Waterside Buildings

We arrived as the first of the two suns started to set, leaving only the pale blue sun in the sky.

As my feet pressed against the well-traveled brick road leading into the city, the first thing I noticed was how clean it was. Stores with brass and steel signs lined the street. A few even had lights! Real, buzzing lights bright enough they hurt to look at.

What really caught my eye were the bronze pipes running across the city like snakes. They ran from store to store, connecting streetlights like thick telephone wires. A few of the metal tubes had glass windows that gave a peak into the fluorescent water flowing throughout.

My hand pressed against a nearby pipe sticking up from the ground. Somehow, the glass panel showed not only was water flowing through it, but the glowing liquid flowed up toward the sky.

“Does the water always defy gravity?” I asked Aila.

“Sometimes,” Aila said, like it was the most obvious thing in the world. “River water anyway, with a little coaxing, that stuff doesn’t care much about most of physics.”

“But it's still water?”

“Yeah?” She tilted her head. “Why wouldn’t it be?”

“Never mind,” I gave up. If the sky had been red for someone's whole life, they wouldn’t question it appearing red tomorrow.

People of all ages walked around us, both those wearing fine suits and people wearing scraps so tattered they made the bandits' cloths look like formal wear.

Granted, the latter was much more common.

In between the shiny clothing shops and restaurants that smelled of pumpkin pie and roasted turkey, the pipes glowed in the back alleys between the streets. Vague shadows of people crouched behind the barrels of trash, wrapped in stained cloaks.

In a vibrant city like those in Japan, back alleys were small and out of view. The typical person wouldn’t go down an alley like that once in their lives, assuming they could find them in the first place.

Sadly, I knew them all too well.

But the fact the first road we traveled put Gallai’s reality in plain view wasn’t a great sign for this newfangled world of mine.

“You said this place is Gallai, right?”

“Yep!” Aila glanced toward the horizon. “The city of smoke, the second bastion of crosswater, and whatever name they decide to give it next. Though,” she glanced towards the ally, “Recently it’s not done much to earn those names.”

“I saw,” I said. “You’re saying this is recent?”

“Ever since the rivers started to fail,” Aila pulled out a glass vial filled with river water from her satchel. She twisted around, holding the vial up. “Gallai is here is due to two of the three great rivers, the Sligh and Roan, crossing each other at the city center. Crosswater is like, massively more powerful than the regular river water you’ve drank! But recently, both rivers have been getting weaker by the day.”

Aila’s tone grew somber as we walked by an older lady with dull gray hair and a tattered shirt. “With the lack of power, recently it feels like the city’s slowed to a crawl.”

I could tell. I wasn't that old, but I had seen videos taken during recessions in the past. The scenery I saw now was eerily similar. I didn’t deserve to come to a world where everything was running smoothly. “Do they have any idea why the rivers are less powerful?”

“Nope. Apparently, the other great river Lyontris is having the same issue.”

“I get summoned to another world and the world is still struggling.” I sighed. If there was one singular constant across all those novels, it would be how their worlds always seemed to be in peril. Worlds with everything figured out didn’t bother summoning otherworlders.

“Speaking off…” Aila glanced ahead. As we approached the center of Gallai the buildings on either side grew taller, the alleyways shrunk, and the pipes gleamed with a hopeful glimmer. Compared to a few blocks away, this felt like an entirely different city, one more akin to the kind I knew. “There's something I need to tell you about Rescorge in the kingdom.”

I slowed my walk to a crawl. “There's the catch I was looking for. What is it?”

“You remember what I said earlier, about not recognizing your Senn marker?” Aila slowed her walk to match mine as she gestured towards a nearby building.

Unlike most of the towers surrounding us, chiseled stone covered the base, an array of gargoyles and other fantastical creatures carved into the exterior. From first glance it would have fit right in on the streets of some European city.

“In Gallai, Rescorge are treated as monsters, walking bombs that could explode at any time. Not that I think that at all, of course! But Gallai worships Gabriel and Uriel so–”

“You’re saying Rescorge summoned by those two are treated as royalty while the rest of us are scum.”

“Pretty much. But not everyone thinks that! The Knight’s Academy is famous for turning a blind eye to any foreign Rescorges. And it's not like the average person cares that much! As long as they don’t see your tattoo you shouldn't have any issues. Hopefully.”

“Well, nothing you can do about that,” I sighed. “You sure everyone in this academy of yours will be fine with me?”

“If they’re fine with me, they’ll barely give your Senn a glance,” The confident grin Aila gave almost convinced me. “Now come on, the Knight's Academy is just around the corner!”

“W-wait!” My voice rose as she took my hand in a vice and drugged me like a ragdoll around the corner. “Aila slow down! I can’t run that fast!”

“You’re a Rescorge! What kind of future knight of Gallai can't keep up with a run?!”

“Aila!” But my voice went unheard as the people walking past turned toward our one-sided comedy act. “Just let go when we reach the Academy.”

Luckily for me our destination was just a block away. Gallai Knights Academy sat on top of a winding hill, with stone walls covered in bronze and copper and massive barrels of river water housed in glass looking down on the entrance.

Walking inside, it reminded me more of a castle than any school I had seen. Ramparts surrounded the towers inside, holding dormitories of their own by the sound of things. The path here felt less traveled, more maintained than the sloppy brick my feet had gotten used to. Whereas outside brick covered the roads, here massive smooth stone slabs lead from one massive wooden door to the next.

“You said this is an academy for knights?”

“Yeah, why?” Aila asked.

“I was expecting everyone to look a bit… knightlier.”

There were none of the stereotypical suits of armor or broadswords. Instead, people here dressed exactly like Aila. Cloaks, short swords at their sides, not to mention the stereotypical fantasy clothes seen in the majority of fantasy novels.

“Is this not?” Aila said, her face wearing an expression of genuine bewilderment. “Anyway, let me introduce you to the Captain.”

She gripped my wrist again and led me through a winding maze of wide crowded corridors. “Captain Richard may act tough on the surface, but trust me, he’s the biggest softie on the inside. I think you two will get along great!”

We stopped ahead of a set of metal plated doors. Bolts the size of my wrist outlined the entrance, holding up sheets of steel thick enough to stop a bullet. The thing must have weighed two hundred pounds at a minimum.

But that was no obstacle for Aila, who threw open the door like it was made of feathers.

Inside, scattered papers covered the floor and desk alike. Rather packed bookshelves lined the walls to the right, while polished weapons hung neatly to the left.

At the center a man, Captain Richard presumably, sat at the cluttered desk. He was the kind of man who knew how to keep appearances, with combed back black hair and a tidy mustache.

At our barging in, he looked up, wearing an amused grin. “I see you brought us another surprise, Aila.”