by Brandon Chen
Aika blinked a few times in confusion, not sure whether or not to be scared of her current situation. “Where exactly am I?”
“You’re in the small village of Bakaara,” Keimaro said with a sigh, finding no reason to hide the name of their village from her.
“Bakaara? But isn’t there a ward that isolates—?”
“Yeah,” Keimaro said with a sly smile. “You’re lucky you met two boys who found out how to bypass the magical wards. But that also means that if the beasts find out how to get inside the barriers, we would all be dead. So, let’s keep it a secret. I’ve got some clothing that will probably fit you, Aika, but your proper posture and all of that princess stuff has got to go,” he said, realizing how proper and neat the princess was even sitting on the bed.
Aika watched as Keimaro reached into his bag. He pulled out a few folds of clothes and tossed them onto the bed beside her. “I’m going to become a peasant for a few days?”
“A few days?” Keimaro said with a chuckle. “It’s going to be a while before you’re able to leave this village. I also don’t appreciate the term peasant either. Your vocabulary is probably going to have to change. Yata and I have a dream to leave the village one day and explore the world. When we do obtain the ability and strength to leave and escort ourselves through the forest barrier between the Faar Empire and Bakaara’s grounds, we shall take you. Then you shall see your empire and home again, but that won’t be for a while, understood? For now, you’ll just have to lay low. Otherwise, they’ll have you executed and have Yata and me in chains. The elders don’t want any of the townsfolk meeting an alien from the outside world.” Though, that was a bit of a lie. In reality, Keimaro and Yata would be the ones executed and the princess would be held hostage so the king wouldn’t barge into Bakaara and slaughter everyone. At least, that was the more realistic outcome.
Nevertheless, Aika nodded her head in understanding, her heart beginning to race with excitement at the mere thought of pretending to be one of the townsfolk. It was like switching lifestyles. Being a princess, she had always gotten what she wanted and lived with the luxuries of life. However, she was never able to meet anyone or speak to anyone. Now that she was a commoner, she was officially able to speak to anyone she pleased. It was exciting to know that she could now live a life outside of politics. The two boys before her seemed like two adventurous young men with aspirations that suited them and even matched hers. She also longed to see the world beyond the walls of her citadel. This was her chance.
“What’s it like to be a princess?” Keimaro asked curiously, leaning against a wall.
“Well,” Aika looked at nothing in particular and pouted, rather surprised by the question, “it’s hard to explain, I suppose … since I’m not quite sure what peasant life is like yet! But I suppose I could explain to some extent. I could consider it somewhat like a cell. Everything you do is monitored. Everything you say is recorded. You have to watch your tongue; otherwise, you ruin the family name, since you’re royalty. It’s terrible in the sense that there’s no one to be friends with since the king, my father, forbade me from becoming friends with anyone. There’s also the chance of being assassinated or kidnapped at any moment, which was what happened to me.”
“You make royalty seem terrible,” Yata scoffed.
“In a way, it really is,” Aika said with a sigh. “I wanted to get away from it, but I wasn’t exactly sure how. Being kidnapped wasn’t the way I wanted to leave the citadel, but I’m actually quite happy that I get to have this experience. Though, in the end, I would prefer to eventually go home.”
“Yeah, understood, princess,” Keimaro said.
“There were many luxuries as well. I got to have anything I wanted and everyone would have to do whatever I told them, I suppose.” Aika examined the room around her. “Though, I got sick of it after getting spoiled for so many years. This is actually a nice change of scenery. I don’t have to see glistening gold and jewels everywhere.”
“Don’t expect to be treated like a princess in Bakaara,” Yata said simply, folding his arms as he looked at her with a rock-solid stare. “The times are tough, and there isn’t a lot to live off of. There are fewer luxuries in comparison to Faar as I’ve heard. You’ll be posing as my sister since no one knows whether or not I have surviving relatives. You can’t speak the same way to other people as you would to commoners either, Aika. For example, that accent.” Yata paused, waiting for his words to sink in. Aika tilted her head as if to say, What accent? Yata ignored the motion and said gruffly, “Go into the other room and get dressed into the clothes that Keimaro brought. We will show you around the town after.”
“I’m afraid I won’t be able to stay the entire time,” Keimaro muttered with a shrug. “I’m beginning my training with my father today. He is finally teaching me swordplay. We should make the tour brief if anything.”
“Yeah,” Yata said. “She’s gonna be here for a while, so she’ll adapt to it eventually.”
The two of them waited in an awkward silence as the princess shuffled around in the other room while changing. She came back into the room in some rather short, torn shorts and a small gray t-shirt. It was a bland look for someone who maintained natural beauty, but Keimaro still found her quite beautiful. She definitely would stand out in their village, he could tell right away.
Keimaro blinked a few times as she toyed shyly with her long brown hair and looked at him with her royal blue eyes. “How do I look?”
“You look great,” Yata said before Keimaro could answer and pushed himself off of the bed with a grunt. “All right, you two, let’s get this over with! We have a lot that we are going to have to teach her before the day is over if she’s going to survive within these walls.”
The two of them spent the long morning showing Aika around the village—the farms, the marketing area, the social area, and the living area. Many of the inhabitants of Bakaara actually lived on their own farms, providing their family with enough food to survive the year as well as maybe sell some off at the market for a profit. But those who worked at places like schools or blacksmiths were assigned to a living quarters that were something like apartments. Those who made a good living were sometimes able to afford a house set away from the rest.
The social area was the part of the village that held the schools and areas for teenagers and kids to mingle. There were parks and such for people to walk around and feel free, as if they weren’t trapped inside of a ward. The social area was also where a small palace was located, containing all of the elders and every soldier who actually was trained to fight. This meant that there was practically no one else in the village that could fight. If there were an attack, the villagers would probably all be massacred, but the soldiers had been relocated to the palace to protect the elders at all costs. Any other threats to the village would be handled by officials, who enforced the law but weren’t trained in combat.
In the market, many people sold different products, none of them very exotic. It was difficult to sell something new because only certain materials were available in the small area of Bakaara. There was a large open area where people would set up their portable tents and shops to sell items. It was probably the loudest area in the entire town because everyone was trying to yell over one another in a rivalry to win customers. Surrounding the entire area was a large amount of buildings such as the general store or blacksmith that were rather essential in meeting people’s daily requirements. Keimaro knew that Yata worked at the blacksmith as an apprentice, which was why he was tough and knew how to fight, unlike the other people in the village.
“Wow,” Aika said in awe at the large amounts of people that were walking in the marketing section. “There’s a lot of stuff to see here!” she exclaimed excitedly, clapping her hands together with a smile. “Oh my, this is all so exciting! Why would you want to leave a place like this? It’s so lively, and there are so many people!”
Keimaro scratched the back of his neck with a light sigh, watch
ing as Aika got overexcited at the tiniest of things. “It’s not that exciting,” he muttered, shoving his hands into his pockets and playing with the jingling copper coins found deep in his pants. “You’ve never been to a market before?”
Aika shook her head, and Keimaro blinked, surprised. “I always had people who shopped for me. I was never allowed to go and buy anything at the market. I was never allowed out of the castle, as I told you before! I never knew that the markets were so crowded! Why are there so many people here? Do they all want to buy things?”
Keimaro shrugged. “Yeah, I guess. Recently, we’ve had a shortage in terms of supplies. This area can recycle only so many resources before we eventually run out. But, because of these wards, we aren’t allowed to go outside and get the resources out there. People are buying a lot of supplies before winter comes because the crops will be sparse. So, people stock up in surplus so that they can survive during the winter, which is probably the hardest time to survive around here. I suppose you never know who’s going to starve each year when we go through the dark season. I’m assuming that there is another secret way to get out of the ward that only certain people know about. Otherwise, when you think about it, we don’t have enough extra food to sustain everyone through the winter. The elders are probably getting some resources from the outside.”
“You think so?” Yata muttered, bumping Keimaro gently. “Wait, don’t talk about that kind of stuff out here in the open. Keep silent about it.”
“So, how was this place found? And how does this huge force field stay up all the time?” Aika asked curiously. “I mean, why stay self-sufficient and isolated from everyone else? Doesn’t really make sense to me.”
Yata winced at the question. “Hey….”
Keimaro touched Yata’s shoulder, silencing him and proceeded to answer the question. “Well, I’m not exactly sure why we’re self-sufficient. I suppose that it’s been this way for so long and that everyone’s gotten used to it. No one really wants to change. As for how this force field holds up, I heard that the elders cast it over the village in order to protect the civilians from the monsters that began to terrorize the people,” he said. “Other than that, I don’t really know much. They don’t tell us how the force field was put up because they think someone might try to take it down. The elders of the village, the ones who founded this place, are really secretive about a lot of things.”
“Oi, Kei!” a familiar voice called out in the open.
A shiver ran down Keimaro’s spine, and he gulped. No, not now. This guy … he couldn’t be here at this moment! This was a terrible time, especially since he would probably ask questions about Aika.
Keimaro glanced back to see Buu standing there with several of his cronies. Their hair was slicked back, and they were wearing black coats; of course it was only the finest material in the village. A sliver of Buu’s curly hair came down over his blue eyes, and he had a wide, wicked smile on his face, a reprehensible sign.
Keimaro should’ve known what was coming. He sighed as he turned to face the bully before he was quickly kneed in the stomach without warning, a complete reenactment of the previous day. He gasped, doubling over onto the ground. The wind was driven straight from his lungs, and his vision slightly blurred into a flash of white.
“You thought you could just get away with punching me yesterday, huh?” A second foot came downward and drove hard into Keimaro’s back, forcing him harder onto the ground. He winced as his face hit the dirt. He grunted, still gasping for air, helpless as a child fighting a tiger. “Die, you filthy piece of—”
“What was that?” Yata asked rhetorically, and the boys were suddenly quiet. The entire market, actually, was now in complete silence. Public displays of violence were rare within the village, but no one seemed to be willing to step forward and help Keimaro. Yata ran his hands through his hair as he began to step forward, each step making a light crunch from his boots. He grasped his hand and cracked his knuckles, letting out a loud pop in the silence. “Back off! Otherwise, I’ll smash all of your faces in. None of you will be able to see tomorrow. I’ll make sure of that,” Yata warned, giving Buu a deadly glare.
Keimaro winced in pain and was kicked backward onto his back, only to find Aika kneeling at his side, pulling him close. “Are you okay?” Her words went through one ear and left the other because Keimaro was too busy watching Yata encounter the bullies before him.
Yata was off being strong and fighting for Keimaro. He didn’t have to. The mere sight made Keimaro feel weak and powerless, as if he were nothing but an ant in a quarrel between colossal titans. He felt small and invisible.
“Was that a threat?” Buu snapped, his friends immediately advancing on their new opponent. But Yata didn’t seem to care. His fists shot out in a single motion and slammed hard into the noses of both of the boys as he stepped forward. His arms rocketed forward with incredible speed and cracked into their faces with solid blows. Blood burst from their faces as they yelped, flying backward. The two boys landed hard on their backs at the same time. Dust drifted around their writhing bodies, and they grabbed their faces in pure agony as they released screams of anguish into the air.
Yata moved forward and brought his foot downward on each of their faces mercilessly, snapping their noses and knocking them unconscious. People gasped as they watched, shocked that Yata was performing such a violent and beastly act. Yet, Keimaro could see the anger in Yata’s eyes, the hatred, the darkness. The boy seemed calm, but he was fighting with emotion.
Yata brushed the hair out of his eyes and glanced at Buu with an apathetic look on his face. “Some bodyguards you got there,” he said sarcastically as he poked at one of the bodies with his foot. “I suggest you man up and face me yourself. Or you can turn away and run. If you ever mess with Kei again, I will personally break all of your limbs.”
Buu stared at Yata in shock and then glanced at his unconscious friends who lay at the beast’s feet. “Y-You’re insane!” he yelped and turned, running away in the opposite direction. He broke through a line in the crowd before he vanished from sight.
Only moments after the boy had fled, the crowd began to separate as two guards made their way forward, armed with iron swords. Metal helmets were clamped upon their heads, making them look like tin-men. Beneath their daily clothes, they wore weak chainmail armor. Such an outfit wasn’t particularly professional when representing the government, but Bakaara couldn’t afford to spend more on equipment, especially since law enforcement wasn’t typically an issue in the village. It was rare that people would actually decide to break the law. The only people who broke the laws were the bullies who picked on Keimaro, but the guards always looked the other way in that case.
Yata raised an eyebrow at the men and rolled his eyes. “Come to arrest me, have you?” He scoffed and held out his hands as if he were already accepting his fate.
Keimaro had caught his breath and nodded thanks to Aika when he slowly pushed himself to his feet. He threw himself between the guards and Yata with his arms outstretched in an attempt to form a wall between them. “Wait, don’t arrest him! He was just helping me! Those boys were bullying me and—”
The guards pushed past Keimaro as if he were nobody and shoved him to the ground unintentionally. They didn’t even bother to glance at him, splayed out on the floor. They kicked Yata to the ground and began to barrage the young boy with a wave of heavy blows, which thumped loudly against his flesh. “One night in prison.”
Keimaro stared in disbelief at the guards. They had completely disregarded him as if he were invisible. He slowly pushed himself to his feet, his eyes glaring at the backs of the guards. Why did they knock him aside as if he were just … dirt? He watched as one of the guards picked up the unconscious Yata and slung the boy over his shoulder. The guards took one glance in Keimaro’s direction and then began to walk away.
Was he going to let them take Yata away? His first friend? Why should Yata be punished for saving him? “Oi!” Keimaro yelled, g
rabbing a rock off of the ground. He hurled it at one of the guards, hitting the man in the back of the head.
The metal helmet that the man wore protected him, and he glanced at Keimaro over his shoulder, his eyes wide as if he were looking at some type of foreign monster. “Don’t do that again. Otherwise, I will gut you, kid.”
Overwhelming fear shivered through Keimaro’s body, leaving him standing there in utter silence. The words of the soldier seemed confident and filled with unreasonable distaste. The guard clearly wanted an excuse to kill him, yet they had never even met. Keimaro bit his bottom lip, wanting to let his frustration out on something. He felt Aika tug lightly on his sleeve.
He glanced over his shoulder at her, relaxing his body and giving her a reassuring smile. “Don’t worry. Yata’s going to be all right.” Keimaro knew that he couldn’t confront the guards with Aika here. She was still too suspicious.
Keimaro took her hand, his heart pounding as he led the young princess away from the marketplace and back to Yata’s house, making sure that they didn’t run into anyone along the way. He closed the door of Yata’s home behind both of them and walked forward, slamming his fist into the wall. His knuckles blistered from the punch, but he ignored the pain. Winding up for another punch, he drove his fist into the wall once more.
“Why?” he snarled, his chest heaving with his breath. “Why do they always treat me like I’m dirt? Like I’m nothing. I don’t understand….” He sighed, exasperated, and pressed his forehead against the wall. “I don’t understand why they treat me different from the other children. They threaten to kill me. They let the bullies beat me up every day. In their eyes, I’m just nothing. I’m nothing. And I’m so sick of it!” He smashed the wall once more, blood dripping down his knuckles.
Aika stood there in the doorway, quite appalled by such barbaric behavior, driven by blind rage. But she could also understand his pain. She had seen the way that the boy in the marketplace had beaten him. She had seen the look in Buu’s eyes. It was unlike anything that she had seen before, filled with murderous intent and madness all alike.