A boy sat at the edge of a weathered stone ledge, his feet dangling loosely above the vast ocean below. His navy-blue hair fluttered in the salty breeze, as his deep blue eyes reflected the golden hues of the rising sun. A crutch rested beside him, leaning against the cold stone as waves crashed against the cliffs far beneath his feet.
He gazed quietly at the horizon, watching the sky bloom with shades of pink, orange, and gold. There was a quiet paranoia in his expression. He was feeling fear towards something that wasn't quite present and yet something about the sunrise seemed to bring him peace. With the ocean stretching endlessly beneath him, he remained still, waiting.
"Time goes by so quickly."
Ever since the interrogation with Patri, it had already been a week. Although he was outside now he still hadn't fully recovered, so he was given a crutch to help walk around with. He didn't need to rely on it too much though. He could even fight a bit if he forced himself.
Azdin had been watching the sunrise for a long while, but he was starting to get a little sick of it.
'I left at sunrise, yet it's still sunrise.'
From the hospital it took what he felt was an hour to get to the outer edge of Nantames, yet the sun had barely moved an inch. Right when he was debating on what to do, the sound of a bell chimes echoed behind him.
"I better start going now."
It was time to meet up with Hugo and the others.
**
Nantames was a city that was constantly expanding. Although there were few landmasses here and there in the twilight sea, they had all been occupied by the larger domains. That put it in a strange situation as a city in neutral territory.
Since it was made of wood and stone, it could constantly grow and expand through trade. The bigger the city, the more traders would be drawn to it and the larger it could grow. It was a self fulfilling cycle of growth and evolution. It very well held the potential to reach the size of a domain too, however, there was one thing that consistently blocked it from that.
The place where he was sitting a while ago was actually a construction site where the city would've been developed. Since it was empty and quiet at the moment, he liked to come here every morning to get a little peace and quiet before the city began to pick up on noise.
Leaving it behind, he felt a hint of sadness. That was because today was probably going to be the last time it was going to be like this, soon construction would resume. Not to keep expanding the floating city though, but for a different purpose.
It would be to bolster it's defense. Because in 2 months, it all risked being destroyed.
'I don't wanna think about that right now.. where did Hugo say to meet? Some tavern on the 3rd floor?'
Nantames was a six floored mega city, with each floor having it's own distinct purpose. The floor he was currently on was the first which was technically the closest to the ocean, but it was large and tall enough to have its own various sub levels with the lowest being the docks. Azdin and the hospital he stayed at was on one of the higher levels.
'Oh yeah, I'm being transferred there today too.'
Naturally, since the population was so big, there were multiple of the same emergency facilities spread between each floor. The one on the first floor in particular was reserved for emergencies from the sea, and since Azdin had recovered enough that he could walk on his own his examiner had decided he was fit to be transferred elsewhere.
So he wasn't just going to the 3rd floor just to see Hugo, he was also moving as that was where he'd be living for the time being until he got discharged.
Walking with his crutch, he made his way through the quiet streets and roads. Despite being at the bottom, the floor was so large that natural sunlight could still make its way to the centre, so everywhere was well lit at this time. The buildings here were all large and made of wood and stone too, with only a hand full even having glass windows, while most opted to not have a roof at all.
The streets were usually empty at this time, with only a few navy officers or local police on patrol in case someone tried to take advantage of the absence of people. It was probably the most quiet time of the day. This was for a reason too of course.
Everyone was at the cathedral. As it turned out this city was very religious. Well it made sense since their lively hood was dependent on the sea.
The bell chime that he heard too, came from the cathedral. It was how everyone here was able to tell the time since clocks and celestial bodies were unreliable.
Continuing to walk, Azdin eventually reached his first destination. It was a colossal pillar rising from beneath the ground, constructed from enormous beams of dark wood and interlocking bands of weathered metal, the structure towered above him like a monument. Its width was almost as vast as a small island, leaving little room to pass around it.
While being at the very bottom, the first floor of Nantames was the most important. It was the largest and connected to the dock, so it was where traders and imports would leave their goods to be stored before it was transported upwards.
How was this done? Through one of these pillars Azdin stood before.
Wood was naturally very light and buoyant which gave it the ability to float on water. However, if one wanted to build an entire city able to support the weight of hundreds of thousands of people, relying on that fact alone was simply not enough. One needed keen engineering skills.
Which was why this pillar and six others like it existed. They were ginormous hollow constructs that kept the whole thing afloat.
They weren't completely hollow though, inside four of them were massive elevators capable of carrying hundreds of people at a time, or hundreds of tons of cargo. As such, they were only open for public use at very specific times. One such time being now while a service at the cathedral was ongoing.
By the time Azdin passed the gate and managed to get inside, it already closed.
He didn't have a lot of time to get comfortable though, he could already feel various glares falling on him.
'Shucks.'
To his misfortune, his heroics in stopping one of the war empires many slave slave carrying ships earned him a small bit of fame. The navy did try to keep his identity anonymous on Hugo's request but.. somehow it leaked.
'If I knew what that autograph was going to contribute towards I would've NEVER signed it.. why do people find value in a name written on a piece of paper??'
Now his flaw was at risk of activating any damn minute. No, it had actually been active for a while now. The paranoia he'd been feeling and his new habit of staring out at the ocean were direct symptoms of it.
'Stop thinking about it! Stop it!'
Shouting that phrase in his head, he would go on to keep repeating it for the rest of his journey.