I casually strolled down the road with my hands on the back of my head. The street market being on this road confirmed the validity of the map in the history book I read. It also confirmed that this road was the main travel channel of the kingdom for business and economy.
It explains why Billings on certain days has so many fresh faces. The commerce traveling through could get very lively as I saw in the tavern last night.
As the street market approached, I could tell quite a few people were gathered there. The bustling noise made me feel like I was back in New York City.
The market was all set up under a large, dark blue tent with cyan stripes. It was similar to a large circus tent you would see the circus set up when they came into town. On the top of the tent, where you could barely see it, flew a flag with a picture of a wooden box. My best guess was the box was supposed to represent the goods they sold here.
Well, I suppose there is no point in just standing around outside. I slowly pulled back the tent's opening to reveal a large, well-lit cavern full of people and shops. The setup was like a festival with designated areas for each individual shop and marked-out zones for the shops that sell the same kinds of products.
Looking around I noticed large overhead signs reading out each zone of the market. The 5 zones were food and drink, magic supplies, alchemy supplies, farmer supplies, and everyday supplies.
The zones were honestly pretty huge. The biggest zone which was food and drink had to have over 20 different shops.
Observing the things going on around me the people in the market were even more diverse than the people in the tavern.
Because I was standing in the same spot by the entrance taking everything in someone came up to me. I'm sure to them I probably looked lost.
"Are you in need of anything?" the man said in a pleasant tone.
"No, no I'm just looking around as this is my first time here."
"Really! Are you interested in buying anything in particular? Most people who come in here either want alchemy supplies or some of our wide variety of foods."
Alchemy supplies being popular wasn't surprising. It was a fascinating fact that alchemy is a bigger industry and more used than magic by leaps and bounds. However, it only seems so weird to me because I hadn't strayed out of Billings yet and Billings is a town with practically no magic or alchemy.
"Well, I suppose I'll go check out the alchemy zone shortly as there are some herbs I am interested in."
"Would you like me to show you around?" the man asked very politely.
It was hard to turn him down as he was only doing his job but taking him up on his offer would waste time.
"I know what I'm looking for, but thank you for the offer," I replied courteously.
The man nodded and then swiftly walked off.
After I was left alone again, I figured I would check out the alchemy zone of the place.
Each zone had a distinctive color to mark out its area. Alchemy's color was blue, which made sense because the most common color of potions was a shade of blue.
In the alchemy zone, I observed the kinds of potions and ingredients you could buy. One shop specialized in healing potions while another might specialize in fire and water resistance potions. After reading what each shop sold, I finally strolled over to the shop selling base-level ingredients that were common in a lot of potions. You could think of these types of ingredients like sugar and flour in cooking.
When I made it to the stall displaying all the ingredients, I noticed it was surprisingly empty. All the people were at the shops selling the full potions. It was rather strange no one would be buying ingredients because compared to ingredients buying the full-blown pre-made potion was a lot more expensive.
"Excuse me, why is no one over here buying ingredients?" I asked the person running the shop.
"Because people have gotten lazy. People used to love to make their own potions with ingredients because it was cheap and pre-made potions were rare. However, as time goes on more and more people refuse to learn alchemy and it is becoming more and more of a profession instead of something you do yourself. At this rate, alchemy will become an elites vs commoners issue just like magic."
The elderly woman running the shop who was telling me all this looked at me with keen interest.
"You're not from around this kingdom, are you?" she asked.
"No, I'm not," I said slowly wondering if I should be telling her any personal information.
The woman leaned over to get a better look at me after I said that. Her sharp eyes scanned over my entire body as she studied me.
She eventually pulled back before saying, "I have no clue where you come from, which is strange because I know of every kingdom on this planet, even the ones that have not been mapped. Tell me, who are you?"
Something about her was off. The way she seemed to stare into my soul left me unsettled. I felt as though she knew of my entire life. Nevertheless, I knew she was lying about the kingdoms. The truth is she was putting on an act of confidence to get me to tell the truth, but her trembling shoulders underneath the long robes gave her away.
Despite this, I decided to tell her the entire truth leaving nothing out. It would be good to let someone know my real identity. It could help me learn more about this world; perhaps other summoned people from my planet have etched themselves in this world's history.
"I'm from another world. I was summoned here through a portal."
Her eyes lit up after hearing my confession.
"I knew it." she blurted out.
Surprisingly, she isn't as shocked as I thought she would be. I mean it isn't every day you hear something like I was summoned from another dimension. You would think anyone would freak out hearing that.
"I would think you would be more surprised hearing that," I said unable to contain my thoughts.
"Oh yes, I'm very shocked, but this is something that I knew would have to happen someday. Our world is dying. Every day evil grows and grows and plagues this world to no avail. Of course, another summoned one had to eventually appear.
"Summoned one?"
"Why yes, did you think you were the only one to ever be summoned into this world? Summoned ones have been around for millenniums. There was once a time when this entire planet was connected under the same rule. At that time there would be a ritual every 100 years to summon a being from another realm. The being would always be the one with the highest potential among their peers, but this ritual was lost about 700 years ago around the time we lost the art of portal making."
"You can correct me if I'm wrong because I have only been here for less than a week but does the loss of the art of portal-making have to do with the demons?"
"You are correct. We lost the art due to a long war with the demons. No one knows exactly how it was lost because it was so long ago, we just know it had to do with the war. It was also due to this war that the world split into multiple kingdoms, and we lost many other things besides portal-making. Most people who study the event assume we lost technology, magic, and many different races, some even say the angels lived amongst us giving us guidance before the war."
Hearing her explanations I couldn't help but be shocked at the devastation the war caused to this planet. It was as if a golden age crumbled, and they have been living in darker times ever since.
"How many have there been?" I asked.
"You mean how many summoned ones? There have been 14 of them as far as I know. You would make 15."
I was summoned number 15. Fourteen others like me had roamed this planet after being in my shoes.
"Do you have any knowledge regarding the 14?"
She looked at me for a brief second stroking her chin. She answered "Yes most of their actions are long forgotten but a few have done things that many remember even today. For example, Brams the fourth summoned one is responsible for almost all foundational beliefs surrounding alchemy, and the first summoned one Gregory is responsible for discovering magic and the magic language."
"Wait a second, if Gregory discovered magic, how was he summoned?"
"Well, no one is 100% confident in this but the known belief is that he summoned himself and taught humanity the ritual. It is also believed that he united the planet to be one kingdom."
"So magic was discovered around 2100 years ago?"
"It was, and has only advanced ever since, but I have a question to ask you summoned one. How were you summoned?"
I took a minute before I answered unsure of what exactly I should say.
"Well, the thing is, I fell through a portal in my house, and it shot me out in the outskirts of Billings. I have no clue who summoned me or where they were."
Hearing this, she simply wore a focused expression as if this was the most important discussion of her life.
She eventually replied," So you don't know who performed this ritual or why?"
I shook my head to signal I had no clue.
She gave a puzzled look before saying," Well I guess that doesn't matter for the time. What does matter is what you plan to do as only the fifteenth in the line of summoned ones and the first in 700 years."
"Well, I plan to travel out of Billings in the future. I just don't know when yet. I'm waiting to make my move."
"I think you have the opportunity to fix some of the problems and evils in this world. I'm curious to see what you'll do."
"That is quite a high expectation you place on me," I said matter-of-factly.
"The summoned ones were all special individuals with gifts and talents that let them excel. You are of the same line and possess talents just like them. The expectations on you, not just from me, but from the world will be very high."
Incredible gifts and talents? Hearing that made me want to laugh out loud. How could she tell me that just because of the fact I was summoned from another world? I'm sure I would survive in this world, but accomplishing great things? I don't know about all that.
" Oh, before I go, I want to ask you one more thing," I said unable to hide my curiosity.
"What is it?"
"Why did you suspect me of being different than everyone else here? I'm positive, although it's rare, other people buy ingredients too. That isn't something that far out of the ordinary."
"You are right," she said in a serious tone," It is because you look exactly like him."
After saying those words, she quickly disappeared into an enclosed section of the shop setup. I didn't know what to make of her words or their meaning. I figured I would probably never know as I turned around to leave the market.