Now I know I said I’ll probably, nay, most definitely oversleep, but it seems the opposite happened. Actually, I couldn’t even get a wink of sleep last night from how excited I was. Heh, what am I, a kid? In any case, since I already everything already stashed away in my bag, I really didn’t have to do anything more apart from get dressed. Ah, gotta make sure not to wake mom up as well, ‘cause that’d just be plain awkward.

“Hey, how’d you sleep?” I called out to Shaid, who had an even more tired expression than usual.

“Yaaawn, not at all.” He groaned, “It would have been really embarrassing if I had overslept after all I’ve said yesterday. You would not ever let me live it down.”

“Maybe, possibly.” I figured, “But that’s pretty nice, isn’t it? Now our journey can start without a hitch!”

“About that, Schnell.” He sounded like he was walking on eggshells as he inquired, “I don’t mind going away from my horrible parents, but what about you? Your mother and father are both amazing people, do you not feel the slightest bit regretful to leave without ever telling them at least?”

“Come on, man.” I patted him on the back with a grin, “If I told them, then they’d try to talk us out of it, ‘s why we’re doing this so early on in the morning, bud!”

“A-Ah, I suppose that is true…”

And with that, we had to take a short walk to the nearby hills if we were to procure our mode of transport. Of course, by that I can only mean one thing.

“A horse!” I ran up to one to try and pet it, only to get kicked into a nearby tree, “Oof! That one’s feisty!”

“Schnell, are you alright?!” Shaid panicked as he went to check up on me, “A horsekick like that would have surely killed anyone with a smaller frame than you.”

“Yeah, but thankfully I got this awesome bod to protect me!” I flexed my muscles, only for them to start aching due to the impact of the kick, “Yeowch!”

“For now, how about you rest while I try and tame our new compadres?”

“Yeah, you do that.”

Sitting in the shade and waiting for Shaid to get these two horses on our side has got to be the most entertaining way to spend the morning. Thankfully, it was a beautiful day out today, even though Cardina’s climate is mostly cloudy or rainy all year round. He at first tried to just hop on them and hope to every God he knows that he doesn’t get the same treatment as me, but after failing and almost getting his legs stomped on by the startled horses, he finally sighed and gave in to their demands. Holding out what was supposed to be his share of the rations we had prepared before the trip, he slowly let the horses themselves approach the food and carefully take it from his hand. And in just that moment…

“A-ha!” I grabbed the horse by the neck and tried straddling it, “Now you have nowhere to run, you fiend! Come on, just take us to the dock and we won’t bother you again-!”

Aaaaand he’s gone. Damn, the horse actually sent him flying. Just look at him soaring so high up in the sky, I think he might’ve even touched a cloud or two. No matter, I guess it’s high time I stop slacking off and go catch him before he goes splat. Don’t get me wrong, that’d be funny as hell, but I’d also kind of feel lonely on my journey if he wasn’t accompanying me, so I have no other choice.

“AAAAAAAAAAHHH!” He yelled, his voice growing louder as he approached the ground.

“Don’t worry, I gotcha’!” I ran around in circles trying to calculate the exact place he’d fall to, only to trip up on the grassy terrain, “Ack! Oh no!”

Be it a stroke of luck or just my masterful planning, it seems the place I had fallen to was actually the correct landing area he’d take. Using my body as a cushion, he just barely survived thanks to all the mass I have in me. That being said, he really did a number on my stomach, ow…

“Oof, you okay, bud?” I brushed the dirt off his clothes as I propped him up beside me.

“A-Ah, um, eh?” His legs shook weirdly before giving out, “Remind me to never try that again…”

“Hey now, that was pretty cool.” I smiled back, “Hey, while you were up there, what did you see? Was it really like the fairy tales say? Are there cute angel girls on the clouds?”

“I was not that high up.” He rolled his eyes as he laid down on the grass, “Even still, the view was to die for.”

“I’ll bet.”

After this near death encounter, we had decided to take our time in taming the horses this time, opting to feed them my portion of the food as well, then slowly but surely reaching out to pet them. After that, it took a couple more hours of petting before they finally let us get on their backs.

“Woohoo!” I yelled out, “Aye, Shaid! Is this cool or what?”

“Cool?!” He lagged behind, “My scrotum is killing me! Why didn’t we pack saddles?!”

“Yeah, in hindsight we probably should’ve thought of that…” I turned back around, “Get used to this feeling of absolute nutcracking though, cause we’re gonna be riding the horses for at least another eight hours or so before we make it to the dock.”

“This feeling, I swear to the Gods that I will create an alternative so that no other man has to endure this pain ever again…!”

Needless to say, he continued cussing out the horses for the entire duration of the trip to the docks. Thankfully though, horses can’t understand human speak, otherwise they’d have really sent him to meet the pretty ladies of folk tales this time.

***

“There we go! Now wasn’t that just swell?” I turned to the now very dead inside Shaid, “Hey, I just figured something out – we could have just placed our backpacks between our legs, and the at least cushion the blow a tad bit.”

“N…” He snapped, “Now you think of this?! Argh, if I become unable to reproduce in the future, the blood from my balls will be on your hands!”

That’s a rather graphic scene he just thought up. Honestly, I always like seeing him get this angry. Trust me, I know what I’m saying – he comes up with the best swears and analogies when he’s angry. It’s hilarious!

“How can you be this late in figuring it out?!” He continued berating me, “It is like a chicken that’s trying to fuck an egg! It makes no sense!”

“Pfft, there it is!” I burst out laughing, “There’s the infamous Shaid Swears I’ve come to adore!”

“Schnell, this is not funny! I do not think I will be able to walk normally for at least a week. Do you understand that?”

“Well thankfully, you won’t have to. Since the entire point of coming to the dock here is to get on a ship to Abyssus Solis, we’ll be taking it easy for the next two weeks while we’re out traveling the high seas.”

He then proceeded to sigh after realizing I have no intentions of feeling bad nor forgiving him for my earlier jeers, so he gave up and just dragged his feet behind me as I asked around for any Captain’s willing to stow us away for free. The money we had saved up from our jobs was pretty good, don’t get me wrong, but that doesn’t mean we can be wasteful with it. In the world of adventuring, every Bronze counts!

“Stow you away? For free?” The Captain laughed in my face, “Hey guy, just ‘cause you’re big don’t mean you can push us other folks around, y’hear? Now get the fuck away from me before I yell for the militia to arrive.”

“Alright alright, no need to get all butthurt about it.” I said as I told Shaid to turn back.

“Hmm, I can take you there, sure.” The Captain of another nearby ship gladly obliged, “Under one condition.”

“Great! What will it be?” I all but agreed to it without even hearing her out.

“You two become my pets.” She donned a scary grin.

“Nope!” I backed the fuck off immediately, “Nope, nope, nope, nope – NOPE! Shaid, run the hell away from this lady! She’s dangerous!”

“Please do tell me more of what being a pet entails, madame.” Shaid could be seen caressing the hand of the crazy lady.

“Dammit, bud!” I forcefully grabbed him by the collar before running off, “She’s beautiful, yes, but you need to have some more self-respect!”

“I knew that…” He pouted.

We walked around for a couple more hours now, but it was getting dark, and we couldn’t find a single person willing to take us to the desert free of charge. Makes sense though, as many of the ships were charters who didn’t have a reason to ever go to Abyssus Solis. Really, I would have been more surprised if someone did actually agree to it.

“Oye, brothers.” A dark-skinned bald old man beckoned us.

“Come on, Schnell.” Shaid grabbed me by the wrist and tried going in the opposite direction, “Don’t make eye contact. That guy’s probably dangerous.”

“…” I still yanked my wrist away from his clutches before walking to the old man, “That’s no good. Remember, once we get to Abyssus Solis, you’ll be surrounded by the dark-skinned race. Racism is no good, that’s also the whole point of this journey, is it not?”

“Hrmm…” He groaned, “Alright. I apologize.”

“Hello sir, what do you need?” I greeted him politely as I approached.

“It is not what I need, brothers. It is what you need.” He explained, “I saw you two desperately looking for a ship that was traveling to my homeland, yes?”

“Well, if your homeland is Abyssus Solis, then yeah, sure.” I replied.

“What business do you have there?” He immediately started interrogating us.

“What business?” I tilted my head.

“See, Schnell, I told you he doesn’t plan on giving us a ride there.” Shaid turned around, “Now come on, let’s go.”

“What business…” I looked down at the wooden planks of the dock for a bit before looking him in the Eye, “We wish to know more about you and your culture.”

“Oh?” He seemed interested.

“We are just two friends who believe the world is currently in tatters. But we also believe that, given enough time and initiative, we will one day be able to claim we took the first step in stitching it back together. To begin with, we wish to end the discriminations against your race by going there personally and living there for a while, as well as documenting our findings.”

“I see.” He turned around and hopped on the ship, “That is a rather kind dream you two share, brothers. But you know, I had to work hard my entire life to get this trading charter. A lot harder than any white man, at least. In that case, I simply cannot offer you a ride for free.”

“We understand.” I humbly accepted his rejection, “Thank you for your consideration.”

“However!” He suddenly turned back to face us, “I simply cannot let such kind and honest boys down! So brothers, tell you what – I will take you to my homeland, and in exchange, you will live there for a year at least and help our quik thrive.”

“That is all?” Shaid tilted his head, “But wait, what makes you think the two of us will be that useful?”

“Of course you wouldn’t understand how difficult it is to pass through customs and borders as a member of the dark-skinned race, brother.” He shook his head, “I both envy you and wish you never have to experience it. That being said, if you could just help us out around the quik, as well as help me transport my wares occasionally, I will gladly uphold my end of the bargain.”

“Well then, sir!” We both smiled as we hopped on the ship with him, “You got yourself a deal!”