Chapter Seventeen

Eden gapes at the bustling streets and the clamoring of chatter across the town. The scent here differs from the stench of fish that engulfs his home. Instead, the smell of cooked food, metal, and flowers travels into his nostrils. Wooden stalls with colorful cloth roofs lined up along cobblestone paths and an abundance of signs are hung above the front door of almost every brick house. "So this is Antalasso Port!"

"Antalasso Port is known as the city of trade. It's like the biggest shopping district in the whole nation," says Eleanor.

"Wow, so they have everything here."

"Why don't we go explore what they sell, Eden? We do need to restock our supplies."

"Yeah, let's go!"

The streets are bustling with people like it's a festival; there are so many folks here that Eden has to squeeze through the crowd. Sellers shout out their top products, waving to customers to have a peek at their stocks. There are brightly colored fabrics made of the finest silks that feel like touching water. The scent of food wafts through the air; Eden can pick out the sweet smell of fried bananas as he passes through a small wooden stand. A clothing store showcases its newest brand on a mannequin posing behind a glass window. Then there's the sound of a hammer on metal, a blacksmith shop selling weapons and armor. A gallery of weapons from the sharpest blades to the heaviest maces all hang on the shelves and walls.

"Eleanor, look at all the weapons they got!" Eden runs through the blacksmith shop like a child. "Look at the blade on this sword." Eden takes up the edge and touches it. "It has these small sharp pointy things that look like teeth!" Then, he runs around the store and places his hands on everything. "Wow! This hammer is heavy! Look at how pointy these lances are!" Then he puts on the heaviest set of armor and it weighs heavily on him, almost making him trip over as he laughs. "This doesn't fit me at all!"

"Hey, kid, stop messing with my stuff!" The blacksmith chases after Eden with his hammer. "Get outta here if ya ain't gonna buy!"

"I'm so sorry. Please excuse him." Eleanor bows to the clerk and then drags Eden by the collar away from the market.

"Hey, I was looking at their stuff!"

"Why do you have to act like a child in there!"

"Because I am one?" Eden shrugs.

Eleanor scratches her head violently and groans. "Can you just stop being childish and help get the supplies we need!"

Eden sighs. "Fine, fine."

"Do I have to keep you at arm's length?"

Eden rolls his eyes and sighs as the words his companion spews at him enter one ear and leave the other. "No."

"And you promised to help me find my parents! we haven't even asked one person about the brooch yet!" Eleanor storms off lecturing to Eden as he tails from behind, hanging his head.

Going across a cobblestone bridge, shouts pierce through the noise around him. He turns down to a street market below and catches glints of silver armor pushing through a crowd. Narrowing his vision, a black, flowy figure runs away from what looks like knights, bumping and pushing people down.

"Stop, thief!"

Thief. The word makes Eden smile. A wide smile crosses his face and stops in his tracks. The time to be a Legion has come. His body screams at him to jump after the criminal. His leg twitches.

"Hey, are you even listening to me?" Eleanor crosses her arms and stomps.

Eden rushes to the bridge's ledge, climbs on it, then leaps off.

"Eden!"

The cobblestone road fills his vision quickly as he falls, and then he rolls as he hits the ground and instantly gets back on his feet like nothing. Eden dashes through the market and soon catches up with the knights.

"What do you think you're doing, citizen?" One of the knights yells.

Eden gives them a wide cheery smile. "I'm a Legion! Let me lend a hand!"

"What? This is none of your business, kid!"

Eden laughs and dashes past the knights and tails after their culprit.

The thief the knights are chasing wears a black ripped cloak that covers his entire body like he's a moving black cloud of shadow. Then, the criminal runs up to a nearby shop's shelf full of fruit baskets and pulls it down. Round produce tumbles everywhere like an avalanche, tripping everyone around.

Eden leaps over the mess with ease, leaving the knights struggling behind. On the ground, he spots a trail of red splotches forming a trail. Blood. He's wounded? This will make things easier.

A few yards away, a wall of shoppers and clerks are ahead, blocking the entire pathway. Now, there's no way for the thief to run. Eden stretches his arm out to the thief. "Gotcha!" But his hand goes through the thief's body as if he isn't there. "What the?"

The thief speeds up and rushes into the crowd. People yelp as he travels through them, and no one or thing can touch him. Everything he dashes into goes through him as if he's a ghost.

"Wow!" Eden exclaims. He chases after him, but the crowd is in a panic, slowing him down, and the thief is getting further away with every second. Eden frantically looks around for another way around the crowd and then lands his sights on the roofs. "Going up." Rushing toward the buildings, he yelps as he jumps to a window ledge and climbs the wall, precisely grabbing onto brick ridges and pipes all the way up.

As soon as he reaches the top, Eden dashes into the next building while scanning the area for the thief. His eyes zip through the crowd until he spots his target getting surrounded by more knights. "There!"

The thief quickly makes a turn and scales up a wall just like Eden does just a few roofs away from him.

"Huh, this is going to be harder than I thought." Eden feels a grin forming on his face and runs toward the next building. "You're not getting away!"

The tops of the buildings have slopes, chimneys, and balconies that remind Eden of the obstacle course Sanders had built. Eden climbs up on steep roofs and quickly vaults over them. But the thief knows his way with obstacles too. He jumps and climbs like Eden, but his movements are quieter, whereas Eden sounds like an animal stomping about. He didn't think that he will come across someone else who knows his way through obstacles like him. This is getting more fun for Eden. 

The thief dashes across a balcony and leaps off a railing; he catches the ledge of another roof and pulls himself up without as much as a grunt.

Eden does the same and jumps off the railing onto the ledge. He rises to the roof and sees the thief jump down to the next building. Eden follows and rolls on the tiles as he lands. The thief swiftly climbs up a metal pipe to the next level, and then Eden does the same and propels himself onto a platform. A chasm separates from where Eden and the thief are to a small building ahead; the thief picks up speed and jumps off. His arms waving in the air as if he's using the air to propel his jump, and he lands with a roll as he grunts loudly.

The gap won't stop Eden as well. His heart pounds rapidly, keeping his sights on the thief and not looking down. Eden leaps off the ledge without hesitation; the wind brushes against his entire body as he flails in the air. Eden rolls onto the roof with a grunt; a shocking sensation travels up to his legs, but he doesn't let that get in his way and quickly gets back up.

The thief runs across a long, thick wire that goes into a jungle of construction. "He can do that?" Eden exclaims. Looking at the wire, he can't believe that the thief can walk on it and barely make it sway. Shaking his head, Eden looks around for another way instead. He leaps to a pole, slides down, then climbs a nearby scaffold. Eden stares up at the thief and tails him from below. He dashes up a set of unfinished stairs and rises to the third floor, then and jumps over a gap in the bottom. Eden looks up again to see the thief traveling up higher and higher. Eden ascends onto some wooden studs that lead up, then hops to a rail and pulls himself up.

Air bursts in and out of Eden as he sees the thief almost at the end. If he continues climbing this structure like this, the thief will get away. It's time to take a shortcut. "Hup!" Eden leaps to the side of the next building, then pushes his feet against the wall and shoots himself up to the next floor. "Hup!" He does it again and wall jumps to the next level.

Above Eden, the thief jumps over him to get to the next building. Eden launches himself from the wall and then from the studs. "Hah!" Eden reaches for the thief and grabs his heel. The thief lets out a loud grunt as Eden pulls him down and tumbles with him in the air. He clutches onto the thief's black cloak and bashes his fist into his face. Twirling in the air with the thief, the wind blares into Eden's ear; the whole world seemingly spins all around him, seeing the sky to the ground and the brick walls.

Crash!