In The Shadow of Asora

4. Asora

Asora at night should have been dull and diluted. With the shadows, danger and wariness were supposed to come. Jongho was mightily annoyed by the fact that Asora was beautiful even in the unknown hours of the night.

Contrary to his expectations, Asora was less busy than he predicted, maybe even less engaged than Zey during the night. In Zey, some people always disregarded the curfew to do their shady work. They had to dodge the automatons whenever they did that, but they were intelligent enough to sidestep most lethal encounters. Asora had no rules to stay at home as far as Jongho knew, but the streets were empty anyway as all people had withdrawn into their warm homes.

Jongho would bet his dad's medicine that they did not have to fear a flood whenever it started to rain.

As he followed Mingi through the dimly lit and orderly alleys of Asora, Jongho could not help but agree with the ugly bitterness that spread in his chest. Not a single piece of trash was littering the ground, and no building had shattered windows or shabby walls. They all stood neatly and picturesque as if they tried to win a prize for their facades. It had Jongho sneer at them in contempt. If his dad lived here, he probably would have been healthy by now. Or even better, he would never have fallen sick.

Maybe Jongho's mother would still be alive if fate had not been so cruel as to banish them to Zey.

The need to kick one of the white walls nearly overwhelmed Jongho, but he was thankfully distracted enough by Mingi in front of him that he fought it down. Together, they darted through the sleeping city.

Mingi knew exactly where to go. He had most likely been to Asora often by now for jobs of all kinds, so he had memorised the path to the palace well.

Jongho noticed the suspicious lack of automatons. He didn't see or hear even a single of the murderous machines on their way. At first, he had found it worrisome, but after some thinking, it made sense. Asora's inhabitants didn't have any need to fear each other. The people here were living good and stable lives that didn't require acts of stealing or killing each other. Of course, they didn't need brutal bots to kill them on sight. They felt safe in their surroundings.

Jongho hated them. Them, and everything that related to Asora.

By the time they reached the palace, Jongho was drenched in sweat despite their benign journey. He expected something to jump out at them at any given time, and when nothing came, he tensed even more.

At Mingi's signal to halt, he nearly took a break to sit for a few moments before they could continue.

"We'll go in through the backdoor. Don't worry about the guards. They are human and don't expect anyone to break in."

Jongho wordlessly shook his head. He couldn't believe them.

He snuck behind Mingi as they approached the east wing of the grand castle. The towers of the main building loomed into the night sky like a piece of very fancy scrap. Their seemingly endless marble walls intimidated Jongho with their height, and he was glad that they would infiltrate the smaller building at the side.

Mingi halted near the ornate fence that wrapped around the whole compound, including the gardens prettily. He climbed it with practised ease, and Jongho followed him with even fewer effort since his gadgets helped him. Piecing those together had been one of his best ideas.

They dropped onto the lawn behind the obstacle soundlessly. Jongho allowed himself to run his fingers through the countless stalks for a short moment. He marvelled at the softness of real grass. Of course, they also had meadows and forests outside of Zey's industrially dark slums, but Jongho seldomly went there due to the lack of time and enjoyment it brought. The moments of happiness nature blessed him with were fleeting and weighed on his mind since he couldn't share them with his father.