AD7, Royal, and Oyintsa walked deeper into the populated areas of Bosstown.\u00a0 As they approached city center, things became cleaner and more organized.\u00a0 People walked the streets going here and there.\u00a0 They were polite and seemed to want the visitors to stay as long as they needed but were also occupied with business.\u00a0 They were not looking for handouts.<\/p>\n
The hope was clear.\u00a0 They knew that the city could be something again.\u00a0 They had the will power to rebuild and defend.\u00a0 As they walked by the broken abandoned buildings, functioning shops started appearing.\u00a0 They had little to offer, but the best goods were displayed to draw travelers in.<\/p>\n
AD7 had calmed down a bit and was taking things relatively well.\u00a0 There were a few little but definite bits she remembered about her city.\u00a0 Though her thoughts were so very outdated, she designed and built most of it with immense care.\u00a0 After a while, she was able to take the lead as they walked.\u00a0 She walked with purpose.\u00a0 Her pace suggested that she knew where she was going, most of the time.<\/p>\n
She guided the others through the city square.\u00a0 There was still so much of the city she didn’t recognize, but that was understandable.\u00a0 Every now and then she would pause with a puzzled look, still a little unsure of where she was going.<\/p>\n
“Where’re we going,” Royal asked first.\u00a0 She knew Oyintsa wanted to ask the question as well.<\/p>\n
“This is the path I always take through the city,” AD7 answered, “or took.”\u00a0 She questioned the reality of it all.\u00a0 Almost fifty years of change happened in an instant for her.\u00a0 She was half hoping that all this would be revealed as a cruel joke.\u00a0 The city was the same but … not.\u00a0 Every time she turned the corner she wished things would be the way they were but; no.\u00a0 The world is the way it is now.<\/p>\n
Royal and Oyintsa continued following AD7’s path.\u00a0 They had no idea where AD7 usually went when she came into town.\u00a0 They only knew that they were walking closer and closer to the Mech Fortress.\u00a0 Oyintsa in particular didn’t like this, but all reports said that there was nothing dangerous coming from the fortress these days.\u00a0 Besides, they had nothing better to do.\u00a0 Tirzah was also clear that she wanted them to help AD7 reclaim her life any way they could.<\/p>\n
By now they had walked through the city square and the ruined buildings became more prominent again.\u00a0 All the same, AD7’s pace increased.\u00a0 She recognized all the buildings.\u00a0 They were run down, but everything was run down these days.\u00a0 She turned to a lot and stopped.<\/p>\n
They were all confused but none more than AD7.\u00a0 The lot was empty.\u00a0 Only this lot was empty.\u00a0 There were small buildings all around, but the small building that would have filled this lot was not there.\u00a0 The lot was cleared and clean.\u00a0 Only the foundation remained.\u00a0 A concrete wall on the far side revealed just how large the lot was.<\/p>\n
On the wall there was a poster with bounty.\u00a0 Apparently, families of rats moved into the area some time ago and were causing trouble.\u00a0 Oyintsa was excited about it, he liked to hunt, but they had little time to stay in this city.<\/p>\n
“Well, um,” AD7 said a little embarrassed and still confused, “that was fun.”<\/p>\n
“Yeah,” Royal chimed in.\u00a0 She turned around from the vacant lot, trying to help AD7 save face.\u00a0 This had to be very embarrassing for her.\u00a0 “Is anyone hungry,” she asked.\u00a0 Strangely, there was a relatively large noodle and sandwich restaurant\u00a0right behind them.\u00a0 Its signs boasted “The best noodles and subs in Bosstown for the last forty seven years.”<\/p>\n
“Yes,” AD7 said still thinking.<\/p>\n
“Sure,” Oyintsa said as well.<\/p>\n
#1<\/a> \u2013 Awakening #16<\/a>\u00a0– Awakening #18<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" AD7, Royal, and Oyintsa walked deeper into the populated areas of Bosstown.\u00a0 As they approached city center, things became cleaner and more organized.\u00a0 People walked the streets going here and there.\u00a0 They were polite and seemed to want the visitors to stay as long as they needed but were also occupied with business.\u00a0 They were […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[14,13,3,10,11,170],"class_list":["post-422","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized","tag-ad7","tag-bosstown","tag-champions-of-battle","tag-oyintsa-yuan","tag-royal-qiu","tag-uncategorized"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/sonsofsword.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/422","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/sonsofsword.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/sonsofsword.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sonsofsword.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sonsofsword.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=422"}],"version-history":[{"count":8,"href":"https:\/\/sonsofsword.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/422\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":467,"href":"https:\/\/sonsofsword.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/422\/revisions\/467"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/sonsofsword.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=422"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sonsofsword.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=422"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sonsofsword.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=422"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}