Pre-Read: Reap What You Sow - Chapter 3

                                                                                  Chapter 3

The City of Slatt was large, not nearly as large as St. Louis, but larger than she had expected for something straight out of medieval times. Packed dirt roads made up the main thoroughfare, and the small branching alleyways between the wooden or stone brick buildings were made of uneven rough and tough cobblestone.

Near the entrance of the gate, she had seen mostly residential buildings. She spotted families wearing rough clothing made of wool, cloth, or leather—nothing nearly as finely made as her cheap white tee.

There also weren’t too many colors on anything around. Everything mostly consisted of browns, grays, whites, or blacks. It was, honestly, a little depressing. The only real colors she got to see were the different colored hair on some of the nighttime passersby. Browns, blacks, and the occasional blond were the standard hair colors, but there were a few outliers of strawberry blond or faint green. Nobody's hair seemed to be dyed in bright colors, and that was understandable. She didn’t think hair dye was high on most people's priorities.

The only reason she noticed the fact of colors at all was because she stood out like a sore thumb—a red beacon in the overly bland environment. Eyes tended to linger on her as she roamed about the city.

The people inspecting her didn’t look impoverished, but they didn’t seem to be of any sort of higher social class. She had wondered if there was a slum or someplace where the impoverished go. That was something she was sure of when it came to the medieval times. In her mind, it was the ‘dangerous’ spot in most cities, filled with thieves and the desperate.

She also kept her eyes peeled for any other races. No Beastkin were currently out and about. She had only come across Humans on the street so far, and that was at least a familiar sight to her.

As she continued on through the city, she began seeing fewer homes and more bland-looking stores. The only reason she knew they were stores was because of the dirty brown wooden signs dangling above their doorways. There weren’t any glass windows about, only closed shutters. She was unable to window shop, something she often did back on Earth.

The stores were all closed down, so she didn’t get any opportunity to ask for employment or a place to stay. Not that she wanted to work at what was called ‘The Potters Spiel.’ An apparent pottery shop. So, she continued searching around the city for an inn or restaurant.

As she made her way deeper into the city, the dirt road gradually turned to cobblestone. There were more people out on the streets, and it was much brighter than on the outskirts.

Initially, she didn’t really notice the lack of light as the enormous pale moon in the sky acted as a suitable light source. She only noticed the increase because they had streetlamps—lit by magic.

A young teenager, probably around the age of twelve or thirteen, had a wooden ladder up against a tall wooden hook-tipped post. He fumbled around the hook with his hands. Then suddenly, Sable witnessed her first bit of real magic.

Directly below the hook portion of the post, a yellow orb of light magically materialized. The teen rubbed his hands together and blew on them to warm them up in the cold nightime autumn air, before he made his way back down the ladder. He was completely nonplussed about the magic he had just cast.

Sable had already stood out among the city residents, but as she ogled the first bits of magic she had ever seen in her life, she stood out even more. Those passing by frowned as she stood there in the middle of the street, gawking at the magic.

She was standing stock still on the side of the cobblestone street as the young teen noticed her admiring the lights. He preened a bit, then walked over towards her.

“Impressive, aren't they?”

Sable jumped a bit, getting knocked out of her reverie, then tried to act casually. Failing horribly.

“They are. I’ve never seen anything like it before. That was magic?”

The brown-haired young teen, wearing murky-brown woolen pants and a white longsleeved button-up shirt, looked at her in interest.

“Yup. I just learned it not too long ago! Got me a real job setting up these lights after I got a [Hedge Mage] class! My ma’s proud. The names Jeremy by the way.” He put out a hand to shake as he inspected Sable’s clothing. “Them some fancy clothes. You some type of [Adventurer]?”

Well, I guess this kid is gonna teach me a lot.

“Nope. I just got into the city. I ran away from home. I don’t even have a class. I was never allowed to have one. I didn’t even know they existed. So, what’s your fancy [Hedge Mage] class do?” She shook his outstretched hand.

Jeremy looked shocked upon hearing that Sable had no class, but as he was being asked about his newly acquired class, he preened and began his explanation.

“It’s great. A nice group of [Adventurers] stopped by a month or two ago because they had some quest to kill some of them big birds from Staliton Peak. And while they were here, they taught some of us this neat light spell.”

Jeremy held his hand out, palm up, and a small orb of light appeared.

“I practiced and practiced and then got it to work! The next day, I got me a nice [Hedge Mage] class. Then, the class gave me a skill to tweek my spells! Well, spell, cause I only got the one. But now I can hang’em up, and they last a week or two. It’s a nice job.”

Sable didn’t have to act like she was impressed with his class because she truly was. So she was genuine when she began her barrage of questions.

“So you cast that spell and then got a class? How does that work? You got a skill too? What are those?”

Jeremy seemed to like being the one with all the answers. He happily began explaining, but she did notice his slightly questioning look.

“Well, ya do something class worthy, then the next morning you get offered your class. You never been offered one before?” He shook his head as if he was superior. “You gotta be like, twenty! how’d you never get at least one? I’m fourteen, and I got three!”

Sable looked down at him and raised an eyebrow.

“I’m twenty-one, and I doubt you got three. And, even though I don’t know about skills, I bet you don’t even have any good ones.”

Sable watched as her challenge was accepted. Jeremy raised his head high as he spoke.

“Ah, ah, ah!” He said as he moved his pointer finger back and forth.

“I do have three! I got [Hedge Mage], [Runner], and [Apprentice Tailor]. The last ones cause my ma’s teaching me. I only got [Spell Adaptation] from my [Hedge Mage] class cause it’s only level one. I got [Sure Footed] and [Lesser Dexerity] from [Runner], and I got super cool skills from [Apprentice Tailer], but I can’t tell you those, or my ma would beat me silly.”

Sable whistled, impressed.

“How many classes can you get? There aren’t any downsides?” She asked.

Jeremy’s questionable gaze deepened.

“Your parents didn’t teach you this stuff? Where you from?”

“Far, far away. A place called St. Louis.”

Jeremy thought for a moment, trying to recall if he ever heard of it.

“Saint Louis… Sounds like a name, but I don’t know where that is. Well, I’ll teach you, but I ain’t doing nothing for free! Pay up!” He made the small light disappear from his palm and waved it at her expectantly.

Sable didn’t have any money, so she wasn’t going to pay him anything. But she did need to know all of this information.

She looked him up and down, then looked side to side across the street, making sure nobody was spying on them. She bent down a tad, then whispered conspiratorially to him. Jeremy leaned in.

“I don’t have any money, but I’ll show you something cool instead. Deal?”

“Something cold?” He asked.

“No, something neat.”

He nodded, and Sable led them towards a nearby alleyway. They didn’t go deep into it, just a tad off the street. She took out her vape, which made Jeremy’s eyes twinkle in curiousness, then took a long hit. She blew the vapor out over the top of his head, fogging up his vision.

He waved the foggy vapor away and smiled.

“Okay, that was neat. Smelled good too. What is that?” He pointed at the vape.

“A bad habit and a secret.” She said as she tucked it back into her leather jacket's front pocket.

Jeremy looked a little apprehensive at the ‘bad habit’ bit.

“That’s not drugs, is it? You’re gonna get in heaps of trouble for that if it is.”

Sable shook her head.

“Not drugs, no. The guards saw me do it and said it wasn't illegal. It’s like smoking. If you have that here.”

Jeremy seemed to know about smoking as he eased and then nodded.

“All the old people smoke from pipes, but yours was very different. Lots more smoke. My ma would tan my hide if I did it though.”

Sable nodded.

“Yeah, I wouldn’t recommend it. It’s hard to quit once you start. So, about that information?” She jiggled an eyebrow in askance.

Jeremy shrugged.

“That was ‘cool’ enough, I guess. You can have five classes at a time. If you get two of’em to level ten, you can combine’em. I guess the only downside is if you get five classes, then don’t level any of’em to ten. Then ur stuck with the ones you got.”

Sable nodded, then asked some more questions.

“What if I get them past level ten? Can I combine them, then? How high do levels go?”

Jeremy seemed to think about those questions for a bit.

“You can combine them past level ten. Sometimes you don’t want to combine’em. One of my ma’s friends still has her basic [Cleaner] class because she didn’t want to combine it with her others. She said something about being a [Clean Butcher] was weird. Sometimes, the basic classes just become better. Her [Butcher] class turned into [Butcher of Beasts]. We had a big party because of it. I think old man Jameson is the highest-level person I know. He’s over level thirty. It goes way higher than that though. The [Kings] and [Queens] are probably super high level.”

Okay, so there's no real downside. That’s a relief.

Deciding not to bombard her source of information relentlessly, she began to ask about getting a job.

“How’d you get that magic lighting job? I just got here, so I need a job too. I don’t have any money or a place to stay.”

He perked up.

“My ma got me the job. She was proud of me learning magic, so she asked Councilwoman Bea, and she set me up. I get a silver a week! You got no classes, so I don’t know what you wanna do.”

He looked into the street for a second, trying to see if they were hidden, then leaned in and whispered.

“You can probably sleep in the school library. They’re always open, and people fall asleep on their books all the time. It’s that’a way.” He pointed down the street, deeper into the city. “Big o’l building, can’t miss it. I gotta get back to work, though.” He took a step away before turning back to her. “Hey, what's your name?”

“Sable, thanks for your help. I’ll see you around, magic boy.” She said as she left the alleyway, waving over her shoulder.

She heard him grumbling, ‘Magic boy.’ as she made her way to find the school library. Hopefully, they had some books with some more information.

—-----------------

Jeremy was right; the building was very hard to miss. Little wooden figurines lined the steps of the large school building. Colorful drawings on colorful paper hung freely on bits of string tied to the branches of a tree in the front ‘lawn.’

Yes, the school had a lawn. Sable thought it was weird when Jeremy said that the ‘School’ library was open at all times. Why would a school be open all night? She quickly found the answer. It wasn’t like a typical school on Earth, mainly for the fact that there were, apparently, nocturnal citizens.

Sable watched as a mother and father dropped their child off at school. If Sable had to guess, it was around nine or ten p.m.

The family in question were not human. They were what Sable would assume to be Owlkin. They were very similar to the Foxkin guard, Femir, but also very different. From their hands, all the way up to their elbows, were covered in dark gray feathers. They also had sharp nails on their five-digit hands, again, similar to the Foxkin.

Where they were indeed separate from the Foxkin was their heads. They had small stout beaks for a mouth and nose just beneath their large oval eyes. The entirety of their head and neck were covered in feathers, just like an Owl.

Sable watched as the child, who looked to be about five or six, spun their head around a whole one hundred and eighty degrees to look at their parents and wave as they walked up the stairs to enter the school.

Sable had seen the Foxkin, and while they were different, they weren't so far off the mark of a human that it was jarring. The Owlkin, on the other hand? Very, very different.

Sable watched as the parents started to walk away, their heads locked onto their departing child as they walked. Turning abnromally as they progressed down the street.

Now that is something I'm gonna have to get used to.

Sable walked up the stairs to the school and entered inside.

Inside the front doors lay a long fibrous rug to clean your shoes leading up to a receptionist's desk. The small Owlkin child was rubbing their clawed feet on the rug. After they were finished they walked up to the smiling human receptionist.

She didn’t get to catch any of their conversation as the young child waddled over to a nearby hallway, seemingly going off to class.

The receptionist smiled at Sable as she approached the desk.

“Welcome. How may I help you today?” She asked.

Sable saw that she had a small nameplate. It read ‘Miss Klodinstine’ A mouthful.

“Hey. I was told there was a library I could read in by a boy called Jeremy.”

Miss Klodinstine’s smile quirked up at the name.

“He remembers we have one? I’m surprised. He never bothered to use it. It’s at the end of the hall, the wooden double doors. If you can do me a favor, tell [Barbarian] Siluetta that we are having Kapannu for lunch.”

Barbarian? That’s a class I’m familiar with! The request was easy enough, so Sable readily agreed.

She walked down the long school hallway, similar to her elementary school in many ways if her school was made out of stone and wood, and arrived at the library.

The library was very small. Inside, there were only three rows of bookshelves, probably amounting to a few hundred books. There were some small wooden tables and another receptionist's desk. Standing behind the receptionist's desk was another Owlkin with the nametag ‘Miss Siluetta.’ This Owlkin looked far older than the ones she had seen from outside. Her gray feathers were wilted from age and ended in jagged points.

She doesn’t look like a barbarian, but I guess looks can be deceiving.

Sable was about to introduce herself and drop off the message Miss Klodinstine asked her to, but before she could, she heard a piercing screech and saw a blinding light.

“[Daylight]. NIGHTWALKER! BEGONE!”