The City That Breathes in Shadow

Before Aoto's eyes, it was a city like no other, a city he had never seen before. It could only be described as intense, the first and last bastion of hope, Nycon.

Garius felt Aoto's hand tense while looking over the city from atop the stairwell they had been climbing and grabbed Aoto, making them face to face.

Garius: If you are telling the truth that you are deaf, always pay close attention to my face because this city isn't one that a person wants to get lost in; it's a place of despair.

Welcome to the city of Nycon, the capital of the Tianamon Empire. Aoto pays close attention to this city; it's the first step in our journey to becoming bound to the Gates.

Aoto: ga…ga..gates?

Garius: You don't know? You are pretty helpless, Aoto. You're deaf, scrawny, and seemingly without a brain. Honestly, I find it hard to believe how you have made it this far in life.

Garius continued to rip into Aoto until he finally felt satisfied; from there, they continued the walk until they made it above ground.

The city of Nycon was completely underground, for good reason as well. The surface seemed to be harsh; it was barren, not a single sign of life for the eye to see. The air was thick, almost weighing it, causing Aoto to become nauseous. The ground was frozen over, and yet it wasn't cold. The sky was dusk, and I could not see the stars and what was above the clouds; the terrain seemed to have been ruined by war, and what had used to stand before could be seen in ruins and rubble that littered the land and surrounding areas.

Garius mentioned to Aoto that around a month's travel from Nycon was a city similar to Nycon in that they were both underground, called Zesa. He spoke of how it would be a place where Aoto and Garius could change their lives.

Aoto's eyes were caught by something straight in front of him, far off into the horizon, it seemed to be a monument of sorts, emanating a beam of light from within, captivating Aoto, seemingly having his eyes in a chokehold.

Aoto lifted his right arm towards the monument and pointed his finger. At this moment, it was the first time that Aoto's body had stopped shaking; his body lay still, not moving a muscle, only fixated on what was right before him. Garius, noticing this, donned a bright smile on his face and wrapped his arm around Aoto's shoulders, embracing him as a friend would, and said That's what we refer to as gates.

As Garius pulled Aoto in, embracing him, Aoto's eyes were broken free from the hold, and instantaneously, he felt an Immense pressure wash over him. His legs began to buckle under his weight, leading to Garius, leading him back underground to rest before collapsing.

While walking back down, Aoto got an even better city view. Nycon was extremely lively, resembling characteristics of Tokyo or New York, and its narrow streets and busy avenues seemed to go on forever, leaving only the roofs of buildings to be shown. Aoto was utterly stunned the city was something unlike any of his ideas of a fantasy world; Nycon was far from primitive industrially, although its technological advancements still lacked it. n't it did have electricity in the form of guide points, as Garius described to Aoto, that had been newly created and lit up the streets even at night, all leading towards the city center; Garius said that the purpose of the was to "help lost souls be guided to the sky."

The two boys, now loosely acquainted with each other, agreed to stick together, Garius for the sake of being able to have a partner in his future endeavor and Aoto for not knowing anything about this world, but before they could go into depth on exactly what they would be doing together, they first needed to find a place to stay the night.

"The BLACK WIVRENY!" exclaimed Garius, grinning from ear to ear.

The Black Wivreny was an inn that Garius had seen whilst walking through the city earlier in the day, and just so happened to remember the location. The Inn was pretty clean for being called black, and while Garius went up to the clerk and rented out a room for two, Aoto admired the craftsmanship that went into the creation of said Inn until they were handed the room keys, and both went up the stairs towards their room.

Once they entered the room, Garius began to wash up and talk to Aoto while he was in the restroom. "This is gonna be great, Aoto; just imagine it, you and me, bounders. I can't wait." A long silence filled the room as Garius had forgotten that the only way to communicate with Aoto was face-to-face. He proceeded to finish up in the bath and walked out of the bathroom, only to notice that Aoto had fallen asleep from pure exhaustion.

When Aoto woke, the night was still upon them as well, and he came to see that his shirt had been lifted off of him as if someone had forcefully taken it off and then felt a wave of hot air graze down his back as if someone was breathing down it, only to turn around and see Garius being right behind his examining his back.

Aoto was understandably frightened and punched Garius right in the face, causing his nose to start to bleed. Garius immediately apologized, telling Aoto, "It's not what it looks like," and explained what he was doing.

Aoto, although not being treated as an enslaved person, was still considered one and had been marked by having a tattoo sprawled across his back that went up his neck and stopped right above his ears.

This was how enslaved people could be differentiated amongst a crowd within the Empire and the known world by being given a large tattoo on the part of the body above or surrounding a major artery. Garius appeared quite confused when he saw that Aoto's went above his back and rested on his ears.

Garius questioned Aoto about what he remembers about being given the tattoo. Aoto was unable to explain his situation and defaulted to saying,

"I…I.. don't.. don't…."

Garius: "You don't what? Remember?"

Aoto aggressively sighed and let his head drop below his shoulders.

Garius placed his hands on Aoto's ears, covering them, and told him they would go to a place in the city that could help with Aoto's hearing in the morning.

Shocked at even the idea of being able to hear, Aoto started to shed tears.

All that was left now was to go back to sleep.

Garius had awoken before the sun rose to wake Aoto up.

Aoto: "Ouch"

What the hell was that?

"Ow F**K"

Garius: "Aoto AOTOOO"

Garius, not knowing another way to wake Aoto up, decided to hit him right on his temple until he came to.

"WH….WHY," said Aoto

Garius: "My bad, I didn't know any other way to wake you up; now, get changed quickly; we have a pretty lengthy walk ahead of us; we are going to Arcad before the sun rises."

Aoto: "Ar..ar..cad?"

Garius: "I'll explain on the way. Now get dressed."

Aoto rose from the straw bed and grabbed his robe that he had been given last night by the bellhop while checking into the Inn.

Aoto took a moment when he finished changing to take a breath and take in that he had been transported to a new world to make sure he wasn't dreaming. From there, he exited the Inn alongside Garius, who was on their way to Arcad.

The city of Nycon just so happened to be the capital of the Empire, and because of that, it was renowned across the world as one of vast luxury, a city of opportunity and success. It mirrors a city such as one from Aoto's world.

While being such a lavish and vast city, Nycon also harbors deception and fear, as any high-class city would. In Nycon's case, it was referred to as Arcad.

Arcad, otherwise known as the slums of Nycon, is a place that only has two entrances: the town square during the times the sun isn't out for the public but also through the church only for members of the 12 classes, for Aoto and Garius' case they will have to walk to through the center of Nycon before the sun comes up.

The center of Nycon is also referred to as a holy place viewed as sacred to the church due to the fact that it's the only place in the whole city that the sun will touch.

Through the roof of Nycon, right above the city center, is a gap in the rocks that hold the city together, allowing the sun to seep through and grace the city with its warmth, enabling its citizens to bask in the sunlight that most of the time they live in fear of.

Aoto and Garius, now walking for what seemed like miles without an endpoint in vision, had reached a point where both boys were fatigued and frustrated with how long the walk was coming out to be, so they decided to take a quick break at the pub.

Garius: sorry about this, Aoto from the Black Wiverny on the east to Arcad in the west. The walk is taking much longer than I had expected. I'm at a loss for words here; my body feels like it's gonna turn into mush, not to mention my head is killing me; at this rate, we won't make it before the sun rises.

Aoto: su...sun?

Garius: Right. My bad, I keep forgetting you're a moron, but I guess I could have told you so. Read my lips very carefully; the only way to enter Arcad is through the center of town or through a place within the church that you are not allowed to enter without being of the classes, so don't go near the church, for the center you can only enter when the sun is set because when it rises a very dangerous gate in the town square that NO ONE is allowed in opens up its way for suspecting people like You to enter and never be seen again so make sure to stay clear when the suns ray are visible.

Aoto, confused by all of this "gate" talk, tried his best to remain calm for Garius as well as his own sake since he had no reason to doubt Garius' warnings.

Aoto: Ga..gate?

Garius: You're telling me I never explained to you what gates are. COME ON SPEAK UP.

Wait, my bad, you deaf those ones on me; it doesn't seem like we're going anywhere for the moment, so read carefully.

Gates are at their base a way to get to and from places; I don't know where this New York you told me about, but I would have assumed you're aware of them. They are extremely dangerous or wondrous lands that seem to rival in size of our own world.

This is common knowledge for anyone above the age of 10, but then again, it is you we're talking about here, so it isn't too far-fetched to believe that you've been oblivious to them.

From the knowledge that I'm aware of, the first gate appeared here in Nycon, the town square one to be exact, almost 5,000 years ago.

From that point, more started appearing all across the Tianamon Empire and the world.

Adventures from all across the world chose to venture into the gates for pride, wealth, power, and all that could be imagined until the Zesa gate appeared.