Forgotten Family

Yami bent down to pick up a couple boxes of the laced food. As he stood back up, he realized that he didn’t know where to bring them.

“Oops, I acted on instinct again. Better just slowly scan the area and see where the other members are bringing the food,” he thought.

Fortunately, he was able to quickly spot Lyra, who was standing behind a numbered red wagon not too far away.

“Load ‘em up here perv!” she shouted back at him nonchalantly.

“Please don’t call me that,” he replied as he placed the boxes inside the wagon.

“So, I guess these numbered wagons are assigned to certain areas in the Outskirts huh?” Yami asked confidently. He decided to confirm obvious things to make himself seem like a Keeper on rotation.

“That’s right pervy boy. I guess you aren’t that hopeless after all. As you can tell runners work in pairs and are assigned areas based on the numbers on their wagons. Our wagon number is 9 – 13, so we’ll be working in those zones,” she explained.

“Ah Lyra, so you’re going to the far ends of the odd zones today huh?” said a female voice, in a dead pan tone.

“Oh, that’s one of the more troubled zones. A lot of the residents there are almost at their severing point. They must really want to give you a memorable first day huh?” a boy said to Yami.

As they turned around, they were able to see the pair who addressed them. A tall girl who had her brown hair tied into a ponytail. And her co-runner, a stocky fellow with dark blue hair and a messenger cap that was worn backwards. Both of them had the same politely dull demeanor as Lyra.

“Adeline, Yuri! You guys are on rotation today too huh? What zones did you get?” Lyra asked.

“We got zones 2-6 today. So today is going to be a breeze,” replied Yuri, the stocky boy.

“Oh, that’s lucky. Mother Superior is out to get be me today since I called her an old hag, so I got stuck with the farthest zones and this newbie. Say hi to them pervy boy,” Lyra told Yami.

“Lyra, please don’t call me that, they’ll get the wrong idea. Hi, my name is Yami nice to meet you,” Yami said as he waved hello.

“Nice to meet you pervy boy,” Adeline replied.

“Sigh, too late its spreading,” Yami thought to himself.

“Oh, by the way Lyra. I heard that one house got even smellier than the last time. So better prepare yourselves,” Adeline warned.

“Oh really? And I just showered today too. Looks like today’s gonna be a long day. Let’s get a move on to our gate, pervy boy,” Lyra instructed as she waved goodbye to Yuri and Adeline.

“Ugh no use fighting that name now,” Yami thought as he nodded and began to cast a simple movement spell on their wagon.

Yami waited until they were out of ear shot before, he spoke again. Initially he didn’t want to ask this question, but he couldn’t help himself, “Lyra how come all of you runners sound so down despite smiling all the time? Is this job too boring?”

“Oh? Do we sound bored? I never really notice nowadays. But I guess a simple way to explain it is once you’ve been doing this for a while, and you know this is what you’re going to be doing the for rest of your life, things just don’t excite you anymore,” she replied.

Upon hearing this, Yami felt terrified. “This is what the Fates have in mind for me?” he asked himself.

“Alright we’re here,” Lyra announced as they reached the gate.

The distribution center was located at the base of the Central city of Harmos, and a massive gate completely encircled the center, separating the Edge level from the Outskirts.

“Keeper numbers 0257 and 0169 passing through!” she shouted at the top of her lungs.

After a moment the gates began to open.

“Lyra, these gates don’t go all the way up, wouldn’t it be more efficient to fly over this instead?” he asked as he referenced the broom that was strapped over his shoulder.

“I thought that myself when I first started. But we need to deliver the food by ground because the laced food loses its effectiveness once it reaches a high altitude,” she replied.

“How complicated. Why is this gate even necessary?” he asked again.

“It’s just a precaution. Look around, beyond the horizon of the gate don’t you notice it?” she asked as she pointed a finger out in the distance.

Yami’s gaze followed the direction Lyra was pointing to and he noticed that—unlike the view from the central city—there was no horizon, just a massive grey wall that stretched out in all directions enveloping the distribution center and the Outskirts.

“They set up that massive grey wall to keep out the monstrous magical beasts in the Gap,” Lyra explained.

“You mean the Gap is real?” he replied in disbelief.

The Gap was said to be the end of the realm, a void. A dangerous and endless jungle filled with monstrous beasts that not even skilled acquire magic users could capture or kill. Parents often used the Gap to scare children from doing anything bad—“You better do as you’re told or you’ll be taken away to the Gap,”—was a common threat. Which is why the younger generations just thought of it as a myth.

“Seems so, that’s why this massive, fortified gate was placed here. In case a magical beast was able to find its way through that wall we’d have time to evacuate to the central city” Lyra explained.

“And what about the people in the Outskirts?” Yami asked hesitantly.

Lyra gave Yami a blank look and pointed outside the gate as she replied, “It would be futile to try and evacuate everyone.”

Yami stood stunned as he saw the Outskirts for the first time, it was almost as big as the entire Edge level of Harmos. “And this is just three zones!?” he thought.

The Outskirts, for lack of a better term, looked like a human dumpsite. Droves and droves of multi-level shanties were scattered throughout the area. There were people just lying down on the street and some children pilfered piles of garbage near the gate walls.

“I never thought that there were so many people here,” he said.

“The people who were sent out here eventually made their own families. The kids born here never even got an opportunity at all,” Lyra replied in her dreary monotonous voice.

Yami and Lyra, stopped by each shanty distributing laced food to the people. Each residence was the same, they would greet them expectantly, take a bite of their food, and then they just became docile in one area of the house. It was very painful to watch. Yami now understood why the runners have that demeanor. Doing this every day, you’d have to be numb to keep your sanity.

Nearing the end of their route, Yami suddenly remembered why he came to the Outskirts. He got so caught up on his task that he almost completely missed his chance to investigate.

“Lyra during your rotations in the zones, have you ever come across someone that was able to turn off magic?” he asked.

“Off magic? I’ve been doing this for several years now and I don’t ever recall a story about someone who could do something crazy like that,” she replied.

Just then, they reached their last stop. This last shanty was particularly bigger than any of the other places they visited so far. But what Yami found really odd was the crest in the shape of an owl painted on the door.

“Lyra. Isn’t that the Aru family crest?” he asked.

“Yes, it is. Apparently, sometime ago this branch of the Aru family got sent out here by the Fates. Something about their child being too dangerous for the capital,” she replied.

Suddenly, Yami remembered what the old man in the bar had told him –“There was a rumor about twelve years ago. About a certain family that was reassigned to the Outskirts by the Fates. Because their child developed an unusual kind of magic.”

“By that family, could he have meant the Aru family?” Yami thought to himself.

“Where’s that child now?” he asked.

“They say that child died ten years ago,” Lyra replied.

“What!?” he exclaimed.

“Yeah, that’s ancient history now. Why would it matter to you?” she asked.

“Oh, nothing its just… sad…” he replied trying to hide his motives.

“Anyway, last stop come on now,” she said to him handing him the last of the packed food.

This last house that they entered smelled far fouler than the previous ones.

“What is that smell!?” he asked.

“I heard from the previous team that the man of this house died recently in the backroom. So, this is just the smell of him rotting,” Lyra replied plainly.

“How could you say that without emotion?” Yami responded.

Lyra didn’t answer his question and merely pointed toward the backroom.

“You go ahead newbie the wife is still in that backroom and this food is for her. I’m exercising my right as your senior so go on ahead,” she ordered.

“Now that’s just mean,” he replied as he began to hold his breath.

As Yami entered the room he found an old shaggy looking woman seated by the bedside staring at her open backdoor. On the bed was a lifeless form covered from head to toe with a blanket.

“This is crazy the body isn’t even buried! How could the Fates let this just happen?” he asked himself.

As he got closer to the woman to set down her food, he heard her mumbling over and over.

“Why didn’t they take us back?”

“We chased her away years ago. Take us back please.”

“She’s out there passed the hole. We threw that "Un" out into the gap. Please take us back.”

Hearing this, Yami followed the old woman’s gaze past her opened backdoor was the wall. And the wall had a hole big enough for one person to jump through.

His body began to move on its own, before Yami could process the old woman’s ramblings properly he was already out the door when a voice from behind him shouted.

“Pervy boy! What are you…” but before Lyra could finish, Yami had already jumped through the hole.

***