บท 2: CHAPTER 1 - A REALLY BORING LIFE

THE YEAR 2045X AD - GODLESS ERA – ERA OF POWER

It was a new day in the kingdom of Dolrea, the capital city of the Vavel Empire. One of the many major regions on Great Earth. The sun rays pierced the afternoon blue skies and the heavy fluffy clouds, blessing the lands with its brilliance as the birds chirped and soared high among the tall trees of Forest Hills, a 'controlled area' in Dolrea; a place where students, adventurous civilians and aspiring guildons could come to test out their strength and new found skills.

The incessant chirping of Daylight Crickets echoed under the hot afternoon sky.

"Aahhh…" a pair of dark brown hands stretched out with a yawn. "Who knew the academy would be this boring!!" the boy sighed, sitting on a thick branch of a Heavy Tree that was no less than 18feet tall. The tree itself was huge, it would take about four people holding hands to circle it.

"You're as lazy as always Khay; you barely do anything in class. Except make noise or doze off during lessons." A feminine voice shot up at him from the bottom of the tree, barking. Her name was Lilith, she had long black hair that complimented her brazen brown eyes.

"Hey… can we just keep the noise down? I'm trying to get some rest!" He sighed back at her in response, his face, relaxed, as if all the muscles in them had gone for a vacation.

"That won't do!"' Another voice groaned, sharper and firm and full of life. Lilith lifted her head, breaking concentration from the book she had opened on her lap. The wind whistled as fists swung in the air one after the other.

"Tril, don't you get tired?" Khay groaned atop the tree branch. "Well, not that I'm tired, just bored out of my mind." He said undertone.

"I don't have the luxury to sit idly partner. There's a lot I need to improve on!"

"Lilith, can you tell your muscle for brain twin to keep it down?!"

"Ohhh, like you're one to talk, did powering through the horde of Mad Boars drain you of all your energy? Hmmm?" she exclaimed!

"Lilith, calm down. Those Mad Boars weren't really… " Khay cried out.

"I can't with you two sometimes. You guys even made a ridiculous name for yourselves, 'The Mischievous Duo'". She mocked. "It's no good if you label yourself like that." She yelled at them.

"But you can't blame us." Khay replied with a proud smirk on his face. "We're young and hot blooded…it's only normal that we make a name for ourselves!" he scoffed and folded his hands.

"Besides, what fun is there in idling around till old age catches up to us" Trilith added. "Gotta make good use of the time." Still rushing at the wind, shadow boxing.

She breathed a sigh of defeat. "There's no helping you guys, is there?"

"I'm not doing this again with you guys, break time is almost over and I wouldn't want to be late because someone was slacking off." She screamed, her tone rising as she turned to look in Khay's direction. "Come on, let's go" she signaled to them as she slammed close the book she was reading.

"Aahhh so we're going back there?" Khay cried out, lazily rolling off the tree branch and somehow managing to land solidly on his feet.

"Trilith, class again!" they looked at each other and sighed, and almost deflated to the ground.

She looked at them and sighed. Then, she turned around, a silly grin found itself on her face. "I'll race you guys to the academy." She smiled casually.

"A race huh!!" Khay and Trilith quickly inflated back seemingly having received a jolt of life and shouted in excitement.

"What are you acting so excited about Tril? You should know I'll definitely beat you to the punch."

"No, I'll beat you to the punch."

"NO! I WILL beat you to the punch."

"How about I beat you with a punch hmmm?" Khay barked.

"NO, I will…"

"Let me finish! You hot heads." Lilith screamed their excitement to halt.

"First one to get to the academy wins and will have to be treated to a meal by the loser or losers." She scoffed, almost exceedingly sure she'd win.

"What about the loser?" Trilith questioned.

There was utter silence, so much so that one could hear the wind blowing and the leaves swirl with it as Lilith stood dumbstruck at how dense these boys… her brother in particular could get.

"Weren't you listening? You good for nothing brother of mine, I sometimes wonder if we actually came from the same womb".

"Hahaha…. Tril… she really got you there… hahaha…"

"What are you acting so smug for? His hands leapt for Khay's collar and held him firmly. "I bet you didn't understand what she was saying either."

"Oi, oi, I know I'm not good with these stuff but even I got what she was trying to say 'you good for nothing brother'. He shrugged his shoulder without a care.

"What the… Why you!! I dare you to say that again" Trilith growled like a rabid dog.

"You good for nothing brot..." he was stopped midway with his nonchalant teasing as Trilith swung his fist at him. In the blink of an eye, the two boys were shrouded in a dust cloud of their own rumble, pummeling each other.

"Ugh!! That hurts!!"

"Take this… and that" Khay and Trilith snickered.

Normally, Lilith would yell at them or pass a funny cheeky remark, but this time, there was nothing of that sort, which drew Khay's attention; "Wait! Where is Lilith?" All while having his arms locked around Trilith's neck.

"Aahhh! That sneaky little girl!" Trilith bawled his eyes out, almost cursing.

"Ughh! That girl, she took off without us. Come on Khay, let's go."

Immediately, they both jumped off the ground and unto the tree branches, leaping from one tree to the other. The two boys were quick to chase after Lilith, skimming through the tall trees of Forest Hills.

"Lilith that girl," Khay said, with the wind grazing his face "How could she have gone that far in this short instance." Soon, they could see an opening, the complete brilliance of the afternoon sun without the shade of the tall trees of Forests Hills. From the Hills, there was a steep decent to a much lower ground level that bled into the heart of the capital; a few houses, then the market. "Tril, what path did you take us on?" Khay questioned with much concern. He thought 'our usual path doesn't end like this' so he wondered. But their hot headed chase after Lilith led them to a path they hardly took, one that had no connection to land. And just when Trilith's attention came to Khay's question with a confused "Hmm?" they catapulted out of the last trees of Forest Hills with full force.

Free fall, the wind, the sky and the ground and Khay looking at Trilith with a dumbfounded expression. Gravity did what it did best and they were met with an immediate fall through the roof of one of the many houses before the market area.

In the house they had crashed into, there was a baby seated at a table, his mom quickly rushed in upon hearing the noise of their crash and when she saw what it was on her arrival, she immediately, "Eek" crying out repulsively. "Mischievous brats"

"Ouch, ouch" the two boys sing sung, recovering from their uncalculated crash landing. They caught sight of the woman that looked at them with disgust and immediately rushed out of there. "Get out of my house!" she cursed after them. And they left with haste, taking to the roofs where there was less hindrance and over several houses. They took to the rooftop of the immediate four story building they came across and paused there, starring at the market, glancing through. Then, one of the women at the market immediately looked in their direction, squeezing her eyes to see clearly. "Ah… isn't that those brats!" she gasped. Her remark warranted the attention of a fellow vendor "Where?" he questioned. Looking in the direction she had fixated her head and squeezed her eyes. "It is!" his eyes widened.

"The Mischievous Brats are here!" Her yell caught the attention of every market person, vendor and customer alike and they all turned for brief moment, and when they saw, they all immediately, as if programmed to; shut down their stores in less than five heartbeats.

"Well I can't say that wasn't expected but I wonder if Lilith came through here."

"She's sure to have taken one of her shortcuts, so she probably beat us to it!" He sighed.

He glanced through the market area still on the rooftop of the four story building… and set eyes on an old man about 60 meters away from them. He had just heaved a sack into his small vendor space and was stretching is back out. He sold variety of meats from kebab, pork, steak to the rarest delicacy their land had to offer. If it was popular, old man Ying probably had it. It was evident from the meat he had stringed up at the front his stall. The mere aroma from this shop was strong enough to make ones mouth water. "Triiiliiiith"…. Khay called on his partner in crime sing-songing; his face widening as his cheeks and nose seemingly expanded as if they were gasping for more air, it was pure silly. Trilith recognized the nature of the sing song call and responded in the same silly manner.

A creepy grin crept up their faces with their mouths all watery with drool of hunger. "Old man Ying"