Era's of Oni

Chapter 5: The Kingdom of Akshara

The sun rose through the blinds of the window. The light complimented her face as if her beauty shone. She slept through the afternoon and night. Waking up, like a sleeping beauty after being kissed, except getting kissed by the morning light.

Akashi got up, yawning from the much restful night. She got off the bed, adjusted her clothes, and the bed, and put her bag back on. She transformed back into a human since people in the kingdom still didn't like Oni and she was thankful that nobody saw through her just yet. She then stepped out of the room turning right off the hallway, down the stairs, and into the room where she'd seen the woman before. Nobody sat there at the moment. She opened the door to the building and stepped out. When she stepped out she saw shops opening up again and shop owners placing their products into place. She walked further into the kingdom where the castle was. It was smaller than the castle that she'd always seen in the kingdom she came from. Still, though, she felt small.

There were more guards closer to the castle. There was no way for her to get in no matter how hard she would try. It wasn't like she had a purpose to go into the castle though. She walked more away from it and she walked more around the little houses. Walking from neighborhood to neighborhood, she noticed more similarities between this kingdom and the one she came from. There was a poor class and a wealthy class. The poor were skinnier, weaker, and hungrier. Most didn't even have a single room. They slept outside on the streets. The wealthy class were none of those and more. They could do anything they wanted.

Akashi went back to the middle of the shops again where the fountain was. She decided it was time to buy more food since she was running out. Holding her sack of silver coins she went over to a little shop with all different kinds of fruit.

"Hello. Good day. What would you like?" The shop owner asked.

It was a young man who smiled. He didn't look a day over 20. Yet his wife and newborn baby sat behind him. His wife looked significantly young too. Possibly the age laws were not in place in this kingdom.

Akashi picked up two apples, two bananas, and two oranges.

"That would be three silver coins." The shop owner said, holding out his hand.

Using three more silver coins Akashi had five more silver coins with her. She handed the shop owner the coins and he handed her the fruits. Akashi put the fruits in her bag. Just as Akashi was doing so, another young man on a horse came speeding up to the castle. Though Akashi was told to not ride her horse inside the kingdom that man had rid his horse up to the castle at ease. This bedeviled everyone. So Akashi looked around for the guards as they seemed to be confused as well but they let the man on the horse go.

Did he possibly work for the king or the kingdom in general?' Akashi thought.

Speaking of which, Akashi had never seen the king. The king of the kingdom Akashi came from was a cruel one. He loved war. He is always the one to attack first and never the last. He didn't care about his people. That's why there were lots of poor people. There were poor people in this kingdom as well. Maybe this king is the same.

Akashi gave no thought to it anymore. She looked around some more around the kingdom. Instead of looking through the neighborhood side of the kingdom, she looked for something else on the other side. Something new. On the other side of the kingdom, there were gardens, schools, and animal farms.

The school seemed well made. It was bigger than the schools in her kingdom. It's possible that only the rich could afford to go there. The poor had no education.

The garden was full of wondrous flowers. Except nobody was allowed to go inside the fenced garden. There was a sign at the gate that said, "Keep out". The owner probably didn't want people stealing from the garden. It's hard work taking care of a garden so it was understandable.