Flash of Light

The carriage navigated through the sea of people. The horses stamped and pulled in random directions, nervous to be around this amount of people. Frey's head spun from place to place while Thomas and Doevm just sat on the cushions, relieved to finally be here. Doevm in particular yawned a lot. 'I felt awake at Scrap City, but now I feel even worse.' He lay himself against the cushions and supported himself on the side of the carriage.

"Doevm look at that," Frey would point to every little thing. "There are people breathing fire over there, fire!" On the side of the street was one man with a bottle of alcohol and a torch. He would get a mouthful and spray a stream into the torch, igniting a breath over a crowd of cheering people.

"Doevm look at this." Frey turned to his companions, the widest grin on his face that Doevm had ever seen. When he saw their unenthusiastic faces, the smile faded, but it didn't wither away. He turned back to the window as if possessed by the amazing sights of the capital, as if he wasn't about to be in the area for four years. His breath fogged up the window, making him annoyedly wipe it away every few seconds. He tried his best to act mature, but Doevm and Thomas knew he was freaking out on the inside from the previous outburst. It was fairly comical to see a hulking behemoth huddled around a little window. Doevm couldn't blame him though, as Frey had spent nearly his entire life inside quiet little Petal Town.

"Doevm," Thomas said. "Why aren't you excited to be here. You haven't been to a city this large in your life, right?"

"No, I haven't," Doevm said. "But I don't get the appeal in gawking at every little thing when I can't go explore on my own. We can go see everything after the tournament. For now, we should rest." Thomas nodded and looked out the window.

"I want to explore as well. To be honest, while I have been here before, I never got the chance to explore on my own. Father never let me out of his sight." He leaned forward. Doevm would have smiled, but he felt something. Not one specific thing, but hundreds of mana signatures. While the city was the base for the knights' academy, it was also the base for the magic academy. He had to seal his mana and be on constant lookout, lest he be dragged away in the middle of the night. Even if he enrolled in the knights' academy, the second he showed magic, he would be dragged out of the classroom.

He pulled out the note that Jameson had given him for his birthday. "Alexander Finlish, I need to find this man." He memorized the name and put the letter away. "Technique, that will be my primary goal. My secondary is how has the use of life essence changed. I have time, four years here to be exact. I have plenty of time." He gazed out the window with the rest. 'While this city is certainly as chaotic as I remember, it is also quieter.'

He scanned his memories from the time he appeared here as Lich, hoping to control that giant arm that held up the city. He succeeded but found no interest in trying to destroy the city which could research mana for him. If they found anything, he would be there. While he hated humans, he had to respect their utter fascination with magic, even if they went about it in such a boring fashion. That was the sole reason this city was still standing.

'Quieter,' Doevm repeated to himself. 'Yes, definitely.' While the amount of homes had increased by building them vertically, the amount of people out at night decreased drastically. In the alleyways, there were more than just a couple of street thugs. More patrols ran along the streets, on their chests, was the symbol of a book. 'Sir Marble,' Doevm nearly ran out of the carriage after them. 'You and your descendants will pay.' He took a deep breath. 'No, what will that do for me? Calm down.' He suppressed the rage, burying it at a little corner of his mind. He took another few breaths.

As the patrols marched around, people gave them space. They weren't exploring for fun or because they were on patrol. Doevm could tell that they were in the middle of a mission. More passed, all with the same determined looks and fast footsteps. People covered their faces and held onto their shirts. 'My first stop after being accepted should be the the black market for information. They can tell me whatever is going on here.'

The carriage rolled on. People making way for them. He heard rumblings, little specs of conversation. He leaned against the wall and put life essence around his ears. Through the walls with his enhanced hearing, he could tell that the cursing was aimed at them, the Virility household to be specific.

"They are the ones making money off this," one said.

"Those elixir makers always thrive off our suffering," Another said. Doevm could only pick up a couple of phrases because the rest were drowned out in noise.

'Why do these people hate us?' Doevm thought. 'The Virility household should be the ones providing these people with elixirs and poisons. Shouldn't they be grateful to us?'

The carriage was finally at on flat ground, but the wheels, which were slightly damaged and lopsided from travel, made them bump every now and again, making the inhabitants sigh. The noises, number of curses, density of housing, and people decreased as they got deeper into the capital. Instead of the uniform rate at which they saw houses, they were at a much more spacious area, where the road was wider and the people weren't as dirty. Inside the glass windows of the painted houses, Doevm saw light crystals embedded into the ceiling, like back at the Virility household.

"Hey," Frey pried his face away from the window. "How come the houses are getting nicer?"

"It's because we are getting closer to the inner circle of the city," Thomas replied. "The houses get nicer the closer we get to the castle. Right now we should be at the middle district. "These people are not quite commoners, but not quite nobles. They are rich commoners to be precise. Mostly they consist of merchants or right-hand men to nobles, or people who have accumulated wealth their entire life.

While the number of people had decreased, that didn't mean they didn't have any more difficulties. They had to weave their way through, going in a circle around the castle. "So where are we going?" Frey asked. "That arm doesn't seem to be getting closer. Why are we circling around it?"

"Because," Doevm said. "Our destination isn't inside this mountain, but the one behind it."

"One behind it?" Frey asked. "Does that mean there are more than one mountain like this? Don't tell me this entire mountain range is…"

"No, just three," Doevm held up three fingers. "One for the capital, one for the knights' academy, and the last one for the magic academy. We need to head to the one at the back, eventually ending up at the colosseum, where we will participate in a tournament to join the knights' academy."

Frey sighed and sat on the cushion. "Didn't we already prove ourselves by getting to be captains? Why do we need to prove ourselves again? I feel bad for whoever we are going to beat."

"It won't be that easy," Doevm said. "They worked hard as well. Everyone, even the nobles, had to earn their place, although most of the nobles used their wealth. What we will be doing, is fighting commoners for our place in the academy, all of which either participated in the war or did something else noteworthy to earn an invitation."

Frey sat up. "Then we will be expecting a fight."

"Yes," Doevm smiled. "We can finally test our moves against people our age and strength." He looked at the far end of the mountain, a slight smile forming on his face. "Finally, we can fight properly. I'm sure it will be fun." He blinked and saw a flash of light.

'That's odd.' He glanced at the other two, who were acting as if they saw nothing. Doevm blinked and saw another flash of light. It was if he caught a faint ending of it. He rubbed his eyes. 'I'm sure it's nothing.'

Author's Note: Please read this on Webnovel. I have found that this book is posted on other sites and has received a lot more views on those sites than on Webnovel. My chapters are free on the platform.