Nine riders in perfect formation approach and speed past the horizon. Slowing down they stop by the two who are sitting on the side of the road, staring down below with a discerning gaze. Wearing chain and leather, draped in a purple cape with a central raven insignia, the riders look at one another and then each other before two dismount and walk over.
Each carry a spear at the ready and the few in the back walk back and fan out slightly, wary.
The two dismounted riders walk up the disguised Master, eyeing him carefully and after removing their cloth scarf one speaks.
“This road was closed off to the public this morning, you should not be here.” Says one of the riders in a cold tone, his eyes scanning the ground behind and lingering on the tall grasses for a moment, “Explain.”
The Master bows down slightly and opens his palms up in front of him, a disarming posture, and says quietly,
“Honorable Outrider, we mean no harm. We were in a hurry to head to the College so we could make it for this year’s acceptance ceremony. Our carriage had a broken wheel, you see, and so we are now on foot making our way.”
Silence wraps around those present, piercing gazes looking between the pair.
“Reasonable,” begins the Outrider in a slow tone, “but as this road was closed since this morning you would have had to be unreasonably lucky to have missed the man directing the traffic and the first patrol. Unless of course you purposefully avoided them all.”
At this point the rest of the riders have surrounded the two on the ground, the grips on their spears tightening audibly.
The Master waves his hands and stammers nervously, “Your logic is sound, sir, but I am just a humble Venator hired to escort the boy by his former masters and of course there needs nothing be said about him. Sure, he has a good physique for his age but…”
Tapering off and fumbling with an object that was pulled from his clothes, the Master held out a dull silver medallion that spun slightly in the air that had the numeral “VII” stamped onto it.
“I am not completely helpless my good sirs, as you can see, and so we took a direct route cutting through the grasses straight here.”
The tension in the air abated slightly, the Outriders watching them silently with little reaction. The stifling air was broken, however, when a rider that had silently departed came galloping back and flashed a sign
“Typical mercenaries” mumbled the speaking Outrider, the pressure in the air almost completely abated.
The Master waves behind him towards Nur, who holds out his obsidian plaque for all to see. The Outriders visibly lose tension upon seeing it.
“Use your essence boy, “stated the Master to which Nur complies and summons a small hue around his hand.
The last of the tension leaves the Outriders, a smile breaks out on the face of the original speaker for a moment before he returns to indifference.
“A future apprentice of the College, hmm. He must be escorted safely as it would be our heads if a valuable asset was killed in accident by a transport guard. You are now with us. We will escort you to the Capitol.”
Leaving no room for debate with his tone of finality, the Outrider and his partner return to their mounts and look expectantly at their new charges.
“Get on. Keep your mouths closed and eyes shut, we don’t have spare protective equipment for you.”
The Master waves his hands and bows several times, getting on whilst uttering excuses and thanks, whilst Nur quietly jumps onto the back of the horse and curiously inspects the animals around him.
“Hold on, apprentice. There are only two speeds for us, fast and faster.”
With a lurch the horse begins to move, quickly breaking into a gallop and speeding forward. Nur fearfully grabs onto the Outrider as the scenery begins to blur together, eliciting a snort from the Outrider.
In silent awe, Nur watches as they move faster and faster. Far beyond any mere camel of the desert could possibly manage, before being forced to close his eyes as the screaming wind threatened to pluck them out of his skull.
Opting to instead view the world through his mind, he examined each piece of new life he passed for hours on end.
“Look alive, apprentice. We have arrived.”
Daring to open his eyes slightly, Nur moves his head away from the back of the Outrider and examines the scenery. Long gone is the tall grass and singular lonely road and instead a massive influx of pale humans. Most are wearing coarse tunics and pants but occasionally sees some that are far taller than the rest while others sport odd long hair styles that are tied back with various ornate material. Though no matter how carefully he looked, essence or otherwise, he did not see any that looked like him.
As they rounded the slight inclined and approached their destination, a massive structure peaked out of the horizon. A wall of unimaginable height, soaring upwards with the tip seemingly touching the clouds and skimming its surface. Massive pillars of stone lined the monstrosity at uniform intervals, completely smooth and symmetrical as if it was sculpted perfectly by a higher being.
The scour of people that entered through a massive gate of steel and stone seemed to dirty the sanctity of the spectacle, bringing it back to the mundane. This outflow of people was summarily ignored by their group, however, as they simply bypassed the flow of traffic and headed towards a notably empty portion of the road.
“Our job is done here,” said an Outrider with a curt tone. The disguised Master and Nur got off, not even able to get a word in as their temporary transport took off into the distance.
“That is how they are,” explained the Master, “always in a hurry to stamp out the endless flames. Though perhaps you will experience it first-hand soon enough.”
Following along, Nur maintained his stoic face and walked in pace all the way until they entered the shadow of the massive gate and stopped by an opening in the side of the wall where rows of people silently attended unending piles of documents.
“Present the scroll with your official identity on it to those kind fellows there. With that you will be officially a citizen of the Republic as a freedman and be free of your status of a slave. You have two weeks until you need to show up at the College but until then you can explore the glories of civilization.”
And with those last words said, The Master turned around and walked into the crowd. Gone for now.
Watching his back until even he could no longer see, Nur turned towards the offices and presented his papers as directed. Receiving a small stamp on his hand that curiously dissipated into nothingness moments later, he walked through the gate and entered the city.
As he left the darkness of the overhanging wall, the sunlight of the afternoon cast a path of light for him to step into. The warmth of it seemingly thawing his frozen facial features as relief washed over his being. Using his every sense to the fullest, he examines every person around him and laughs silently when he finds no presence of the Master anywhere.
“I survived”
