Prologue

There is more than what has been told to us.

This is a sentence that I've been saying to myself for as long as I've known.

I don't exactly remember when I started thinking this way. Was it the day that I learn what words spoken to me really meant, or the day I learn how to talk?

Perhaps was it before that? I could go as far as saying that it was from the day I was born.

The mind works in strange ways, once an idea has been implemented in it, it grows slowly and slowly until it becomes more than just a measly idea. Yet we do not exactly remember when the idea was given to us or how exactly it latched on to us.

It was the same for me. The idea that there was another world out there, more beautiful than the one we lived in right now was fascinating to me.

I didn't think about it that much, but it grew. The more time went by, the more I became obsess with it. Until eventually I was convinced of it. That such a world was out there.

How could I not? This fable world, was to me a million times better than my home town.

My home town, which simply goes by the simple name Harvio, was located in 2nd level of the underground city Subterria. We belonged to the farmers district, in charge of harvesting crops and distributing them out to the other levels.

Our population is only by the 100s although, I remember father telling me a while back that there were only 489 of us, I think the number has increase a little more since then.

Though still few in number compared to the district in level one, I still think it is crowded. We were living in an underground labyrinth after all so there's only enough space that we can use. Compared to the open field situated in the middle of the town which was huge, the rest of the town was close and tight. There were networks of Tunnels that were used to go from one place to another but they were small and often crowded filled with commuters who went about their daily lives.

The chances of one scraping against the wall made of earth and bumping into other people was high to the point that it was guaranteed to happen if one was not mindful of their surroundings.

There was also the fact that the rooms each family lived in was too small, barely enough for a family of three and hard to live in for more than that. There was one small open space surrounded by a wall of the same earth and it fell like a cage more than a home. In fact, this whole town fell like a cage to me.

Such pitiful living conditions if you told me. The other big open space was the market situated in the south from the town centre. My home was in the north so it would take me around 1hour to reach there, so going there was always too much work and not to forget tiring. Also there was also the fact that the market unfortunately wasn't as big as the open field in the middle.

The open field, where crops were grown and harvested by the farmers, was a huge place. Enough for me to run from one side to the other freely without any concern of human obstruction or a barren wall made of earth.

Compared to the open field, the market was only one fourth size of it. The field was 30 feet high and 400 feet long. It was bright there from the light that was radiating from the ceiling. It wasn't too hot nor too cold, just at the ideal temperature for crops to grow. There were 5 tunnels connected to the open field and they all spread out in different directions.

One to the north where I lived, one towards the market, one towards the storage facility in the east, another that led to the stairs that went down to the 1st level and the last which led to the 3rd level.

I considered the open field to be my most favourite place. As a kid, I'd follow my father there every day. I'd often give him the excuse that I wanted to watch him farm so I could learn and become an excellent farmer one day, but that was far from the truth.

Being a farmer like my parents often sounded boring to me. I wasn't interested in that. I was only interested in the idea of being able to run freely, and let the cool air caressed my face softly and to let my bare feet feel the moist field. Of being able to let that light above that the elders called the sun to cast its warm bright rays on me.

It was amazing to me, it was almost like, I was free. Even the market as big as it was too often crowded and filled with stalls. But this field, though there were crops everywhere, was the ideal place for me.

My father, a very strict man who was around his 30s, taller than the average farmer, had blonde hair and blue eyes that had circles around them. He was still young considering the fact that he was around his 30s, yet he had wrinkles all over his face. He often looked tired like he wanted to sleep and I guess one would be like that if you were to work in the field the whole day, every day without rest.

He'd often tell me how happy he was that I was always with him during his working hours. To him, he thinks that I was there to learn but like I was far from the truth. Although I dared not tell him, because if I would then he'd only look at me with disappointed eyes and give me a lecture until my legs felt like jelly when he was done. Unfortunately, I had learned this the hard way when I was younger. My mother on the other hand, was the opposite.

She had long dark hair, was slender and eyes that sparkle with a brown colour. She knew the truth, even without me telling her. She knew that I was disinterested in the whole farming thing and that I only followed them so I could play, after all that was the only thing, I'd do the moment they lay their eyes off me.

For some reason however, she didn't tell father about it. Perhaps it may be because she knew doing such a thing would only stress him out more and end up troubling the both of us. My mother was smart, she was beautiful too so I'd often wondered how my father married a woman like her. Though upon closer inspection, if I was to imagine my father without the wrinkles and the dark circles, I could see that he was probably a good-looking guy.

I did get most of his features being his son and all, but the only difference was my darker blonde hair. I had his blue eyes too, but I tended to look more like my mom in facial features. Because of that I was often said to be more feminine in looks according to my friends whom I'd gladly punch them on the head when they say that.

My father, would often tell me about how his father and his grandfather would work tirelessly just for us to get a much bigger room and so we would never go a day without food on the table like a few unfortunate others that lived here. Because of this, he wanted me to work hard too so I'd be able to support my own family when the time comes.

My mother, would tell him not to say such things to a kid. She'd then tell me that I was free, to do whatever I wanted to, and to be whomever I want to be. Although the choice of occupation was not in abundance since the only thing you could become here was either a farmer, a discipline guard or a trader an neither of them resonated with me. Still, she'd smile like she always did and she'd tell me.

"though there's not much we can offer you, I just want you to know, you're still free to choose."

To be whomever I want to be – what a fun idea I thought.

But it wasn't possible no. – to do whatever you want to do – even that was out of the question.

In Subterria we were bound. Bound by rules that when broken would result in grave consequences. We were allowed to do whatever, as long as we contributed to the community, as long as we discipline, as long as we followed the rules.

To me, that was something, that didn't feel like freedom.

Like a bird, that was trap inside a huge cage, allowed to fly freely, yet not allowed to go out and truly fly where ever it desired without any walls of obstruction.

To be truly free.

Yet, we were still bound to that cage. Trap here, forced to follow the same daily routine. We smiled and laugh and talked, yet one look and you could tell. Inside we were lifeless.

The thought of being truly free was far away from me. That was until the day an old man with dirty long white unkept hair, a hunch back and a dirty beard who was blind told us of a certain story.

The story of how, he discovered uncharted places outside the city. How the world was much bigger than what we were told.

"I believe it because I have seen it, with my very eyes, that beyond our city there is so much more. That out there is vast land, warm and bright. The land stretch for miles and miles which seem like no end. There was fresh water that flowed regularly, fertile land where any crop would grow, a steady cool wind that felt like serenity and above it all was a blue stretch of sheet like substance called the sky. A sky, that during a certain time, would be filled with glimmering sparkling little lights, called the stars and they were in the millions. Beautiful and amazing there is such a world out there."

The first time I had heard this, I was in awe. I couldn't even imagine such a place. The moment I heard it, I wanted to see, with my own eyes, of such a place.

The other town folks, including my father however, only thought of this as the ramblings of an old delusional man whose brain must've stopped working a long time ago, because the elders refused the existence of such a place and said that the truth was

"the gods created this place for us a long time ago, created the sun to grow our crops, created the springs for us to drink water from and created the city where humans would live and thrive and that beyond this city is a never ending darkness where life cease existence."

I didn't believe either, because truth is something, which can only be seen by own eyes and I wanted to see for myself what the truth really was. But still, I had hope, deep in my heart I had hope that a world of beauty really did exist out there.

What truly fascinated me however, were the stars.

Small, twinkling, bright lights which seemed to be in the millions and upon millions. I yearned, to see them.

So, from the day the idea grew in my head, that there was much, much more out there, I made a conviction as I strengthen my heart, I made a promise with determination and absolute resolution, a promise that I Aexial, Son of Miria and Samuel, would make it my mission, to go to this fable land.

A fable land where I can be truly free.

A land filled with stars.