Street view

Astria:

The sun peeked over the horizon, slowly rising to start another day, the cold climate painted a small blue hue in the atmosphere.

It was dead in the morning, the sun just started to rise and even the roosters whom Cillian particularly detested due to their loud alarming calls still remained asleep.

But the peasants did, another day of work meant there might be food on the table, even kids about the age of 5-9 were present around the streets, either begging or working for someone.

Cillian walked through this mess of a morning,

Wearing his armor which looked similar to Cassian's alongside his companions.

He was tired and a good night of sleep didn't help it, his shoulders were sore from the heavy lifting yesterday.

He remember burying the bodies of the victims, most of them left in disgust and the ones who remained gagged at the smell.

The smell of death isn't suitable for the living.

He had to work until night time and his body was weak all over.

He gazed at his companions and realised they had the same conditions as him too.

There were five of them including himself.

They were familiar with eachother and had a strong bond considering that they came from the same slums.

Rowen, Gerald, Ronald, Joseph and Cillian, only five of them were chosen for this exploration of the village and every single one of them knew that it was a inadequate number of people.

They mused about the mental capacity of their higher ups but none spoke out about it.

Gerald was the oldest among the bunch, he was well respected too, Ronald was a genuinely kind guy whom Cillian was really close with.

Joseph was quiet but not distant he just doesn't speak unless he is spoken to,

Rowen was the youngest of them his age was the same as Cassian's and his easy going nature was well received.

All in all they were a interesting bunch, Cillian respected Gerald like the others whereas he found Joseph as a bit shy.

Rowen was easy to talk to and vent, Cillian appreciated him for that.

They all walked in silence, towards the gates,

A walk surrounded by agricultural lands will lead them to the village.

The city gates were a 5 minutes walk away and it was mostly used by the peasants and adventurers.

The peasants needed it for farming and the adventurers could enter the lands of no return easier.

There was no fee for peasants and knight orders but the adventurers had fees which made most of the newbies take the easier route, the Wiccan forest.

Although it was a normal forest in the past, the witch trials made it uninhabitable and it caused the City's geographical layout to become a mess.

Along with the lands of no returns, they both twisted the geography of the city making it unable to progress and it's territories to stagnate.

Over half of the City was surrounded by the forest, the other half was given to small villages of farmers.

The food shortages in Astreaea existed long before the queen's rule and thus other than a few villages and the inn, the remaining land was fully dedicated to agriculture.

You can see the golden paddies surrounded a small trails mad for humans, peasants doing their best to provide for their family,

It painted a beautiful picture if you gaze at them during the sunrise or the sunset.

The streets didn't have any lack of beggars, the state of the kingdom has hit an all time low due to the queen's administration.

Cillian gazed at each beggar he passed, their raggedy plates filled with money from the church's donations and the kindness of others.

They passed by them, Cillian eyes met with theirs, their malnutritioned body made him hesitate.

Their eyes, he has seen them for countless times but he never got used to it.

Sometimes he went out of his way to help someone like them in need when they had the same living conditions has them.

It made him hesitate but not enough to stop,

He knew the church gave them weekly donations for food.

The church money on their plate only showed a fraction of what they received, the beggars were greedy, instead of trying to make their life better they got used to the laziness of their current life.

Both Cassian and Cillian detested people like these.

Detest is a strong word, they clinged to despair and lived of the pity of others.

The other's were the same, they too came from poverty but unlike these beggars they climbed out from the despair.

Cillian looked into their eyes, a habit he had from young he always did it when he spoke to strangers.

The slight shifts and shape of their eyes made him be able to guess their emotions.

Mostly, some failures were fated to happen.

He saw exhaustion, failure, resignation and other unexplainable emotions.

He saw those exact emotions from a beggar who was staring blankly into the distance, not even batting an eye when a kid snatched coins from his bowl.

'Oh.'

A sudden sense of realisation hit him.

They weren't clinging to despair, they were swallowed whole.

They were waiting for their inevitable death so another can take their place.

They were tired of living, they merely existed and survived.

They weren't living, if you compare an undead to them, the undead would seem more alive.

They weren't living, they were surviving without reason.

The exhaustion of life and the fear of death gnawed at their hearts.

They were miserable.

A miserable existence.

Cillian took his eyes away from them, the last thing they need is pity.

Trying to save a suicidal man is futile.

Everything is futile in this world if you think about it.

However.

Futility doesn't mean you should be a fleeting existence in your story.

No matter how futile it seems keep moving forward.

At the end, what you gained or what you lost doesn't matter.

What matters is the journey and the ending you gave to that journey.

That's why Cillian pities them yet finds their stagnant existence detestable.