Chapter Four: Nothing Better Than A Friend

  Not five minutes passed before a knocking arose from the door. Groaning, Elijah stood up and opened the door, his mind spinning. Standing outside was the strangest thing he had ever seen. That is, he was sure it was a who, not a what, but he’d never seen a who like this before; the closest thing to it from his world was a furry.

  The creature was a wolf, he thought, but with the form of a man. Its—a male, Elijah assumed—snout was curled up in what looked like a frown but on second glance, he could tell it was a smile. It was clothed in armor covering its chest and legs, and it was holding a spear; there was also a sword sheathed on a belt holding his pants up.

  An Ulfúr, Guide Amanda whispered in his ear. They hail from Sueerlands. This one is Einar. He is a soldier in our army, level 15. Him and I—or you, I guess—go way back. He came here at a young age with his family and he’s been here ever since. He’s one of the few people I ever allowed to use my name. Of course, he still used the title in public.

  “Amanda, your highness,” the Ulfúr smiled. “You wished to see the new district?”

  “I did?” Elijah asked. What the hell is going on, Amanda?

  There was a new district built here in Advantia. I asked for Einar to give me a tour, and he agreed. That was supposed to happen today. You should go. It’ll provide a way for you to see the city.

  “Oh, yeah, I did!” Elijah exclaimed with fake excitement. “Thank you for the invitation.”

  “Wasn’t my idea, but who am I to refuse the princess?” Einar teased, his voice tilting and with a strange accent.

  Smiling, he took Elijah’s hand, and led her down the staircase.

  Can I get the relationship status on Einar, please?

  The glowing box appeared again, but this time it was a crimson blood color with the name Einar at the top. The love slide was at 96.

  I think he has a small crush on you, Amanda, his Guide chuckled.

  The trust slide was also at 96. The authority slide, though, was only on 65.

  You’ve been best friends since you were six, Guide Amanda said. He’s never really seen you as an authority figure; to him, you’re just a good friend.

  How old is he?

  Seventeen.

  Soon, the hallways became foreign to Elijah again as they forked from the passage to the grand dining room. They began to descend slowly, sometimes going down ramps, sometimes stairs. Eventually, they reached a massive empty room, colored in gold and brown. The lights at the top hung low, emitting only a little light, the rest of it coming from the windows, giving the room an unearthly coloration. Elijah tried not to gape but still felt his jaw drop. He could fit his entire house in Oklahoma in this room.

  Welcome to the ballroom, where all balls happen and where the Lords and ladies come for special events. It’s a pretty big place, but it doesn’t feel that way when you have hundreds of people inside.

  Einar laughed at Elijah’s open mouth.

  “What’s the matter?”

  Elijah stuttered. “Um, I just forgot how wonderful this place was. What with all the balls, it just seems so open now.”

  “It does that,” Einar agreed. “Of course, I don’t really come here often.” He flushed under Elijah’s questioning gaze and pulled him farther into the room.

  Einar isn’t part of the nobility. Unless I invite him to a ball or he’s on guard duty during one, he’s not allowed to come.

  Finally, they reached the double doors at the end of the room. Einar creaked it open, and the sunlight streamed onto Elijah’s face immediately as he stared at his first view of Advantia.

  It looked like a city straight out of a fantasy novel. In a ring around the palace, there were many other small palaces, houses too large to accommodate one family, but too small to be called a castle. Past the palaces, there were three similar rings of big marble houses. Whoever lived there must be rich, but Elijah assumed they weren’t nobility like the people who lived in the palaces.

  Looking past the three rings, he realized the city became…not disorganized, for it still looked perfect, but less organized than the inner part. The houses were spread almost randomly, and the city stretched for miles, so long that Elijah couldn’t see the end. As far as he could see, the houses varied in quality and size but each still had a unique flair. Inside the city, there were hundreds of men, women, and creatures he did not recognize milling around on their daily business. Here and there, he saw breaks to the rows of houses where he assumed there were plazas or markets.

  Elijah had never seen a city like this. It wasn’t really a metropolis, but it was still massive.

  Where’s the new district? He asked his Guide.

  Oh, you can’t see it from here. It’s a few miles forward. You will take your horses there. The stable is on the other side of the castle, so you should probably head over there now.

  Elijah smiled and took the lead, tugging Einar towards the back of the palace. As they circled around, Elijah could see that the rest of the city was exactly like the part he had seen. It was uniform while disjointed, organized in its disorganization. It really was a wonderful place, and he couldn’t believe he would own it one day.

  The stables were to the left side of the back of the palace, and there were almost twenty horses there, each looking strong and tough. Elijah had never seen a horse before, but he was sure these were better stock than normal.

  “Will you be taking Diamond?” A man asked from the stables. Elijah assumed he worked here, and he wondered how much the man was paid for the job.

  Oh, he’s paid more than enough, I bet. Last stableboy we had was able to live in the Second District.

  You do know I have no idea what that means, right?

  Of course, that’s why I talk about it.

  Aren’t you supposed to be guiding me?

  Guide Amanda scoffed and shut up.

  The stableboy brought out a horse who Elijah assumed was Diamond, a beautiful brown mare with a docile look about her.

  How do I get on? He asked.

  You’ve never gotten on a horse? His Guide asked, astonished. That is not good, not good at all. Hopefully, you’re a natural at this. Losing your levels was bad enough, but if you start losing your natural skills too, then we’re in major trouble. Well, you’re in major trouble; I’m just a disjointed voice.

  Thanks for the optimism. Elijah cringed as he walked up to the horse.

  “Please don’t throw me off, Diamond,” he whispered to the horse, who whinnied at him. Elijah was shocked to find that the whinny sounded encouraging.

  “Do you understand me?” Elijah asked, and the horse neighed, bucking its head.

  Hey, I think it understands me!

  Don’t be stupid. Get on the horse.

  Rolling his eyes, Elijah put his foot on one stirrup and raised himself, swinging his leg over like the movies had taught him. With a grunt, he heaved himself over the horse’s back, and was pleasantly surprised to find himself riding the horse.

  A case of literary theft: this tale is not rightfully on Amazon; if you see it, report the violation.

  This wasn’t too hard.

  Those were my great-uncle’s last words.

  Shut up.

  With a gentle nudge from his foot, the horse began to move, and Elijah was sent awkwardly jumping up and down from its movements. Einar laughed, riding his own horse as he saw Elijah’s plight.

  “Come on, Amanda,” he told her. “I know Thomas is coming over, so we need to be quick.”

  “Please follow Einar,” Elijah whispered. “Please.”

  Obediently, Diamond went after Einar who was already leaving the gate and heading in the direction of the other smaller palaces.

  See? It does understand me!

  Stop deluding yourself, it’s a horse. You see an Ulfúr for the first time, and suddenly all animals can talk.

  No, I’m serious! It listens!

  Sure it does, the Guide laughed.

  As they reached the palaces, the Guide finally elected to explain the city to him.

  The city, as you know, is split into districts. The first two districts are the rings you saw around the city. We are passing through the first district now, which is where the Advantia nobility lives.

  Elijah was strangely excited to see the Advantian nobility: in his mind, they would behave and look like the lords and ladies of the greatest fantasy novels. To his immense disappointment, he was not able to see any of the nobility.

  Do they just stay in their houses all day?

  A little, Guide Amanda admits, But being a Lord is harder than it sounds. It’s a constant political struggle to maintain your place in society, and most of that time is spent either delegating things from their own house or at another noble’s house.

  The houses—if Elijah could even call them that—were even bigger than he’d thought they were from the palace, and some even had gardens, beautiful structures with arches, decorated with flowers and bushes, and a multitude of decorations.

  They passed by the first district too quickly, heading immediately to the second one, which, while still large, was a little less grand than the first district. The houses were more beautiful, though, as the ones who lived here were the rich. Many of the homes were furnished with jewels or diamonds even on the outside, something Elijah did not expect to like but was pleasantly surprised by.

  The rich that live here mostly came by their riches through honest means, the others having their wealth passed down by their parents.

  There were no gardens in this second district, but each house seemed distinct yet similar. They each had the same texture and atmosphere but each had its quirks. Without a close inspection, Elijah had a hard time identifying the quirks, but they were there.

  The second district passed by way too quickly as well, and they rode on, heading towards the others.

  While the first two districts are made to surround the palace, the crown jewel of Advantia, the others do not. Part of this is because the city does not expand circularly, and so the newer districts and establishments could not be fixed around the palace. The other reason is that the other districts—the normal citizens—like to have a unified feel to all their houses, not just those in their districts. And so, because of this, while districts are still needed, it is more of a formality than anything, used mostly for administration and ruling.

  I think I understand, Elijah told his guide.

  The more he passed through the city, the more he understood what Amanda was saying: each district did feel the same. He and Einar passed through districts three, seven, eight, and ten as they headed towards the new one, district fifteen, and each of those had the same-looking houses and inns. But there was one thing he noticed about all of the districts: they were all homely. Each of the homes seemed a nice place to inhabit, and he almost felt envious of those who lived there.

  The only district that was set apart from the rest was district six. While he only saw it from a distance, he could still tell it had a sort of dark and moody feel to it.

  The Karthans’ District. They have sorcery, and they’re mostly men for hire, if you can call them men. You’ll meet some soon, and some of them are nice enough, but I’ve only ever had respect for their craft.

  Magic exists here? Elijah gaped. That’s so cool!

  Don’t get too excited, Amanda replied. Sorcery is not what you think it is.

  What do you mean?

  I’m sure you’ll figure it out soon enough, his Guide said ominously.

  “Here we are,” Einar told Elijah as they entered through a dark archway. “Welcome to district fifteen, your majesty.”

  From the outside of the archway, Elijah couldn’t see anything of the district, a strange darkness inside the arch, and a wall outside it. But once he entered the district, Elijah’s eyes widened.

  This part of the city was unlike anything he’d ever seen in his life. Surreal, astounding, incomprehensible. District fifteen was magical, and Elijah was sure that was literal.

  Normal from the sky down, the city quickly changed once you looked up. District Fifteen seemed to be in the sky too, as if the creator had put a mirror somewhere in the sky to create an illusion. While the architecture was the same as the rest of the districts, it was much more colorful, neon pinks, greens, yellows, reds, and blacks warred for dominance in the city creating a kaleidoscope that somehow didn’t hurt Elijah’s eyes, instead aweing him. The second part of the district hanging in the air only added to the strange yet delightful nature of this impossible feat.

  Queen Evangeline wanted to do this sky city design throughout all of the city of Advantia, but we were able to convince her not to. Something like this is special if done in a small district. An entire city of this would be a headache.

  “How does this work?” Elijah asked Einar.

  “Over there is the Tube,” Einar told her. “Follow me. I can take you to the Sky District.”

  Earth District is the bottom half, and the Sky District is the top half, Amanda explained. Amazing, right?

  Einar and Elijah rode over to five big transparent circular tubes—hence its name!—that led straight up to the Sky District. Inside of the tubes were hamster exercise balls—at least, that was what they looked like— and as he watched, one of them shot up into the air. Halfway through, the ball flipped, and instead of rising, began to fall in the air somehow. It was still rising to Elijah’s sight, but at the same time, it was obvious the directory wasn’t an upwards one. He felt like his eyes were playing a trick on him, but he couldn’t deny what he was seeing.

  “How is this possible?” He asked.

  Einar narrowed his eyes at him. “Didn’t you help design the blueprints for the city?”

  Stupid, stupid, stupid! Elijah whispered in his head. Why didn’t you help me? You’re supposed to be my Guide.

  How was I supposed to know you would say something so dumb out loud? Amanda sniggered.

  Because you read my damn thoughts! Elijah roared in his head; or, at least, he tried to roar, but he quickly figured out that he couldn’t really scream in his mind, and he just ended up looking like he needed to take a crap, which only made Amanda chuckle harder.

  Your mom—and no, this is not a joke—found an anti-gravity artifact that she was able to replicate. So, she used one of the artifacts to create this district. Now, find a way to get his suspicion away from you. You’re already messing up, and you haven’t even been here for five hours yet.

  “Um, of course I know how this works!” Elijah chuckled wryly. “It’s powered by the, um—.” What’s it called?

  Ter’gaithin.

  “The Ter’saithis,” Elijah screeched. “And so, the city flips and there’s another city.”

  “Don’t you mean the Ter’gaithin?”

  “Of course. I was testing you to see if you truly knew how this worked. I can’t have my soldiers unprepared for what they might have to face in this district.”

  “I won’t have to work in this district,” The Ulfúr told him, baring his teeth oddly. “Are you feeling alright, your majesty?”

  “I’m feeling fine, but you’re changing the subject!”

  “I am not,” Einar huffed. “Your majesty, I think you must see a hospital.”

  Elijah sighed. “I am sorry, Einar, I just didn’t sleep well last night. I had a bad dream.”

  “Of what?” the animal asked. “It must’ve been a very strong one to rattle you like this.”

  Tell him you had a dream of a Karthan chasing you around District Fifteen and manipulating it. He’s scared of those guys.

  “I don’t remember it clearly,” Elijah said. “But I know a Karthan was chasing me, through the Sky and Earth districts. And then he would wave his hands and the city began to change. He was manipulating the Ter’gaithin somehow. I think I died in the dream.”

  Einar’s face turned from suspicion to sadness, and he gripped her shoulders. “Your majesty, Amanda, you know I would protect you from anything of that sort.”

  “I know. I just need a little time to myself,” Elijah responded. “Can you lead me back to the palace?”

  “You can’t get there alone?” The Ulfúr asked.

  Don’t mess this up, his Guide warned him.

  “Of course I can. I just want your company," he said.

  I can’t believe it, Guide Amanda gasped.

  What? What did I do this time?

  The right thing. I can’t believe you said the right thing for once!

  Elijah rolled his eyes metaphorically. Am I really that brainless?

  Yes.

  “Your majesty, I would be honored to lead you back. We shall visit district fifteen another time.”

  “I’d love to,” Elijah forced another smile.