Augustus and Cedric

My name is Augustus, an elven commoner, living in the tight caves beneath the intelligent magnetic railroad. The city of elves is highly technologically advanced, holding the most sophistication out of the 7 kingdoms. Our city is great for most, but if your not one of the intelligent money bearing kind- this city is hell. I work for my best friend, Cedric, he’s a knight who guards the borders of our elven kingdom, protecting us from our enemies: the sirens. I’m not supposed to have a job related to the kingdom because I’m not of high class, however Cedric pulled strings to help me with becoming a knight. The border is a dangerous place however, sirens are the absolute most beautiful creatures of the lands, they are almost irresistible. 

I begin my training to join the night's watch tomorrow, finally acquiring some money will get me out of these underground caves. I’d rather be eaten by a siren than live in these caves a day longer, other unintelligent elves go through the trash from the scientific college nearby, they take the failed flying experiments and put them in a shot, inserting the substance into their veins. After that, they go crazy searching for anything else they might be able to turn into liquid to put in their blood. I’m stuck in this hierarchy, urging to get out and just be viewed as an equal to everyone else, not a failed scientific experiment user  like everyone else living under the magnetic trains. 

I wake up early to meet Cedric, although, waking up early is my least favorite thing in the world, so of course, I’m late. I have to run miles and miles to meet Cedric, but I’m determined to impress him. I finally made it to our training grounds, where he’s agreed to train me for two hours every day until he has to complete his job of protecting the border. The place Cedric has chosen is curious, as I analyze the scene, I notice how beautiful this land is. No connection routers, no technological disasters, just peace and quiet. I stand in the center of a stone circle, with 7 pieces breaking it up, the center has some kind of foreign symbol as the message for whatever this shape is attempting to tell. I’m surrounded by peach and guava trees, adding more zen to my feelings. 

Cedric tosses me a peach “heads up,” I look at him with awe. I want to be like him. 

“Good morning Cedric” 

“Morning august,” August, what a sweet, a clever nickname. 

“What should we do first?”

“We have to work on balance and aggression, channeling your anger to your attacks to be successful.” 

“Let’s get started then! We don’t have all day.”

Cedric laughs at how pathetic and wimpy I am, but he doesn’t give up on working with me.

For the next few weeks, he trains me hard everyday, he lets me stay at his incredibly nice house, and he helps me get some “meat” on my bones. I’m starting to look like a successful, important elve.

On my tryout day, I walk downstairs, groggy from how much a dislike waking up early.

“Good morning august”

“Morning Cedric,” 

“You really dislike waking up, huh?”

“Yeah haha, hey thanks for pulling me out of the gutter I was stuck in, I’m starting to feel equal to everyone else”

“You are equal to everyone else August, you just needed help seeing it.”

I smiled at him, his voice gives me butterflies and feels like my heart melts into sweet honey. 

I tryout and get accepted to the night’s watch, a high paying successful job. I keep living with Cedric though, we have something special between us, something I would call, worth a million different jobs.