"It was nice seeing you again. I'm glad you survived."
Omar stood in front of the horse-drawn carriage and opened its doors. His smile was sincere, he was glad I was lucky enough to survive.
I stretched out my arm. He did the same and we shook hands. I respected Omar. Even though he wasn't the brightest, he was fearless and committed to whatever he chose to do.
"Is there anything else I should know?" I asked.
"Not everyone has the communications scrolls, so some military outposts won't know that you are here legitimately. And I'm pretty sure you know that not everyone will believe that the certificate we gave you is real."
"I will try not to leave any lasting damage."
"That was all I needed to hear."
Omar moved out of the way so we could enter the shabby carriage that was drawn by 2 brown horses.
Tsuki said her goodbyes to Omar and Sidika, then jumped into the carriage, carrying the bags that were full of provisions.
Omar was talking to the coachman while I stood right in front of Sidika.
"What will you do with them?"
"Your attackers? I can't really do anything. You are just a civilian whereas Tsuki is being tolerated in the Arabic Empire because you will be taking her to the Asian Empire."
"I understand. This is goodbye then."
"Don't act like we are life-long friends, pretty boy."
"Hm. Thank you." I stretched out my hand.
"You better be thankful." She answered and shook my hand.
"Well that's that, Niam. The coachman will take you straight into central Anatolia. He will also give you a map of the Empire." Omar informed.
I nodded and got into the carriage. I took one last look at Central Superio, the city I was born and raised in. 'I may never see it again, in this form.' I thought. I closed the carriage door.
***
It took about 6 hours to cross Siran Bridge and another 5 to reach the first lively town I'd seen. There were quite a few people here, mostly the relatives of the soldiers who were stationed on the bridge.
Our carriage came to a halt. A minute later, someone knocked on the carriage door.
"Niam Henka, we will show you to the Inn in where you will stay the night. Your partner must cover her head with a scarf. She doesn't look native, I hope you understand."
"Understood."
He opened the door slightly and handed me a scarf of poor quality.
"You heard him, Tsuki."
Tsuki put the scarf around her head in a way that made it hard to see her face.
"Neat."
It was late but people were still in the streets. Kids, a few years younger than me, were playing, the adults were trading goods and the few elderly in this town were enjoying tea under a big tree. There were also guards, but they were positioned outside of the town.
The person who had knocked on the carriage door just now was a high ranking-official. He oversaw this town and was responsible for its people.
"The Inn in where you'll be staying is used by other officials and travelers. Bear in mind, you aren't the only Bearers. I hope you won't cause any trouble." He said.
He led us to the Inn.
'The Inn was once a hotel.'
"Talk to the receptionist. He will give you your keys."
He then left after explaining.
We stood at the entrance of the Inn.
"Let's go straight to our room." I suggested.
Tsuki nodded and followed my steps.
As we entered the Inn, the smell of alcohol, cigarettes and food entered our noses. It was just like a medieval Inn. Immediately, the eyes of the customers were glued to us. Fierce glances and suspicious expression were all over their faces.
We continued walking to the reception opposite of the entry. Left was the kitchen area where the waiters picked up the food and booze they then later served the customers. To the right were the wooden tables where the customers sat.
'I hope he speaks English.'
When I stood on the other side of the reception, the old and bald guy gave me a quick glance.
["I was expecting you."] He said something I didn't understand.
Immediately after speaking, he handed me the keys for room, "555".
'Why are the room numbers so high?' I wondered.
Arriving at our room, the first thing I did was change into the clothes that we were given by the high-ranking official of this town. It was a simple white robe called "thawb", the same kind my father used to wear at home.
"Now I look less mixed." I said to Tsuki who sat on one of the beds.
"Will you be going down again?"
"Yes, I will. I will look for someone who looks like they can have a normal conversation with me. I will stand guard in some sense, so you just go to sleep and rest. We still have a long way ahead of us."
"I think I'll do just that"
***
I'd never been to places like this, a place where people drank, smoked and ate whatever they wanted.
My life was strict and disciplined. I saw no reason to spend my free time doing useless things like partying and drinking alcohol at clubs or bars. I would go to school, return home after it finished, study and then train with my mother. The day usually ended there, but sometimes she would make me go outside and do something else. I often wondered what I should do and what there was to do, I wanted to do things that benefited me. Doing other martial arts was out of question, "Every other martial art you learn is poisonous to both body and mind. You either master the Space Entity style my family passes on, or you evolve in the same style even further." my mother always said.
Another idea I had was team-sports like football and basketball. It was horrible, I never enjoyed team-sports because of my selfishness.
'It does not have to be sports.' I realized soon enough. 'But what can benefit me, my existence, my character?
***
"Niam, you're 20 minutes late! What is your excuse?!" My teacher yelled.
I was late, on purpose. I wanted to see where certain things could lead to if I decided to act out of the ordinary.
The teacher that yelled at me was Mr. Heff, the school's most hated teacher. His short temperament and lack of empathy led to every student who was taught by him, hate him.
I didn't respond to him at all. I just sat on a free chair and waited for things to develope.
"Are you crazy? Answer me!"
A small smile crept up on my lips.
"You sound like a spoiled child, Heff. I recently realized that, so I'm just behaving the same way someone does when dealing with a spoiled person, I ignore them."
The unexpected turn of events shocked the whole class. Not even the greatest movie plot-twist could've made them feel more shocked than I did. The shocked class was observing the events that unfolded right before their very own eyes.
Mr. Heff's face turned crimson red. He gnashed his teeth and furrowed his eyebrows.
'He lost his rationality.' I observed.
I read his body language and realized what kind of effects my words had on a person like him.
'Does everyone with the same character-traits react the same?' I wondered.
Mr. Heff earned his respect through fear. He would punish the smallest mistakes, criticize someone's works and threaten his students with bad grades. But now that my "respect" for him disappeared, he wasn't sure what to do.
'Come on! Do something stupid!'
He grabbed me by my shirt and yanked me upwards out of my chair. He then tightened his grips on my shirt even more and pushed me in front of him.
"I'm going to bring you to the principle!"
'He did it. He's screwed.'
I did my best to act like I had fallen because he pushed me. While I fell, the shirt that was still in his hands ripped and I fell into the wall head-first.