Through The Fractured Lens

Lucian

"How much longer?" I grumbled, quite tired. We had been walking for a few hours with no rest, and I was starting to get a bit pissed at this whole adventure.

There was nothing but woods and faded pathways for miles... so boring.

"Quit your whining, were almost there," Draven snapped back, clearly tired of my charades.

"Anyways, why are we going to Vorrak anyway? I know you offered to help me, but you said that was where you were going anyway," I questioned, eager for some answers.

He looked over at me before answering, attempting to gauge my expression. "Just visiting family, I suppose." 

While it didn't feel like he was lying, there definitely was more truth than what he was letting on.

However, it wasn't my life.

I was a bit worried about his intentions at first, but as we walked, I was able to to grow a lot more comfortable with the old man.

He refrained by telling me a lot about his life, which it was quite clear that he just wasn't comfortable enough to start speaking about it. I didn't pry. If he wanted to tell me, he'd have already told me.

If not, I can only hope that he'd grow comfortable enough before we part ways.

Although, I had a feeling that it wouldn't be as easy as dumping me off somewhere, leaving me as their problem and leaving. I had never been to Vorrak, but I've heard of it.

It's the most populated city in Vorrakhan. The most well known individuals live there, and all continental events and gatherings are hosted there as well. I was really curious on how it looked, if it had any resemblance to Eldoria, or even some of the other villages I had been around in Serathis as well.

Each continent seemed to have their own architect and style so far, which was to be expected. However, Grimholt was still a mystery.

Despite my mountain of questions about this continent, I continue to shelve them in my mind over Grimholt. It was such a mysterious continent. The only time where any of these continents tend to discuss them is simply geographically, or just marking them on the map.

I've never been able to find any history between Grimholt and the rest of the continents, nor any information about its inhabitants.

One day, I will figure out more about it though.

But, that is not today.

Each passing step my legs ache more, which makes me mumble out the occasional curse under my breath, however it seemed Darven caught on to that quite quickly.

This young body of mine really had its limits, which made me hate it quite a lot.

Despite this, I'd have to sit through many years before my body became in a state where I felt comfortable fighting with. Some years I had developed faster than others, but majority of the time I'd usually be back to my full potential at around 16 - 18 years old.

Over my lifetimes, I've nearly perfected my swordsmanship. However, there was still so little I knew about spirit manipulation

I could imbue practically anything I want, and defend myself pretty well. But this is just considered mastering the basics. There's so much more—manipulating the five senses, understanding the four elements and casting spells with them, I couldn't even begin to think about all of the possibilities to come if I actually took time to learn it.

I've tried to learn more many times, however the abrupt and tragic event which was my death always stopped me from advancing any further.

"Hey, eyes up," Darven exclaimed, as he gestured me with an elbow.

"Yeah yeah, keep your eyes on the—"

I couldn't finish my own sentence. I looked up, and there it was. Vorrak. We still had some distance left to actually enter the city, but it was just on the horizon, and it was beautiful.

The city almost appeared to be... layered. Winding roads were outlined with tall brick buildings, however as you looked up the mountain the city was built on, it appeared like the city was separated into different layers based on the elevation level.

The lower levels consisted of a lot of farm land and markets, while the middle levels seemed to be mostly residental. They all stacked upon each other so elegantly and perfect to where it truly became a sight.

Finally, at the very peak of the mountain laid a giant castle. It was beautiful, circulating around the entire top half as the castle tower in the center soared into the clouds.

"What's the castle for?" I asked, confused.

"Actually—I really don't know. Nobody lives there, as far as I'm aware of. However, you aren't allowed inside."

Before I could talk, he continued explaining more.

"It's guarded constantly, almost on lockdown. They clearly don't want anybody getting in our out, which is strange for a castle that seems abandoned," he finished.

"That's strange. You got any idea what it could be? Truly?" I asked, still curious.

"Beats me. Never had the time to really care," he replied.

"Fair enough. Maybe I can ask around once were down there, it certainly is quite—"

I was cut off once again, but this time by him. He lightly put his hand in front of my chest, stopping me from continuing forward.

"Hey, what gives?" I yelled out, slightly annoyed.

"Word of advice. Don't ask about the castle. It's very insensitive, and if I didn't know any better—against the law. They act like it's the boogeyman, badshit crazy over it."

"Well, thanks for telling," I mumbled, still slightly pissed off he had to stop for that considering how far we are from the city, nobody would've heard that.

"Anyway, we should probably stop by the medical ward on the lower levels to get you examined. While you aren't obviously in critical condition, I would still consider you injured. Worth checking out, just to be safe," he spoke almost insisting upon it.

"While I feel quite fine, I do agree it'd be for the better, thanks."

***

We had just entered the city and it was... weirdly peaceful. When I had entered Eldoria for the first time, we were being swarmed by sellers, trying to have us buy something.

It made sense, however. These were just farms and blacksmiths, although a lot of people seem to be coming and going. Definitely a big area for trade and the economy of this continent, so I wouldn't expect much less.

As we made our way up the levels, the quiet, empty pathways slowly turned crowded in the matter of minutes, almost like a downtown crosswalk in my first life.

Everybody was trying to get somewhere, and lacked proper etiquette.

We continued walking for a few minutes before we stopped, reaching the medical ward. It was very small, and not much people were inside.

Although, I definitely would consider less people in a medical ward better than more.

As we entered, we were greeted almost instantly by a lady who was sitting down at a desk off the side. We walked up to her, greeting her back, before Darven began speaking.

"Hey, kid here needs a checkup. Got wound up in a bandit excursion, possible infection," he began speaking, although that was the last of it.

"Yes of course, a doctor is actually available at the moment, please, head down the hall to room 2B," she replied, as she looked up to inspect me clearly.

"Thank you, have a great day," Darven responded, before we walked away.

As we began walking down the hall, I shot a look back. The lady at the desk appeared to be rushing around, trying to contact someone.

While I was a kid to her, I wasn't exactly dumb.

Suspicion rose fast, although I probably could've been losing my mind in the end.

'I wonder what she's in such a hurry to do,' I asked myself, trying to push the thought out of my head. It was likely something unrelated, however the timing left a sinking feeling inside of me that I couldn't quite wash away.

Finally, as we entered the room, I jumped up and took a seat on an elevated mattress, as Darven rested his back against the side wall, messing around with whatever was laying on the counter beside him.

Not even a minute later, a doctor walks in, hurrying to close the door behind us.

"Hello there, how are we today?" The doctor asked.

"We're doing good," I replied, Darven obviously not caring enough to listen to the conversation all that well, clearly a bit drunk.

"So I see we just need to check everything, possible infections, cuts, anything like that."

He walked up to me without another word as he instructed me to lift my shirt up just enough to show my lower stomach area.

"I'll just check a few normal things, make sure your lungs are clear, just so we can cross off any blockage," he began explaining as he proceeded to do multiple different checks. Ears, chest, back, eyes, everything.

Finally, after not even examining for 5 minutes, he had an expressionless look to his face as he turned over to Darven. "So, is this your kid?"

It took a second for him to acknowledge the fact that he was being spoken to, clearly alarmed and zoned out, which made me sigh, tinged of disappointment.

"Nah, I just helped him escape a few bandits who were gonna haul his ass for a bit of skrill, I suppose. No blood relation."

The doctor looked at him with a bit of confusion on his face before wiping it off as he realized how clearly he was showing it. "Ah, I see, very well."

His arms began trembling as he reached to his back.

In a seconds notice, he pulled out a dagger, aiming the tip at Darven's throat, as the bright light from the room let out a shine onto the blade as it glistened.

"This kid can go for a lot. Seems like the bandits were smart people," he began speaking. "A spirit user at the age of 7, far from home. Yeah."

Despite this feeling like a regular occurrence, both his arms and legs were obviously shaking—trembling, like he was falling in on himself. He was scared, frightened. He knew the dangers this had, yet he did it anyway.

Darven's eyes widened with surprise. "Woah, let's not do anything we'd regret."

"Shut up! I'm holding the weapon," the doctor snapped back.

A moment of silence struck the room as the doctors fear began growing rapidly, still shaking uncontrollably. 

At moments his grip on the blade loosened, before he tightened it a second later. Darven seemed to notice this, as he let out a slight grin. 

"Well, that's just quite unfortunate for you, I suppose," he shouted.