Turning Point

The streets were alight with the soft glow of fireflies. The artificial lights danced high above the bustling markets.

“Hey, don’t get lost, alright?”

"Yeah, yeah." Noel waved dismissively at me before running off to another food stall.

It had been some time since I last walked around town. Too much work piling up and all that. Figured I might as well give her a tour of the city.

The Eternal Night Market. Ask anyone off the street and 9 times out of 10 they’d say this was the most famous place in all of Fieran. Nestled underground, in the deepest depths of the cliffside the city was built on, the Markets never slept. It’s said anything you desired could be found hidden in the mazes of market stalls.

I didn’t know if that was true, but it was always impressive, no matter how many times I came. So that’s why I brought her. It was now the third day of her living here. If at all possible, she should see the entire city with her own eyes before deciding what to do next.

“Hey, aren’t you gonna get something? It’s kinda awkward to be eating by myself, y’know.” She already had three skewers in each hand when I caught up to her. Half of them were already stripped clean.

I hadn’t eaten at all today, but I didn’t feel hungry. Still, I complied, buying a few skewers of grilled fish myself.

We wandered the stalls without a destination in mind, gawking at whatever caught our fancy. Noel bounced between boutiques and tailors, begging them to let her try on their fancy assortment of clothes.

Most of the stuff she felt was too stuffy and stiff to wear. I guess considering her usual getup all these long, overly embroidered dresses would be a bit much for her. For some reason she got really excited about finding someone peddling second hand uniforms from the academy though.

Most of the outfits she ended up buying were… okay, are they seriously selling that kind of stuff out in public!?

A few hours later and she was off again, humming an off tune song with bags of clothes dangling around her arms. I offered to carry some, but she just shook her head.

“Phew. This place is great!” She smiled behind her pile of clothes. “Is there anywhere else we should check out?”

“I just got one last destination in mind. Watch your step though.” I led us down a narrow side street. The path twisted between dilapidated buildings and curled down, deeper in the depths. The lights dimmed and flickered as I retraced those familiar steps.

It was a door, carved directly into the wall, illuminated only by an oil lamp above.

“What kinda place is this? Looks shady.”

Well, I couldn’t deny that. “Just a place I stumbled upon when I first moved here. Trust me, you’ll like it.”

Well, it was more like I got lost and spent hours wandering around until I started bawling my eyes out right outside and the shopkeep had to come out and shut me up, but she didn’t have to know that.

The door opened with a soft bell chime.

“Welcome- Oh, it’s just you.” A familiar, gruff voice called out from behind shifting newspaper pages. “It’s been a while since you came. Thought I finally had some peace and quiet ‘round here.”

“Oh, so you admit it. I am your only customer.”

“Can it, you brat.” He glared at me from behind his paper. His wrinkle creased expression showed his age, along with his patchy white hair -complete with a massive bald spot- and bushy beard. Still, you wouldn’t guess it by his tone of voice.

“Hey, you should be thanking me. I brought you another customer.” Noel bowed as best she could without tipping over.

The shopkeep scoffed. “Suit yerself. Feel free to browse my wares, miss. See if there’s anything you like.” Was it just me, or was he much more polite to Noel? Actually, I never did see him with other customers. Did he only act like that to me?

“Um, okay! What kinda stuff do you sell, anyways?” It was a fair question. The store was tiny and cramped, the walls lined with what looked like an assortment of weird trinkets in small glass containers.

“I’ll show you.” I searched through the shelves, looking for something suitable.

That’ll do. A small, glass hair clip in the shape of a flower. Judging by the flow of mana running through it… excellent.

“Here. A gift.”

Her eyes lit up at the sight, before looking away. “Really? I-I don’t know if I can accept this. I mean, I haven’t really done anything that’s worth getting a gift for.”

If only you were acting so bashful when I gave you some pocket money this morning.

“You’ve done more than enough. Shopping with you has been the first time I’ve had the chance to take a break in a while now. Besides, it’ll look great on you.”

“Well… if you put it like that…” She gingerly accepted it, before carefully clipping it to her hair. “Still, it feels kinda weird to get a gift without giving anything back in return.”

“Great. Now I just need to put in a little bit of energy…”

I placed my hand onto the hair clip and channeled mana through it.

“Hey, that kinda tickles.” She suddenly fell silent as the world around us blossomed in color.

“Just watch.”

A ring of fairy blossoms wreathed around her head, as a wave of bright grass and blooming spring flowers spread across the shop. Before long, the entire room was covered in vibrant green splotched with warm colors.

I let out a laugh as I saw daisies growing in the shopkeep’s beard.

“Don’t break the merchandise.” He shut me up with a glare.

“Wow! It’s beautiful!” She bent over to pluck one of the flowers, but her hand passed right through it.

“It’s a bit of illusion magic enchanted into your accessory. I charged it with my mana, so the glamor should last a while.”

“Still… I’ve never seen a sight like this before.” She wore such a gentle smile. I’m glad. Coming here was more than worth it.

Each item contained their own world. A necklace shaped like a water droplet gave an illusion of floating on gentle ocean waves. A bracelet of stars showed an illusion of the night sky, unperturbed by clouds or city lights. Earrings in the form of crossed swords showed a recreation of a long ruined kingdom.

In the end, she went with the flower. I offered to get whichever ones she liked, but she was still stubborn at receiving any other gifts.

“I can’t believe this place isn’t more popular! Everything here is amazing!”

The shopkeep grunted in appreciation.

There was a simple answer to her question. Any form of magic that didn’t help fight demons was simply seen as worthless. A waste of time and energy, no matter how beautiful, no matter how powerful. The first time I came here, after my summoning magic was mocked for the same reasons, I felt… Well, I was undeniably moved. Despite being looked down upon, everything here was a genuine work of art. If my magic could reach the same level of these illusions, then that would’ve been enough to satisfy me, no matter what anyone said.

It looked like I had forgotten about that these past months.

Cheerfully wearing her new hair clip, we turned to leave.

The shopkeep cleared his throat behind us. “Listen, brat.”

“Sorry, I don’t know anyone named ‘brat’ here.”

“Don’t be a smartass, kid.” He paused, and took on a softer tone. “I heard what happened to you at the academy.”

“What about it?” I was immediately defensive. Probably too much so, but could you blame me?

“Listen, I didn’t mean nothin’ by it. They’re all a buncha high and mighty scumbags who never appreciated yer craft anyways. I just wanted to say…” He paused. That usually meant he was about to say something he was unaccustomed to doing: a complement.

“You’ve got real talent. I’ve been gettin’ up in the years, and I was thinkin’ it was about time to think about someone taking over my workshop. I know this ain’t your specialty, and I know it definitely ain’t paying you as much as yer old job, but…”

“Outta everyone I’ve met, I’d like you to be my apprentice.”

I froze. When I was younger, sneaking out and spending any chance I could admiring all of his wares, I might have taken him up on his offer without a second thought. But things were different now. I was too committed. I couldn’t throw away all my efforts in summoning, to take over an old, rusty workshop. Could I? I… there was still more I needed to do.

Was there really? Both tests were abject failures. I had finished the summoning ritual, sure, but nothing came of it. All of those months -no, years- of effort, ending in failure. Wasn’t it time to find a new path? But then that would mean giving up the past. I… didn’t know if I was prepared to do that.

“Sorry. I need to think about it.” I replied without turning around, and stumbled out of the shop.

The trip back to my house was a daze. There were too many concerns to think about.

No, there was only one concern. Only one question that needed to be answered.

“Are you okay? You’ve been acting weird since we left the shop.” Noel looked worried, though I couldn’t blame her.

We were in the quieter residential tunnels above. Not a soul was near.

“Let’s take a break here.” There was an elaborate fountain nearby, displaying a massive whale carved in granite spewing water in a steady stream.

The stone benches were cold and uncomfortable to the touch. We sat wordlessly, my throat closing up as I struggled to form words. No, I had to be more committed than that. I swallowed, and began to break the silence.

Listen.” My voice was surprisingly calm.

“How do you feel about living here?”

“What do you mean?”

“I mean… Well, putting all this hero business behind us. You could stay at my place for as long as you'd like. My house is big enough for two if I clean up the place. Even though I got let go, the shopkeep earlier was willing to take me on as an apprentice, so it’s not like I’ll be without a job.”

I was starting to ramble.

“And you… It’s a beautiful city, isn’t it? Shopping, eating, enjoying the sights. You could live out the rest of your life here in peace. Besides, you’re talented. You could definitely find some great work to do in the city -I’m sure Nash would be willing to refer you anywhere.”

All my doubts, concerns, and worries kept spilling out.

“I just… I just think we should stop all of this. Playing pretend as heroes-”

She placed a finger on my lips to silence me.

“You shouldn’t have such a sad look on your face.” She caressed my face gently. “After all you’ve done for me, I’d hate to see you down in the dumps.”

“Say. I never did tell you about where I came from, didn’t I?”

“I didn’t want to pry.”

“Well, looks like it’s my turn to pour my heart out.” She had the same soft smile as always. But her eyes looked distant, as if she was looking right through me.

She started talking about her world with a faint longing. How there were no demons or monsters, or any magic whatsoever. She spoke of her home country of Japan, describing impossibly tall towers that people lived in, of metal birds that soared through the sky, and fantastical devices that could communicate across the world.

All I could do was nod along. It all sounded so outlandish, yet I couldn’t help but she was speaking so earnestly, so fondly of her old world that I couldn’t help but believe all of it.

“It sounds like a peaceful world.”

Her smile turned dark as she shook her head. “Compared to back then… Everyone here’s much nicer.”

“I had a dream once. Or, at least I think so. Maybe it wasn’t my own dream, but after a while it became mine. No, wait, lemme start over: I was trying to fulfill someone else’s dream.”

“But I failed.” There was a murky cloud behind her eyes. “It was a simple dream. To become free, and to live a satisfying life.”

“That’s harder than it seems, y’know. You can’t live without money, and you can’t get money without working, but you can’t work unless you have all these credentials and forms and everything.” She kept quiet for a moment. I didn’t know what else to do but nod and continue to listen.

“So I had to do some… not so great stuff to get by. But even then, that was fine. Even then, I could survive. Even then.”

“But that wasn’t living, was it? I was just going through the motions.”

“That’s absurd. I don’t know what sort of things you were forced to do, but even struggling to survive is an admirable way of life.” I couldn’t help but interject, but I didn’t know what to really say. She was saying it all so matter-of-factly, as if talking about some distant story.

“You can only say that because you’ve experienced something different. That sort of life was all I knew. I’m.. well, to be honest, I’m kind of a dumbass. I came from the sticks, so there’s a lot I don’t know. But then I learned about all these cool things that existed in the world. So much fun stuff to experience.”

“But I wasn’t allowed to have any of that.”

She sighed, before leaping out of her seat. Gently placing both her hands on my shoulders, she stared directly in my eyes, her usual smile back on her face.

“Sorry for being such a downer. What I’m trying to say is, up until my untimely death, I failed to achieve my dream. So since you gave me a second shot at living, I want to help you pursue your own dreams. I don’t want to see you give up and live the rest of your life in regret.”

“And, well, to be honest, this is my own selfishness speaking too. The past three days have been the most exciting moments of my life, and I want everyday to be like that. This place is great, sure, but before long living here will start to feel routine. Until I’m stuck going through the motions. I don’t want to feel like that ever again. ”

“And I got a feeling that if I stick with you, I’ll never be bored.”

Oh. So it really was that simple. I was spending all this time wondering if what I was doing was ‘correct’. There was only one path I had to follow. The one dream I held onto. Sure, it got twisted and warped over the years, but I still remember my original wish perfectly.

A simple, childish dream.

To show the world just how powerful her -no, our- magic could be.

—

A cloudy mist greeted me the morning of our departure. Still, the air never felt fresher as I walked down the streets to the city gates, luggage in hand.

As I approached the main gate, a familiar voice called out to me.

“Yo.” Nash was leaning against the wall, in place of the usual city guards. “Figured you’d do something like this.”

“You can’t stop me.”

No matter what, I was determined now. It didn’t matter if she was a hero or not, or if this journey was just to satisfy my pride. I couldn’t remain stagnant. We just had to prove ourselves to the world. It was just that simple.

“Wasn’t planning to.” He sighed deeply. “Just here to send you off. It’s the least I can offer you.”

“Oh. Well, thanks. And sorry.”

“Don’t apologize to me.” He roughly slapped me on the back. “You do you, alright? Just… make sure to come back alive. I don’t want to bury another friend.”

I nodded, my resolve fully steeled.

“I’ll get the gates open for you.” He let out a high pitched whistle, as the gates slowly began to rumble. “By the by, where’s your little lady friend?”

“She’s still deciding on what to pack, but she’ll be here soon.”

“Great, lemme give you a word of advice then.”

He leaned in close, murmuring in a whisper barely perceptible above the sounds of the gate opening.

“Watch out for her. She’s dangerous.”

He walked off before I had a chance to respond. Rude as always, saying whatever nonsense he wanted.

Noel arrived shortly after, running up to me with cases of luggage rolling behind her. How did she even have enough stuff to pack in all those bags?

“Sorry I’m late!” She bowed in apology. She was wearing that school uniform she bought earlier, which was a bit nostalgic to see. Well, I don’t really remember the skirts being that short though.

“Well, I didn’t really set a time or anything.” I couldn’t help but smile. This was it. Once we set foot outside, my true adventure would finally begin.

A glimmer caught my eye. It was a flower hair pin, proudly adorned to the side of her bangs.

That’s right. It wasn’t just me anymore.

I took her hand into mine.

“Shall we?”

She beamed. “Yeah! Let’s go!”

And so we ran beyond the city gates, laughing at the unknown fate that awaited us.