A Day to Celebrate (Open)

In the farther reaches of the colony, where the paved stone walkways began to deteriorate into dusty paths, lies a small cottage home. From the second floor's window, a young boy with chestnut brown hair stared off into the distance, observing the colony from afar. He loved living in the colony of Eirini; one could live in the populated center of town or far away in the reaches of the wild. He frequently visited the city to research to his heart's content in the giant library, but today was different. There was a festival being held in the town to celebrate the Maidens' birthday that would come tomorrow. Alvin smiled lightly at the thought of getting to see the Maidens again.

As Alvin drew his gaze away from the town, the door to his room opened suddenly and his sister, Kelsia, ran into the room. She was jumping up and down excitedly, eager to go to the festival again.

"Almond, Almond! The festival is today! Are you excited? Come on, Mom and Dad are waiting for you!""

"I am, Kelsia. Go ahead, I'll be down in a minute."

As Kelsia ran back downstairs, Alvin grabbed his watch off the desk and noticed something flutter by his windowsill. He glanced back up to see if a butterfly fluttered into his room but saw nothing. He shrugged it off and wandered downstairs.

Standing outside the door to the house was his mother, Eline, a younger mother with long blond hair and only a few inches taller than Alvin; his father Simon, a tall, muscular man with a short beard and a longsword at his side, and little Kelsia, his 10 year old sister with golden curly hair. Alvin trotted out of the house and walked alongside his family. Alvin strolled alongside his father.

"Dad, why are you bringing your sword? It's just a festival, not a battle."

"Well, son, as a previous soldier of the colony, I figured that it's always good to keep on guard. Plus, the kids have an image of heroes in the army, so why not appeal to them?"

As the family entered the festival grounds, Kelsia and Eline wandered off to look through the festival booths while Simon went off to chat with other fellow soldiers. The family agreed to reconvene in two hours, so Alvin wandered through the festival grounds. As he looked at his watch to memorize the time, he absentmindedly bumped into somebody.

"Oh, sorry! I really need to watch where I'm going... Enjoying the festival?"

Even though the festival being thrown in celebration of the maidens was supposed to be a time of joy for everyone, there are a few individuals who would enjoy it less than others. As Cyrus found out the hard way, riding a massive Ferris Wheel right after eating 3 Tacos and a slurpee is never a good idea. What he'd hoped would be a pleasant day at the festival quickly turned into a one way trip to stomachache town.

Cyrus decided it'd be a good idea to head home and pop some antiacids and painkillers before carrying on with his antics, but as he headed towards the exit, someone bumped into his back.

"Oh, sorry! I really need to watch where I'm going..."

Cyrus turned around to greet the figure that had bumped into him "It's fine" he said "Just keep your eyes forward next time, wouldn't want to bump into some grump".

"Enjoying the festival?"

"Well..." Cyrus mused "I guess I'd be enjoying it more if it weren't so crowded. It's hard to enjoy a good walk when you gotta swerve around someone every five seconds." He commented while running his hand through his shaggy white hair. "Oh, sorry, went on a mini-tangent there. It's a bad habit I've been meaning to get rid of".

Cyrus looked the boy up and down, scanning his features. "You're not from the city, I can tell."
Cyrus extended his hand to greet the outside boy. "Name's Cyrus, Cyrus Abaddon. What's yours?"

Alvin nervously tugged on his sleeve; he always seemed to bump into people while distracted with a thought. At least Cyrus didn't appear to be upset. Alvin took his hand away from his jacket and handed it to Cyrus.

"Nice to meet ya, Cyrus. The name's Alvin Armonia. And yeah, I don't live in the city. I lived out near the forest, down that path over there. Family's used to living off the land, I guess. I... suppose you may know my dad, Simon Armonia. He's supposedly a well-known soldier in the city. Are you from the city?"

"Almond! Over here! Look at what I found!"

Alvin turned his head to see his little sister Kelsia and his mother Eline standing on the other end of the street. Kelsia was holding a little doll dressed like the Maiden of Eris in the air. Eline walked Kelsia away in the direction of the ferris wheel. After they left, Alvin walked around Cyrus and beckoned him to follow.

"Come on. It looks pretty clear over here. Let's go get some air."

As the two walked, whether to follow Alvin or not, Alvin spoke up.

"So, you got any friends or family wandering around, or are you here by yourself?"

"Oh, my family lives in the colony of Parangelia, I moved here about a year ago due to.... unfortunate circumstances. And as for friends... I don't have many to be honest, and the few I DO have are most likely here, but I haven't bumped into them yet." Cyrus spoke as he followed Alvin. He wasn't used to being so openly approached, but it was a nice change of pace from the usual home recluse.

He took in a deep breath of fresh air to subside his nausea. Wouldn't want to have any gastrical calamities in front of new people. "To answer your previous questions, yes, I do live hre in the city. It's not often you see someone who hasn't heard your father's name you know, assuming your claims are true that is."

Cyrus quickly turned his phone on to check the time and absent-mindedly turned it back off out of reflex without checking the time. After one thorough mental facepalm, he turned it back and was relieved to see that he still had free time. "I'd ask what brought you and your family here, but on this day the answer to that seems pretty obvious." He said as he took a look at all the different attractions the festival had to offer, taking a longer look at the ferris wheel. "I don't suggest you ride that thing though" He pointed at the ferris wheel. "It looks fun, but it's only an oversized nausea machine."

Alvin smiled at the mention of the other colony of Parangelia; Alvin learned quite a bit about the colony from his mother, who grew up in Parangelia but moved out for whatever reason. He strived to be a scientist in the agricultural field, but he was unsure if he could really grab anyone's attention with his research.

"Parangelia? Cool. I've always wanted to spend quite some time there. You see... I'm looking to be a scientist. I just have a thing for nature. I want to know what secrets the world really has. There's also... one place I want to learn more about."

Alvin stopped walking, turned around, and pointed to the tower that rose into the sky.

"That tower... It seems to stretch into the heavens, but I wonder if anyone's seen what is above it. It just reeks of uncertainty, and that's a powerful force in my world."

Alvin glanced at his watch for a moment, seeing he still had some time left.

"Oh, sorry. I guess I just went off on a tangent as well."

"It's fine." He dismissed "So you're looking to be a scientist huh? It's always nice to see a fellow scientific face. The people of this colony will pretty much buy whatever you tell them, logical or not, as long as the truth's not right in front of their faces."

"As for that tower... It's impossible to determine at mere glance, but I'd imagine it either pierces the colonial atmosphere or simply leads up to more nature."

Cyrus scratched the back of his head "Parangelia though.... it's not all it's built up to be. People there are way too gocused on work, it's like every Parangelian's paranoid they'll go bankrupt the moment they'll stop working. They leave little to no time for daily life except the bits that are necessary. I should know, I grew up there."

Realizing he didn't know much about his new acquaintance, Cyrus decided to change the subject at hand. "So tell me, what do you do with your free time? I mean, I'm not suggesting that country life is boring but...... yes I am. What do you do all day? No offense."

Alvin thought over what Cyrus said. He knew that most people were not greatly educated, learning only what they needed to maintain their way of life. This was where he felt different; Alvin had the strange urge to learn as much as he could. He just wasn't satisfied with... not knowing. He wanted to see the colony of Parangnelia, he wanted to know where the tower led.

He stopped his train of thought and responded to Cyrus's question.

"Well, I would agree that there's not too much to do out in the woods. But since I'm training to become a scientist, I usually spend my time out in nature, documenting stuff. But... I doubt you'd be too interested. My sister and I usually play by the lake, capture some insects in jars, or just grab some nice looking flora. May I ask, as well, what you do for fun?"

Cyrus could see it in Alvin's look. He shared the same mental irk towards knowledge as him. He could tell they were gonna get along just fine.

"Oh, I usually don't get out of my house much. I tend to stay home and watch TV or play videogames. I do enjoy a good walk out every now and then though. Ocasionally I'll head out towards certain meeting places to play tabletop games with my few friends or just look up random information about whatever first comes to my mind on the web." He explained as he played with his chain necklace.

"And where'd you get the idea I wouldn't be interested in nature? As long as we're not talking of outside-the-barriers nature, then I'm all for any kind of science, guess that's just another trait that was drilled into my brain by my time in Parangelia, but who knows?"

"And if I'm honest with you, even the nature outside the barriers catches my attention. In fact, I thought it would be neat to be the first person to make a full cartography of the pillar, but... let's face it. That's sightly dangerous and far-fetched, isn't it?"

Alvin observed Cyrus after Cyrus had done the same. He could feel a certain quirk in his mind, similar to Alvin. Maybe they could grow to be great friends. Maybe... He'd just need to dig a little deeper.


"So, you mostly hang out with friends or at home? That's cool. I spend some time at home, too. I help with the gardening sometimes, though Mom's the real green thumb in the family. It's not like I never visited the city before, though; I mostly just run some errands, visit the library, nothing big. So, yeah... I don't have too many friends out in the 'wild'."

"Also, I didn't mean you didn't enjoy nature. I just thought you wouldn't like all the documenting. It's just observations of stuff people just see every day. But yeah... I've always wanted to travel outside the border, like my father. He said there are dangerous creatures wandering out there. I'm no warrior, but he still taught me how to use a sword. Maybe, one day, I'll be strong enough to see it for myself. "

"If that happens... maybe I can take you with me. What do you say?"

"Sure. It'd be a nice change of pace from the usual sit 'n type lifestyle I've fallen into." Cyrus mused as he considered the steady decrease in fun he'd had over the last few years. "Besides, I'd get to fulfill my dream and I suppose you'd get to fulfill yours. Sounds like a videogame plot to me, and I do not mind that a single bit." He smirked.

"Someday though. I have no battle training and my reflexes are second to most, but I'm pretty sure I could defend myself given the proper equipment." Cyrus smiled before a searing sensation filled his chest. The gastric acid was kicking in. "Listen, I gotta go-" He said as he rubbed his chest discretely. "-but we should definitely hang out some time and discuss this little theoretical trip. You seem like a really nice guy."

After exchanging contact information, Cyrus pocketed his phone and faced Alvin. "Hopefully I'll see you around?"

Alvin gave a small chuckle at the mention of a video game plot but still attentively listened to Cyrus's offer to further discuss the potential visit to the wilderness. He responded to his statement that his lack of battle training would hold him back from the trip.

"If you ever want, I'm certain my dad would be happy to give you some basic training as well. It's always good for him to teach others how to defend themselves."

Suddenly, Cyrus had begun to rub his chest, implying that his stomach was not at ease. He quickly wrapped up the conversation, exchanged contact information, and was prepared to leave.

"Of course we'll meet again. That's just how fate works. Until then, bud!"

Alvin turned to walk back into the huddle of people before looking back at Cyrus for one last time, flashing a quick thumbs-up before vanishing in the crowd.

[Alvin has left the scene.]

Cyrus fiddled with his chain necklace a bit longer before heading straight home, Perhaps he'd made the right choice to go out that day.

[Cyrus has left the scene]