(Outdated) The King of Elements

To the Wayward Marketplace

Who was that evil woman that replaced Mrs. Gladestone? Dre asked himself as he slumped into the elevator. His arms felt like they had been placed in a juicer, and to make things worse, he still had two more classes to go to. Yet, he still felt somewhat good, knowing that he hadn't made an enemy out of Katherine yet, who finished a few minutes before Dre.

His throat was dry; he craved for something to drink and the weight of his street clothes bore down on his agonizing arms. He considered that since he had a little over forty-five minutes until his next class, he had enough time to get a drink before his next class.

The elevator stopped with a ding and the doors slid open. His first guess at where to get a drink was in the cafeteria, so he shifted the clothes under his arm and made his way into the foyer.

There was a dull buzzing from the students as Dre lumbered down the narrow hallway. As he grew closer to the end of the hallway, the buzz grew louder into a dull chatter. What's going on out there? He peeked his head out of the corner, looking for anything out of the ordinary. It would be difficult considering that he was in a school that was out of the norm. Inside the foyer were about a dozen students chatting with each other, each in a different color uniform. Some were in the same red uniform as he, others were either in navy-blue, emerald-green, white, or stone-gray.

"Looking for something?" he heard Megumi say behind him. He turned to see her leaning on the off-white wall, drinking from a large green bottle. She had the same color uniform as Dre, but he noticed that she didn't have a weapon. He didn't care about that for the moment, however. The tantalizing sight of a drink made him salivate.

She looked at him, puzzled, before she looked at the rectangular, lime-green bottle in her hand. "Ohh... Are you thirsty? Want the rest?" she asked, waving the bottle in front of him with her tongue sticking out. He snatched the bottle without answering and chugged the rest of the contents, not caring at all what they were. It tasted like a slightly sour melon, with what Dre hoped was fruit pulp flowing with the drink. She pouted. "Dude. I was just joking."

"I suck at distinguishing jokes," Dre said as he wiped his mouth off with the back of his hand. She stared daggers at him.

Dre felt his head immediately cleared before he had a chance to put the bottle down. He felt lighter, as if he hadn't taken Mrs. Gladestone's class yet. "What was that?"

"Fruit of Marathon nectar. Sakura suggested that we all buy a couple of bottles while we were in the Wayward Marketplace, but since I didn't have a physical class yet, I didn't need to drink it."

"But wait, wouldn't you need it after you take your class?"

Megumi was silent for a moment, allowing Dre's words to marinate. "Damn, your right. Guess I have to go get another bottle then. Come with me." She grabbed Dre's arm and pulled him towards the foyer.

"Wait, where are we going?"

She stopped and turned towards him. "Have you been paying attention to anything I've said?" Dre looked down in shame. She sighed as she said, "I'm going back to the marketplace to get another bottle of nectar, and since you haven't seen it yet, I'm taking you with me."

"Is it alright for us to go there alone?" he asked as Megumi began pulling him again.

"I donno. Should be."

They both slunk out of the academy and walked down the cobble stone path to the large gate. She stopped him before they reached a small building and put her finger over her lips. Stay here, she mouthed before going ahead, crouching as low to the ground as she could. Dre figured it was somewhat pointless considering how short she was, but for the sake of his own neck, he decided not to say that out loud.

Once she made it to the shabby-looking shack, she raised up by an opened window, peaked inside, and finally waved for him to follow. He did as instructed, keeping low to the ground as he went.

"Chris is in there taking a snooze," she whispered with a mischievous smile on her face. "Some gatekeeper he is, huh? Come on, help me push the gate open."

Dre nodded as he made his way toward her. Both gave a great heave, pushing the gate open just enough for the both of them to go through.

"Have you done this before?" he asked as Megumi squeezed in-between the gates.

"Nope," she said as Dre made his way through the gates. He looked out at the city in amazement. Tall, beautiful building stretched towards the cloudless sky, with each one looking like enormous mirrors. The streets and sidewalks before them were filled with people either walking or riding bikes. He'd never felt so out of place in his life.

They walked past the gates. On each side of the gate were two large statues. The one on the right was of a man in knight's armor, holding a rippling flag in his left hand, and a large broadsword in his right, its tip thrust into the ground. The statue on the left was of a woman in a ritualistic dress. Her clasped hands and soft, peaceful face gave her the look of mercy and serenity.

"Is this the Wayward Marketplace?" Dre asked, looking star struck at the majestic city.

"This place? Oh, no, this is the main city of Northern Amity; Amita."

She and Dre began walking down the street. "So, this is what it's like to be in a big city. I've never seen buildings this high."

"Seriously?"

"Yeah. I've lived in Prescott for as long as I remember. Dad always said that we lived in a bigger city when I was younger, but that was way too many years ago for me to remember."

"Wow. I'm partly shocked by this," she said, turning to her right on an intersection. "I've only lived in big cities, so I'm pretty used to seeing big buildings like this."

"Is it any different than Prescott?"

"Eh, not really," she shrugged.

"Really?" he asked, turning towards her. "Wow. I've always figured that you'd have much more to do in a big city."

"That's because you do, Dre. That was sarcasm."

"Oh," he said, nodding as he turned his head back forward. "Wait, was that sarcasm, too?"

She looked at him, astonished, and stammered before saying, "Nevermind Dre. Nevermind."

Dre immediately changed the subject. "So, how did you learn to speak English so good if you're from Japan? I can hardly hear an accent."

"My family mostly spoke English while at home so I can get used to it. I only spoke Japanese in the city or at school, unless I was in my English class."

"Did you like the school there?"

"Next question," she said without glancing at Dre before stopping at another intersection.

Dre figured that it would probably be best not to bring that subject back up. "Oh!" he said, suddenly remembering his sword. He slid it out from under his arm and displayed it proudly in front of her. "Check this out."

"Dude! No way! Is that yours?" she asked, starring starry-eyed at it. "Man, I'm so jealous I haven't taken my weapons class yet. I was stuck in that boring Amian history class. We didn't talk about anything other than what we would go over in the class and about the Emblem of Valor tournament-" her voice trailed off as she looked at Dre, who looked as if he had seen a ghost.

On the other side of the street, made completely unaware of by the many pedestrians walking through him, was the boy in the black cloak. He put a pale, almost translucent hand up, and placed a finger over his lips, his smile stretching from ear to ear. Dre opened his mouth to speak, but anytime he tried to say anything only a small squeak came out. The boy pointed to his right before evaporating in the air.