Citizen 1381 Almatis

“Alright”, Almatis mumbled quietly to himself, his face still pushed close to the book he had been reading in just a moment later. Truly, right now he wasn’t actually reading. It was more of a ‘let’s see how long I can put this off before I finally can’t anymore’. “You can do this. You’ve studied for a long while. It’s not like your life might hinge on it.”
A low grunt made him look up, towards the Rexal who had brought the carriage here, to the middle of nowhere, pretty much as close to the edge of the dome as one could get. “Come on, I don’t have all day. Either you pay me now, or I’ll have to bring up authorities.”
Almatis blinked and quickly shook his head. “No, very sorry - no need for such threats. Here.” He quickly got out a satchel filled with dracms, handing it over to the driver, who was quick to check its contents. Then, once satisfied, he nodded and put it away. “Good luck to you now.” With that he motioned for the stags to start walking again, now leaving Almatis behind within the depths of the forest, with the sun drowning further and further in the distance.

For a few moments Almatis simply stood and watched as the carriage left, before another sigh escaped him. Yea. Now he truly didn’t have any further choice but to find the way home by himself. He looked down at the book once more, eyeing the stars drawn into it. He’d studied them for so long now, that they felt familiar, as if they had been burned into the darkness behind his eyelids.

“Yes - I can do this.” He exhaled, looking up once more, as he finally closed the book proper. Another deep breath and he put it away, making it disappear into the bag he had taken with himself. 

It was only a little thing he wanted to try. Originally the plan had been barely to leave the capital city, but now, here he was, on the edge of the Dome, as far away from Atlas as he could possibly get. And his goal, even though it sounded simple, still the same: Find his way back to Atlas with only the stars as his guide. He‘d found them intiguing, the stories of Rexal that traveled with only the stars as their guides. And so, who could blame him for trying the same? To do the same great feat that other Rexal before him had already successfully done?

Well, it would do him no good to just stand and watch the road stretch ahead of him, as the sun dipped fully below the horizon. The road was old, barely used by the few carriages that came through here to probably set out weary travelers like Almatis himself. If he followed it, he‘d get at least some headway already, while he waited for the stars to truly start shining in all their splendor.

If push came to shove he could always stop another Rexal on travels and ask for directions. Other smaller villages and cities would be around on his ways. He was safe.

With that, he began to walk. The stars high above grew brighter and brighter with every passing minute, forming a smile on Almatis’ face. The night soon had fully taken over the Dome, bathing everything in only the soft light of the stars and the moon.

And as he walked, the previous anxiety of his self imposed challenge slowly began to slip further away and away. Almatis smiled as he walked along the path, still on the way, confidently choosing the most likely right path on every crosspath. The stars were his guide, every single one of them drawn across the nightsky in a way that felt all too familiar to him.

Once more he reached another split in the path, with no obvious way forward. Either right or left he’d have to go and, judging from the position of the constellations above him, taking the wrong turn would lead him right back deeper into the forest and towards the ends of the Dome. The other would lead him more towards the city of Sine, one he had not visited often. Still, it would certainly be a nice place to rest for a bit when the next morning would break.

Almatis looked up at the sky, squinting a bit, until he finally noticed a particularly bright star further to the right. Slowly he narrowed his eyes, for a moment tempted to grab his bag and get out his book, yet when he felt the leather below his hands, he let it drop again.

No, he wanted to do this without cheating. The star - it led towards the city of Atlas, he was sure he remembered that right. “This is surprisingly easy”, he hummed. If it was towards the city of Atlas, then Sine would be closer when taking the path to the right.

With more confidence, he turned onto the right path, smiling as he began to walk along it. His focus now shifted more towards the bright star high up above him, more and more assurance filling his bones. The longer he walked, the more often he looked up into the sky. And with every glance he felt more secure in the map of shining stars that shone its way from above.

And finally, the forest opening up to reveal a shining lake in front of him, he saw the dim fire of nightguards roaming a close by village. It was not Sine, certainly much too small for it - but he had found civilization.

Satisfied, he pulled his bag a tad bit closer, giving it a soft pat. The endless studying had worked, helping him after all. Not quite the right direction yet, but right enough to give him a proper place to rest after hours of walking.

And that, for a first quick test of his own skills, was a very good outcome in his book.

Author: Shizena