Elementalist

Chapter 1: Silas

Sybelle 12 years old

The sky was darker than usual. The streets in the market were almost deserted, there were only a few people buying and selling goods and very few soldiers guarding the roads. It was the perfect day to venture to the edges of the city. It is strictly forbidden to leave the city as it is the only thing protecting us from the wild animals and... other beings outside. No one ever bothers explaining what they mean by that, so I have started to believe it's just a tale to scare people into staying put. For safety reasons, most people also avoided the edges of the city. They didn't care that it was surrounded by gigantic walls that were basically impenetrable, to them, the edges meant danger. People are always afraid.

"There's almost no one guarding the fences today, I guess people are scared of the weather or something" Silas interrupted my line of thought.

"Their loss is our win" I added with a grin. No guards means that we can easily get to the outskirts of the city and spend the day away from the boring city and the even more boring people within it. We also practiced hunting a bit, the edges of the city were always full with greenery and lots of small animals.

We began walking through the market, looking for a forgotten fence or a space where we could slip into the wilderness that delineated the city. We walked past a weird establishment, selling nothing but weird wooden pieces and other items that were mostly decorative. Silas seems intrigued by a piece of wood in the shape of a strange but beautiful horned creature, it was actually something I had never seen before.

Silas chuckled, holding the carved wooden figure up to the dim light reaching throughout the ominous clouds. "Maybe there is more to the world than we think" he mused. His big green eyes reflecting a hint of curiosity.

I rolled my eyes, dismissing the idea of enchanted weird horned wooden creatures. "Come on silly, it's just a trinket. Lets focus on finding out way out before they decide to bring more soldiers here".

"That's an interesting hair you have young boy" As Silas placed the weird wooden figure back in its place an equally weird, or maybe even weirder, lady with crazy hair and exalted eyes began reaching out for Silas hair.

Silas immediately recoiled from the eccentric woman's sudden fascination with his hair, I shot her a wary look. Her eyes, almost manic in their intensity kept staring.

"Back off lady! His hair is not for sale or inspection!" I said firmly, trying to diffuse the awkward encounter. Silas chucked nervously, shooting me a grateful glance.

The strange woman, undeterred by my brash remark, continued examining Silas with an odd mix of excitement and fascination. "Not for sale, not for sale at all... Be careful, be careful, heed the call. The white hair, a beacon in the night. Beware the aberrants, lurking in the fright" she muttered to herself in a rhythmic chant, seemingly lost in her own eccentric thoughts. Deciding almost immediately it was best to distance ourselves from Mis. Crazy here, Silas and I hurried away.

"Man, that lady sure was crazy," I muttered to Silas, trying to shake off the weird feeling that had settled over me. Silas chuckled nervously, glancing over his shoulder as if half-expecting the bizarre woman to follow us. The market's oddities were quickly becoming more unsettling than enchanting. It was hard to shake the uneasiness I felt after that encounter. Most of the people in the market were part of the lower class citizens, the class without any special abilities, but some, very few sometimes lied about not having any abilities. Maybe that lady was a future teller. Or maybe she was just crazy, it was hard to tell...

We finally found a neglected entry point to slip through. Venturing into the abandoned outskirts of the city. The transition from the market and the crazy people there to the untouched wilderness was swift. The overgrown foliage and the scent of earth awakened our spirits. As we continued walking further and further the city's distant hum faded into a mere whisper. The vibrant greenery contrasted sharply with the dull grays that the city usually greeted us with.