1 River City

12 years later.

The sun is high up in the sky. Masses made out of people walk on the streets. ''One bronze copper for my tomatoes!'' one screams. ''Twenty bronze coppers for this wooden sword!'' another screams. It's busy on the streets. Especially in the lower districts, where the poor and greedy gather.

And between all these different kinds of people, two persons are walking to a shop. ''Hello esteemed guests, what can i...''. The shop owner looks to the two faces and his face turns from polite to anger. '' I already told you, he cannot work for me!'' the shop owner says. ''I already have an assistant.''. The taller man walks up to the shop owner. ''Esteemed sir, my son is a quick learner. He already knows how to read and he will work for just 1 silver coin a day.''the tall adult says. The shop owner looks sceptical. ''Can he really read?'' the owner asks. ''He can indeed, esteemed owner.'' the father says hopeful. ''Wait here for me.'' the owner says and he walks to the back of his shop.

The tall man has brown eyes and black hair that rests on his shoulders. He has an unshaven beard and looks like he's in his forties. He has a wide torso and his clothes are a bit dirty. At his waist he carries a sword. The shop owner returns with a book in his hand and looks at the boy next to the man. The boy has grey eyes, small nose and a small mouth. The boy stares curiously at the book in the owner's hand. ''Boy, if you can read a bit from this book you will join my shop as a errand boy.'' the owner then opens the book and put it in front of the boy.

The boy looks at the book for a bit and then starts reading from it. ''In the year 205, King Astan created the city of Astana next to the river Alton. After years of civil war, king Astan lost his life. His son Remiel eventually pushed the Dynasty out of the region and made Astana the capital, hereby creating the kingdom of Alton.''.

The shop owner appears impressed by the boy. ''You are quite the reader, boy. What is your name ?''. The boy answers:'' Atlas, sir.''. ''And how old are you?'' asks the owner. ''12 years old, sir.''. The owner nods. ''Very well, Guard Morgan. Your son has to be here every day at 10 in the morning. Caleb will then assign the work Atlas needs to do. He earns one silver coin a day. If he doesn't work hard, i will kick him out.'' the shop owner warned. ''Yes, I will make sure that Atlas doesn't dissappoint you, sir.'' Morgan said. ''Very well Atlas, I will see you tomorrow.'' Atlas nodded and said his goodbyes.

Morgan and Atlas left the shop and started walking towards the western district. The city Atlas lives in is called River City. It is one of the smaller cities in the state of Bell. The Bell State is one of 6 states in the kingdom of Alton. The kingdom of Alton is a few hunderd years old and was founded by King Remiel the Progenitor. The kingdom of Alton itself is part of the Western Continent. Atlas always asks his father about the outside world. Guard Morgan himself used to serve in the army. But after he met his now wife Natalie, he decided to settle down. River City was in need of guards and Morgan decided to join them.

''Atlas, you need to impress the shop owner. He is a learned scholar and can help you learn a lot about writing and reading. Only if you are good enough can you take the city examination.''. Morgan wants Atlas to take the exam, so he can work for the city administration or even higher. That would give Atlas a good future.'' I know father. I will do my best.'' said Atlas. Atlas wasn't that interested in the examination. He preferred to earn a lot of money and travel the world instead of being stuck in this city.

Atlas and his father arrived at a small house in the western district. River City has six districts, the western, northern, southern, eastern, inner and central district. The western district contains a lot of houses for the lower to middle class of the population. The southern district contains the market, where the shopowner keeps shop. The northern district contains only middle class earners. Traders and the like set up their beautiful homes there. The eastern district contains the slums and overall the poorest of the city. The inner district consits of the high earners. The richest merchants and the highest ranked defenders of the city. The central district only allows aristocrats in.

After Atlas laid on his bed, he looked at the ceiling of his room. He was thinking about his life. His parents told him at a young age that they weren't his real parents. Although he wasn't their real son they treated him like that. Morgan and Natalie couldn't conceive. But one night they found him next to a lake. They took him with them but Atlas always got the feeling that the world outside was where he wanted and needed to be. 'No point in thinking about that now.' Atlas thought. He then quickly fell asleep.

The next morning. Atlas rose up from his bed and looked through his window. His room was quiet small, but Atlas was glad to even have a room. The only thing that was in his room was his bed. While looking through the window, Atlas could see the people going to work. 'I need to hurry up.' he thought. After washing himself, he threw on some clothes and walked downstairs. He found that his father was already gone and that his mother made him some bread. Atlas took the bread and walked out of the house.

After walking for quiet a while Atlas arrived at the store. He walked up to an unknown young man and asked: ''Hello I'm Atlas, are you Caleb?''. The young man looked at him and said indifferently: "Rearrange the books on the counter. After that clean the shop.''. Atlas started with working and while he rearranged the books, he started to read some of them. Books like ''The advent of the Alton Kingdom'', ''History of the royal Astana family'' and ''Geography of the Western continent''. Immersed in the books, Atlas didn't realize that the shop owner was standing a small distance away from him. ''ehem''. Atlas looked up. Embarrassed, Atlas put the book back and said: '' I'm sorry, Sir.''.

''Don't worry about it, kid. You can read these books as long as you don't damage them. Oh and don't read during working times.'' the owner said. Atlas nodded and went back to work.