Following the path from the school I headed east, it’s been a week since I left and I’m living rough at the moment, catching and cooking my own food, building shelter and all the basics I learnt the hard way on the first day, almost getting lost in a small forest where I decided to set up camp I improvised and setup self-rules when travelling, always mark your path and always set camp before sundown that way you can see what your doing...

The path I’m currently travelling on is a path for traders, it’s cuts through the hills and in the distance is a small town which I hope to reach by nightfall, the town is surrounded by small walls, walls that just go above the average height of a man, from where I am I can’t see any big houses neither, it’s probably a small trading town in the middle of nowhere.

I decide to jog instead of walk due to the low, lazy pace I’ve been travelling at has gotten boring.

After jogging for 3 hours I reach the small town, as I walk up to the entrance path, there is a gate which is guarded by rough looking men, they’re 2 of them, they look untrained and hold old sword and ragged armour, as I walk closer they look at me suspiciously and the rougher looking one on the left walks towards me,

“Oi you, what’s ya’ business roun’ ere’?”

As he opened his mouth I could see he didn’t have very many teeth left.. maybe I should gift him a toothbrush first?

I put on my friendliest smile and reply to the rough looking fella,

“Hello Sir, I’m seeking entry to the town, looking for some shelter, I have a few pelts to sell as well, any chance I can come in?”

The rough looking man put a hand on his scraggly beard and ushered the other man to come over,

“Whadya’ thin’ Barry? should we let im’ in?”

Who let this pair of idiots guard the gate I think inwardly.

‘Barry’ looks me up and down and then turns back to the one who could use a toothbrush,

“Ye’ Paul let im’ in, the lasses will lov’ im’ hahahahaha” Barry said whilst laughing obnoxiously, these guys are obviously the rough type, born and raised country folks.

“Thank you, can you tell me where the Inn is?” I ask, questioningly.

“ jus’ go through de’ gate, you’ll find yer’ way roun’ soon enough, small town ye’ see”

As per the mans instructions I go through the old rusty gate, once inside I see that the town is as small as described, there are around 30 small looking wooden houses, there seems to also be a small temple at the furthest part of the town, I walk along the muddy path through the town and see people who look like farmers, small time merchants and workers going back and forth, they are all wearing rags, this town seems to be quite poor.

Continuing to walk towards a rough looking building labeled ‘Tavern & Inn’ I notice the curious glances from the people of this town towards me, I suppose they don’t get many visitors, and my appearance wasn’t what one would consider normal, I was lean and well build and being rather tall at a height of 192 cm, having rather long jet black hair and yellow eyes I was rather conspicuous, my choice of wardrobe didn’t help in this neither, wearing magically weighted clothing, black in colour I looked like a suspicious character.

I had arrived at my chosen destination and opened the door to the rough looking tavern & Inn, as soon as I opened the door I could hear the drunk laughs of middle aged men and the stench of people who don’t bother to shower entered my nose, I stepped in and went straight towards to counter, it was actually more like a bar but still..

As I approached closer a middle aged woman who looked as rough as the others popped her head up from behind the bar,

“What can I do ye’ for?” she said in the same accent as the rough men at the gates.

“I’d like a room for 2 nights please” I replied in a polite manner.

“Fer’ a polite young man lik’ you, dat’ll be 10 coppers”, the lady said in a now seductive tone, yuck…

“Here you are mam” I say as I reach into my bag and take out 10 coppers, I had 10 gold overall from my savings.

She grabbed the money off me and stuck her head back under the bar, a second later she came out with a key in hand labelled with a number.

“ere’s ye’ key, room 6 yer’ in”

I took the key and followed after her as she showed me the way, once we got to the room to the room labelled ‘6’ she handed me the key and left me to it, I opened the door and found the most basic room I’ve ever seen, it had a bed and a wardrobe, that was it, it would do for 2 days though, I wasn’t going to complain, I headed in and placed my luggage on the floor.

I then locked my door and headed outside to explore the town, especially that temple, that intrigued me.

-

The town was noticeably poor and the scenery wasn’t pretty, everyone looked 10 years older than they were due to the poor health of the citizens, it seemed they were under stress from their harsh living conditions, I walked towards the only building that seemed decent in this rundown town, the temple was clean and even had a garden growing all kinds of beautiful flowers, from the temple gates onwards it was like another world entirely, the filth and gloominess of the town seemed to be unable to penetrate past the holy walls of the temple, it was like it didn’t belong there…the contrasting differences were truly strange.

I walked up to the small gates of the temple and opened them, this led me to the garden of flowers and through that was the doors to the inside of the temple.

Opening the doors I stepped inside and instantly felt a serene aura emitting from the atmosphere within the room, there were rows of benches and stained glass windows letting peaks of sunlight fall on a statue which was in the front of the room on a platform.

As I entered further a divine looking young man walked out from somewhere, he wore a pure white robe which flowed down his slender body, his hair was golden and his eyes were also gold in colour, he looked like an angel, incredibly handsome and pure.

He walked towards me in a manner in which made it look like he glided under that long white robe.

“Hello~ welcome, how may I be of service~?” an angelic voice echoed across the room, he stopped a couple meters in front me and he smiled, his smile and voice were both warm and welcoming.

“Ah Hello, what is this place? are you one of the priests?” I asked with a curious intent.

The young man smiled even more at my question and came closer, ushering me to sit with him on the bench to the side of the room.

“A curious one, hmm~? This ‘place’ is known as ‘Yuem’, Yuem is not a church or religious order, it is in fact, neither.

I am Malus, the eldest of Yuem, telling you how old though would be embarrassing~.”

He certainly doesn’t look that old though, the rest of the ‘Yuem’ must be young?

I then see that Malus is studying me, looking up and down, I feel like a specimen being looked at by a scientist, one can tell his eyes hold an undeniable depth of knowledge.

“Hmmm .. Hmmmm..

Interesting~~

You are wearing some kind of weighted clothing right? Furthermore, judging by your stature and muscle definition it seems you have undergone excruciating training.....

The Mana in the air surrounding your body also seems more concentrated..

Hmmm..”

Malus was now fully absorbed in prodding and touching the skin on my hand, I for some reason let him do this, it was like the thought of this angelic and pure person attacking me never even crossed my mind.

I sat there shocked and confused by what I had just been told, how had he known, I had to ask.

“Uhm.. How did you know those things about me?”

He smiled even brighter,

“Fufufu, I’m far more knowledgeable than you can imagine, kiddo”

He’s calling me Kiddo when he looks not that older than me..

“Anyway, My name is Zepp, Zepp Alkery, nice to meet you Malus… I better get going now..”

I stood and turned to leave the room in a hurry.

“Fufufu, see you again, Zepp, I know this isn’t the last time we’ll meet~” Malus’s voice was barely audible as I left the room.

-

As I walked out of the temple gates and back into the filthy town I went to ask a local about their thoughts on this strange temple.

I spotted a rough looking merchant who was selling basic herbs, he had a small stall and looked to be barely getting by.

“Excuse me Sir, what’s your thoughts about the temple over there? why is it so different from the town?” I said as I pointed towards the temple I had just left.

The rough merchant looked at me with confused eyes,

“I dunt’ kno’ wha’ temple yer’ on about but if ye’ wanna buy somethin’ go ahead” he said with a confused and rural business like tone.

He doesn’t know the temple is there? huh?

I went to ask many more locals and asked them the same question, just like with the merchant they said they had no idea what I was talking about, they looked at me like a mad man.

At the end of whitts I got one of the locals to follow me to the temple, as we neared it I pointed and said “He-” as I was about to speak I was cut short, the temple wasn’t there anymore, nothing was there, it was just a grassy bit of filthy land just like most of this town.

I surely wasn’t crazy, I went into that temple, I spoke to Malus, I went back to my room in the Inn to calm myself down as the unusualness of the situation hit me.

Sitting on my bed in the room I was thinking of my next course of action, from gathering information from the locals I found that the nearest Human city was 100 miles east from the town, It was called Gruthen, a big merchant city with a lot of history, I decided to travel there first thing tomorrow morning to find more information on the Yuem, I had an instinctive feeling that I had to find out.

-

3 days later I arrived in Gruthen, I had already found an Inn and got my room for a couple nights the Inn was a lot more luxurious than the one in that town.

The city was full of merchants and lively looking people, the houses stretched for as far as the eye could see and they were far better quality than the townhouses, there were lots of guards and a wall surrounded the city, the gates had lots of sturdy looking guards blocking the paths and checking anymore who went in and out of the city, it was tight security but the locals were cheerful and welcoming.

Before I had checked in at the Inn I had asked the Innkeeper who the most knowledgeable in Gruthen was, someone that will be willing to answer questions I had to ask.

He told me it was the scholar called Jean who lived in the observatory, the observatory was a huge building that looked like a long lighthouse but without the light, the Innkeeper warned me that he may be unwilling to answer questions but he was definitely the most knowledgeable on various subjects.

I headed the strange looking observatory in pursuit of this man called Jean, I had questions, lots of them.

As I arrived I noticed the building was a structure with sublime architecture, it curved and was rounded like a lighthouse from far away but as you got closer the architecture really showed it’s prowess.

I walked towards the doors to the observatory and knocked on the large wooden doors, the knock was strong and I used a bit of force, it seemed to shake the structure ever so slightly.

Footsteps came to the doors and an old man wearing a hooded brown robe and glasses opened the door ever so slightly,

“I’m not buying anything!” he said with a slightly annoyed voice and tried to close the door.

“Wait! I’m here to ask you something thats been bothering me, I’ve come tens of miles just to find answers!” I replied with a desperate voice.

As soon as I said I wanted to ask him something his eyes lit up and he ushered me in silently.

We walked up the winding stairs into a room that looked to be his study, there was a big desk and book shelves filled with all kinds of books, it was like a library.

“Now, First, introduce yourself, boy” Scholar Jean said as he sat in his chair behind the desk.

“The names Zepp Alkery”

“Good Zepp, sit, now, tell me what it is you want to know and I may just answer your question.”

I sat in the chair like I was told.

“Scholar Jean, I came across a small town on my travels and In the town was a temple that should not have belonged there, it’s contrast to the down was staggering, it was too beautiful to be able to exist in the filthy town, I went inside this temple to explore and was told by a strange young man that the place was called ‘Yuem’, after I left and asked the locals if they had ever wondered why the temple was so different to the town they looked at me like I was crazy.. the temple didn’t exist in the town..”

Scholar Jean’s face was full of shock, his jaw was hanging open and his eyes looked like they were bulging out of their sockets, he shot up from his chair and with a frantic expression looked at me again,

“YUEM?! how do you know that name..

You can’t be lying, that name has been lost over the ages.

….. how is this possible” Scholar Jean said with a frantic tone.

“Who are you? to be able to enter Yuem?!” Scholar Jean ran over to me and began shaking my shoulders like a mad man, I shrugged him off and grabbed him by his shirt.

“Oi! calm down!” I said, lifting him up and shaking his body with my grip.

“Ah! Ah! Excuse me! I’m sorry, this old man got too excited!” Scholar Jean said with a slightly embarrassed expression.

Calming down the old scholar began to tell Zepp what he knew of Yuem,

“Yuem.. they are a group of people who share the same attitude to life, they do whatever they want but all of them decide to keep to themselves, you could call them carefree, but their group is extremely ancient, spanning back to the times of the continents beginning.

No one knows the exact origins of Yuem but the members are few and never seem to age, no new members have joined since the beginning and rumours say they are all the original members, they are never aging.

They are also…powerful. That's the only word I can use to describe them from the ancient texts I’ve read upon them, the weakest among them is a rank x mage… likened to gods roaming the continent.

But why would they appear for you..?”

I listened attentively to the scholars knowledge, rank x magic? the weakest! I was startled and my heart trembled upon hearing this, Malus was the oldest among them, I was in the presence of an ancient being who could crush Teacher like a bug!

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thanks for reading, If you spot any mistakes or typos just say and I'll fix it! :)