The Fields of Fire

Chaptrer 12: Arthus Adana

Arty smiled as he walked through the sunset city of Zytriad. They mostly took alley ways and back roads, as to avoid any angry crowds. Many people were still mad at the idea of magic users gathering in their city; Arty figured that it would probably take more than a week to undo decades of hatred and fear. But Arty was fine with walking the roads less traveled in Zytriad, he felt that those places told the story of the city better than any other. Posters were a very popular occurrence, most of them put up by the government. There were the posters that Arty had seen before, talking about the magical academy, but most of them were covered in Graffiti. There were   others trying to convince people to  join the Army, even more talking about how everyone should remember to ration food for the war effort, but the most common poster just said "Remember Arland, Join the Civilian Fire Corps" and it had a firefighter standing there stoically on the front. Arty questioned how effective tens of thousands of random civilians would be in trying to put out fires from a small armada of dragons, but he also realized that, at the very least, the posters inspired hope that they could save the city from burning if they truly tried.

There was also the fact that the city was not lying on its knees waiting for the next attack. The scale of construction in trying to "Fire Proof" Zytriad was truly enormous. Entire roadways had been dug up and then flooded with Sea Water so they could serve as fire barriers and as pathways for Fireboats. Rivers in the Alan Hills North of the City, once a popular location for housing the Zytrian Nobility and Rich Business owners, had been dammed and the former neighborhoods surrounding the area flooded. Gravity powered Aqueducts were being built from the hills to make sure there was a constant supply of water to the city's Fire Corps, even in the event of power loss. There was a small fleet of Fire Boats in the harbor outside the city, and it seemed to Arty like 1 in every 3 people he'd run into in the city was wearing a "Civilian Fire Corps" leather jacket. To Arty it gave him hope. In the Queen's message she said that they would be powerless to stop another attack like what happened in Arland, but at least in Zytriad they were preparing for the worst. If this city was going to burn, Arty figured, then at least this would buy enough time to get people to safety before the city was taken into Ash.

As he walked, he tried to stay close to Zaben. He didn't really speak much, but Arty did want to know what was in the boy's head. To Arty, Zaben seemed like the perfect version of what he imagined a Sorcerer would look like. His blue hair seemed to burn across his head, like a screaming beacon that said "Yeah, I can use magic, but I have nothing to be ashamed of." His eyes practically glowed, not only with confidence, but just in the way that they looked. It was the sort of light glacial blue that seemed to shine in any darkness, like a star against the night. Then there was his power, utterly monumental in its scale. Arty couldn't even imagine his abilities getting that strong, he almost didn't want to. He wondered what his fire would even look like with that much power? I could probably incinerate an entire city block. Arty's thoughts then went to the idea of the Fire Corps trying to put out his fires. The thought scared him, so he moved on.

Zaben was, to Arty at least, the person most deserving of his friendship and his kindness. He was nice, he was friendly, and even despite his obvious problems, he had a certain energy about him that Arty simply wanted more of. As for the other Students Arty had met at his time at the school, he was less certain. Brinton was... weird, to say the least. The more that Arty thought about him, the stranger the boy seemed. He was keen and observant, probably the person in the class who paid the most attention to Marcus, even though he admitted that when coming to this school he had no intention of learning how to fight. Why even bother going to a school to use magic if you don't even believe your magic is worth using? Brinton's prior low self esteem was, Arty admitted, somewhat justified, but it was still strange in Arty's eyes. Then there was Salmy. She was just, depressing to be around. Which was unfortunate to Arty, because Zaben seemed to like being around her, and he was the last person in the school who needed more depression. Arty guessed that she was such a bummer all the time because she was a necromancer, dealing with dead things all the time, it was probably just in her nature. Arty quickly realized that was it probably just his prejudice speaking. He shook his head alone to himself as he walked with the other students. He didn't like the idea that he was judging those who were supposed to be his fellow warriors. Arty then resolved to befriend every single one of the other students, no matter how weird they may seem. The other students were quite awkward, and Arty having lived on a farm his whole life was no social sleuth himself, but he figured he could still be the catalyst for bringing his team together!