Rise Of The Celestials

Chapter 6: Meeting Mallory

"Dinner"

This word resounded in his head. It was not that he couldn't do without food or 

something of that nature but his body was weak after he had been unconscious for so long. 

Before that, he was running for his life through the Wildlands that were found outside the city of Nethilor using the knowledge he had gained from the several trips he had made with his father on hunting and camping trips. It was the only way he could think of to shake off his pursuers. 

They did catch up to him in the end but before they did, he had plucked off fruits to be eaten as he ran.

He washed his face and straightened his hair that had been ruffled. 

There was a mirror in the bathroom. He ran through his hair which was now white. He shook his head before he changed his cloth to one of those he bought earlier that day.

He walked out of his room to see many of the workers in the hallway. They all looked to be heading to the same place as they walked out of the block in pairs and groups.

A few glanced at him before talking to each other in low voices. 

There was no doubt that he was the subject of their quiet conversation. 

Aiden saw all this but he decided to wait and follow them from a distance. He turned to lock his door.

A few moments later, he turned around to see that there were fewer people in the hall. By now most had left the block.

He was about to leave, so he could follow, when a boy with pale skin walked up to him. 

He had rough light grey hair. He was roughly the same height as himself, a normal 5'6"[1]. 

Apart from his pale skin, his body looked like it would fall apart at any moment. He was wearing old clothes that had been patched in a few places.

He did not look like a worker. It was like he was a servant in comparison to everyone else.

"Hi, my name is Mallory"

"Aiden", he replied.

"You don't need to worry about not finding the dining hall. I am also going there, I'll take you"

"Thank you", Sam had a slightly puzzled look on his face.

Aiden left the block with Mallory and they walked toward the worker's residential area's exit.

Many people were also walking in the direction of the exit, so Aiden was not too worried.

Soon he turned to look at Mallory who was walking beside him, sizing him up a bit more.

"Hey, you know staring is impolite, right?", Mallory suddenly spoke, startling Aiden.

"Sorry about that. It's just that..."

"That you can't imagine that I am also a worker here", Mallory chipped in.

To this Sam nodded. That had been the first question on his mind.

"It's not some big secret. Most of the workers here know me by now. You don't have to worry about any feeling of intrusion, I don't mind it because it is what it is"

"Okay...", Aiden answered.

"I have been sick from birth. I was found just outside the capital's gates by a patrol team. My mother had died from blood loss just a few minutes before the team arrived. She held me in her arm, one of them had been torn off by a stray feral beast that attacked us on the road to the capital"

"She had managed to escape by running for kilometers with a baby held in one arm. The patrol team would have made it in time, and there would have been some hope of saving my mother but one of them sprained his ankle, delaying them by about ten minutes"

"I was brought into the capital and placed in an orphanage. I was given the name Mallory after I was found to be sick"

"What the sickness was, no one could explain but it seemed to be sapping away my vitality. If that was all there was to it, then things might have been a bit easier but I also brought bad luck to everyone who had anything to do with me for a considerable amount of time"

"When I left the orphanage, at the age of fifteen, I applied for a job and managed to get one, a perk of being an orphan I suppose"

"The money I earn is not enough to pay for the many vitality-rich medicines I have to buy every month. This is why I manage what I can get"

This was a lot of information to take in and Sam was left speechless for a moment. 

It seemed everyone had their own stories and they were all just trying to cope with the cards fate had dealt.

"I'm sorry about your mother. I believe she will be pleased to know her son survived"

Mallory who had his eyes fixed straight ahead the whole time they had been walking, turned his head to look at Aiden before smiling.

"Thank you", he said.

Aiden could see that his eyes had teared up as he thanked him but the tears never streamed down.

He also smiled before turning his head and then pointing to a large warehouse-like building that had people streaming into it through its wide doors.

"Looks like we are here", Aiden pointed.

"Yes. This is the dining hall. It is divided into sections for each of the blocks", Mallory answered.

"This is a little too big for the number of workers, right?", Aiden asked.

This was not an assumption in any way but a fact because the dining hall was way too big. It had three floors and from where he was standing he could see a few rows of tables that stretched into the distance. Each one of the rows could sit almost 200 workers from a quick guess he made.

Mallory chuckled before he answered, "This is the capital's Ceremonial Dining Area. Weird name, I also think it is", he said when he saw Aiden's expression that showed an 'ugh'.

"That being said, it is capable of sitting 200,000 people. Each one of those floors represents the social standing of those sitting. The top floor is meant for the royals, guests and very important people. The middle floor is meant for those who do not reach the standards of the top floor but are well above the common people. They can view the events above with the aid of projections. The ground floor is for the common people who attend the ceremony. This includes the workers as well as the servants who are not to actively assist on the top floor. A projection is the way the event is viewed here as well"

"The worker's section has been cordoned off and it is where we eat daily. The Princess' birthday was held here about a week ago"

By the end of the exposé, Aiden had his head humming but he still nodded. "I understand", he said after taking a deep breath. This was the biggest building he had ever seen.

"Let's go before the matron starts cutting rations", Mallory said before walking off.

"Hmm", Aiden was left standing alone for a moment before he hurried after Mallory.

They entered the building and Aiden finally saw the view that could only be described as a sea of chairs and tables. As far as he could see were chairs and tables.

"That's where we are going", Mallory pointed to the right where there was a nylon screen hanging from high up to the ground. It was the same color as the dining hall's walls, a light cream color.

The nylon screens were parted in the middle. He walked through it, following Mallory as he went to a section marked D-block. He picked up a tray as Mallory did before waiting in line to get his food from the four women wearing hair nets behind a long tall table. 

The women were very efficient and a few minutes later, they were walking up to a table to sit down.

The food was not bad but it was free food material. There was nothing like meat or fish. 

There was a piece of bread with some soup, some vegetables, and a glass of water. It was simple.

Aiden sat down and seriously began to consider a way to tone down his looks. His skin and face were flawless but in a place like this, it was not a great feeling, being stared at everywhere he passed was an issue.

The food was not the most palatable but he'd eaten worse. On those hunting and camping trips, there were many times when there would be nothing to hunt because after a while the feral beasts around would be wary of his father. 

There were not many powerful feral beasts in the Wildlands and every one of those powerful beasts had its territory extremely far from human reach. 

Without anything to eat, his father would scrounge for a few nuts, fruits, and sometimes even worms.

It was not that they couldn't bring food supplies with them but his father never allowed it.

Mallory who had been watching Aiden spoke, "looks like you are not bothered by the food. I thought you would find it difficult to eat, since..."

"Since I look like I belong in some fancy place", Aiden completed the sentence without raising his head. "To be honest, I've had worse"

"Doesn't look like it", Mallory added before they both stopped talking. Concentrating on finishing the food in front of them.

They finished their food at almost the same time. Aiden followed Mallory to wash the tray and place it in a pile.

They walked out of the dining hall together before either one of them said a word.

"Do you know where I am to go to report to Warden Bo?", Aiden asked.

"Warden Bo is in charge of the training grounds. You should find him there", Mallory glanced at Aiden before he added, "the training ground is a bit far away from here but it is not difficult to locate, especially in the morning. After you get to the dining hall, follow the path that goes to the right, just follow that road till you see the gates to the training ground. You can't miss it"

"Thank you very much", Aiden said his thanks.

They continued on the way back to the D-block building without much to talk about. 

...

Some distance from Nethilor, The Devil's Summit;

A figure in a hood stood before the abyss, just one step away.

Suddenly the figure let out an eerie chuckle that felt like grating stones to anyone who heard it.

Around his body, blackness flew off, warping the air around him in the process.

Suddenly he spoke. His voice was akin to a sound from the depths of the underworld.

"The Great Master awakens. The seal weakens"

After he said this he knelt and bowed his head to the ground toward the abyss. He stayed in this position for about five minutes and every minute he spent, his mouth kept moving and the surrounding was corrupted bit by bit. The trees and animals closest to him all withered and died. 

Even the light of the sun that was obscured by the grey overcast of The Boundary was affected.

By the time five minutes were up and he stood to his feet, the area around him up to a distance of 10 meters was sapped of everything that made it living including light.

He could still be seen but it was easier to call the area around him a black and white painting.

Suddenly he raised his head and shouted a few unintelligible sounds that seemed too silent for the effort shown as he shouted. The sounds meant, [It Is Time, All Warriors Awaken!! Glory To The Great Master].

After shouting, he vanished from the spot, leaving the area he had been at near The Devil's Summit dark, devoid of color and life.

A few moments later, a shockwave spread out from the spot like a tide into the distance. 

In Nethilor, a figure trembled faintly as his eyes flashed with a strange glint.

[1] 5'6" - 5 feet 6 inches or 168cm