Inner City Entry

In the Skuph, Outer City Guard barracks

An emergency briefing was underway for an hour in the office of the city guard barracks. The topic of mission debriefing was an infamous criminal Soothsayer who had snuck into the Skuph a few days ago. As the norms of this 'strong eat weak' world state, as long as the individual pays entry fees, City guards would just turn a blind eye to any tags attached to a man's reputation unless he was an active criminal of the Empire. 

"It is imperative to find him as soon as possible because Aukhy Auburn…as per the latest Intel, has sneaked inside the inner city. As you know the outer city is one thing but the inner city can't have these types of Soothsayers enter without staunch permission from inside. 

One of the slum informers allegedly revealed this information to the Outer City patrolling guard this morning. According to him, he used some bewildering method to cross the walls and snuck inside. By rules, He should be dealt with as soon as possible but…. 

As the only Soothsayers of Outer City guard, we are unable to deal with such a powerful Soothsayer on our own. Also, we can't raise an alarm because despite his infamous reputation he hadn't done anything illegal or harmful to the Empire….yet. 

And If we raise alarms it would ruin Skuph's reputation in the underworld and then those big shots of the inner city who deal in the underworld would have us die in our sleep. 

But there is also the possibility of creating an even bigger problem by ignoring this matter completely. What if he has some nefarious intention for sneaking inside like some assassination plot? 

Or Worse, he might end up offending some noble or heaven forbid, some royalty inside the city. Then I… we can't say anything about his imminent fate but our heads will surely roll down next morning at the public square. 

Now stuck between hard choices we are obliged to choose the most safe option available. We should see that inner city security and even shadow guards get to know about him.

For this purpose, one of us would enter the inner city to inform them personally. So that they could keep an eye on him from shadows and prevent any mishappenings. It will also consider this matter off our hands."

A bored teen read off the meeting points in a concise manner which had just concluded between city guards Soothsayers. There was an air of awkwardness all around the room. The leader of guards, an old man coughed loudly, 

"Yane'r no need to include the whole thing, you just have to write the main points raised and the solution decided in the end after discussion. In writing an official meeting report, one shouldn't write up every single thing said like what we think or what might happen. Go ask Old Yen for more pointers later."

May, who was the second strongest as well as second oldest among the group, secretly rolled his eyes. He whispered under his breath just loud enough to let other juniors hear him in the back, 

"This old geezer still thinks that he can train his dumb son to be a secretary of some random official in the Inner city."

Amid muffled laughs, which the leader ignored graciously. He turned towards the sitting group of five Soothsayers pointing towards the youngest one, 

"Alex, you would be going in. After all, such matters should be handled by the youngest Soothsayer among us."

Twenty-four-year-old Alex stood up and bowed slightly as he exited the building without a word. There was not much surprise on his part as he had already been personally asked by the old leader before. Old man might be a corrupt, selfish and greedy bastard but at least he looks out for him owing to his young age. 

"I should be fast, as the Old leader said. Maybe there could be a chance to impress someone from the inner city guard, which could make me transfer inside. Hah, one could only dream… "

May looked quietly as Alex walked out of the office along with all the others until only two of them remained in the building. Only then did he turn towards the old man, who found him staring and chided him softly, 

"What? Don't tell me you want to go by yourself or send someone from your group in there?"

May smiled harmlessly, "No, no. I have no problem with the old leader's decision."

"At Least you seem to know reality. We all are old… "

May, who was in his late middle age, frowned and interrupted abruptly, "You are old, not us… "

"Hahah.. I mean we are old and familiar with our positions here as outer city guards. Also, we are aware and accepting of the harsh truth that we are nothing more than dogs in front of those in the inner city. It is the position we are OK with, as there is no ambition left in our blood after seeing the horrors of societal hierarchy. 

We are okay reigning here in outer slums and being satisfied with whatever we can embellish from the outskirts. We… "

"We… Are already Rotten. I understand old man, you need not lecture us again and again. "

May stood up as he waved his hand to him while exiting the building. His voice floated from outside as he walked away to his Quarters. 

"Alex is young, he joined us just three years ago from nowhere. He is not one of us… Nor should we try to stagnate him here if we could help it. That's why you sent him. 

But it is all for nought. As you said, we are all dogs in front of the inner city. Even if he has achieved so much power at such a young age, I don't think other than luck, there is any chance of him finding destiny there. 

He will be back with a crushed spirit similar to ours after finding the attitude of those inner city officials towards us."

The old man didn't respond for a while and then slowly closed his eyes as he leaned back on his chair for a rest, 

"I know… Yet luck is a mysterious thing. It chooses people to support whom we least expect to succeed. All we can do is….give him a chance. "

Soft snoring could be heard in the office as the old man drowned in his afternoon sleep. 

At the inner city gates, Alex raised his hands to provide his identification at the checkpoint. The guard at the checkpoint was astonished by the presence of youth. He was not exactly handsome, still messy brown hair with green eyes complemented his well-sculpted facial features, giving him an easy-to-eye feeling.

Though he felt a little disdain upon seeing the outer city symbol on his card, he remained somewhat polite. 

"Outer City? You know that you guys aren't allowed inside right?"

Alex nodded silently, noticing but not reacting to the slight disdain in the eyes of the guard. The guard here wasn't even a Soothsayer, just a common soldier, but he dared to do that because Outer City people were not natives of Skuph City. Including Outer City Soothsayers, all people living in the outer city were either people who had come from other places to earn a living or some people who were expelled from inside. 

And in both cases, there was no need for these natives to give any respect even if the other was a Soothsayer. There was no rule stating that they could do this to well-reputed and more powerful Soothsayers but citizens of Skuph were like this. The superiority of being natives of the capital of the Empire has been ingrained in their souls since birth which triumphed even over the fact that the person in front of them could crush them just with a thought. 

Alex ignored his comment as advised by the old leader. He simply replied in a soft voice, 

"On official matters. I have something to report to the inner city barracks….." Before the guard could say something, Alex hurriedly concluded his sentence, 

"… Personally. And it is an emergency. I hope you give me the way as soon as possible."

The guard looked unimpressed as all impressions of his handsome features vanished from his mind. He was about to retort annoyedly when city-wide rumours of some Noble's strict orders of not withholding any potential information from a few days back, came into his mind suddenly. 

"It's an emergency, you say. Go right inside. But remember you have to first report to shadow guards before City Barracks for any emergency information."

Alex, who was prepared to be refused, held back his hand which was about to move out from his pocket holding a few gold coins. 

'Huh? He agreed. But this isn't what the old leader said would happen at the inspection gate. Wouldn't he agree only if bribed with gold?'

Throwing his thoughts in the back of his mind, Alex hurriedly entered inside thanking his stars for saving his few gold coins and was welcomed by the grand city that was rightfully called the Everdawn Capital. The city was bustling with activity and the infrastructure was top-notch as compared to the outer city, in fact, there wasn't even a comparison between the two.

There was a smile yet no smile on the face of Alex as he whispered to himself,

"So I am once again back in this city… "