“The 3rd Age, the Era of March, witnessed the advent of the first human Archmage, Archmage Hongjun. Humanity stretched across all of Braxia under his lead, and man dominated all the world until the dawning of the 5th Age, the Era of the Omen.” -Tal-Gra The Mystic, 7th Deacon of the Zyphonic Order

Sam closed the book, puzzled by the contents. Every historical narrative he could find mentioned the 5th Age as the major turning point in history. Everything before it seemed more myth than record, and all of the histories seemed to collide their narratives in strange ways, mostly differing along religious lines. Still, now he knew what the tagline ‘a.o’ meant in his magic book, the first one he received from the tutorial.

“After Omen…” Sam muttered. It meant that the calendar dates were split.

B.O. Before Omen

A.O. After Omen

Sam pondered, wondering what happened to this world that caused such a divide in the ages. Memories sparked in the recesses of his mind; memories of a cross and the word sacrifice. Thoughts of the old world surged, and an understanding bloomed. The Religions of this world seemed connected to the ‘Wild Gods’, or the Demon Lords. Clearly one of the seven interfered with the human plane during this ‘Era of Omen.’

Sam sighed. He didn’t need to get to the bottom of this mystery, per se, but he wanted to. Sam desperately wanted to understand his new home, this land of Braxia.

-

Riben sat near Sam, browsing several books as well. Occasionally Sam would ask him a question and he’d offer a clarifying statement, thought it was clear Riben didn’t know too much about history.

Gyre, on the other hand, stood at the end of the table and paced back and forth, sweat forming on his brow. His eyes were narrow and he clenched his sword till his knuckles turned white.

“We can’t afford to stop here for long,” remarked Gyre, turning towards the table. His voice belied his panicked state, but it was clear he was afraid of something.

“Gyre, I don’t know what enemies you have in this city, but you need to calm down,” said Sam as he stood from the table. “There is no reason to panic.”

Sam didn’t mention it, but he already deciphered the magics under the roads of Sauver-Hill. The cabal runes within the stone were linked to a database of sorts in the fort at the throat of the city. Normally these runes would collect information about everyone on or around them, but Sam had already hacked the magic circuits in order to make his ‘presence’ vanish. It wasn’t terribly difficult, taking him only a half hour of work, and in order to celebrate his victory over a new magic, Sam asked Riben to guide him to a place with books.

Sam didn’t expect the city to have an Academy open to the public, but he found the libraries filled with interesting texts and histories.

-

The three walked from the Academy without any issue and started making their way further north. Sam didn’t want to stay in the city overnight. Despite his hacking of the magic surveillance systems, other—-more old fashioned—-methods of tracking could be used. While Sam could avoid any prying eyes if he decided to, it would be more difficult to bring Riben and Gyre along with him.

Sam rather liked Riben and Gyre. He wasn’t about to continue his journey without them.

Gyre’s nervousness grew as the trio approached the wider ‘throat’ of the city. The buildings became taller, more robust, and unapproachable. Armed guards stood before each entryway, giving passerby harsh stares. Trash and dirt vanished from the streets, hiding in the alleyways. Policemen actively patrolled, each walking with an authoritative swagger unique to Sauver-Hill.

The human traffic increased as all the roads came together again; all the arteries of the dragon city flowed to the brain to keep it alive.

Turning one final corner, the roads merged into one final lane, packed with carriage and footmen, all making their ways towards the towering walls of the fort and its massive metal gates hanging like the jowls of a beast.

-

Gyre pulled his coat tight around his shoulders, making himself look smaller. Sam and Riben didn’t bother. The crowds moved slow, but the trio inched their ways towards the gates moment by moment.

Sam scouted ahead, extending his perceptive abilities, and watched the long human stream funnel into a single gateway, the gateway to the Kriegan Capital.

“If you want to go North of Sauver-Hill,” said Riben, “You have two options. Trek the old paths and die in the wilds or go through the Dragon’s Throat.”

Sam nodded. Every road from Southern Braxia seemed to collect in the city of Sauver-Hill. Sam wondered if the design was intentional, in order to chamber off invasions. The local barriers, in the swamplands to the south and the massive riverbend coming from the east gave Sauver-Hill a unique strategic importance, serving as a narrow pass any invasion from the Southern End would need to pass through.

-

Along the high walls of the Sauver-Hill Fort, a large-statured man waited. His eagle eyes stared into the crowds below, picking through the people. One by one he compared them to the demand order sent down by Magistrate Shen Fayne.

After hours of arduous watching, the man’s patience was rewarded. Among the crowds three men stood. One hid himself well with his cloak, but his companions gave him away.

The scout jumped and swiped his hand along his sleeve, activating unique magic circuits in his arm-guard. The scout grinned as he made his report, “I’ve spotted the Gyre Lazann. He’s in the crowds queued at the Throat.”

-

Wagons and men passed through a brief inspection at the gates, a security measure Sam didn’t understand well. The city had no guards or gates to enter, but only on the path north. Buoys and patrol boats stretched across the river too, preventing entry by land or sea.

“Why do they have such a guarded gate when they have a security magic system in the roads?” Sam asked under his breath.

“The roads record crimes, Sam, they don’t catch the criminals,” Riben replied, in awe of Sam’s lapse in logical thought.

Sam’s eyes went wide. He studied the magic below and, after a moment, realized why he had been confused. The Cabalist Runes in the roadways had the power to attack, but it seems they hadn’t been used in years. Those magical paths were mana-starved and dry. The people running the city itself didn’t seem to know of what power they truly held.

Sam opened his mouth to say something, but then closed it without a word. He held his tongue. Some secrets were, probably, better left kept.

-

Sam’s group made it to the front of the line and were stopped by the guards. Inside the gateway tunnel runes glowed blue, magic hummed along like neon. Sam felt the spells as he walked forward.

The tunnel stretched for about the length of a rugby pitch, but was wide enough for several wagons to pass through at once. Guards lined both sides, all in tune with the magic. Sam followed the data flows with his mind, tracking it as it made its way to and from a database high up in the Dragonbone Fort.

With a wave of his hand, three data points shifted. Sam, Riben, and Gyre vanished from the records like spectres. None of the soldiers stopped them. The three walked through the tunnels without harm.

The end of the tunnel opened up into a massive area, with all manner of wagons and shops on the sides. Men peddled their wares, some recruited guards, and others looked for passengers on their merchant fleets for the journey north to the capital.

“We’re out of the city, Gyre, you can calm down now,” said Sam.

“Don’t play coy, Sam,” Gyre snapped back. “You’re far stronger than me. You can definitely feel the eyes on us.”

“Gyre… Can you just tell us why you’re being hunted? Why would you even agree to come with us on this journey if you knew this,” asked Riben.

“I didn’t expect this,” Gyre interrupted. “Listen, I told you both that I came to Madda about 10 years ago to seek adventure, but I also used Madda’s status as a Hunter’s Guild Frontier to protect myself, too. Some bad men from the country of Lazann want me dead. I never thought they’d get some authority in the Dragon City, though. Why else would we be confronted in the open? Why else would we be tracked from the Fort? My enemies influence has grown in the last 10 years...”

Sam sighed, “Do you think their influence stretches to the capital?”

“No,” said Gyre.

“I doubt it,” quipped Riben. "Sam, you hold an S-rank guild card from the Hunter's Guild. If we get to the Capital, you'll have a higher status than even lower ranked nobles."

“The Kriegan Capital has some serious security. No foreign agents could give us real trouble there…” said Gyre, “But I fear we’ll be ambushed along the way. I don’t know how you evaded the sensory magic in the tunnel, Sam…”

“I hacked their magic database,” said Sam with a grin. “It’ll take me about a day to get through all the raw information, but I should be able to find out who is hunting for you among the upper class of Sauver-Hill.”

The three grew quiet for a moment as they all processed the information at hand.

…

“So,” said Sam as he clapped his hands together, “We need to make a decision. Do we make a break for the city and avoid the ambush…”

Sam’s eyes narrowed and his voice carried a horrifying magical energy that stilled the air around the entire lot, “Or do we smash them from the front and let them know not to try us again?”