Cookie's Note: This story has been taken up by another of our writers! Meet Jym Pineapple! Well, actually, you won't. But you can read the chapters he writes so that's something.

~ Cookie 

Pride? What kind of useless thing was that?

No, pride was something that would only serve to get someone like Darius killed in a place like this.

The blonde man and his friends were still stumped and somewhat surprised by Darius' cowardice, even for a commoner who had just bumped into nobility.

Darius did not hesitate, and now was the only chance he had to leave with his life. he immediately took his chance and bolted straight out of the mall, not once looking back. The nobles he'd left behind could only watch, surprised by this peasant's amazing speed.

Even though he had made it out of the store Darius would not stop running, not until he had left the vicinity entirely. He continued running for about ten minutes, drawing looks from several people who passed him by. Although Darius looked quite odd to them, they didn't pay him much attention. To them he was just another village idiot who wasn't worth being graced with their gaze. Darius knew this well but didn't care. Darius' simple clothing and his demeanor gave off his identity too quickly, making him the scorn of most who laid eyes upon him.

"We'll see what they think of me once I become a Spiritsmith."

Finally Darius felt as though he had put enough distance between himself and the mall. He slowed down, panting slightly as he began to look all around him.

He was completely lost in the barrage of new sights that he hadn't at all noticed while he had just been running for his life.

The sharply dressed young man from earlier had been following Darius as his smile faded slightly. In all his life not once had he ever been ignored by the likes of someone like Darius. Clearly the hick he saw in front had no idea who he was. At first the young man was somewhat annoyed by this. But as he was thinking he kept staring at the dumbstruck Darius for a moment, and his face contorted into a cheeky grin.

I wonder what backwater village did they pull him out of? Either way the less he knows the better. If he really is as ignorant as he looks then all the easier it should be to get him to do what i need. In fact, he's perfect!

He made up his mind to try and approach Darius once more, once again trying to look as kind and as trustworthy as possible.

As the young man stood there for a moment, Darius had been lost in an almost trance like state. He was standing on a street corner, next to a statue of a knight adorned in shining armor and brandishing a large claymore.

As Darius looked all around him never in his life had he been captivated by something so beautiful and intriguing, even though all he actually saw were the outer limits of the city, which, as amazing they were, paled in comparison to the inner rings. Few nobles could usually be seen here and much less fraternize with the common people. And yet...

"Ahem." the young man attempted to get Darius' attention by coughing slightly. Darius was now immediately brought back to reality. "Not this guy again, can't I just catch a brake?" he groaned.

Darius once again found himself standing in front of the sharply dressed young man who had tried to talk to him when he first got of the bus. The young man was scrutinizing him carefully. Watching him intently with a grin on his face that made Darius feel quite uncomfortable. Darius looked at the man for a moment. He found the clothes the young man wore odd yet he had to admit they were clearly of high quality. It was then that Darius noticed a sharp rapier strung to the man's waist. Instinctively he took a few steps back, never saying a word.

The young noble, Lionel, realizing that clearly he wasn't going to get a response from Darius said, "Please do allow me to introduce myself, I am pr-" Lionel abruptly stopped his sentence mid-way as an uninterested Darius had completely ignore him once more and walked off.

Lionel was left standing there dumbstruck, the grin had been completely wiped of of his naturally smug face. "Who the hell does he think he is?" Lionel muttered quickly, calmed himself and chased after him, or more precisely walked. Lionel never ran.

Darius had had his own reasons for walking away from Lionel. Part of the reason being that not all the matron's advice had fallen on deaf ears. Come to think of it, that may have in fact been the reason for her ridiculously long ranting, she would say so much that one couldn't help but pay attention to some of it. Even if you tried to ignore her eventually her words would be able to burrow their way into your memory, reinforced by the fact that when even the matron herself had run out of topics to stress, she would simply repeat the same thing over and over again, just with different words. As far as she was concerned she could never stress a point enough.

As Darius thought of her he smiled faintly and realized that he did have one good memory of that place; her. Although she was strict she was still incredibly kind, particularly to Darius. This notion warmed his heart slightly as he walked on quickly through the maize of steel and concrete.

At the moment, however, the matron's incessant ranting had clearly paid off. Apart from this, Darius himself had simply not liked Lionel. Something about him had just seemed off from the start, and Darius supposed it must have been the sword strung to his waist that made him so cautious. So Darius, as naturally timid and shy as he was, decided to leave instead of taking a chance. He didn't want any trouble. Darius knew full well of the city's dangers.

As he walked on, he still couldn't help but marvel in awe at the sight. Each building was a unique architectural masterpiece in itself.

Darius' stride was long and steady. He walked quite fast and Lionel had a difficult time catching up to him. Usually he had an entourage and several body guards who would do this sort of thing for him but this was something he knew he had to do himself. Lionel supposed he could have walked slightly faster to catch up to Darius, but he found himself slightly curious as to where Darius was trying to go.

At this time there were multitudes of people making their way through the wide streets. As Lionel walked by these people would sort of clear a path for him as he went, with a look of complete reverence in their eyes.

Darius experienced something like this as well, but for a completely different reason. As the citizens of Sahid passed by Darius, a look of utter disdain could be seen upon some of their faces. They themselves were not nobles at all but they still thought themselves far about this simpleton, so they naturally avoided him as they walked by with their noses turned up.

Darius however, had completely ignored this, after all the time he had spent at the orphanage such things no longer phased him. The sun was going down now and he had been too busy glaring at the plethora of bright lights as the buildings began to light up, displaying the true beauty of Sahin. He noticed that the deeper he went into the city, the more beautiful it looked. As Darius looked up into the night sky above him, he noticed that were several lights and displays. There were odd cars flying high all over the city, blimps too. All illuminated with streaks of blue and yellow.

Small drones whizzed in the air, flying off to some unknown destinations clutching several packages to deliver. Darius could see more large statues with sabers and axes at the corners of each street.

He could see several odd markings covering the statues and as he walked by he wondered what they were for.

It was then that Darius realized he actually had no idea where exactly he was going, and for the last two hours had just been wondering around aimlessly. After some thinking he decided it was far too late to approach the Spiritsmith guild now and he would do it that following day, or rather later on that day as it was already far past midnight. But either way he still needed to know where the guild even was.

He decided to approach a lady who, in his eyes, seemed trustworthy and asked her for directions. After eyeing him for a moment the lady then proceeded to blurt them out, Darius easily committed them to memory and proceeded to walk on.

He had always had a sharp mind and was always skilled at memorizing things, yet such a skill-set was not able to shine due to his particular circumstances. Darius hoped that the key to a change in his fortunes lay within this city.