The Destined Protector (The Chronicles of Mistar - Book 1)

Sixteen · · · Ophryn (.2)

The wind was cold on Ryn's back. He shivered, sitting on the roof of Kast's apartment building. Kast sat with him but didn't seem bothered. He sat silently watching the jail on the other side of the street as he crouched hiding his presence from the guards. Ryn did the same thing, using the wall to hide from the wind but it wasn't working. Ryn guessed that Kast came up to the roof at night since he looked comfortable with his surroundings.

Kast wore his usual armor that Ryn remembered well. He remembered how it fit perfectly over the form of his body, but also how airy it was so you move without being stiff. It was also light and not heavy so it couldn't weigh you down. The scales were light but strong. Barely anything could penetrate the armor's scales. The only time Ryn saw the scales break was when the General was challenged by the best warrior in Pent's army. The warrior's armor split like an ax through a log. The General had almost killed that man.

The helmets always made Ryn laugh. It was made out of two fish scales. One was for the back of the head that stopped at the bottom of the neck and the other was for the top of the head. It started at the forehead and was curved to extend along the top, to cover the hair, and stuck out at the back of the head. To Ryn, it looked like a backward hat. Next to the ears were two brown leather straps that went under the chin to keep the helmet on.

Back in Kast's small room, he had let Ryn borrow his clothes and an extra pair of armor so he would be able to blend in. Ryn was surprised that they perfectly as they used to when Kast and Ryn had trained together.

Ryn looked down at the watch Kast had given him to see that the time was 11:55 p.m. They had five more minutes left until the guards would change. That was their thirty-minute opening. If everything went as planned, the escape wouldn't last longer than five.

The street below was still covered with people from all different planets, though they looked all the same with their dark robes. Ryn had forgotten what cities were like. They never slept.

"Aren't the stars beautiful?"

Ryn cocked an eyebrow at Kast. the comment had surprised Ryn and had taken him off guard. Five minutes away from one of the biggest moments in his life, and Kast was worried about the stars.

"What?" Ryn asked looking at Kast.

Kast smiled at him before he looked up to the dark, night sky. "The stars. Aren't they just beautiful?"

Ryn followed his gaze and gasped when he saw the first twinkling star. He lived under the water for long that he had never seen the stars. Ryn looked down back at the people below. The ones that he could tell were Pents, didn't even bother to look up. They were so naive to the fact that there was a world above other than just an infinity of water. They didn't know what stars were. Sure, they learned about them in school, but when they got to surface they never considered the fact to look up. Kast seemed to be the only one to have that thought.

"They are beautiful," Ryn replied as he leaned against the wall of the roof. Ryn had never thought to look up either. Ryn swore to himself at how he was such a hypocrite. "Why did you decide to look up?"

Kast eyed Ryn and asked, "Why do you ask?" He shifted in his spot on the wall half blocking the wind from Ryn's face.

"Well, Pents don't usually look up because underwater if we looked up we would be looking to Castans. So over time we just decided not to look up anymore. Why did you?"

Kast shrugged his shoulders. "Truthfully, there was never a time when I didn't look up. Ever since I was little I was fascinated with other cultures, other places than the one we were living in, so yes. I looked up. In school, we learned that in Mistar there were other planets than just ours. I've always wanted to go to one, but if I only traveled to Casta, I would be good with that. I also never saw Castans as a threat, even though we were trained to fight them."