Kai wandered the sprawling streets of the Citadel, a city of grand towers and bustling markets.
There were structures everywhere he looked.
He approached several residents for directions, but they waved him off, scurried away, ignored his existence, or called him various nas.
His tattered rag-like clothes. His unwashed body. Everything about him scread street urchin.
Eventually, a middle-aged woman stopped.
"Do you know how I can get to the Thesiones Academy?" Kai asked, his eyes wide.
She eyed him up and down.
"You might want to be properly dressed first, lad," she said with a raised brow. "The academy doesn’t take kindly to street wanderers."
"Street wanderer? I’ve got-"
"Look, kid. It doesn’t matter what you’ve got. Co with , and I’ll get you sorted out. You’re about my son’s age, and we can’t have you out and about with almost everything showing."
Kai’s face reddened. His ti in the forest and the years in Mirth alone dulled his need to hide his body.
She guided him to a small shop with a wooden sign in the shape of a fabric spool.
"A tailor. One that caters to the... low-born."
It was a small, unassuming shop nestled between grander establishnts.
The woman left Kai to see to his business and hurried down the street. Kai opened the door and the bell rang.
The shopkeeper, a wiry man with thinning hair smiled a mostly toothless smile.
"What can I..." He looked at Kai’s attire. "Oh, dear. Oh, dear. Oh, dear. No, that won’t do at all. Have you got the coin?"
Kai nodded.
"Then right this way. I’ll get sothing for you imdiately.
He rummaged through his selection before presenting Kai with a decent set of second-hand clothes. The garnts were plain but sturdy, a long-sleeved tunic, reinforced trousers, and a cloak that had seen better days.
"How much?" Kai asked.
"One silver. Should about cover it."
’I have, what... Twenty gold coins total? And it seems that ten copper makes one silver and ten silvers make one gold. At least until I find a way to make more money, another silver should be fine.’
Kai paid using a single silver coin from Orlin’s limited treasury.
The shopkeep turned around and started tending back to his wares after pocketing Kai’s coin.
Kai cleared his throat to get the shopkeep’s attention. He turned around and raised an eyebrow.
"One more thing?"
"Yes?"
"If I’m looking for real protection, where could I find myself a cheap armourer?"
"Continue down the street through three intersections and turn right. There’s one who might be able to help."
"Thanks!"
Taking the advice, Kai followed the directions until he stood outside a rickety armour shop.
Kai pushed open the door and heard violent yelling from the back. Sothing smashed against a hard object.
Shade readied itself within Kai’s shadow and a burly man stepped out from the back room.
Where the forge’s heat and the scent of scorched tal flowed out into the shop with him.
"Ah? Custor, aye? What’ll I do you for?"
He bartered with the shopkeep for leather reinforcents and steel-plated attachnts, enough to add so extra protection to his attire without restricting movent. As he fastened them on, he traced strengthening sigils over the pieces. He felt the runes hum with power as they burned into the leather and steel.
When he was satisfied with the result, he stepped out of the smithy and back onto the streets of the citadel.
He looked to the busy pedestrians on the cobbled road and moved towards them.
Just as Kai asked another passerby about directions to the academy, a knight approached him, clad in shining steel and bearing the emblem of the Citadel. The man’s presence felt oppressive, his posture upright and proud, but his expression was not unkind.
Kai flinched, rembering the last knight wearing the sa emblem that crossed his path. The one that cost him Hunter. The one that would have killed him.
"It’s alright, boy! I’m here to help. You’re looking for the academy?" the knight asked, looking over his attire questionably. "I’ll take you there myself."
Kai studied him carefully. The knight had the kind of disciplined gait that spoke of years of service, his movents asured and efficient. It crossed Kai’s mind that, had things been different, this man might have been a valuable addition to his growing undead army. But he shoved that thought aside for now.
The knight guided him through the streets, speaking with a casual air. "The academy is one of the Citadel’s greatest achievents. They train only the best. From people ntored by archmages, those from prestigious families, and diamonds in the rough found by masters and given recomndations. A future archmage may walk through those halls at this very mont." He glanced at Kai, a hint of curiosity in his eyes. "Not often do they get outsiders taking an interest."
Kai rely nodded, offering no explanation. When they arrived, the knight dipped his head in farewell before returning to his patrol.
The academy’s pure white walls reflected the light of the sun, while the deep blue roof added an air of regal authority. The three-storey structure lood over the grand courtyard, its pristine architecture catching nobody’s attention but Kai’s.
’I guess this sort of thing is what all these kids are used to.’
Kai did see another student gawking at just about everything. A green-haired boy with glasses.
The courtyard itself held a grand fountain at its center, sculpted in the image of a robed sorcerer conjuring water from his hands. The water cascaded in shimring arcs, creating a soothing ambience amidst the academy’s bustling grounds. Around the fountain, neatly trimd hedges and vibrant flower beds lined the cobbled paths, adding a touch of nature’s beauty to the refined atmosphere.
Students were scattered throughout the grounds, so engaged in heated discussions, others practicing their magic in controlled bursts. A pair of students dueled near one of the hedges, the air crackling with elental energy, while a group sat cross-legged beneath the shade of a large oak tree, poring over tos and scrolls.
Towering marble pillars frad the entrance to the main building, their surfaces engraved with ancient runes that pulsed faintly with residual mana. Heavy oak doors stood slightly ajar, revealing a glimpse of the opulent halls within. Even from outside, Kai could tell that the academy was more than just a place of learning, it was a symbol of power and prestige, a place where only the elite were welcod with open arms.
’Not people like .’
As Kai walked toward the grand building, he felt eyes on him. A mont later, a voice called out, laced with arrogance. The sort of arrogance an entitled person at a restaurant or retail store would show to the employees.
"You must be lost."
Kai turned to find a familiar face. Emille Lockheart. The red-haired boy he had once t in the Hall of Sorcery, now a little older, was dressed in the fine robes of an academy student. He had the sa smug expression, but there was a confidence in his stance, an air of superiority reinforced by years of privilege.
’He’s what, ten years old? How co Orlin said I’d need to be sixteen?’
"The academy isn’t open to just anyone," Emille continued, stepping closer with a smirk. "We take in the best from noble and prestigious magic lineages. Judging by your clothes, I’d say you belong elsewhere. Perhaps the barbarous adventurer’s guild would suit you better?"
Kai sighed, unimpressed.
’These are the kinds of prestigious families they have here?’
Applying a touch of strengthening magic, he stepped forward and shoved Emille aside with minimal effort. The noble-born student yelped as he tumbled onto his back, looking up at Kai in stunned disbelief.
Kai didn’t spare him another glance. He activated his concealnt magic, letting the shadows pull his presence from sight, and strode past the academy gates.
Emille sat on the ground for several long seconds, his face darkening. His hands clenched into fists. This wasn’t over.
Inside, Kai found a lecturer wandering the halls and approached them. "Where can I find the headmaster’s office?"
The lecturer eyed him curiously but, seeing no imdiate reason to question him, gestured down a long corridor.
Kai nodded, adjusting his cloak as he proceeded forward. The academy awaited, but so did the consequences of his actions.
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