Lazmore was a city that felt like a secret kept by the earth itself. To the West, the mountains were capped with eternal, silent snow. To the East, the horizon shimmered with the brutal heat of the great desert. To the South, the rivers flowed endlessly toward a destination no one in Lazmore had ever bothered to find. It was a landlocked paradise, where doors were never locked and the word "fear" was something only found in old, dusty books.
Alaikh leaned back against the cool grass, his six-foot frame casting a long shadow in the fading light. He was a man built for the sun, with the kind of looks that made people in the market stop and wave, but today, his mind was cold.
The sunset was spectacular—a bleed of orange and violet over the green fields. The river nearby sparkled, flowing toward a horizon that seemed to have no end. It was a fine day, the kind where you should be chilling with friends, not thinking about dark secrets.
"Alaikh, what's up, buddy?" Raavish's voice broke the trance. He was Alaikh's oldest friend, the kind of guy who could find a reason to laugh even in a thunderstorm. "How was your day? You've been staring at that water for twenty minutes."
Alaikh let out a slow breath. "I was with Grandma. She's at home now."
"And?" Raavish sat down next to him, picking a blade of grass.
"She's talking crazy stuff, Raavish," Alaikh said, his voice dropping.
Raavish laughed, though his eyes remained curious. "Like what stuff? Did she forget where she put her tea again?"
"No," Alaikh said, turning to look his friend in the eye. "She was talking about the old stories. She told me there is an area—a place locked away by our elders and the old men who built this city. She said it was locked because they saw... suspicious things."
Raavish stopped laughing. His face lit up with a sudden, electric excitement. "Suspicious? Like what? Treasure? Weapons?"
"I don't know, man," Alaikh replied, feeling the weight of the mystery. "She wouldn't say what it was. She just looked at me with this look in her eyes I've never seen before. She told me: "Never go there."
Raavish scratched his head, his mind already racing. "Is it ghosts? Do you think the mountains are haunted?"
"I don't know," Alaikh said, releasing a heavy sigh that seemed to echo the rushing river.
Raavish stood up, pacing back and forth on the riverbank. The sun was almost gone now, and the first stars were beginning to blink in the East. "Can we just... go there? Just a sneak peek? If the elders locked it, there has to be a reason. Don't you want to know why our 'perfect' city has a locked door?"
Alaikh looked toward the darkening horizon. "Actually, I don't even know the exact location. Grandma was vague. She just said it's somewhere in the East."
"The East?" Raavish's excitement faltered for a second. "Oh, shit. That's hard then. You mean it's inside the desert? The dunes go on forever, man."
"Aha... maybe somewhere near the edge of it," Alaikh mused. He felt a spark of the same curiosity burning in his chest. In a world of cooperation and love, a "locked area" was the most interesting thing he had ever heard of.
Raavish leaned in, his voice a whisper of pure adrenaline. "Can we go there? Just a quick look and return before it gets dark?"
Alaikh felt the corners of his mouth twitch into a smile—the first one all day. The peaceful life of Lazmore was suddenly feeling very small.
"Let's find a map," Alaikh said.
The walk back to the heart of Lazmore felt different tonight. Usually, the glowing lanterns hanging from the eaves of the wooden houses felt welcoming, like warm eyes watching over the community. But now, after hearing about the secrets of the East, the light felt... exposing.
"Where would a map like that even be?" Raavish whispered as they entered the main square. Even though everyone in Lazmore was friendly, he found himself looking over his shoulder.
"The Hall of Records," Alaikh replied. He saw a group of Elders sitting near the central fountain, their white robes bright under the moonlight. They were laughing, sharing a communal meal of bread and honey. To anyone else, it was a beautiful sight of cooperation. To Alaikh, it looked like a wall of silence.
"The Hall is always open," Raavish reminded him. "Everything in Lazmore is open."
"Everything except the East," Alaikh countered.
As they passed the Elders, one of them—a man named Elder Maru with eyes as sharp as an eagle's—stopped laughing and looked directly at Alaikh. The warmth in his expression didn't reach his eyes.
"Evening, boys," Maru called out, his voice smooth but heavy. "You're out late. Dreaming of the mountains again?"
Alaikh felt his heart hammer against his ribs—six feet of muscle suddenly feeling very small under the old man's gaze. "Just enjoying the river, Elder."
"The river is safe," Maru said, his smile widening just a little too much. "Stay by the water. The sands of the East have a way of swallowing young men who lose their path."
The Elders went back to their meal, but the chill stayed with Alaikh.
"We wait until the moon is high," Alaikh whispered to Raavish once they were out of earshot. "Then we find that map."