The Challenger Page 4

"Now these circles aren't absolute, they're just to give you a general idea of where everything is that'll help you exploring. I'll give you the map to study after this and as you explore the city you'll see signs posted up also detailing what you'll find in certain areas all around. Anyway Luminous City for the most part are divided into sections called districts." Jeremy paused glancing at Jonath awaiting an indication Jonath was keeping up with what he was saying. The young man nodding quietly in return as he scooted towards the edge of his recliner to get a closer look at the map as the geezer began pointing to each circle and giving an overview of what was what.

  "The circle where we arrived you already know about it the Worker's District. Don't think I need to tell you again what that place is and its purpose do I?" He sneered looking to Jonath again. The boy shaking his head without a word.

  "Good! The circle in the middle of the city is the City Square which is the heart of the city and connected to all the other districts. It's also where we are and where the bulk of the common folk live making it the largest district without question. The first circle to the west is the shopping district which is where we bought those clothes and supplies for you from. It's always bustling with people trying to sell you stuff from jewelry to unhealthy snacks." Jeremy chuckled at the end of that sentence which only made Jonath eye roll.

  "You'll find plenty of tight-knit clans and bloodline sub districts in these parts too if you look around enough, better to leave those people to themselves however." Jeremy nonchalantly added on that footnote before pointing again.

  "The circle behind the shopping district is the security district where most of the law enforcement and prisons are located. This place is usually off-limits unless you have security clearance or are from one of the Groups with permission to go as they please. There's two types of law enforcement, the common law and the Royal Guard. The latter resides up here in the Diurnal District where the King and Queen live as well as other federal buildings." Jeremy pointed from the circle farthest west to the one highest north. Jonath's eyes following his pointing attentively as he sucked in all this information rather well. However Jeremy's next words unsettled him a bit...

  "Under no circumstances are you to go anywhere near the Diurnal District." Jeremy as he said this tapped that circle and his tone darkened as he looked at the amnesic. Jonath tilting his head a bit put off by the sudden shift in mood from Jeremy, almost wanting to ask why but deciding against it. A simple nod following and Jeremy continuing on with his explaining.

  "To the east the first circle is the travel district. This area is where most of the rail lines and airships going in, out, or around the city reside and how people get around outside of walking as the usage of any Nightborn powers is, while not entirely prohibited, frowned upon and repressed by four gigantic ward towers placed at the semi cardinal directions of the city. So if you are a Nightborn and you by chance find out some of the powers you have while inside this city you'll probably be using them at an extremely weakened state. The civilians don't like their cities getting torn asunder by the gifted haha." Jeremy chuckled. Jonath canting his head to the side as he took in this information, it made sense he supposed. Nightborn with the ability for high-speed movement and flying could probably get away with using their powers to get around while stuff like teleportation might be a bit more tricky considering the potential for mischief regarding it.

  "And lastly the circle farthest to the east is the Group District. Here you find organizations legally contracted by the government to carry out specific tasks as long as they stay within the rules of their agreement and pay a yearly fee that's pretty hefty. There's plenty of Groups, most are small time but the big boys are the Mercenary Group, Mages Group, Group of the Lunar Sect which is mostly religious and spewing rabble, the Medical Group which operates in the city the most and is basically the only thing keeping all of us healthy... Can just imagine the money they bring in haha..." Jeremy chuckled to himself before clearing his throat again and continuing on.

  "Then there's the Archive Group, which is where you'll be wanting to go if you want to learn more about the history of this city and anything that might explain why you woke up an amnesic in the forest with regeneration powers? That is how you implied your injuries healed right?" Jeremy asked looking over to Jonath. The silver-haired boy rubbing the back of his head sheepishly over where the wound had been as he nodded slightly.

  "Yeah... " He said trying not to sound suspicious about the other powers he'd had witnessed like being able to read things that weren't really there and those chains that had bonded him only to snap. "I'll head there after I get some sleep yeah. I appreciate the explanation." Jonath said with a small nod of thankfulness. Jeremy nodding back and soon standing up to stretch out his old bones and body with another yawn. Bending down to scoop the map off the table and fold it neatly to hand it over to Jonath he spoke again in a much more tired and sluggish tone. Seemed he was reaching the limit for staying awake...

  "You can comfortably go anywhere but the Security and Diurnal Districts, but since those are in completely different directions from where you need to go I'd assume I can trust you'll not go near them right?" Jeremy as Jonath reached to take the map pulled it away from him briefly as he furrowed a brow. Jonath blinking, and then nodding to assure him he could be trusted and only then did Jeremy relinquish the faded parchment to the boy.

  "Good! I'll be nice and give you a bit of money to take a rail line to the Archive Group and anywhere else for a little while but I do expect you to once you get situated get a job or something and work towards getting either your own place or start paying me rent to stay here. I'm not rich now." The old man chuckled, Jonath nodding again in silence as he tucked the map away in his back pocket while Jeremy scooped up the chips and soda to hand to him next with one final warning.

  "Stay out of trouble when you leave. Use your common sense when presented with situations that look like trouble and don't draw attention to me or you. The moment law enforcement hits my door I'm putting you out ya hear?" Jeremy warned, Jonath silently taking in the words and their profoundness. Jeremy wasn't from what he'd seen in the brief time he's known the guy, the type to have a lot of patience with drama and trouble. Though Jonath never once thought of doing anything to disrespect the kindness Jeremy had shown him, he still understood that Jeremy was doing a lot for a young man he didn't even know existed till today out of the kindness of his heart. He wasn't going to jeopardize that... Taking the chips and drink, Jonath nodded again and watched Jeremy smile slightly and turn to head to his own room for some rest.

  "Good! Also left you a gift on your nightstand if you didn't see it. It's a spare phone I'd bought a while back as part of a buy one get one free deal. If you're staying here you'll need that and my numbers already programmed in it. Play around with the phone a bit and you better answer every time I call you. Good night!"

  A few seconds later, Jonath heard the door close and was left by himself. Standing alone in the living room thinking over everything he'd just been told and eventually walking towards his own room for the night as well. Armed with a map, a phone, and knowledge of what and where the important stuff in the city was located, Jonath was just about ready to begin his search for answers in its entirety.

  "The Archive Group huh? Sounds promising..." He said quietly to nobody as he opened his room door and closed it behind him calling it a night.

  Reverie Library

  The Challenger Chapter Five - Reverie Library

  The steam-powered dirty grey metal colored train whistled and coughed billowing up clouds of puffy white smoke from its exhaust pump as it pulled into the station. The wheels grinding to a halt as pistons slowed and gears became sluggish. The intercom beeping in saying something that Jonath wasn't paying attention to before the doors parted before him and he stepped out among a crowd full of beings of all shapes and sizes and looked around with pale colored soft glowing eyes. The train station was wide and spacious with stone floors, cold air an
d plenty of people going to and from the train as it bellowed and alerted its departure in ten more minutes.

  "Gonna take me a while to get used to this eternal night stuff..." Jonath thought to himself as he exhaled noticing the frosty breath escaping his throat and swirling through the air as he spoke standing outside of the train on the boarding deck now. Wearing a light grey fur-trimmed and black coat with an underlying matching black shirt, a new pair of jeans of the same color and military styled black boots with gloves and a scarf loosely strung around his neck Jonath was perfectly ready for the chilly weather. Hands nestled comfortably in his coat pockets whole he looked around taking in all the scenery. The station while large and open, wasn't anything spectacular to look at like the grand image of the city might've portrayed upon arrival. The sheer amount of people around however did make him feel a bit queasy; extremely large crowds and him didn't seem to mix well...

  As he moved through the crowds of people Jonath kept his head low and stayed rather silent; avoiding eye contact at every turn. He wasn't too confident in his ability to stay out of trouble in this place without knowing much about the customs and laws beyond what Jeremy told him of "using common sense" so getting out of his introverted comfort zone was probably a bad idea for now. Not like he wanted to go above and beyond to talk to random strangers anyway; he didn't view himself as much of a people person in the grand scheme of things. Pushing past a few inconspicuous natives hanging around a pillar to his right Jonath as he passed heard one of them rambling on about some new type of food being served at some restaurant in the same direction he were headed... A mental note being made in the back of his mind to check out the place after the library with the extra bit of money Jeremy gave him.

  Withdrawing his left hand from his pocket pulling out a black and silver expensive looking smart phone, Jonath pressed the unlock button and brought up pictures of the map he'd taken at the house for view. Recalling how easily he knew how to use a phone for a moment a bit relieved his amnesia only seemed to have affected his memories about how he got here and any relationships over typical day-to-day activities like this. Chuckling to himself when the scenario of him having forgotten how to breathe would've played out, then awkwardly blinking when he then realized he'd be dead before he ever woke up in that forest if that were the case. Amused by the thought he quietly chuckled to himself as he walked and looked at the map on his phone, though he was unable to shake the strange feeling of having walked through this city before some time ago. An ominous sense of déjà vu ever clear in the farthest corners of his psyche that he decided to not put too much faith in for the moment; not like that feeling was anything uncommon to anyone else around.

  After about ten minutes of walking, looking through his phone and staring up at the full moon and the cloudy night sky in silence; the amnesic eventually reached his destination among the wide roads and conglomeration of building all around built with stone, steel and wood. The lampposts lining the sidewalks lit up brightly across the pathways as he saw carriages drawn by horses, bulls, and other large herbivorous creatures mixed in with the populace. Periodically a car or truck seen driving through the streets as well, those advanced machinations being reserved for the upper middle class and wealthy who could afford such a high-tech luxury. It almost made him want to set his sights on getting something like that soon for moving around, though considering he was broke the odds of that happening is unlikely.

  Snapping out of his inner thoughts upon bumping into somebody and apologizing immediately as they side eyed him and continued on, Jonath looked skyward at the tall grey stoned campus in front of him with a giant clock as the centerpiece many meters high at the crest of the tower entrance. An arching open steel gate allowing entry and departure from the inner sanctum of its walls with a large sign hovering by magical energy that gave off a light green tint to his left right outside the gate that read,

  Welcome to the Archives! Keepers of Knowledge!

  "This was easier to find than I imagined, good." Jonath exhaled to himself tucking his phone back into his pocket and walking through the gates. Upon getting inside, he noticed this Group resembled something like a college campus which was both not surprising and kind of irritating as he couldn't just go into the library and sit down he figured. A deadpan creeping across his reserved features while eyes casually looked around the stone courtyard with benches, statues and a large fountain dead center depicting a woman with long hair dressed in a regal looking outfit with a book tucked under her left arm pit and her right outstretched to him as if she were welcoming him here. A small smile carved over in her face that portrayed a sense of compassion and enthusiasm even he managed to feel through it despite his unwillingness.

  Eyes breaking away from the statue, the platinum haired young man looked towards a few people walking by, two girls and a guy to be exact, dressed in similar dark red and black clothing headed towards the building beyond the statue ahead. It didn't take long for Jonath to put two and two together; this was a Group, a college styled Group as well judging by how everything looked. So, obviously it had students probably wanting to become scholars or something in the future and thus came here to acquire knowledge or through their own actions, make new discoveries that would forever add to the secrets of this place. A snort slipping from him as he yawned, walking over to intercept the group before they got too far so he could ask about the only thing he really cared about to know here.

  "Yo!" Jonath called out in a calm and nonchalant voice. The group of three turning to look at him with briefly confused faces as they halted their own walk and talk. "I was wondering if any of you could tell me where the library was? Or some place I could figure out a bit more about this city from." Jonath paused suddenly, figuring that what he was saying might've seemed weird without any context behind it and quickly added on at the last second, "I'm a bit new around these parts you see. Any help would be much appreciated." he said with a friendly tone despite impatiently awaiting an answer.

  Jonath thought that was a pretty good approach to them, so one could imagine his confusion when as he waited for an answer the silence that dragged on was quite unsettling. The girls were staring at him rather hard, harder than he thought was usually socially acceptable. The first was rather short and chubby with cut hair and big blue eyes while the second was rather slender and tall, around his height with unkempt red hair and deep orange eyes. narrowing a brow at them wondering what the hell they were looking at Jonath opened his mouth to reiterate his question when he noticed the sudden blush washing over both of their faces.

  "You two alright?" He asked with a furrowed brow, either oblivious to or unconsciously ignoring the signs they found him attractive to the point talking seemed to be a foreign concept. The guy with them, who possessed light blonde spiky hair with pale skin and grey eyes rolled at the two as he sighed exasperated and pointed Jonath towards the building across the courtyard left of the fountain facing the amnesic. Jonath peering over his left shoulder through bangs of silver and seeing a robust medium-sized building three stories tall with a small pathway cutting through the area to it.

  "Head in that building and speak with the librarian on the top floor. That's where all the textbooks and documents about Kynerva's history and by extension this city as well is located." The blonde said with a slight nod. Jonath nodding back at him in thankfulness before pivoting off his foot and heading towards said building. A lazy wave of farewell over his left shoulder as he spoke.

  "Alright thanks. Take care." He said.

  "Likewise." The man replied before flicking both girls in the head snapping their trances away as he gestured they hurry up. Suddenly, a rather loud and booming clock tower bell noise rang through the air, no; rang through the entire city catching Jonath's attention immediately and even caused him to stop walking and look up in the distance. His pale eyes narrowing in concern, the ringing of the bell was thundering, its cry booming all the way down to where he was from at the highest point of the city somewhere he
couldn't exactly see from the tall buildings in the distance obstructing his view.

  Ring... Ring... Ring... Ring... the bell tolls away into the night with Jonath looking around to get a hint of whatever this bell going off meant by observing the people around. Students, teachers, civilians, all kinds were quickly clearing the streets almost frantically upon hearing that bell. Jonath clearly confused about what all of this meant, eyes narrowed in thought as he stood out in the open hands idled in pockets and staring up at where that noise had come from... Wait.

  That noise was coming from the far north... That's where the Diurnal District was wasn't it? The memory of Jeremy telling Jonath under no circumstances was he to go anywhere near that district. The same district where the King and Queen of this land as he put it resided. Why'd that bell ring though? Why were these people clearing the streets so fast? Was something bad about to happen? As he looked around he noticed how now there was nobody to be seen outside for as far as the eye could see in the courtyard and even beyond the gates. He should probably get moving too come to think of it, staying out when everyone else had went inside just screamed trouble either with the law or something far more sinister approaching.

  Beep!

  "Huh?" Jonath quipped as his phone had vibrated and pinged in his pocket. Pulling the smart phone out to look at a message from Jeremy that to his surprise, well sarcastic surprise anyway read something like what he'd already assumed himself about what was just going on.