The icy northern wind hit Kyrian's face as he approached the caravan.
Three carts waited at the village exit. Several men were loading sacks of coal until two of the carts were filled to the top.
The last cart was a bit larger, covered with a thick tarp, and intended for passengers.
His feet sank into the soft snow as he walked, the small bag, now a bit heavier, bumping against his hip.
"I want to go to the city." Kyrian placed his hand on the bag, pulling out several copper coins.
The men looked at him with strange expressions. Then, the person standing in front of the larger cart got down and approached Kyrian. He frowned, looking at the child. But still, he extended his hand.
"All right. Ten copper coins. Food along the way will be on us."
Kyrian handed over the money without hesitation. That was all the money he had left after selling his house to the village chief.
But he didn't care, all he needed now was to reach the city of Falk.
He climbed into the cart. Seven people besides him squeezed onto the wooden benches.
Of the seven, six were adult men, their faces tired and dirty after carrying coal to the other carts. The last was a little girl about Kyrian's age. She looked at him with curiosity.
But also a little fear. Kyrian looked at her, and she hid behind her father's arm.
She had heard stories that there was a boy in the village with cursed eyes and that if she were seen by him, she would suddenly vanish from the world.
Kyrian sensed that she was afraid of him and found it funny. After all these years, he had gotten used to it.
Soon, the caravan departed.
…
Days passed quickly. Kyrian stayed quiet the whole time, sitting at the back where he could see outside.
It was an endless snowy path, nothing else around. The village disappeared from his sight quickly. Apart from the snow, there seemed to be nothing, he really wondered why anyone lived there.
Then he overheard the little girl talking with her father in front of him.
"Dad, what is the city like?"
The man touched her hair, messing it up a little.
"Many times bigger than Frosty Village. Surrounded by tall walls, stone streets… and lots of people."
"Really, really? Then why don't we live there?" The girl asked excitedly.
"… If we could. One day you'll understand." The man sighed.
Kyrian watched silently. Strange.
As days passed, the scenery began to change. The endless snowy path thinned out.
Little by little, patches of dark earth appeared. But the biggest change, the sparse white trees along the path, gave way to a forest. The caravan followed a path marked by old signs.
Kyrian observed, Those trees were beautiful, their leaves yellowed. For the first time, he saw trees that weren't white.
With stops at night and sometimes slowing down, the journey took almost three weeks.
'I've been absorbing these strange particles all this time. But it seems the limit is much higher now. I don't think I'll reach the limit anytime soon.'
'But I need to find out what these things are. I feel they're not simple.' Kyrian thought before the caravan suddenly slowed down.
"I've spotted the city walls. Be ready to get down and work quickly." The driver said, urging the horses to go faster.
After half an hour, the carts finally stopped. Kyrian got down with the other seven men while the little girl stayed in the cart.
"You stay here, unfortunately, I can't take you inside the city. Don't leave the wagon, and if anything happens, yell for the soldiers." The girl's father said, kissing her head before getting down with the others.
The men looked at Kyrian getting off the cart with an even stranger look.
'What is he doing? He wants to enter the city? Doesn't he know?' The girl's father thought as he looked at the child standing beside them.
Kyrian ignored them and focused on the caravan owner approaching the two soldiers at the city gate.
He couldn't hear what they said, but he could clearly see their lips moving, understanding their conversation exactly.
"Only coal carriers enter. Leave everything at the warehouse, and payment will be here by night."
Kyrian, understanding and seeing the caravan owner returning, quickly went to one of the coal carts.
Without hesitation, he grabbed a sack bigger than his torso. Before the others could react, the men's eyes widened, and their jaws dropped. They wanted to say something, but Kyrian was already walking toward the entrance.
They knew they couldn't delay, so they followed suit.
The guards looked at Kyrian as if he were a freak, but it wasn't their business, so they let him pass.
As soon as he entered the city, his eyes widened.
The smell here was different. Soot, roasted meat, and many things he didn't recognize. The gray stone walls surrounded hundreds of buildings with red roofs. The sounds of voices and blacksmiths hammering were loud.
They walked down the main street for just five minutes before entering an alley.
In five minutes, people hurried past, some looking at the group with disdain, others pretending they didn't exist.
In the alley, they reached a large warehouse guarded by a soldier with a spear, wearing the same uniform as the soldiers at the gate.
He opened the door to the stone warehouse, Kyrian and the others placed the sacks of coal inside and returned for more.
At this moment, Kyrian opened his mouth for the first time since boarding the cart.
"Why do they treat us like this?" Kyrian asked the little girl's father.
"Oh, I thought you were mute. So you can talk. If you're talking about the soldiers and the city people… it's because we're forbidden to enter here…" the man replied calmly at first, but sadly at the end.
"Frosty Village was founded by exiles, people who were expelled from the city of Falk to die."
"Exiles?"
"Yes, maybe due to theft, murder. Nobody knows. Over a hundred years ago, families were sent to die in the forbidden land area."
"But luckily, we found a place where carnivorous animals didn't live. That's why we're still alive today. Also, because we found a coal mine, now they tolerate trading with us." The man finished.
Kyrian listened, frowning.
'Forbidden land? Why?'
Kyrian was intrigued, yet felt strange. So everyone in the village was actually sentenced to death. And his village was a camp of the forgotten.
'No, I don't have to worry about them, they can fend for themselves. The only thing I need to do is survive and become stronger. The village no longer matters.' Kyrian decided firmly in his mind as he turned his eyes to the soldier.
He felt the soldier was extremely bored, looking the other way without much care.
At that moment, without hesitation, Kyrian ran.
His small body disappeared among the narrow alleys of the city, hiding until nightfall. His clothes clearly showed where he came from, so he needed to change.
But mostly, he had to stay in the city to find a place to stay, understand more about everything, and especially about his eyes.
The city of Falk at night was silent. Only a few drunks and guards on the streets, whom Kyrian could easily avoid. His night vision was as clear as day. He saw everything clearly.
He walked until he finally came out onto a main street again. There were a few different buildings besides houses, which he didn't know what they were. Some torches lit the night, but it would be hard to spot little Kyrian even in the middle of the street.
He walked until he saw a wall in the city.
It wasn't very tall, just about two and a half meters, but behind those walls, Kyrian saw a large building. He immediately knew what it was.
There was a symbol on the building. A silver spear. He saw that symbol on the soldier's clothes. So he guessed this was where they lived. After walking alongside the wall, he finally found the entrance.
Two more soldiers armed with spears stood next to large torches, looking ahead bored. One was yawning while the other was talking.
Kyrian stopped walking, his eyes focusing on the soldier's mouth.
"The recruitment is early today, isn't it? They say we need more men after the bandit attack."
"Yes, all the city's sixteen-year-olds will be tested. I don't know how many will pass, but there will be more rookies in the house, maybe we won't have to guard here anymore." The other said.
'Recruitment?' Kyrian thought. A slight smile appeared on his lips. A smile that meant he had an idea.
…
The night passed slowly, and dawn finally came. When the light appeared, Kyrian left his hiding spot, walking slowly toward the soldiers. He had changed his cold-weather clothes for the only set in his bag and left the dirty clothes there.
The soldiers, upon seeing Kyrian approach, exchanged glances, one stepped forward, standing in front of the child.
"Did you come to report something? Is there a problem?" The soldier asked.
Kyrian didn't think twice.
"I came for the recruitment."
…
"W-what? You came for what?" The soldier asked, thinking he'd misheard. Meanwhile, the other soldier behind him started laughing loudly.
"HAHAHA, did you hear that? The brat came for the recruitment." The man laughed heartily, clutching his belly.
The soldier in front of Kyrian looked into his eyes, found the boy's bizarre eyes strange, but it didn't matter, he could see the boy was serious.
"Little one, go away. This isn't something you can do now. Grow until you're sixteen, and then you can try the test. Until then, don't interfere with our work." The soldier said, putting one hand on his forehead, amused by the situation.
He then tried to touch Kyrian's shoulder with the other hand.
"Come on, go home, brat, your parents must be worried abou-
The man couldn't finish his sentence because when he touched Kyrian's shoulder, he couldn't make him take a single step.
Before he realized it, his hand was grabbed, and at that instant, it was as if an immense weight pulled him down, something a child shouldn't be able to do.
His body gave in, kneeling in front of Kyrian like a puppet.
"I said that. I'm here for recruitment. If I said that, it's because I know I can join with my strength." Kyrian said calmly.
He didn't think or understand the consequences of doing that to a soldier.
He just thought doing that would show his strength. And they would let him join the recruitment.
But the soldier didn't think that way. His mind filled with anger seconds after realizing what happened, thinking a brat had made him kneel in front of his colleague. When he tried to get up and raise his arm toward Kyrian again, he was interrupted by a voice that sent chills down his spine.
A loud shout came from behind them.
"Stop right there!" A deep, loud voice rang out from a man who had been watching everything for some time.