Chapter 14: A Hero Arises (Part 5)

8.00am, 4009AD, Day 26 of the Month of May. The Day of the Parade of the Champions

When the three songs ended, it marked the official beginning of the Parade of the Champions. Taking the first and historic steps were the Titans and the Spears. The rest; 30,000 strong of us, followed behind the King’s Cavalry in a uniformed order, headed by our leaders and commanders.

Surrounded by my new found friends; Mike, Ariel and Elise, we now began our new journey together. I could not help to be so nervous but excited at the same time. The feeling of being overwhelmed and the weight of the occasion was made somewhat much lesser when I saw their faces, and also of Captain Rizzou’s.

From my excellent position, I could see the silhouette of the very beautiful Princess Sierra. That sight alone rendered my heart calm but courageous. Beside Sehanie and Nelia, Sierra was another girl I’m would die for, again.

The Parade began at the centre courtyard of the Knight’s District. As soon as the Titans, who carried the Elsigardia’a flag and the Spears who was the lead cavalry stepped outside the main gate of the Knight’s District, I could hear deafening applause and cheers. Upon catching the first glimpse of the Parade, the crowd that has been gathering along the roads since the morning roared and clapped loudly.

And the noises rose up a few more levels as soon as the King’s Cavalry passed down the road, dwarfing all the other earlier cheers and claps. However, those were not the only things that came to us. Flowers, hundreds of them and confetti were thrown at us, making the scene more rapturous.

“Long live the King!!!”

“Long live the Crown Princess!!”

“To the victory of Elsigardia!!”

The crowd continued to cheers at us from each sides of the roads; full of people of various races, regardless of age. No one was either too old or too young to be involved. And nothing could stop them either from having a look at their heroes parading once a year, on the final day of the Spring Festival, in honour of the Elsigardia’s patron Goddess, Athenea.

But the roads were not the only place that people would had gathered. Some of them who wanted to have a better view of the parade, stayed on the second or third floor of their balcony to join in the celebration. To those who were even more daring, the roofs were their choices. The higher you were, the better your view would be. That’s the logic anyway. In fact, there were many people on the roofs; mostly of young children and adults, much to the annoyance of the shop owners as they had no way but to accept whatever that was happening right now. The only thing they need to watch was not to fall down. If they happened to fall down, that’s their own problem. But even if they did so, they would not suffer much injuries as someone below might be able to catch them.

We first passed through the Commercial District. Mike, who rode next to me on a white horse, became somewhat of my tour guide. Ariel who was just behind me also chipped in from time to time regarding the information of the place we were parading through.

The Commercial District was a place where one could find any sort of items under the sun. You name it, and most likely you could get it here. The Commercial District was the pride of Elsivier. Commerce began and stopped here. There were auction houses, warehouses, trading houses, markets and many more. Commercial District also had one of the most famous arts and culture house located here, the Leonardo’s Art Couture.

Next was the Adventurer’s District, a loosely formed district made of various inns, hotels, taverns, equipment stores and facilities for all the folks who fancied themselves the life beyond the walls of Elsivier. Compared to Commercial District, the Adventurer District had more of the lively and wild side to it. And the buildings were taller, some even reached 6 floors and more.

As we passed through the Commercial District, there were more people now. Sierra was having a royal time waving to each and every one of them, while sporting that amazing and ravishing smile of hers. Looking at the scene, it was no wonder that the Parade of Champions was a highly waited and anticipated event of the year.

And I had thought I had seen everything, from the size of the Parade and it’s show of might and power. But all the people around gathered here was on another scale. No roads, balconies nor roofs were left empty. Perhaps, everyone who stayed in Elsivier must have gathered here.

Everyone ehh? I wondered if Nelia, who promised to cheer for me on, was here too.

My mind went back to the day when Nelia promised to me that she would join in the Parade and be on the look for me. So far, among the tens to hundreds of thousands of people in the crowd, I have not seen her anywhere. I wondered if she gathered anywhere else amongst the crowd. I really hope she could make it.

My eyes strained as I continued to look for her in the sea of thousands of the people gathered here along the road. It was no easy task at all.

Our parade then passed by the Adventurer District into Residential District, located on the east side of Elsivier. Consisting of thousands of houses, Residential District was where the people of Elsivier called their home. Although there were two satellite cities beyond Elsivier’s massive wall each to the west and the east, some of the folks decided to make the Residential District their home instead. However, because of its location, houses in Residential District were at premiums. As Mike and Ariel told me, the further up north we went to the Residential District, the higher the price of the house fetch.

However, my mind was not concerned about the houses or its price. I’m focusing on looking for Nelia. We have passed 60% of our journey, and I have yet to see her anywhere. I’m beginning to get worried that she might not make it. No doubt that she would be disappointed that she couldn’t see me, but I too would be disappointed for not having her to see me in action.

As I nearly given up hope looking for Nelia, suddenly I saw a red-haired girl. Being a red-haired was somewhat a rarity amongst the crowd and one would surely stuck out for sure. As my eyes caught upon the red-haired girl from the back of her head, I noticed that she was having trouble manoeuvring through the crowd, who was not very friendly enough to let her have a better view of the Parade. Because of her small frame, she was pushed and shoved around. What made it worse was that she even ended up further away from the road. I suddenly felt pity for her. A small girl in the midst of unforgiving waves of people.