The Solar Empire

Chapter One: A long Journey

A loud, clanging bell, ran through my ears causing me to break from my sleep. I would have complained, but living here for my whole life makes the 10 o'clock bell much less an annoyance and more of a way of life. Of course I usually found myself awake before that. As I rose from my bed and looked around, I saw the emptiness of my room and suddenly remembered what today was. I was surprised at how the day seemed to come much faster than I expected as I still didn't have everything I needed. Thankfully, a quick trip to the towns market would change that. I hoped of my low bed and levitate my hat over to me, placing it on my head quickly as I went through the doorway to my living room. Living alone meant I didn't need to worry much about actually keeping things organized or trapped in my room. As I silently levitated my bag and coin satchel over from the small table in the center of the room, my eyes wandered across the walls. 

The walls were decorated with a lot of random painting. All of them were simply gifts from some of the neighboring villagers. Most of them were hand painted from a certain overly cheerful Magpie who would never not greet me when she saw me. The rest of the things were pictures....pictures of my family. My mother and father, both looked similar to me, though my mother was a more lighter brown cat with yellow eyes. Meanwhile my father was the same shade of brown as me, same height, and green eyes. 

'It's been a long time since I visited them...' The thought quickly passes through my mind, but I quickly push it away as I head for the door.

'I don't have time to visit them today....I'll simply have to find a better time.' I told myself, hoping to convince my mind that I had better things to do, but it wasn't easy. It wasn't until I opened the door and was met by the loud chattering and sudden gust of wind from the outside that I snapped away from my guilt and began to move on. 

As my house was more on the outskirts of the village, leaning more into the forest and out of the field, it took a little longer to walk to the market, past the familiar faces of the other villagers and past a group of kids playing in the middle of the street. Once I finally made my way to the street market, I found myself surrounded by the friendly greetings of the people of the village. Everyone here was each others friends and family, so the sudden happy shouts of my name was a welcome comfort.

"Hey! Sync!" I heard a familiar female voice caw at me. I didn't even need to look towards her to know who it was as her voice was one no one could ever forget. No matter how hard you tried. I simply chucked and walked over to her little booth.

"Good morning Alphie. How goes the business?" I asked out of curiosity, wanting to help in starting this conversation. As much as I don't like socializing much, I know it would hurt her feelings if I simply brushed her off. And as I expected, she smiled at my response.

"Great as usual! Grandpap Vlad let me and Delta go through his things so now we have tons to sell!" She chimed cheerfully, motioning to some old cracked plates, a couple of dusty hats, and a few piles of book and paper. I then heard a scoff from behind her.

"Yeah like anyone's gonna buy Dad's junk! I've found better things in the garbage." Delta sneered from behind her, lazily sitting in an old rocking chair. This, of course only caused Alphie to get mad.

"Well maybe if you got off your tail and actually helped with the shops supplies then maybe we wouldn't need to sell old hats! After all I don't see you lifting a wing to help!" She shouted at her older brother. And, as I predicted, the two began to fight. I suppressed a sigh of anger.

"WOULD BOTH OF YOU QUIT IT!" I yelled angrily at them as they were wasting my time and annoying the hell out of me. Thankfully, they stopped and Alphie went back to talk to me. 

"So what is it you need Sync?" She asked, wondering if I had come to buy something. Before I could respond, I thought for a minute. One of the only things I was missing of my things was a map.

'Maybe....' I quickly thought as I looked back to her.

"Do you happen to have a map of the kingdom?" I asked out of curiosity. Her eyes lit up.

"Yes we do! I'll be right back." She hurriedly said as she rushed of to another part of the small shop and came back in less then a second.

"You're in luck! We found this with Grandpaps stuff. Here ya go!" She said nicely as she handed it over to me. I noticed the price and handed it over to her. As she gladly took the money, her expression suddenly changed.

"Wait...are you going somewhere?" She suddenly asked, clear surprise in her voice. I had hoped she would simply be clueless to why I was purchasing a map, but my luck seemed to fall short. And I knew I simply couldn't ignore her for it would probably make things worse. I simply sighed.

"Yes...I'm heading over to Greenleaf to meet someone and then to Sunblare....I can't exactly say when I'll be back, but I won't be gone forever." I informed her with a simple smile. Thankfully, she smiled back, a hint of sadness in her big blue eyes.

"You take care of your self Sync.....the world's gotten pretty crazy lately and I don't want you get caught in the chaos." She advised kindly, sitting on the chair that was resting by the small stand. I nodded at her as I began to walk away.

I almost expected to hear here shout my name excitedly and say good bye, but when I was met with silence from her it made me worry.

'Would I really come back here? So much as changed in the past decade.....maybe it's time I finally find a new home.' These thoughts kept in my mind until I reached the very edge of the town.  I stood there silently for a bit, wondering. This wasn't some simple visit, it was something much bigger than I can think of. It's a good change, yet the call of home compels me to say. That was until I finally heard a voice in my head.

'The world is changing and it's gonna be our job to make sure it doesn't fade away into chaos. That's why I am leaving. Because if I don't leave now, then I'll only become a part of the problem. So it's time to move on..' I remembered what she said that day, and now is when I make the change.

With that thought, I continued to walk.