The Great

I awoke to nothing particularly spectacular—which was rich coming from me. Most of the people around me had also drifted to sleep on the benches located around the ship. It was summer time and so the morning weather felt slightly warm as it kissed the edges of my skin. The green trees and plant life surrounding both sides of the canal were beautiful as they caught the sunlight—making them shine with an emerald glow.

I think it had been about ten hours since I had fallen asleep and it would take about another three to reach the edges of Bondas. I leaned back against the cool bench and sighed. I guess I have some thinking to do.

The security along the border of Bondas shouldn’t be difficult to bypass, but my problem was the fact that I wouldn’t be able to attend any academy to develop my poweress. It was wishful thinking that I would be able to interact with liquor in the first place, but without any prior education records and money I wouldn’t even have the chance to figure that out.

My best chance was to get adopted by an affluent family and use their power to gain opportunities. However, I didn’t have much to offer. Then there was the fact that I had no powers right now.

The students at these academies usually already had some control over their abilities granted to them by liquor. They were way past the phase of being fed their first drops of liquor—which in powerful families usually happened at age four.

I had no skills, I couldn’t fight, I couldn’t read very well, and I knew very little of the social standards and habits of the elite class. I would definitely be extremely noticeable, and I had to somehow hide all these things.

So my idea was simple. I sneak into the borders of Bondas, I explore the commercial districts to find people that I can, hopefully, make connections with, find a person willing to support my basic needs, and then…..go from there.

It was a pathetic plan but it was the only plan that I had. I couldn’t help but feel hopeful in spite of all my troubles. If this worked I could finally have a life that was worth living—a life that I would’ve worked for.

I looked at the stone gates that were up ahead. The words welcoming us into the Bondas region were engraved in the rough cobblestone.

BONDAS HOME OF THE POPULACE

We passed through the gates and on the other side there was a large dock that was surprisingly empty. We were the first ship of the day and this made my stomach drop a little. I had lost my cover and would have to try much harder to bypass security—since I couldn’t just hide behind the crowd anymore.

We got off the ship and I inched towards the gate separating the dock from the mainlands. My heart pounded, sweat rolled down my face, my eyes grew wide at everything that surrounded me. I had gone through a lot to get here, and if I was tuned back now….

As I inched towards the officer at the gate my throat felt dry—I almost couldn’t speak.

The officer looked at me with bored eyes. “Do you have the presence of a guardian?“ he said with a monotone and bland voice. I didn’t answer.

He looked at me and gave me a small sigh. He wrote some words down on a piece of paper then motioned for me to step inside the small metal building he was in. I walked in. “Look kid, you can cross these borders but we will identify you and eventually we will place you in a suitable environment. Until then, after your identification you will be placed under regional supervision.” He then motioned for me to step onto a metal plate where he activated a small lever that unleashed a curtain of circular, crystal clear water all around me.

“This water has been imbued with liquor and can detect the presence of your genetic makeup, or the part of it that will decide how you interact with liquor. This part is called your blueprint. It’s what the liquor in your body interacts with in order to give you your unique abilities. Everyone’s blueprint is different and so it can be used to identify individuals such as yourself.”

I panicked. I might not even have a blueprint since I was a peasant, but he didn’t know that. If he found out would he send me back? I don’t think it’s illegal for peasants to travel but since we were technically owned by the nobles now—would I have to be sent back to Villona? I couldn’t do anything now, and so I hoped for the best.

The man then spoke in his same monotone voice. “After this you will be escorted by a guard to the orphanage living quarters temporarily until we—“.

His eyes suddenly grew wide. He was holding a clipboard that had data and some official-looking documents attached to it. He dropped the clipboard, his jaws fell, and a look of utter shock stretched across his face. “No, no, no, it can’t be. We’re running that again,” he spoke with a whisper—more like he was talking to himself then to me. He ran the whole process again and I was stuck there waiting for any instruction.

“Um, sir. You dropped your stuff.”

The guard then picked up his clipboard, threw it onto the table, and looked at me with a mixture of astonishment and curiosity. “Where in the emperor’s name did you come from boy?” he barely whispered the words as he continued to stare at me. “No data records, family history, no marked academic records and still…” he gazed into the information shown on a scroll which the liquor water seeped into to form a symbol. The symbol had a Z shape, but also had two vertical lines racing down its middle. “You are bestowed with the rarest blueprint class recorded in our empire—class Z-13. Mister-wonderboy, welcome to our region. Your name is?”

Shock. That was what I was feeling. It was almost too much information to take in and so I focused on the one thing that I could—my name. “Evay, Evay Maver.”

“Well, Maver you should have some very important people coming to see you soon. I suspect you will need to at least sleep. Guards will lead you to a temporary housing stall, and you will be notified of other information in the next few days.”

I was still too shocked and confused about what my deal was, and why I was being treated so specially. Of course I heard the information about my… blueprint rarity? How did this happen—what did it mean? “Am I someone of value to you sir,” my voice came out much less confident and more pitiful than I had wanted.

“You, my dear boy, are one of a kind. The first to dawn this rare of a blueprint, in nearly 2000 years.”

I just about blinked before a couple of guards carried me by the arms and dumped me into a small little housing stall. The guards wore sleek metal armor that fit tightly to their bodies and helmets that resembled a beautifully ornate mask of gold and red-striped embroidery. They each had swords which had a curved blade with a long handle, and a small circular piece of metal separating the blade from the handle itself. It was my first time seeing anything like these weapons. My town was never fit to fight and the most dangerous object I had access to as a child was a sickle—or a banana, I once curled one around a tree and hit a kid in the eye.

After looking around for a bit I began to realize how much wealthier Bondas was compared to my hometown. My stall was almost double the size of my regular home. It was quite plain with simple white walls and a triangular-shaped roof with an overhang on the sides--along with a simple wooden door and windows on the sides of the building.

I felt the click of the door handle--it was an odd feeling. Back at home all the doors were just rugs hanging over an entrance. I was never able to try an actual door up until now. As I opened the door and closed it I saw that there was one table for dining, a chair, and a simple gray couch along the wall. There was one furnace for cooking—which was also something I had never seen in person. I guess I won’t be needing campfires anymore.

I looked at the bed that was given to me, and the surface of the bed was quite thicker than any place I had ever slept on. I went over and sat on the bed. It gave some resistance and bounced me back. I widened my eyes out of shock.

How did it do that? I began to bounce on the bed more and more until it became a therapeutic process. A smile slipped across my face as the activity was unusually amusing.

After a little while I stopped. Looking out the window I could see that we were still near the border but had crossed into the very first major town. There were several wooden stands—all lined up side by side selling and trading different goods. There was a food vendor which looked very popular as pieces of chicken and vegetables were being put onto sharp sticks and served to people directly.

Other stands sold ornate silk robes—filled with embroidered gold leaves and flowers. Some stands even sold livestock as I saw a goat and about a dozen chickens running from a very angry-looking shop owner through the streets of the people-filled shopping center.

I had never really seen anything like this before. The entire town was bustling with activity and these people looked like they'd never even seen each other. I guess when your town has this many people that may be a possibility. This was so much more different than my home….I needed to adjust if I was to carry out my plan.

The only thing that concerned me was that I had no idea what the guard meant by these “important people” that were coming to see me. What were they going to do?

I heard two knocks on the door. Well I guess I’ll find out. I went to open the door when I heard a huge explosion in the distance. I heard muffled shouts of the two people near my door and they began to run towards the site of trouble. I stepped outside and immediately saw what the issue was.

Two people, seemingly 18 to 19 year old boys, were facing off against each other in the streets. The crowd was at an extremely safe distance and were surrounding the two fighters. I stepped onto a tall haystack near me and acquired a prime view of the action.

Each boy was in a fighting stance with one foot placed in front of the other, and their hands up— protecting their face and chin. One had straw blond hair that swooped to the side of his face and partially covered one of his eyes. He was taller than his opponent and had more of a lanky build—with long arms and legs. His opponent had curly dark brown hair which rested on top of his head and partially covered his ears. He had a darker complexion than the blonde-haired boy and was shorter, but more muscular and well toned.

The dark-haired boy spoke with an air of confidence, “Challenge, right here, right now. Accept. You have no reason not to, right Jiden?” The blonde haired boy–Jiden–scoffed,

“I guess not. You’re a free paycheck Elmer–it’s always been like that.” Elmer–the dark haired boy–stared daggers into Jiden’s soul.

Why are they fighting?

A huge boom resounded throughout the air as the boys wore looks of disgust towards each other and finally charged. My eyes went wide as their fists clashed and a giant flash of light beamed in front of my eyes.

I got to see it–my very first warrior fight.