon and Levi went through the whole city buying things like tents, water or any other necessities that they would need over two days. As the time for the caravan to leave came closer, people started to gather and make their way towards it.