After a long time of walking up the coiling road of dirt, it finally changed into a marble of white stone that would look magnificent for anyone else, yet for Bari, it was distasteful. The amount of light these things refracted would be astonishing if it didn't drive his eyes mad.
Cursing under his breath, Bari's closed eyes focused on the path ahead as he took a closer look at the staircase made of marble that eventually led to the Bright Castle's gates.
Up and close, the Castle looked… the same. He had wondered if it would look better in person, and yet it looked exactly the same.
Built from the same pristine marble as the arch at the base of the hill, its walls stretched into the sky like a white mountain made by human hands. The frontmost tower was wide and imposing, with a tall decorated gate and a grandiose staircase leading down from it to a vast stone platform that the road ended with.
As they finally got closer, the guards situated atop the gates waved behind themselves, and the gate slowly opened with an audible creak.
"Welcome to the Bright Castle, the only safe haven within the forgotten shore." Judith extravagantly spoke as he bowed and mimicked what Bari assumed to be a butler.
Smiling at Judith's eccentric behaviour, Bari looked at the entrance and asked, "Soo… is there any procedure a new sleeper has to do before entering or?"
"Of course, like I first told you, you have to enlist your aspect and specialties. But it's okay, it's only previewed by the Bright Lord and his five lieutenants. Your aspect is anyway, your flaw is your decision to give." Judith spoke with a finger raised in the air and an all-knowing smile and tone.
Bari just listened as Judith started to walk towards the small building alongside the entrance gates. It was a weathered two-story building of pale stone and timber, its steep roof sagging slightly with age. A deep overhang shaded the front, where a wide service window sat at chest height, dreamed in dark wood and barred with iron. Besides the service window, sat a small bell that his eyes deemed to be a memory.
"What's this building for?" Bari asked as they approached what seemed to be the service area.
"This is the sign-in building; it doesn't really possess an official name. All sleepers who enter and exit the Bright Castle must record the time and date at which they either left or entered." Judith spoke with that knowing tone while, once again, lifting his finger in the air.
Bari didn't know if it was a tick or something he just did to irritate people, but he found it amusing.
"But this is also where new sleepers sign in for the very first time." A different voice spoke out. And when Judith turned around, with an annoyed expression, Bari was able to see a woman with blond hair and blue eyes staring at Judith with a smug smile on her face.
"Why do you always ruin my moments, Jess? Can't you leave a guy with a little fun?" Judith spoke with a twitch of his eyebrows.
"It's exactly because you're hogging all the fun that I must interrupt. It's not every day you get a new sleeper, you know?" The newly introduced Jess spoke before shifting her gaze towards Bari's amused expression.
"Anyway, aren't you going to be a good host and introduce me to your new friend?" Jess spoke, which immediately wiped the annoyed look from Judith's face, and his expression changed into one of excitement.
"This is my new friend, Bari. I found him scaling the Dark City's walls. Bari, this angry old hag is Jess, one of the Bright Castle's secretari-" Judith's words were cut off as Jess's hands grabbed Judith's collar through the opened window.
"THE FUCK YOU CALL ME YOU DAM BRAT!" Jess yelled as she began shaking Judith with anger. "I'M A YEAR OLDER THAN YOUR YOUNG ASS!"
Judith, who finally managed to release her hold of him, turned towards me with a slight smile as sweat dripped down his brow. "See, Bari? Angry, old ha-" He was cut off once again as the bell, which was once situated at the counter, found itself buried in his face.
Bari's sweat dropped at their antics before looking at Jess, who seemed perfectly composed while sending him a radiant smile. "Come here, I'll get you set up."
Shaking his head in amusement, Bari walked towards the counter where Jess stood behind.
"Noo~ Bari, don't do it. She's a monster in disguise…" Judith who was sprawled out on the ground muttered weakly as he struggled to get up.
Ignoring his mischief, Bari looked as Jess handed him a thick book, which didn't seem like much at first, and yet his eyes discerned it as a memory.
"This is where you list your name, true name, speciality, aspect, and flaw if it endangers anyone," Jess stated while grabbing an ink and quill.
"As you probably already guessed, it's a memory. Specifically, the Bright Lord's memory. Once you write those down, they will be witnessed by the Bright Lord, and within an estimated one to two weeks, will offer you a job in which you may partake." Jess spoke while smiling at Bari.
Picking up the quill, Bari began to write down his information, as Jess and Judith turned away, giving him personal space.
***
Name: Bari
True Name: Will-Born
Aspect description: I can see very far
Primary Speciality: Scouting
Secondary Speciality: Frontline attacker
Flaw: –
***
"Alright, is that it?" Bari asked with a playful smile on his face.
Jess turned around before smiling and putting the memory away. "No, you still have to enter your name and what time you entered the castle, this is to keep count of the dead and missing." her eyes shifted towards Judith as she continued. "You too, cowboy."
Judith just grumbled a reply before moving closer and signing in on a book similar to the Bright Lord's memory, and yet, his eyes discerned it as just a regular book.
'Do they possess craftsmen within the city?' Bari thought to himself
After they finished signing in, Judith stared at the sky, wondering how much time they still had before dark.
"Cmon, Bari, we still have to find you a place before it gets dark," Judith spoke as he turned around and started walking away.
Bari nodded while looking back at Jess, "Thanks for helping me get signed in, Jess."
"Yeah, Yeah… Good luck on finding a nice place, rookie."
***
They continued walking through the streets of the Bright Castle as Judith continued to dump various forms of information.
"There are two fixed currencies within the bright castle, one being soul shards, and the other being regular trade. Besides that, there's just the usual rules of finders keepers and all that."
Bari nodded as he listened attentively. "Does that mean, if I conquer a death zone within the Dark City and it happens to be a building or something, I can have it for myself?"
"Yes and no," Judith answered.
You can claim it, yes. However, you will need to register the place with the Bright Lord, so it is recognised as yours. This will give you the right to forcefully remove anyone ransacking your newly found residence."
"You see, everyone within the Dark City is an ally. Killing them means you are now an enemy of every single person on the Bright Castle. Of course, you can have a good reason. But it is frowned upon."
"Why's that?" Bari Asked.
Judith chuckled, "Well, besides the fact that it is immoral and we are all trying to escape this living hell, there's also a reason why it is frowned upon. You see, the moment you register your aspect, or flaw, they not only help you find a suitable job within the Bright castle, but with that information, they can put a bounty on your head, with the description of your aspect, and maybe dangerous memories." Judith stated while pointing a finger towards the sky.
"That means that there are crazy enough people to hunt you down, with the advantage of knowing your flaw and aspects. This also doesn't account for the fact that you will be hunted on sight, plus barred from the Bright Castle."
"Ahh, I see." Bari nodded before continuing to speak. "What if you have an excuse?"
"That's when things get interesting", Judith spoke with a smile, "You get sent to the Bright Lord, where he and his advisers decide whether you had a 'reasonable response', meaning anyone under your circumstances would have done the same thing." Judith insinuated while doing punctuation marks with his hands.
"Then it's a matter of punishment, things like light community service on the Bright Castle to heavy punishment like taking down a certain nightmare creature or exploring a death zone. Indirect ways to get rid of you or just a slap on the wrist." Judith continued.
"This seems really thought through," Bari said.
"Well, yeah, the Bright lord and his secretaries came up with most of these unsaid rules. Mostly through trial and error, but many were premeditated. This is one of the reasons he was picked as the Bright Lord, you see." Judith said while pointing his finger towards the sky.
Just as Judith finished speaking, he stopped and looked forward to where a building stood.
The building rose three stories high, its timber-framed walls and pale stone base were weathered but well kept, and it was crowned by a steep red-tiled roof with narrow dormer windows. A broad wooden sign reading 'Great Tavern' hung above the arched entrance, its paint worn smooth by years of wind and smoke. Flower boxes lined the upper windows, and a low awning stretched across the front where sleepers gathered at rough tables, voices and laughter spilling out through the open door.
"Welcome, Bari, to the Great Tavern, where I reside, and so will you for the following future. While residency within the Bright Castle is free, to actually have a nice place to sleep and eat isn't; you must pay one soul shard per two weeks. But don't worry, I'll pay for you for the first two weeks."
Bari scratched the back of his head "No, no, you don't have to. I'll pay, I insist."
"Alright if you say so," Judith spoke while chuckling to himself.
As they entered the set of double doors of the Great Tavern, Bari's eyes automatically scanned every sleeper within the room. It had been happening all day, whether it was just passing by a crowd or just one person, his eyes were constantly scanning and analysing random people, buildings and their runes. By the time they entered the Tavern, he felt like a migraine was splitting his head open.
The insides of the Tavern were lively, people of every kind and colour sitting around round tables with drinks and plates full of food, laughing and joking with each other. Bari silently detested it.
As they walked towards the front counter, Judith stepped forward before Bari could talk, "Hey, Xavier", Judith waved at a guy standing behind the counter.
"Ahh, Judith, how can I help you?" The man said, his voice as low but friendly. He was bald and had a pointy beard with a faint scar across his cheek. What stood out about the guy to Bari was his abnormal green eyes.
Yes, after the nightmare spell, appearances got increasingly abnormal and different, effectively ending racism; however, there were still outliers. Not that the newly introduced Xavier was one, his eyes were just really green, nearly gems.
'Still not as good as mine tho…' Bari thought to himself as his closed eyes peered at Xavier.
"My friend would like to rent a room, be kind to him, yes? He just got here." Judith spoke with a long side eye.
"What could you possibly mean? I'm the nicest guy in the world." Xavier said while smiling and staring at Bari intently.
"Front payment of four soul shards for a room." Xavier held up four fingers while sending Bari a cheeky smile.
"Stop being a greedy cunt, will you?" Judith said with an annoyed look.
"Alright, Alright," Xavier said while holding two hands up in surrender.
Walking towards a rack full of keys, he picked one out and handed it to Bari. "You can have this room for two weeks, then it's a soul shard per two weeks, understand?"
Bari just nodded with a slight bow.
Judith raised an eyebrow in surprise, "Really? Free? You? Has the world ended or something? I've never seen you give out a room for free."
Xavier just frowned with a twitch of the eyebrows, "He looks like a six year old, of course im going to be lenient."
"Im about to turn seven you'know" Bari refuted him as if offended.
Judith and Xavier stopped staring at each other and looked at him in surprise and intrigue
"Yeah, thats not any better Brat" Xavier replied with a sweat drop.
Bari clutched his heart in defeat as a metaphorical spear plunged inside him.
"Lunch is served at 9-11 am, while dinner is served at 7-10 pm. The basic meals are regular monster meat with our own ingrown vegetables. If you want anything different, you will need to pay two soul shards per two weeks." Xavier stated as if he were talking about the clouds.
Nodding in acknowledgement, Bari wondered just how many times he had to repeat that exact phrase.
This is when Judith turned towards Bari, "It's still around five, we got two hours till dinner, want me to show you the Bright Castles quest hall?"
Bari just nodded as they began walking towards the exit of the Great Tavern.
***
"Here it is…" Judith said while having both his arms at his waist. "Besides the Tavern, this will probably be your most visited place. I'll tell you why inside."
Bari gazed upon the Quest Hall as it stood at the centre of the Bright Castles city square, a solid stone building with tall, narrow windows and a steep roof that cast long shadows across the broad steps that led to its arched entrance. Above its double doors hung a simple wooden sign marked with the letters 'QH'.
As they entered, Bari had to calm himself at all the annoying movements around him.
The interior was spacious and warm, supported by heavy timber beams and lit by hanging chandeliers and a central hearth. Long tables filled the hall, scarred by use. A few hunting trophies were mounted high along the walls, sparse and unobtrusive, serving more as decoration than display. The hall buzzed with low conversation, ink scratching on parchment, and the steady movement of people coming to seek work.
As Bari was led towards another counter, they were greeted by a pretty-faced women wearing steel-plated armour.
"Hey, uhh.. My friend here is new. Can you do the usual?" Judith spoke to the woman Bari guessed didn't know.
"Ahh, yes, yes, give me a minute." The woman said before walking towards a door and getting out of sight.
"While that's happening, let me tell you how things work around here. First of all, I said this place will be one you'll visit a lot, and I meant it. This is where you'll most likely get most of your jobs from." Judith said.
"If you look over there", Judith pointed at a far corner of the quest hall where notice boards lined beneath clear wooden headers reading Weekly Quests and Monthly Quests, each crowded with pinned parchments.
"Those are what most people call secondary quests. Jobs that people post up with a reward being a certain amount of soul shards, or certain memories. There are hundreds of them." Judith stated.
"The primary, are selective quests." Judith pointed behind the counter where they stood. "See that big book over there? There are twenty different copies of it, which may make you ask why, right?"
Bari nodded in agreement.
"That's because it lists every sleeper within the forgotten shore, and their specialties under certain categories. For you," Judith pointed, "That would be scouting. That book is looked at by hundreds of sleepers every day, who select certain people for specific tasks they want completed. Most of them are those with non-combat aspects requesting certain resources" Judith said while smiling at Bari.
"Reputation is a big thing within the Bright Castle; it allows you to have more selective jobs and opportunities. There are also classifications for these tasks, too, things such as extermination and service-based quests ranked from easy, medium, hard, to extreme."
"How rare are these?" Bari asked curiously.
The secretary who seemed to return was the one to reply this time, "It depends, really, easy, medium and hard and pretty common, with the ladder dealing with a nightmare creature usually. Extreme, on the other hand, are tasks usually seen in the monthly quests and partaken by cohorts mostly. If it's a primary task, it's usually handed out by the Bright Lord himself or one of his lieutenants."
Judith just smiled and nodded in agreement.
"Here", the armoured secretary said while handing him some ink and quill," write your speciality in here," she said, handing him the thick book Judith had once pointed out.
Skimming through the book, Bari spotted the scouting category, which seemed rather empty compared to the other categories.
"Ahh, another scout, how wonderful. You'll be plenty busy if you're any good. Sounds bad, right? Well, don't worry much, it just means many people will want your service, may it be to kill a few nightmare creatures or get guided through the Dark City. Either way, it will be plenty of soul shards for you." She said while leaning on the table.
"She's right, I told you this in passing already, but scouts are in very high demand. Many die too soon, you see." Judith said while pointing a finger towards the ceiling.
"Anyway, the first thing you should do tomorrow is come back here to see if you have any primary quests you've been recommended. If not, just look around at the weekly and monthly quests to see if there's anything that catches your eye."
"Usually, you would need to wait a few months before you even receive a primary quest, but seeing as you're a highly skilled scout, it wouldn't surprise me if you get swarmed," Judith said while the women nodded in agreement.
"Is the Bright Castle really understaffed in scouting?" Bari asked in confusion.
"I don't think you understand. Anyone can scout, but those without a scouting aspect have a significantly higher chance of getting done in, compared to those with one. People like oracles are so rare; we have only seen two out of the thousand sleepers in the Dark City."
"There are only about fifteen scouting aspects throughout the Dark City, and I can tell you this, not a single one of them would have made it out of the coral labyrinth."
Bari just nodded in agreement, while sighing deeply.
"You must be tired. Let's go back to the tavern, get your belly filled, and I'll leave you alone for the rest of the day." Judith chuckled as he started walking away, Bari following silently behind.
'It wasn't that he was tired per se, but it was just mentally straining, experiencing something new with his eyes, especially a whole new city.'
***
"Wait! You're telling me that inside the coral mounds, one can saturate their soul cores in less than a day or two?" Judith exclaimed in bewilderment.
"Isn't that like… common knowledge?" Bari asked as he took a bite of his seasoned monster meat.
Judith's eyebrow twitched in agitation, "If it was common knowledge, don't you think everyone would have saturated their soul cores by now?"
"Well, no, not really. It's rare to find one, and even if you do, 90% of them are already filled with water and occupied by a nightmare creature that would bite your head or your leg first, depending on which way you enter first."
"I…Yeah, I guess is see your point." Judith took his black cowboy hat off before scratching his head in exasperation.
Bari and Judith continued talking about their adventures as they ate in comfortable silence. Only when the sleepers around them started retreating to their dorms did they do so themselves.
As Bari inserted the key into the room he had been given, he could not get the small smile on his face as his eyes peered through the door.
For the first time in over a month, he would get to sleep in a proper bed. The rooms were small, and yet held simple necessities such as a small table, a single bed, and a lone shower.
Dismissing his armour, Bari flopped on the bed and stared straight at the sky. Hoping he would be able to catch some z's in peace.