It is fatal to enter any war without the will to win it.

Zane had seen the inside of the Citadel from outside both the Commoners’ and Halocrats’ entry doors.

The view hadn’t justified the big building.

This was his second time entering the Citadel but the first time he had gone only to touch the slab and wasn’t able to see all its glory.

But today, he entered the Citadel to stay.

He raised his foot and with Milo, placed it inside the gate.

He wasn’t expecting grandeur but as soon as he entered, his eyes widened.

Milo went through the same expressions as the world around him had changed.

He felt he entered inside something else entirely.

The view was completely different from what he saw from outside the gate.

A fountain was in the center of the place, with crystal clear water pouring out and filling the base of the fountain.

Countless people walked around, laughing and practicing moves and all of them were rich. Each one of them looked wealthy enough to purchase his entire Ashen slum.

In front of him, three buildings stood, each one bigger than the last.

The building in the middle was the largest and Zane called them buildings because he didn’t know what castles looked like.

On the wall of the middle building, Study Hall was written and the building on the left read Dorms For Cadets and the building on the right of Study Hall read Dorms For Lectors.

Is there no church here? And where is the Slab?

Zane looked around more and he didn’t find any signs of a place where the First Flame would be worshipped.

He also didn’t find the place where he had touched the slab yesterday.

He remembered he had entered a different gate yesterday but the slab should still be inside the Citadel.

He turned around, looking behind and his eyes again met with a surprise.

The gate from which he had just entered, was no more.

Behind him was simply more green ground and open sky.

His eyes turned below and just near his feet was a red arrow painted on the ground and it pointed towards where Zane had just entered from.

Something told him he should check so he reached out his hand.

And he was right. 𝗳𝗿𝐞𝕖𝘄𝗲𝕓𝗻𝚘𝚟𝕖𝐥.𝚌𝕠𝕞

His hand passed through empty air and vanished.

It went to the other side.

So there is some kind of magical boundary here.

He retracted his hand.

But since Milo was with him, she also saw it and her eyes lit up.

"Is this magic? Can I try it too?" Milo asked.

Zane smiled.

"Sure."

Milo stretched out her hand as well and jumped in excitement seeing her hand vanishing.

Zane laughed.

Milo’s excitement reached the people near them and the next moment, Zane’s laughter died.

"Who allowed them here?"

"The air stinks now."

"Throw them out."

Comments of disgrace and disgust fell on Zane’s ears as his fist clenched.

The excitement of a little girl appeared as a disgrace to them.

Calm down. This is just the first day.

Zane took deep breaths and smiled at Milo.

"Alright. Enough playing. Let’s find our room now. Okay?"

"Okay."

Milo brought back her hand and with Zane, went towards the building on the left.

The building that was meant for the Cadets or students to stay.

And as Zane walked forward, he finally found the answer to one of his questions.

Behind the building, a cathedral stood.

A cathedral with a red pointy top as its head.

It was the biggest building he had seen till now.

And even a blind person would tell what this building was.

A flag hung at the top of the building with the emblem of the sun as in golden words, on the front wall of the building it was written:

The First Flame Cathedral.

This place wasn’t free from God as well.

Three paths were coming out of the entrance of the cathedral and Zane believed everyone from each batch, corners, buildings could and should visit this cathedral from praying daily whenever the bells would ring.

Zane didn’t know if there would be exceptions as he wouldn’t like Milo to attend these meetings where there would be too many people and most of them certainly hate him.

I’ll think about it later.

Zane’s first goal was to get inside a room before some kind of Quest pops up or a Halocrat decides to have fun with him to pass their time.

He went to the Dorms For Cadets building and saw some counters placed vertically to the side of the entrance.

He saw people standing in front of such corners and getting keys and then climbing the stairs.

Zane did the same and went to the last counter where there was no one.

He made sure to walk far from the already present students in other counters, not disturbing them for his own good.

Behind the counter was an old woman with glasses and she was busy checking registers and papers.

"Um... Excuse me?" Zane called.

"Cadet?" The woman asked.

"Yes, ma’am."

The woman pulled a register and turned pages.

"Name?" She asked.

"Zane Atlas."

Her fingers stopped.

Her non-chalant face found expressions as she looked up.

"So it’s you." She gazed from above her glasser. "A Gutterborn in the land of gold."

Zane sighed. "I was never good with fate."

The woman laughed. "I agree. Try to survive. I am sure you must have learned that by now."

Zane nodded.

"Anyone with you?" The woman asked. She couldn’t see Milo as her height didn’t allow her to reach the top of the corner.

But instead of answering right away, Zane went into silence.

"Anyone with you, student?" The woman asked again.

Zane looked at Milo.

"Yes."

"Who?"

Zane bit his lip. He controlled his trembling tongue and finally answered the woman.

"A maid from my slums."

Milo’s eyes widened.

She opened her mouth but Zane placed a finger on his mouth.

"You hired a maid for yourself?" The woman asked.

Zane shrugged. "She lives in Ashen. She wanted to leave the place so she came with me for free. I don’t really care about her anyway. But since I could bring one person with me, I thought why not. She could at least wash my clothes."

Zane made sure to speak a little louder than usual, especially the last part. He wanted the people to hear that the little girl with him wasn’t someone important to him. She had no power over Zane.

In case if someone tried to teach him a lesson, they wouldn’t think of using Milo as a hostage or if someone wanted to give him pain, they wouldn’t think of harming Milo.

His tongue felt ash saying those words for Milo and that day, he learned a lot about love.

To protect the one whom he loves the most, he showed he didn’t love them at all.