Code of Shadows

Enrollment (Part 28)

The doors swung open and a unknown world came into view.

The Kingdom, Bonzo, was alive. People with long and colorful dresses, scurried through the streets greeting everyone they new. Merchants called out sales and prices. Mothers chased children who chased their pets (which ranged form cats, to dogs, to pigs, to horses, to almost anything else you could think of). Stoic guardsman in glinting silver armor stood watch, their spears piercing high into the air. Music poured from unseen taverns.

And the smells! Freshly cut wood, mud and flowers and some nearby bakers bread. Tall, looming buildings built up on either sides of us.

Everywhere I looked, I knew that I was missing thousands of other details. So I did the only thing I could think of, I just kept looking.

We came upon a circle of people happily dancing along to a fiddler's song. Three small children danced around the fiddler with care free smiles.

Something about the carefreeness of their actions and faces drew my attention more than anything else. The fiddler kept a watchful eye on the children, and began to play faster and faster in a sort of challenge. Luring then into an impossible game, and soon their feet tangled and they tripped over one another as they laughed tears.

We continued to walk forward.

"Wait," I said. "Can't we stay and watch a little more?"

"Sorry, Cait. We are late. We need to keep going so that you end up in a safe place tonight."

I sighed and continued on, but I watched the children as long as I could, until they finally disappeared from view.

Aala guided us through the confusing streets of Grand Mary. In Almosa everything had been made of square blocks, but here, the roads twisted and turned to create confusion and an easy way to get lost.

At one point we turned down a dark alleyway. I slowed down, but Aala continued on at full speed. I felt like we were just going in circles, but the sun told me not. We tromped through blackish puddles, and piles of garbage, but Aala didn't care, and apparently, neither did Arin, as he started to jump in the puddles, and pick up the trash to play with it. The further we wound through the twisting alley, the more clearly I could hear something ahead. It was loud and filled with a strange energy. The closer I got, the more I felt the energy. It was nervous and excited, and above all, hostile.

"What is that?" I asked.

Aala turned with a grim face, and shushed me. She then picked up her pace, and charged up a hill. We finally emerged back into the full sunshine.

Across a green grassed lawn there were hundreds if not thousand of waiting people. Chatting, and staying tightly packed in their groups. Ahead there was a large, castle looking building, and to the side, there were several carriages waiting with huffing and puffing horses. The more I looked at the crowd, the more I saw that the crowd was mostly comprised of girls, all excited and nervous.

I frowned. This was strange, why were all these people here? What were they waiting for?

I went numb, unconsciously pulling Arin closer to me. The girls were all my age, and each of them was wearing a elegant dress, or at least as elegant as some of the families could afford. All different, but essentially the same. Just like me, yet not at all like me.

As we walked further from the safety of the disgusting alleyway, we started to be noticed. Faces turned towards us with unusual expressions. There was delight, then bewilderment. I had a feeling the bewilderment was for me. The chatter in the crowd softened to whispers of "That's a card user," "This is so cool!" "Who is she?" That was all before all the attention was turned to me.