“So, if I ever met like, a goddess, would I get as stricken as I would because of the tale effect?” Alyska asked as she stabbed a piece of fish with the fork, and put it into her mouth.

  “I… I guess so? I don’t know, I think if you meet a goddess you’ll be a little more than stricken” Luca ughed as he cut another piece of his steak, a good meat, the familiarity and quality of the taste helped calm his mind.

  “Alright!… I couldn’t think of another example” she pouted, dramatizing her reaction.

  “Fair enough, I mean I can’t think of another example of a thing that’s like, has stories told about them a-and is also just a normal thing… you know?” he felt himself getting better at talking to her… just as long as he didn’t look at her directly for too long.

  “Mmm” she agreed as she chewed, after swallowing and cleaning her face with a napkin she continued “what’s another mythical like… group of people… oh! Maybe the turtle people of the sea!”

  “... what’s a turtle?”

  “O-oh! They are like… this lizard thingies with a shell, it’s on their back and it’s so hard a shark can’t even bite it! They are very slow on nd but they are incredibly fast in the water. They are very majestic and there’s some stories of people meeting these people that looked like them and they were like a very peaceful race.” She finished expining and looked at him, her smile not faltering since the beginning. Luca looked at her, feeling void inside when her voice stopped reaching his ears.

  “Sounds cool… u-um” he cut a piece of steak and then put his knife down “what’s a shark?” he asked, starting to feel embarrassed about asking.

  “T-They are like… a type of fish-” she stopped and looked at him, who smiled sheepishly “you don’t have a lot of reference for sea wildlife do you?” he shrugged.

  “I think the fish you ordered looked weird, maybe that’s the first one of the sea I see” he took a piece of steak and put it near his mouth “Cuartel is nd locked and our river doesn’t really have many things in it so… don’t have much reference for much of water life in general, sorry” he took the piece in his mouth.

  “Don’t apologize, I’ve become too accustomed to being around people of…” she struggled to find a word, stuttering occasionally, apparently embarrassed “same status? O-or more status honestly…” she gnced at Luca and smiled apologetically “Sorry for being such a snob, I’m afraid it’s what I’ve always known.” Luca felt bad for her, from all the rich folk he met, she at least was nice about it, and didn’t really cause him trouble… yet.

  “It’s fine, I’m sure I’ll be able to get to the sea one day, then I’ll see a turtle or a shark up close” he smiled as he gnced through the window, she giggled.

  “Well I certainly hope not a shark, they are dangerous Luca!” She acted dramatically worried as a joke.

  “Naaah, I’m sure it’s not that bad” he shrugged it off, pying into her bit.

  “Nooo Luca! They’ll bite you!” She said, closing her eyes and reaching for him as if he weren’t a small table away, he ughed loudly.

  “Haha, can’t be worse than-”

  The train came to a stop, the bartender calling out, “EVERYBODY IN THE WAGON, THE NEXT STOP! THE CITADEL AT THE CENTER OF THE WORLD, ZENITH” everyone in the wagon, scurried as they moved towards the windows, not many people were on the food wagon however, which means that no one got too close to Luca and Alyska’s table, as they looked out the window, in the very distance they saw the far image of Zenith.

  Luca saw it, and the reality kicked in fully, as if it hadn’t done it yet, even in the distance the pce looked huge, surrounded by hilly grassnds and forests, the train tracks curving slowly towards the silhouette of the city. The sky had no clouds and the sun started slowly leaning towards the horizon. He felt his ears ring, seeing the famous mountain behind it, even from such a distance it felt huge, and for the second time in his life now, he thought felt the Tale effect happen, he had been consoling himself with the idea of how it was, at the end of the day, a city, with people who were born there and had lived there all their lives, that being their normal. But that didn’t matter, seeing it, looking exactly as it was described by the occasional bard at the tavern, feeling like what people said it would feel like to see it, and having people around comment on it, as if it was the legend that was always told, because it was. Zenith, the center of all, the pce where the st era ended and the current one began, the birthpce of legends and the supplier of tomorrows, the destiny all dreamt of, and a country boy who just that morning peed on an outhouse they rebuilt five times by hand was going there.

  He couldn’t go, Luca couldn’t go in, he’d wait in the train, he knew it looped around at some point, he’d throw the bag from the door and he’d leave, coming home to his family, hugging them again, they’d forgive him, they’d understand, that wasn’t his world, that was just a legend. It was a trap, a pce where if he stepped on the ground below it, would make this, the -

  “The first day of my life” Alyska muttered under her breath, gazing at the city with a hand pressed against the gss, interrupting Luca’s thoughts, almost matching them. But it was different, she was yearning for it, he could see it in her eyes, she was smiling! Not terrified by the magnitude of the pce, Luca stared at her, in disbelief. He stared at everyone in disbelief, didn’t they understand? Couldn’t they see that if they stepped foot in that pce, they wouldn’t be themselves anymore, but a citizen, student or member of Zenith! No longer able to make choices of their own, without thinking about how they were no longer their decisions, rather the decisions of a person in a pce of legends, a person of Zenith! He felt nauseous, the bad heat increasing in his head and the air disappearing, he knew the sensation. He drank his gss fully and stood up, grabbing his things and walking rapidly towards his seat, no one had any reasons for questioning him, no one cared of what Luca did, and no one would, this he would make sure of.

  He knew this would happen, the panic settling in, but he still wasn’t ready for it, he reached his seat and sat down, shaking his head and fidgeting to forget about the thought of going, but it wasn’t going away, he tried to think of everything, ‘when I get home I’ll see them, I won’t have to say goodbye’, ‘I like our house, it’s small yeah but it’s good, we can keep fixing it if it breaks’, ‘I won’t be there, I won’t be in a legend’. Eventually, his thoughts slowing down, he breathed as steadily as he could, the painful tingling subsiding slowly under his skin, he’d be fine, he’d be home soon, he’d never be a legend… he’d never be a legend.

  “There you are!” Alyska was standing next to the seats, looking at Luca “Did you see it?! It’s even more incredible than I imagined” she sat down, with a dreamy look in her eyes.

  “Yeah, it’s like how people describe it…” he would have hoped it was smaller at the very least.

  “Um, you probably realized by now, but that is my stop” she gnced at him with a longing he didn’t believe was needed, they had just met some hours back, they’d be fine.

  “Yeah yeah…” muttering ‘the first day of my life’ under your breath and looking in the distance towards a certain pce kinda gave away what they’d go there “...You going academy or guild?”

  “Guild actually, I hope to be a healer of some kind” she said, still with a sad undertone, which bothered Luca more each time “I don’t mind going in the dungeon or staying I just wanna help people…” she then scooted closer to Luca, who didn’t even realize, he had his fist in his hand and his leg was bouncing up and down, he didn’t realize it, but he wasn’t pying it as cool as he intended.

  Alyska looked at him, concern clear on her face, Luca could feel it, why was she caring about him so much, they just met recently, this wasn’t a friendship but a conversation, he felt his nose wrinkle as she put a hand on his shoulder, he didn’t want to talk to her, he didn’t want to talk to anyone, who cares, he’d never be a legend, who cared about what a scared boy from the country who couldn't get over being away from home thought and felt, he wasn’t a legend and he’d never be. He realized he was being bitter but somehow he felt he had to be, how could he not?

  “... people like you Luca” he gnced at her, getting impatient for whenever she’d quiet down “real people, people with issues, people with real lives and struggles” she frowned, looking nowhere in particur, “not… snobs and self-indulgence addicted stuck up tossers, who only care about themselves and only see you as cattle to- ” she cut herself thinking about what word to say, while lifting her hands in anger, “sell you off to one of the people they suck up to so they can be even closer to their idea of heaven, filled with mirrors so they can look at themselves as they rub themselves one.”

  Luca looked wide eyed, at her, as she breathed fast with the nose, to calm herself from her angry rant, he thought that he was a fool, for ever thinking about wanting her to shut up, for thinking that she wouldn’t be good just cause she came from a retively wealthy family, and for ever thinking that the most arousing part of her was her bust, when having heard her voice with true raw passion behind it, made him think for a second that Zenith didn’t look that big anyway. She looked at him, and cleared her thoughts, breathing deeply to regain her composure.

  “Sorry... listen Luca, I know we haven’t known each other for long, and that we haven’t truly started to comprehend each other” she shrugged and sighed “I mean I don’t even know why you are so nervous, don’t even know where you are going” she squeezed his shoulder, which made him peer over his shoulder more to meet her gaze. “But you have been kind to me, you’ve seen me as a real person, I can tell you’ve never met anyone who you would think off as useless as long as they don’t get on their knees and-” she was getting angry again, and as much as he enjoyed the passion and the badmouthing of richer people, it was clear she was having bad memories, and he knew what that was like, so he put his hand over hers on his shoulder, which snapped her back.

  “You are fine…” he said, she smiled and nodded.

  “My point is… Luca, the best people I’ve ever met haven’t been the ones that can fix issues, they are the ones who do their best to smile through them, and I thought that giving them money was enough to help, but all that did was make them prey for the hungry and powerful. So the best way to help is to get money on my own and fix their issues so that they don’t have to fix it themselves, and if I can help others in a more direct way as well, even better.” She smiled, determined by her own reasoning after speaking it out loud. Luca found himself conflicted, he saw himself in a part of Alyska, he also wanted the money to help, he thought about giving a better living to his family and to his town, so that burning seasons weren’t so difficult for the older folk to get water, and for families to not struggle to light a fire during night season to keep their children warm, and seeing the part of himself who wanted to help in another person, somehow made him want to be better. But at the same time, he felt the panic come back, not that it ever left, but coming back to its full strength again, he had tried over the years all of the solutions he could think off, crying, throwing rocks in the field at nothing, yelling, hugging his loved ones and of course, ignoring it. But he wasn’t keen on doing any of those right now, so instead he thought of simply letting it win.

  “I also go to Zenith” the words came with less feeling than he thought, he certainly didn’t feel stoic, despite what it sounded like. Alyska was drawn back slightly, her eyes widening, he thought about joking about her not believing in him, but it wasn’t the time for jokes.

  “Wha- I…”

  “I got an invitation from the director, they passed through my town and I helped them out, rejected any rewards, lo and behold he didn’t get the message.” It felt weird coming out, but suddenly he couldn’t stop telling her “now I’m in a train that I’ve only ever seen from outside and the lone thought of stepping off it on the pce I got on it to arrive to, shakes me to my core.” He felt himself sweating, so he wiped his forehead and breathed deeply. He still felt the panic and the urge to shake around frantically to get the feeling off, but somehow he felt like he could breathe better.

  “Why?” he looked at her confused “Why are you so scared? I mean yeah it’s scary but-”

  “You mentioned you went to Cuartel at some point right?” He interrupted looking out the window, he couldn’t see the city which meant that the train was already in the direct track towards it. “You ever been to Dryleave?”

  “N-no… I went to the main city and a couple country houses some friends of the family have” she admitted, embarrassment clear on her voice. “W-where is Dryleave?”

  “A couple miles away from the river, that acts as a border… you know which one I’m talking about? The one that separates the short grass from the long one?” she nodded, smiling softly in recognition. He nodded and continued “Town’s been there for 8 decades, some people have lived there their entire adult lives, and some grew old in it.” He looked down at the floor as he pressed his thumb to the palm of the hand he had balled in a fist. “There are around 500 people, about two thirds of the town is houses, houses that have to be reinforced every beginning of night season and re-reinforced in the middle of it. The other third of the town are the big houses the farmer’s live in, the townshall , a school, a doctor’s office that got there 15 years ago and the tavern, every day the old folks get older and the well a mile away isn’t intending on getting closer, plus the path towards it doesn't have any shade.” He gnced at his skin, burned and tanned over the years, he rubbed his arm, Luca gnced at Alyska, who looked at him with a saddened face, somehow he knew it wasn’t pity, but rather a confirmation of the situations some people lived in that she said motivated her so much to help, he saw truthness in her unshed tears, so he took a deep breath and told the rest. “My mother was an orphan at a nearby town, she moved to Dryleave because she thought that the housing would be cheap and she needed a pce to raise me, only for the situation to turn even more sour and forcing her to…” he clenched his fist, feeling his nails dig into his skin, he discarded the thought of it and continued, “she ended up settling on an old ruined house, about 7 of them around the town now but when she arrived there were maybe 50… She raised me and my sister in a house with no roof, and everyday of her life she worked to get money. I followed some years after and when we bought a house for the cheap housing we needed my sister started working so we could start buying food to store, and furniture.” When he finished he took a shaky breath of relief, the feeling of panic subsiding, though he felt it was from the time passing rather than the opening up. Alyska looked at him, no tears in her eyes this time, and to Luca’s surprise she asked.

  “But why are you so scared?” Luca looked at her incredulous.

  “W-what do you…? Does what I told you sound like a guy that gets into the Guild of the most important city in the world? Or more like a-”

  “I could see it, yeah!” she excimed, as if stating the obvious.

  “W- no?! The people who get into Zenith aren’t nobodies from a town in the middle of nowhere who-” again he couldn’t finish his though.

  “What kind of jobs did you and your family do, over in dryleave?”

  “Uh… anything that came up, cleaning houses, repairing, cooking for the incapable, taking water from the well, occasionally moving crates of vegetables, railing up cattle…” Luca knew there were more examples but the question was kind of on the spot.

  “So when none could help, you did” again she said it as if it was the reasonable thing to assume “is that what you are saying? Because it sounds like that, and yeah it sounds like the type of person to enter Zenith…”

  “W-We didn’t help just for helping, we needed the money for t-” he felt like he couldn’t get a sentence out, which didn’t help in thinking of the next one.

  “Would you say that your mother and sister are good people? Or are they selfish, and only worked for money?” Luca could almost feel his knuckles turning white, before remembering who was speaking.

  “... of course not, bu-”

  “Then you weren’t either, this is irrefutable isn’t it?” Luca opened his mouth to show her the irrefutable proof that he didn’t deserve to enter Zenith, but for some reason even though he knew it in his heart, nothing came out of his mouth. “What is the title of Zenith that you think when you think about it…?” Luca thought about it, straightening his posture and leaning back on his seat. Zenith had many titles and this question was often used to discern a person’s personality and views, another popur one involved a cup filled to the middle with water.

  “City of the fair and just” it always was the one he and his sister used the most when they imagined their stories, it sounded the best.

  “I think herald citadel of the future” she said, with a tone he could only assume she learned from a life being taught to be striking. “And I solemnly believe that the future won’t be brought by people unworthy of bringing it, it will be made of the ones who aided others and the ones inspired by the first. The ones that know all people are equal and the ones who know what needs to be done, must be done.” She rexed her stance, having apparently ended her speech.

  “... the fair and just” he muttered, suddenly some people in the wagon started getting up and approaching the windows on the right. They were getting ready to look at Zenith’s station from up close.

  “We are arriving Luca” her tone was now sympathetic again, like he had known it to be till now. “Time to decide, are you fair and just? Or do you seem yourself below others, and feel that some necessary things have to be skipped, just because you don’t see yourself doing them.” He stayed silent for a couple seconds, seconds he didn't feel like he had to spare.

  “I’m scared Alyska '' he admitted, feeling like the little boy he saw that morning in the small mirror atop his wardrobe. “I’m neither, I’m a coward.”

  “Then why did you get on the train, why come here?”

  “... money” he muttered “To help my family and the town…”

  “The people who deserve it correct? The ones that have worked and suffered” she leaned forward to catch his attention so that he stopped looking at the ground and looked at her, which he did.

  “Yeah… correct. But I’m to-”

  “You aren’t a coward for being scared after boarding the train” she interrupted, her voice stern “You’d be a coward if you didn’t unboard it.” Luca felt his mind fall to silence slowly, the words echoing in his head. “Luca…” she broke the silence, asking with a sweet voice, almost patient, as if he didn’t hear the train tracks grind against the stopping wheels of the train. “Do the people that you’ve seen endure such hardships all their life deserve a coward?”

  The train stopped, and Luca stayed looking at the ground as he felt the rattle slow down. Alyska looked at him saddened and got up, disappointment bubbling up. As she reached up to pull down her suitcase, a big deep purple fur coat, a fluffy hat on par, her jacket and her scarf, Luca stood up, gripping his own suitcase and bag with the strength that fear provided. Alyska pulled it all down as people stared at her while she put on her jacket again, getting off at Zenith brought some attention, but everyone focused on the sight of the city as it became clear, everyone except the own Alyska, who’s eyes and smile widened at the sight of Luca standing, he looked at her, fear and doubt clear on his face still.

  “When… when you said before…” the words choked him, but he pushed through “when you told me that as long as I’m with you, I don’t have anything to worry about… does that apply now?” She smiled from ear to ear, then nodded, clearly feeling giddy “good…”.

  “Shall we go?” When she asked, Luca saw her face, her kind and excited face which reflected a good person who wanted to help, a beautiful good person who Luca wanted to trust, so he would. He breathed deeply, exhaled and asked her what he wanted most in the world, trusting she wouldn’t ugh.

  “... can you… hold my hand again?” He offered it forward, and he thought he could see a hint of a blush, but when she grabbed his hand and started moving forward, his mind started yelling at him again, every doubt and fear coming back.

  And yet he stood there, in front of the doors as they opened slowly, Alyska then released his hand and stepped down to the floor, he could only see the back of her head, but as she inhaled deeply he somehow knew she was smiling, she turned around to face him, teary eyed and offered her hand forward.

  “Last chance…” she said hopeful.

  He’d step back, he’d hug his family again, he’d sleep in his bed like he always did… even though he didn’t, the only time in his childhood he slept on a bed was with the duke, the other times he slept on the floor, in the old house. And that wasn’t a house, it was ruins, three walls and no roof, he remembered his mother hugging him in the station and his sister accepting his promise to see them again, Luca extended his hand to grab Alyska’s, and then stepped down, stepping on Zenith’s floor, city of the fair and just.