Chapter 20

Alec was sitting in his fathers old study room, which was his room now, a bottle of alcohol in his hand and deep in thoughts. The door opened and as Alec looked up he saw Hakin walk into the room, wearing t he same clothes he wore when he delivered the message of his fathers death, only with a few minor changes like the purse full of gold or the three jewel rings on his fingers. He seemed to enjoy the life of a merchant and his wealth was spent entirely for his pleasure. He had left his wife with the little child half a year ago, as he decided that a woman of simple origin wasn’t enough anymore for a man on his position.

Alec didn’t like the decision of his representative at all, so he sent money to the lone mother and her child every month.

“What do you want?!” Alec asked with a somewhat shaky voice, caused by the alcohol.

“Alec, I have a proposal to make!” Hakin said with a serious gaze and sat down in front of the blond man.

“What is it..?” Alec asked and took another sip out of the bottle.

“It’s like this: I believe that it isn’t healthy for you sitting here in your fathers study room every day, drinking, thinking about the past…” Hakin answered with a concerned voice.

Alec focused his gaze onto the black haired man. Hakin had done a good job in the two years they were working together. And despite the things Alec didn’t approve of on Hakin, like him leaving his wife and child, the excessive partying or the several women he gathered around him, he believed that Hakin was a good man. Some may call him naïve and that would be true, as Alec basically never left the city and everything he learned was taught to him by other people. Although he had his own opinions towards the different topics, he never really saw the problems itself, only heard of them. Also, the people in his surroundings were always kind and respectful towards him, as he was the leader of a successful trading company. He basically never made his own experiences, like his father did, when he travelled as a young man through the land.

“What are you trying try to tell me?” Alec asked and his somewhat drunken eyes immediately turned clear and serious.

“I think it would be a good experience for you to travel with the trading convoys! You would broaden your horizon with this and you would also learn more about the world. More importantly our trading partners want to meet you in the different cities, as they are trading with your company for three years now! I believe this is a good reason to leave the white city and at the same time it would stop you from getting swallowed by dark thoughts and alcohol.” Hakin said with a similar serious voice and looked at Alec.

Alec observed the man in front of him sharply and began thinking about the proposal. It was true that he never left the white city before. At first it was because his father told him to do so, but later it became a habit and he was satisfied with his life in the city. Before his father died he spent the time trying to gain some knowledge about the white city. The white city, as it is called now, wasn’t actually built by humans, or at least none of the current inhabitants of the city built it. It was said that the humans one day found this white city while exploring and decided to settle in. Since that day the city was called ‘The White City’ as apparently the ancient humans who found this city lacked creativity. After several years of searching the only clue he found were the carvings of demonic beast and war scenes everywhere on the cities stones. They seemed to tell a story, but while Alec was still in the middle of collecting and drawing the different plates onto paper sheets, his father died and he became the head of a company. After he became the head he continued to only live inside of the city, as he never had a good enough reason to leave and to be completely honest, he was afraid of the outside world. Even more, since his father died there.

Alec unconsciously lifted the alcohol bottle to his mouth before he abruptly stopped his hand. He shifted his pondering gaze from the black haired man to the bottle and realized something.

He couldn’t continue living his life like that! He would die a lot sooner, if he would continue and to be honest, he didn’t want to die that early.

His face hardened as he made his decision.

“You are right Hakin…I will move out with the next convoy!” Alec said and his gaze was filled with determination. As he said those words something in his mind broke, vanished into nothingness and Alec felt, for the first time of his life, free. He placed the bottle onto the table looked at the black haired man and stood up.

“I will prepare myself immediately. Send a message to the leader of the next convoy, telling him to wait for me.” Alec said and his former somewhat shaky voice suddenly sounded full of strength.