Inare

The clouds settled in the cool, cozy, and rather slow midnight wind. Underneath the clouds were a series of small islands in a seemingly endless ocean. An emerald green valley stood below glistening mountain peaks distinctively to the rest of the island. On the green patch were the glints of light, some larger and brighter, some dimmer and smaller, but a cluster lay in the center. This was the city of New Tyrca. Despite it being the middle of the night, the city never froze. There was always someone awake, heaving materials through the city or selling a product, no matter the time, none of the town was truly asleep. However as the moon shifted downwards on the sky, the horizon brightened, heeding for the sun. In the sun's wake, the city rises as the light does, going to their jobs and schools. On the central area of the city, in a small house, a man wakes up.

________________________________________________________________________________

My eyes were definitely not ready to wake up, yet everything else disagreed. I've been working far too much, and far too hard. Money is an interesting thing for sure, I'm lucky to even be living in a city like this.

My eyes flutter open finally. I am greeted by my dusty bedroom, I look around at all my belongings, my weapons, clean and shiny as can be. My various outfits, all of them for something different, working, hiking, hunting, you name it.

I lay my head back down on the wooden floor, just blankly looking at my ceiling. I am exhausted, I guess i'll take work off today, I've worked extra hard this week and I could go a day or two without working. 

I willed myself to finally stand up. I put on some casual clothes and headed out of my house and grabbed a dagger just in case.

I live in a little house down an alleyway. As soon as I opened my door, the aroma of food was what first greeted me. It was fairly early, the sun had fully crested the horizon, which was still a warm orange haze. The sounds of the city was like a crescendo as I stepped out of my corner.

I got onto the street, paved beautifully in stone bricks, though years of wear and tear left a few marks on it. I first wanted to get breakfast before I did anything else, so I walked the route I knew by heart to my favorite place. When I opened the door, I was first greeted by the bell, and next by an employee. I looked up at the employee, and his face broke into a warm grin.

"Jasper! There you are, I was wondering when you'd come by, already got your favorite breakfast right here." Said the Employee.

"Good morning Atif." I said as I took a seat at the counter.

"I was gonna take off work today, go and sit by the lake later maybe." I said, taking a bite from my breakfast.

"I don't blame you, you look exhausted, you've been working overtime on a few jobs haven't you?" Atif asked with concern.

"Yes, but it's nothing I can't handle, but a break here and there is good." I replied.

"Speaking of breaks, I might join you later if you don't mind, I am working for a few more hours until I have break." He said while cleaning a plate.

"Sounds good, I'll be at the tree at the tip of Lake Guab." I said as I finished my breakfast. 

"Anyways, I'm gonna go and look around before I head out there." I said while opening the door.

"Sounds good, see you then!" Atif yelled back, then turning back to cleaning the dishes.

Atif was my best friend, we hang out as much as we can and talk about everything together. We've both been tending to other things to stay busy with in recent times however. He recently got together with a girl, which, although it pulled us apart more, I'm glad he's got someone he cares for; as for me, I'm a lone wolf.

I opened the door to the weapons shop.

"Good to see you Jasper! I just got some new stuff from the west, powerful stuff really, might wanna check it out." The shopkeeper said. I looked on the wall, where weapons were displayed. I was eyeing for a new rifle, preferably a bolt action, but those are top notch and expensive. I sighed and looked down the wall further, now looking at axes and maces.

"Anything you think i'd like?" I asked, still looking.

"There are a few rifles that are discounted that I think you'd like very much." He led me over to a room that had weapons that were dirty or flawed.

"Now I know that you've been eyeing this particular rifle over the past few days and let me tell you something, though this thing may be rusty and splintered, it would cost you half as much to buy this and repair it than to buy one new." The shopkeeper said quietly.

"Really now? This thing looks almost unusable by the rust I'm seeing." I responded, looking at the rifle intently.

He put the gun on a table and began dismantling it.

"See, the outside looks worse than the inside, there are practically no signs of flaw in here at all and it can be fixed easily." Said the shopkeeper as he pointed at the insides of the rifle.

"You've got me sold, this better not be a scam. 'cause I will be back with every other weapon I own to get my redemption." I said jokingly.

The shopkeeper laughed and put the rifle in my hands, so in return, a put a pile of coins in his and I walked out satisfied.

I decided it was time to go to the tree, so I headed to the exit of town and walked through the grass to sit down against the trunk of the tree. As I waited, I skipped stones and stared at the snowcapped peaks before me.