The clock struck six and I was sitting at the cafeteria table, waiting for my food. The crew had found out about the news of their new captain and were mostly uncaring. 

I twirled my fork in my gloved fingers, waiting for some kind of indication that Mark was back. All that stared me in the eyes was the dead saka on my plate. It looked at me with those beady eyes, pearlescent and unmoving. My legs were shaking, but I tried my best to stay calm. He promised. He should be here any moment now.

“Ah, screw it.” I spoke out loud. Few of the crew members looked at me out of the corner of their eyes. The chef came rushing forth.

“Food no good, Captain?” he asked. 

“Oh, sorry. No, the food’s fine.” I gave him the leftover plate of sakas. “I really need to get somewhere. I’m so sorry I couldn’t finish it.” The chef nodded and took the food away. 

I needed to find Mark. I didn’t know if he was the kind of guy to be late to these things, but he seemed serious enough not to. Was this like him? I don’t know. I really don’t know him well enough. 

I brought out the slip of paper he had given me and decided to head on out. All this nervous energy didn’t help me think straight.

As I plopped outside the sakoar again, the view of Sakoria under a sunset greeted my eyes. The two suns seemingly split the sky into various shades of red and orange. The yellow sea seemed to glow brightly under the light. The clear dome around Sakoria made this sight even more mesmerizing. 

Soaring Heights Inn, you say? I wondered where that was supposed to be. Should I have checked the map? Nah, wouldn’t have helped. It was mostly topographical. 

Just then, a very old man called out to me from the entrance of an alleyway. I first noticed his big nose. He looked very frail with patches of white hair sticking out of his head. His back was a little hunched. But he had a calm demeanor and a big, goofy smile on his face. 

“Big child,” he called out.

Child? I pointed at myself to confirm he was talking to me.

“Yes, you there in the red.”

At this point, I was used to the fact that everyone was referring to me as a child. I walked over with nervous footsteps. “Hello? I’m… not a child—”

“Ah, that’s fine and dandy. Would you like to talk about our lord and savior?”

“Huh?”

“Well don’t just stand there! Sit down with me.” He grabbed one of my arms before I could pull back and sat me down on the ground. “His name was Merlovak—”

“What?” I exclaimed. “The dragon?”

“Ah, so you do know him! Yes, he is our lord and savior…” He leaned in and whispered into my ears. “He was once sakonian, yes. I know because I was alive back then.”

I didn’t sign up for this. “I’m, uh, super sorry to interrupt. I really need to get to this place called Soaring Heights Inn. Do you, um, know where that is?”

“Ah, children!”

“I’m not—”

“Obsessed with the most interesting of things! Are you sure that’s where you want to go? You know of the dangers, yes?”

It’s probably a black market, duh. “Yes, I’m sure I do.”

“Well, if you promise this old lad that you’ll come visit sometime, yes?”

“Of course,” I smiled. “I’ll try my best not to forget.” I promise I’ll try if you give me good directions, old man.

He huffed quietly before responding. “Ah, yes. The lord can wait. He shall forgive you. Just follow along the dock there and keep going straight. You’ll see it when you see it.”

Forgive me? Of course the lord will forgive me. I know him personally. “Yes, thank you so much.” I stood up and headed in the direction the old man pointed towards. 

He called out one last time before I was too far away to hear. “And don’t forget, young man! Be wary of Ada!”

I gave a quick and polite wave before sprinting out of sight. Ada? Who’s Ada? What a weird old man. But he did give me directions, so I was pretty satisfied. Hopefully, he gave me the correct ones. 

… 

I walked along the edge of the dock like I was told. It didn’t take long to find the inn. It was definitely the correct one unless there were two of the same inns. The sign written on the side of the building glowed brightly. 

From the outside, I couldn’t really tell that it was different from any other building nearby. It looked normal enough. No real signs of illegal activities. I took a deep breath and walked in. 

Inside the inn, the atmosphere was still the same. Nothing really gave off any bad or dangerous vibes. Rather, it was peaceful and also empty of life except for one single middle-aged woman behind a counter who seemed to be clicking away at some kind of handheld monitor. It reminded me of a laptop. She gave a quick stare and then went back to whatever she was doing. 

I walked over to the desk. “Hello?” I asked. 

“Place is closed, honey. Now get along, will ya?”

I looked around again. This should be the place Mark had written down on the note. The name matched. It wasn’t what I’d think first when I thought of a black market, but there was no reason Mark would lie to me. 

I stared at the woman. “So, who…?”

“I’m the receptionist, honey.”

“Uh, Ms. Receptionist—”

She put down whatever she was holding. “Just call me Ada, honey. Now, I don’t wanna repeat to ya, but we’re closed. Ya hear?”

Ada? I could’ve sworn I heard that name before… “But isn’t this an inn? Shouldn’t inns be open all the time?”

“You the innkeeper? Nah, I didn’t think so. Get your stinkin’ bum outta here.”

I noticed there was a brown door behind the lady. It had a symbol that looked like the head of a dragon. I asked Ada, “so where does that door lead to?”

Ada picked up her small sakonian laptop and continued on with the clicking. “Get out, kid. That’s my last warning to ya.”

“Look, I’m wearing this red suit, I know. But I’m not a kid. I’m just looking for someone named Mark.”

She stopped what she was doing and raised an eyebrow. “You sure you’re not a kid?”

I let out a tired sigh. “I really need to find Mark. Have you seen a really muscular—”

“No.” She went back to clicking.

“What?”

“No Mark here,” she replied. 

“I didn’t even finish.”

“Place is off limits.” She didn’t even look up. “Everyone around here should know better than that.”

“There”—I pointed at the door behind her—“Black market? Yes?”

The woman raised an eyebrow again. “Who are you?”

“Uh, Captain of Moribus?”

“Of Moribus? So something did happen to that poor girl.”

“Girl? What girl?” Is she talking about Dans?

“That liar…” She pointed at me. “You. Go.”

I looked at her, confused. “Out?”

“No! Where do ya think? The door.” She pointed behind her.

So she was lying. I didn’t know what to expect at a sakonian black market, but I had to keep going. There was no point in dawdling. Time for another adventure.