Adam wasn’t always alone, he had parents that took care of him. But when they found out he was different from what a normal child would be like, they disowned him and sent him to an orphanage. He tried to make friends with the other kids, to find someone who could be there for him, but it never worked out. He was always too cold to other people, even though inside he craves human contact. The artificial way he presented himself was probably a big part of why no hopeful parents ever chose to adopt him, finding some other kid that resonated better with them. He eventually left the orphanage as an adult, with only a single fond memory of his time there: He was with some of the other orphans looking for valuables in some trash, and he found the item that would shape his life: a crummy little laptop, discarded but perfectly usable. It was the only possession important to him by the time he moved out on his own, and it was on that very machine where he found Phantium, the place where he would escape his life to become Lily.

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Lily had been flying through the sky towards Caldia City for a while now. The longer she flew, the more the landscapes blended together; grass, trees, lots of trees, lots of grass, a little of both, a tree that was a noticeably different shade of green. Lily stuck to flying above roads once she spotted them, helping keep her on track as time marched on at the cost of some of the marginal variety the landscape below her had. At the height she flew, the occasional travelers and caravans she spotted below were mere specks on the thin brown lines of dirt. A couple times, she thought briefly of swooping down to meet with the travelers, but then she remembered the other adventurers' reactions to her. She winced at those thoughts, she didn't want to have to deal with more suspicion and rejection. Alone with her thoughts and the monotonous landscape, however, she couldn't help but let those memories replay, the stinging of rejection piercing her heart, her body slightly aching as she struggled to not shed any tears.

It took a while For Lily’s belabored flight to reach the city, but she at long last had reached the outskirts as the sun hung low in the sky. She peered from the surroundings, far enough away from the city in case it had some sort of magical shield. There were a few gates along the giant stone wall from the viewpoint she could see, oddly enough there was one without any traffic. Lily decided to go through the one without any traffic as that would be the fastest to enter the city.

Lily landed a bit farther away from the city’s gate and went on foot, since she thought a little girl flying with wings would be suspicious. Especially since she now knew that [Angels] were monsters in this world.

Lily landed on a dirt path near the city, far enough away to be out of view. With a thought she condensed her wings into her body again. Lily was starting to really dislike that her wings were being hidden away, the constricted feeling, the feeling of not being able to fly at a moment's notice. She started her way to the city, slowly walking there.

Eventually, she reached the city. There were two guards stationed at the entrance; the first had brown hair, brown eyes, and whose facial hair was only just coming in. while the other guard had graying hair and brown eyes. The younger guard stared directly at her, and called out, his voice cracking, “Hold up, kid. We need to check you before you can enter Caldia city.” 

The older guard slapped the back of the younger guard, coughed, and said “No you don’t need to. You can go on young miss.”

Lily was confused, but since she was told she could enter the city, she went on ahead. When the guards thought she was out of earshot, the older guard reprimanded the younger guard, “Did you see that dress? She’s obviously some noble’s kid, it’s better to leave them to do whatever they want.”

Lily decided to go through. It would be awkward to say that she wasn’t a noble, and then they would have to check her in. What she heard next made her think differently, “But surely we can get a good price for a noble's daughter!” Lily wasn’t even surprised at this point anymore.

‘Child trafficking? Or is it slavery? Is there really a difference?’ Lily felt disgusted at the thought; she felt like she needed to do something. ‘Who knows how long it will take for them to do anything drastic…’  with a sour face, she continued on heading inside the city, until a thought came to her. What did she even want to find a city for?

‘Where in the heavens am I?’ Lily looked at the sky. There seemed to be a few hours left until it started to get dark. ‘I better find shelter soon…’

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Redonna’s Inn was packed to the brim, adventurers filling the haphazardly-arranged tables, which had clearly been jostled around by the activity. The voices of the various fantastical adventurers all blended together into a merry din. A small girl in a white dress was stuck in an unpleasant conversation with the innkeeper. “What do you mean you don’t take Yuul?!” Lily cried out, throwing her hands up in exacerbation.

“I don’t know what you’re trying to do young lady but we only accept copper, silver, or gold crowns, I don’t know where this ‘Yuul’ is from,” said Redonna, the innkeeper, skeptically eying the golden Yuul on the table. Lily deflated like a balloon.

Yuul was the universal currency in Phantium, and she had it in the billions. It looked like a gold coin, but it wasn’t a golden crown so it was worthless to this inn, at least. ‘Even though they are probably both gold…’

After the conversation, Lily left Redonna’s Inn, walked to a nearby alley to get out of the way of foot traffic, and lay against a wall. “What am I supposed to do, I have none of this world's currency… a new start…” Lily was on the edge of tears while stuck in her thoughts going in loops. She sat there in silence for a few minutes.

Psst. She ignored it, deep in thought as she revisited everything that had happened today. Sure, she became Lily, but not before falling out of the sky. Psssst! Then she tried to help a trio of adventurers, only to be met with hostility and suspicion. Pssssssst! ‘Not to mention those guards, well at least Jordan was oka–’ PSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSST!!!

Suddenly pulled out of her thoughts, she looked further into the alley she saw a teenage boy, but of a race she had never seen before in Phantium. The boy was missing [Human] ears amongst his tabby-like hair, and instead had cat ears. He looked rough, his clothes were rags and very dirty. With a questioning look from Lily, the boy said “I’ve been trying to get your attention for a while now, are you dense?” This made Lily feel embarrassed, since she kind of got lost in her own world.

“I’m sorry,” Lily said, “but who are you?” Of course Lily didn’t have to ask, but felt using [Identify] on people just out of curiosity would be rude.

“I’m Rudy, that's who!” Rudy announced with a dramatic flair, “Future adventurer extraordinaire! Perhaps even a Hero!” Lily stared deadpan at him. Seemingly unaffected he continued. “Anyways, I overheard you need a place to stay; you can maybe stay where I’m currently residing—although, you may have to do some chores.” Rudy shrugged.

“And where is that exactly?” Lily asked the cat-like boy, skepticism in her voice.

“Where else do wayward and lost kids go?” Rudy explained with a spin of his arms “The orphanage!” Rudy proclaimed with a bit less flair, leading her off confidently in a direction of the part of town, like he owned the place, and felt completely safe. Seeing no other option, Lily trudged along silently.

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Soon the sky began to darken, as Lily and Rudy made their way to the orphanage. What a sight it was! In a decrepit part of the city there was the orphanage which looked similar to a cathedral, it was large at about 3 stories tall. While the surrounding buildings are relatively small compared to the cathedral at 2 stories tall. The windows were broken, some of which were covered with wooden boards. It looked like it was still in the process of being renovated. Lily looked at Rudy skeptically.

“It’s a fixer upper, but it’s home!” Rudy said proudly as he looked over his home as though it were a glorious castle. Lily didn’t have any hope of it being any decent, but was at least better than sleeping out in the open. Maybe she could get something to eat as well? She hadn’t eaten yet today, and it was wearing on her.

As they entered, Lily noticed it was a lot nicer on the inside despite the broken windows giving a feel of run down. Lily heard some footsteps, which belonged to a tall old man with pointed ear tips with silver hair, and green eyes, most likely an [Elf]. “Rudy, why were you gone? When I didn’t see you sweep the floors I went looking for you.” He spoke in a soft, harried voice.

Rudy laughed haughty. “You can’t ask a future adventurer-hero to sweep!” The old [Elf] glared at Rudy, making him wince. He quickly gestured to Lily, presenting her to the caretaker. “Plus I found this one! A damsel in need of a place to stay, and I have offered her shelter for the night!” Rudy laughed again, “Anyway! it’s time for me to restore my energy; surely you can do it little girl” With that, Rudy hurried off deeper into the church.

Rudy’s departure left the room silent. Lily was speechless, and the old [Elf] seemingly was as well. After a moment, he took the initiative to speak “Erhm, I am Talar, nice to meet you miss.” Talar said with a wave, still a little befuddled by Rudy’s behavior.

Lily smiled politely. ‘Am I… going to have a normal conversation?’ she tried not to let her hopes up; after a whole day of either being alone or having negative interactions, this was nice. “Hello, Mr. Talar, I am Lily, it is also nice to meet you too.” said Lily with a wave. She explained that she had nowhere to stay, and no money to spend.

Talar smiled, “Of course you can, if you need something to drink or eat too, we have something for you. Although it won’t be anything fancy…” Talar says in an apologetic tone as he looks at Lily’s dress.

Lily had a small smile at that, understanding his thoughts “Just so you know, I’m not a noble daughter.” she sighed, remembering the conversation at the gate. “I don’t even have a single crown to repay you, sadly.” her shoulders slumped.

Talar looked surprised, but hid it quite quickly “Well, whatever reason you are here, you are welcome; as long as you do some work here and there. Nothing much. If it is too much, make sure to speak up, and we can get you help then. But for now, if you could follow me.”

Talar took Lily to the kitchen and sat her down at a table as he used some [Fire Magic] to light the firewood under the stove. Finally getting a chance to sit and rest as he began cooking, Lily felt the exhaustion of the day truly hit her. When Talar finished making food, he served it to Lily, which Lily ate with a wooden spoon and a bowl at a large table by herself with Talar nearby. Talar then told her to be quiet, and took her to the girls bedroom. This made Lily a bit nervous; She wasn’t really that used to being seen as a girl yet. The last time she’d fallen asleep, she wasn’t… well, she wasn’t even a she! But once she was in bed, she quickly found that her fatigue overpowered her nerves, and soon she was asleep.

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Fwoosh