Chapter 2: The Last Peaceful Sleep

I woke up feeling refreshed, and on time I was even a bit earlier than anticipated. I grabbed everything I left out the night before. This included a backpack, about 3 days worth of food, a canteen, a small hatchet, a small compass, matches, some of my books that grandpa gave me, some clothes, blankets, and some maps just in case. With everything I would need in the backpack the only thing left to do was write my parents a goodbye letter. Once I got a piece of paper, and a pen I began to think of how I would say goodbye to my loving family.

Dear,

Mom and Dad.

Thank you for always taking care of me always even though we haven't always seen eye to eye. I am leaving this letter here for I have decided to go through with my dream, I have written this as a way to say both thanks, and goodbye. This letter will be brief because I will have many stories to tell you when I finally return back to Middleton. I know you will still be worried, but I will find some way to get letters back to the both of you in Middleton. Grandpa may have taken about 30 years to complete his dream of selling his goods to every country in the world, but what I will be doing wont take even a fraction of the time. I will be traveling the world just like Grandpa, but I won't stay for as long at each place like grandpa did. Grandpa sometimes stayed years somewhere selling his goods in just one country. Look forward to many exciting stories, and letters.

Thanks again with love,

-Dante Freed

I put my pen down, grabbed my backpack, and quietly snuck out of the door to my house, and into the open air. The sun was just rising above the clouds. I felt the chill of the early morning against my face, and my parents usually woke up an hour from now, so I would need to make a silent, but fast exit from the town. The small town was shaped like a hexagon, and there were only about 100 people living in the entire town including my family. With a fountain in the center of town, and houses on the borders of the town, much of the land was either empty or used for crops/small shops. My house happened to be in a very fortunate spot located right next to the main entrance to the town with no obstacles that would slow me down. It was a 5 minute walk from my house, but the reason I woke up early was not just for my parents, but because I knew it was not that easy to leave town.

The town had no real security, but that was because the town had a guard right at the front entrance, so nobody would sneak in, or out of the town unnoticed. The man guarding the entrance also travelled with grandpa, and although I hadn't spoken to him much I heard he taught Noland much of his fighting techniques. He was 20 years younger than grandpa, but that didn't mean he was young by any means, however if one underestimated him because of old age they would get badly hurt. Grandpa told me many stories of his travels, and told me that the man known as Lodia was his greatest asset on his travels. I took one last look at Nolands house next door which had the words King written on the mailbox, and thanked Noland in his head for supporting his dream. I then proceeded on towards the main entrance where I would have to somehow sneak by the famous, and only guard of the entire town.

He could be seen up ahead in his guard post to the right of the sign that read "Welcome to Middleton" in faded out letters. I had nowhere to hide, no place to sneak by unnoticed hence why I didn't slow down my pace at all I planned to walk right by. Outsiders might call me a madman, but anyone in Middleton knew that while Lodia was famous for being one of the most powerful of his era nowadays he was just lazy. Grandpa said he was lazy back when he was travelling too, but grandpa was also the only one that could make Lodia do anything. I walked by his makeshift guard outpost, but as I expected he was out cold, and was even snoring quite loudly too.

I made my break from the town, and quickly walked by the guard station, but out of the corner of my eye I could have swore I saw Lodia's mouth turn into a smile for a second. I imagine he must be having a pretty good dream, but I just hope he won't get into trouble for letting me walk right out unattended. I quickened my pace down the dirt road for fear that someone would find me, and try to bring me back to Middleton. I would need to get at least a few miles down the dirt road before I could start to properly relax, and examine where my first destination would be. Once I got a few miles down the road I relaxed a bit, took a small drink of water, and walked under the shade of some nearby trees.

I took out my map where there were many already marked locations, and possible routes that I could take to complete them all. The world of Heilged has about 30 different countries all with a different culture, race, and language that made up each place. Within each of these countries lie many different smaller cities, and towns scattered about, which I was currently in the outskirts of Middleton in the country of Swanfri. Swanfri was not a very big country, it was not lawless, but had a pretty free rule, mostly giving different cities, and towns free reign over the rules. Travelling through each of these countries was going to take a very long time. If the journey was done on foot it would be an impossible distance that would take a lifetime minimum. I had to find a reliable means of traveling, but one advantage I had that would make my journey quicker is that I would not be stopping at every new location. The map I brought with me had selected many different routes, and places I was curious about visiting along my journey. These were the places I would stop at, and take a bit of time to explore, gather info, or even sell goods.

Swanfri was a country on the eastern side of the world on the map, and the first place I planned on traveling to was to the north of this country called Swinhal. To do this I had to travel through Swanfri up to the Kandasian Northern Mountains, in which I could through these mountains through a cave system, or by going around these mountains which would be a larger, but safer detour. I decided to take the shorter, but more dangerous route since I have always been good at running away. I think I can manage most of the dangers that I think will be present in a cave system like this. I would have to deal with plenty of places that were even more dangerous, so I figured this would be a good start. It would take me three days to travel to this cave system, and another three days to get to Swinhal assuming I was traveling on foot.

I started walking again once it reached dusk, I planned to stop and sleep. I brought matches, and a blanket, so I could camp outside for tonight. I would need to scan the sides of the dirt road for places that would suffice for a campsite, and tomorrow I would quickly stop at a small town a bit off the path. I would have to buy supplies with some money my parents had been giving me in chores, this money would be enough to buy food/water, and maybe a few other essentials that I would need. After this it would be a nonstop trip to Swinhal which by then hopefully I would have gathered any amount of goods to both trade, and sell in Swinhal's first town of Gimmtin. This would be the first major step on my travels, and if it started off poorly I could find myself turning around in shame.

After walking until it got dark, and drinking most of the canteen I found a spot in the shade that would be perfect for sleeping. I lied down and took out my blanket making sure to cover my legs, and used my backpack as a pillow. This was not at all a comfortable way of sleeping, but I would make due at least for tonight. I wondered what the unmarked town on grandpa's map would bring me. I just hoped it had the supplies I was looking for. Most of the towns I would encounter were not human dwellings. Human towns were very limited, and scattered across different countries, but I knew a lot of languages and understood a lot of different races customs. With thoughts like this my eyes grew heavy, and I decided to try to fall asleep, so I could get a head start on the day tomorrow.