Zachary
It's been at least a good 2, maybe 3 months? I've mostly spent my time in the village with Maisie (who begrudgingly tagged along, although I think the village has slowly been growing on her more and more…) I had spent a majority of my time with Alyssia, in a mix between studying and sparing with each other, or playing around.
It felt nice, being able to act as just a child, and not being entrapped in a house with nothing to do. I love my family, I really do, but being held there against my will because they wanted to get Maisie out was not exactly beneficial towards me.
Hiking up the trail with her again, I finally start to see the faint outline of the village enter my vision. I feel a smile stretching on my face as I start running faster, until I eventually make it in.
Over the last few months, it seems as if the people of the village have become 'tolerant' of my and Maisies presence. They weren't waving hello or anything, but it wasn't as if they were spitting on us anymore or anything. Not like I care. I'm here to see my best friend.
Rushing past a few more houses, I finally see the familiar silhouette of Alyssia's house. A small shack, with a singular hole on the roof.
"Alyssia!" I shout, a grin on my face. The red haired girl, who was currently busy swinging a large stick, turned around, her attention clearly caught by my shouting of her name.
"Zachary…!" She huffed, excited as well, although her voice was drained. Seems as if she had been training for a while. I expected no less from her, of course.
Something I had learned over the last few months of coming over here on the daily was that no one was willing to give up from whatever they started. If they started working as a damn slave, then they wouldn't drop dead until they needed to. Their determination and will power was unrivaled. I honestly liked that. Obviously, the same applied to Alyssia.
She had recently had her 6th birthday, of which we spent celebrating by eating lots of meat, and she completely whooping my ass in sparring.
It was fun, you know? I can't deny it. Just relaxing, taking a moment away from learning and reading to spend time with someone that I can faithfully say I love. Not in that manner, though. She's just a friend.
"How long have you been swinging that stick for?" I ask, plopping down on the ground beside her, whipping out a book on the continents from the sack I had carried on my back. Backpacks didn't exist in this world, and were instead replaced by simple leather or string sacks, in which you could fit a couple books. These things are one hell of a back workout, I can tell you that. Not having two straps is HELL!!
"Let's talk about the spin continent today. It's the one I've heard the least about." I say, as I flip to a section of the book where the Spin continent was mentioned.
Alyssia nods, stabbing her stick into the ground and seating herself next to me. Glancing into the book, we both begin to read, although I read out loud.
The Spin Continent is located directly north of where we are, which is the human continent. It was an outlawed continent, with its terrain mostly consisting of barren land, wasted by wars stretched on by the kings of the surrounding lands, the land of the angels and the land of the demons.
It sounds cliche, but those two are at war for differing reasons than you would think. Instead of being at war because of their race or name, instead, they are at war over something you would probably consider completely irrelevant to the two races: The dwell underlands.
It just so happens that the Dwell Underlands also fall under the Spin Continent, making it so that the continent has essentially turned into a constant warfare area. Whoever gets their paws on the Spin Continent, gets the Dwell Underlands, and is capable of producing the world's strongest spirit users, completely off putting the balance created currently.
Continents are limited to only having two major representatives at the table of kings, aka, having their two absolute strongest represent the entire continent at the table. If you were to get the Dwell Underlands though, you have unlimited power, with minimal to no risk. It's a cheat code to essentially mass-producing superhumans. Scary.
To put it more into perspective, Alyssia would already be considered superhuman based off of her spiritual potential. Potential, not capability. And even then, she wouldn't be able to compare to any one of the kings. Imagine if any continent could essentially mass produce a bunch of alyssia's, train them up to the strength of kings, and overthrow the entire balance of power?
"You get it? The Spin Continent is a superhuman producing factory, no matter whose hands it falls in. That's why the Angel and Demon continents are investing so much into fighting over it." I simplify, already noticing that Alyssia's brain was clearly being overloaded with the amount of information I was laying out.
"Yeah… Yeah, I get it…" She lies through her teeth. If this was a slice of life, her eyes would literally be swirls right now. That's just the START of how clearly confused she was. I don't blame her, as she's only six. She'll probably have a better understanding of it when she's older, and then we will go to explore that continent ourselves.
"Don't worry. I'm sure you'll get it when we go to the continent ourselves." I reassure her, patting her back. She growls, going to bite my hand. I chuckle, dodging her bite.
"Don't bite me." I scolded her, although she was still growling like a wild dog.
Recently, she had gained a name for herself through out the entire village, having fought and won against a couple of thugs who thought they could rob us. "Defender of the east" they had started calling her. She didn't care, not feeling either prideful or embarrassed about it. She simply kept training, and was willing to become stronger.
I somewhat admired that part of her, the part that was such a stark contrast to my own personality. She was brave, while I was timid and reserved. She almost never felt embarrassed, while I felt embarrassed at every action I took. Her confidence is utterly unrivaled, and that's something I enjoy about her.
"You're really confident, Alyssia. That's cool." I say, smiling softly. Her face contorts from a growl to a clearly flushed and embarrassed frown.
"Where'd that come from?!" She shouted, punching me in the arm. I laugh, before responding.
"Don't know. I just wanted to say it. It is cool, though." I respond, softly rubbing my arm.
She's just so darn cool..