Dawn- An age of Darkness

We were flying above the city and well, there weren\'t that many people up. 

When we first headed for the castle, even then there weren\'t many people out. Now it was basically almost noon and still, there were only few people out. 

And the ones that were out were mostly just soldiers or adventurers.

"Are people sleeping or something?"

I really needed something to think about so I didn\'t end up screaming. 

"They spend the day after the festival with their families. They\'ll resume working from tomorrow," Alisa screamed from behind me.

"Basically, it\'s a holiday?" Sure sounded like a holiday.

No one really answered me. \'Talk to me, people, talk to me!\' Otherwise, I\'d just scream!

And before long we passed the city and headed due south for two whole minutes. 

I didn\'t scream- no. It was hard. 

Ve slowly took us down and when I did reach the ground, I lied down on the soft grass. 

Brought back memories- terrible memories but- at least no more flying. 

I could just kiss the ground!

On second thoughts- after remembering the nightmares- no.

"This is the outskirts of the town. You see those planks of wood and some stones here and there- those were houses once," Gorgon said, looking around.

I got up and had a look myself. 

This place- basically the size of a typical village was covered in a moderate amount of grass. There were some trees here and there. There weren\'t many graves either. I saw three- no four graves and about twelve or so places which looked like there were houses there in the past. 

In the past, this place could have been lively, but now- it was nothing but a wasteland.

There were one or two villages in the distance and the city wasn\'t quite far away either. But- but I guess just because this place was close- didn\'t mean it couldn\'t be abandoned. According to Gorgon- this place was gradually became abandoned some centuries ago when a drought nearly wiped out all the vegetation of this place. 

  \'But centuries are a long time…\'

Wind blew past us and then I realized, one of us looked really dazed. 

Her eyes were shimmering and she was distantly looking ahead. Almost as though she wasn\'t even here- looking into the past. 

"You okay?" I stood next to her. 

"I\'m fine, I came here once." Her voice was soft. "Back then- this place- the village was really wonderful." The elf smiled faintly. "This was a prosperous village. When I came here, humans and elves weren\'t quite at war yet. It was peaceful and Boriosa was with me. I have a confession to make." She stared at me.

"Yes?" Well, I basically had time. 

After doing this, I\'d be free. I\'d have to go back to Xylax, drop off the minister, and then head to Dracona. But now that I had both my arms, I didn\'t know if I even needed to practice one-handed swordsmanship anymore. 

I had to write a very convincing letter to Lianne first though.

She took a deep breath. "I was born into the royal family. I\'m a half princess."

I stayed quiet for a minute. 

And then- "Why is my life filled with princesses? Like seriously! It\'s just prince and princesses! Why can\'t there be normal people! Argh!"

Every single one of my current companions were royalty: princesses to be more exact. 

\'Calm down, calm down Daarc. Calm down…\' Deep breaths.

Okay, I was calm. 

Gorgon\'s giggles from the side weren\'t actually helping. "I suppose you were lucky?"

"How?" I took more deep breaths and faced the elf. "Go on."

Meanwhile, the other two demigods were also gigging- just hiding it before any sound could come out: the sound was still coming out.

Biteria was purring though.

"I don\'t know if Boriosa told you but- during my time half breeds were treated as garbage. They weren\'t real people to the elves. By my thirteenth birthday, I\'d already learned about the world and how it worked. I didn\'t have any experience but I knew I couldn\'t stay in the castle: I didn\'t want to. I had this feeling that they\'d eventually get rid of me. Since I was a half-breed and a demigod, I aged fast- at least faster than humans. 

"I don\'t know how but I slipped past the castle guards and somehow managed to sneak into the city. I was amazed at just how much the city was different. There was food, there were kids, there were people! They were a bit different looking from me and somehow I really, really stood out. I didn\'t care though- after all, I could finally walk around all by myself, talk to people, play with kids my age.

"But almost no one spoke to me. In the castle, the maids still talked to me and the ministers and the guards treated me well because of who I was. But outside, everyone just treated me as a half-elf, nothing more, and nothing less."

She stopped and her voice was tinged with sadness. 

"You don\'t have to force yourself to tell me. After all, sometimes it\'s best to leave the past in the past."

"No, it\'s fine." She took a deep breath. "I didn\'t lose hope and just walked around all by myself. I was in a maid\'s attire- and since the attire was that of a royal maid- no one really try to harm me but they did keep their distance." She smiled faintly. "Eventually, I got lost in the city and no one helped me: asking for help only resulted in jeers and insults. Soon it was about to become evening and I didn\'t really know how to go back. The soldiers around the town didn\'t even look at me. I was hungry and miserable. And I knew bad things were about to happen. There was a busy street in front of me and people were just passing by, but no one was looking at me. no one was asking me \'what\'s wrong.\' I thought I was really mature- but I wasn\'t.

"The sun had sunk and people were going back to their home. I was just sitting on the pavement, hoping to see someone I knew. But just when all hope seemed lost, just when I thought this whole thing was a bad idea, I met him, I met a young boy holding a piece of bread towards me. I still remember the words he said. \'Your tummy was rumbling so loudly that I could hear you from across the street, you know.\' I was so embarrassed that I took the bread and hid my face behind the bread."

I chuckled subconsciously.