Inside the belly of the beast was a room.

  A spacious room with couches and walls, sparsely decorated by paintings depicting all sorts of different people. They wore mighty moustaches and heavy stubbles, faces all angled and sharp in ways that suggested these were likely men of some military background. Then there were the women, and they looked just as dangerous as their male counterparts.

  Mother sat there comfortably with one hand propped under her chin. I took my place to the side where a feathery cushion welcomed me with open arms.

  It was soft.

  Why was it soft?

  "Nell is a Voidbeast. Unlike certain Mages, Knights like us have to depend on them for travel. When you're of age, I hope you can find one just as well-behaved as her."

  Mother spoke as though this was something expected. Something normal. I watched as the hole through which we entered inside closed slowly down. Then there came an airy feeling about my chest, like the one you'd feel when a plane takes off.

  "This won't take long. You can sleep if you want. We have a bedroom in the back."

  I nodded my head blankly. There was literally a door to the back, behind which I guessed the aforementioned bedroom lay. Fancy that. So this was like a full flat hidden inside a gargantuan beast's belly who could, I supposed, travel between the worlds.

  Cool.

  "How many people have Voidbeasts… like this, mum?" I asked because that was important. "Not a lot, right?"

  "Mm," Mother muttered. "To bind a Voidbeast, first you have to actually find one. Most known species are under the control of various kingdoms."

  "Not Nell, though?"

  "Oh, Nell wasn't that different. She was an orphan shackled to a mountain when I found her. Tortured for years and used in cruel service. I couldn't have just left her there. She belonged to the outer space."

  Except for the occasional ferry service she provided to us, I guessed.

  "Voidbeasts are sad, poor creatures, my Leo, often exploited because of their gifts. It's bad enough that they're coveted by big nations, but on top of that rarely do they fight back when cornered. They're innately peaceful beings. Some scholars call them the whales of space. I adore them with my whole heart."

  Oh? So these creatures didn't fight back. Kinda sad, really. Considering the nature of humans, I wouldn't be shocked to see groups of them used as cargo vehicles between the worlds.

  "When we arrive, I want you to be careful about two important things. Never tell your mother's name to anyone you meet, and never mention anything about your surname. Can you do that for me, Leo?"

  "Can I use my runes?" I asked immediately since this was a big topic.

  "Yes." Mother's answer was short and to the point. "But not right away."

  My shoulders sagged.

  "You're too young. That you've managed to further your rune studies to this stage is alone a miracle. We can't have people questioning your gift. Runemasters are rare, respected people, but that is only true after they have enough time to grow up."

  What she likely meant was that my "genius" early growth could get too many eyes on our little family. I agreed with her, especially after she made a point of keeping our surname hidden from strangers. However, it didn't mean I was too happy with it. Being a Knight was good and all, but I was supposed to be a Runemaster, damn it!

  Was this my impatient, half-grown, ADHD-fuelled child brain talking? Was that why reason worked little to silence my thoughts?

  I mean, I didn't want to die. Not this early, at least, so by all means I should be happy Mother was taking a careful approach. But I was dying to get more of anything, which was so unlike me.

  When was I too eager to do anything?

  Never.

  I'd never been motivated to become a real adult, let alone studying text upon text about things that decisively felt too unreal to me.

  "Until a certain age, you are to keep your rune skills a secret. We have to stick with our plans. To study under the most accomplished Runemaster of ages, you have to first know how to take care of yourself. I'm not too worried about the practical side of things. You're a good hunter. You'll become better when you learn how to wield your internal energy. You're diligent with your studies, which is something expected from any Runemaster. However, I won't let you become a hermit. You have to learn your way around people."

  That was one of the kindest ways to tell someone they're antisocial. Though my new stranger mother played a good part in that. She'd kept me from any human interaction for the better part of my new life, and I was perfectly fine with that.

  This second phase of our so-called plans, though, was a little unnerving.

  To this day, I didn't have to go through the sheer absurdity of making friends in my age group. I wasn't aware how the seven-year-olds of this new place acted, but I was sure any seven-year-old would be a pain in the ass.

  Would I have to act like a kid around them? Would I have to play hide and seek with a bunch of drooling, stone-eating, elbow-licking creatures who could barely articulate sensible thoughts?

  I hoped not. I didn't like children. They were often raised in a bubble of fake reality, and that could seriously be a problem.

  ……

  At some point, the airy feeling around my chest disappeared, and that same hole opened to the front to let us out of this almost imaginary flat inside a beast's belly. I walked out after my mother with nervous expectation building in my stomach.

  Lights welcomed us out in the real world.

  Then there was chaos.

  Dozens of strange creatures crowded a giant, circular platform. Little humans scrambled around them with surprising ease, some of them busy unloading crates upon crates of goods from inside the maws of various Voidbeasts.

  They didn't share a singular appearance, but almost all of them had what I called the signs of unorthodox existence about them. They treaded the line between dream and reality, as in their bodies rippled with wavering streaks of lightning that phased in and out of sight.

  Our part of the platform had more room than the one further in the distance, which I guessed belonged to the "cargo" category. Here, though, we had only a few Voidbeasts, and few people attending them.

  Mother gave a pat to Nell's front arms with loving grace, and under her urging gaze I did the same. The touch felt cold. Almost sticky. Nell was covered in a palm-sized thick membrane of some strange liquid, which was probably how she could make herself invisible.

  Useful stuff, really, but this all changed when I so cleverly tapped into my soul energy to gaze at her.

  There was darkness all around. A cape of shroud so thick it masked everything about the world in nothingness. Inside this lightless world, pairs of eyes as big as boulders turned quickly toward me. Before I knew it I was looking at hundreds of them, each one sizing me up with deep curiosity.

  An irritated huff came from beside me, a nasal noise loud enough to be heard across the platform. Then those giant eyes turned swiftly away, leaving me alone with a pair of blue pupils that sparkled with inner warmth.

  If you stumble upon this tale on Amazon, it's taken without the author's consent. Report it.

  That was Nell, and with her dark cape, she was beautiful. One word—or a sound?—steered the unwanted attention away, which was her second act of tenderness shown strictly to me. First one was that she hadn't devoured me. I'd thought she'd looked the type, but I was now feeling bad I'd even considered that.

  Inching slowly closer to her, I once again patted her sticky skin with genuine appreciation. Her coldness gave way to a sudden wave of energy that went through my arms, down my legs and into the bottoms of my feet.

  I giggled a step back.

  Nell gave a mischievous sniff at me.

  Did she just tickle me?

  With another breath, I discarded the soul energy flooding into my eyes. This was the soul vision, the one that corrupted Priest forcefully revealed in my aptitude test.

  "She likes you," Mother said, and then I was back in the real world. "Come on. We have to settle into our new home."

  Right. We were moving to a different house. It was with no little reluctance that I pulled my hand from Nell's outer membrane and waited for Mother to take my books from our "other" flat.

  She didn't. She caressed the golden ring wrapped around her right index finger, then dragged me away from the platform and into a city that stretched as far as the eye could see.

  …..

  Our lives had been simple. We lived in villages and kept away from people. As much as we could, we stayed in our lane and never bothered anyone else. I wasn't permitted to talk with other kids. I was to keep to myself and myself alone, which was an odd rule to force a child to follow.

  It had its perks and reasons, of course. Our mysterious background was likely in play here. Why else would Mother kill a Priest, however corrupt and vile he was? That was an act to keep my talents a secret, which was why I was more than mildly confused when I saw the giant city.

  Streets stretched far and wide, busy with crowds of people strolling away in hectic chaos. Shops lined the sides with their goods displayed for everyone to see. Fancy clothes and kitchen utensils. Robes of different colors, and belts and shining hairclips and pointy shoes with their surfaces oiled and well-tended.

  If I had to make a guess, this would be a cheaper market. There wasn't a particular focus on goods being sold here, as there was literally everything. There was even a shop that sold various potions with gleaming liquids sloshing inside the bottles. People looked different in ways I hadn't seen before.

  There was a medieval feeling to the place, no doubt, but there was also a strange modernity as well. For one, they had light bulbs here. I couldn't see any cords, and there were enough signs to suggest those things weren't being powered by any magical trick, but the bulbs themselves had little stones etched into them.

  Similar use of those stones was everywhere, but it was the paved road that gave the place a new feeling. That and the numerous magical creatures being used as donkeys and horses. I saw an old man pull at the reins of an animal that seemed an ungodly mix between a horse and a bull. It wasn't a unicorn, alright. I doubted unicorns were good for carrying buckets of vegetables.

  I gaped like any seven-year-old would at these sights, which was one of the rare times I didn't have to act. I was seriously impressed and amazed at this twisted mixture of strange elements that poured into a place and called a city. It had everything.

  It had walls further in the distance towering high into the sky.

  Mother ushered me with a guiding hand toward those walls. We breezed through the crowds with experienced ease. It wasn't unlike finding your way between dense trees and barbed bushes. Not once did I bump into someone else, or let them push me back.

  If I were a slippery eel cruising its way without much difficulty, then my mother was a predator too feared to be hampered in any sort of way. Instinctively or with purpose, people stumbled away from her with adamant dedication, letting her walk unhindered in a crowd of thousands. She didn't seem bothered by it. Quite the contrary, she seemed to expect such treatment, and this was a normal occurrence for her.

  And here I thought we were to keep our identities a secret. What was the point of making a show of it when we'd likely live in a small house, anyway? This was all a momentary glory soon to pass. I didn't get my hopes up and enjoyed this feeling.

  That was until we ventured beyond the walls and came to a stop before a three-story mansion.

  A great group in circular discipline waited before the towering gates. An old man, who seemed like the head of the group and dressed in classic butler clothes, stood waiting with his eyes lowered in dutiful respect.

  "Grand Marshall," he said when we approached the gate, hands clasped tightly before his waist.

  "I thought we had an agreement, Belfray. You are to call me Lady Morwind when I'm here. The Grand Marshall is no more."

  "Pardon my lack of manners, Lady Morwind. I suppose it's quite hard to shed the old habits once they've taken root in the mind of a man as old as me."

  "You're not that old," Mother said, keeping me close with one hand on my shoulders. Then she gazed up at the mansion that sat in its own grove and a good distance from the other similar buildings in this surprisingly spacious part of the inner city. "So this is the place?"

  "Yes, my lady. This was one of the largest lots available for purchase that didn't demand any relations to the aristocracy. You will find there is a healthy variety of people around this part of the inner city. Everything has been prepared in accordance with your prior instructions during these last few years, as well. We have fitted the study room to the Young Master's… needs, and there is a wide, layered basement complex fit for practice purposes."

  "Good," Mother nodded. "We are rather hungry after our little trip. Have the cooks prepare something. Then fetch Marcus for me. I've been away from civilization for too long."

  "Right away, my Lady."

  There was a grand welcoming concert of people walking, people opening gates, maids running, but not in a way that spoke of chaos. There was an order to the crowd of employees, or rather the house staff from what I could tell.

  I found my jaw somewhere along the way to the mansion proper and managed to utter some sounds. Mother seemed delightfully cheery that I was too shocked to close my mouth. She definitely did this on purpose. Kept me in the dark so that she could see the shape of my face when I saw… this.

  So we were rich?

  Not like a fake, wannabe rich, but actually rich rich?

  The place was humongous. Giant. Too wide all around that you couldn't see past the trees looming in the grove. I was still clothed in village fashion so I stuck out. Mother was the same. Except, there was no one to judge us here. The house staff much preferred to keep their heads low than make joking remarks on our appearances.

  They were afraid. Not of me, but of the woman walking right beside me.

  Grand Marshall, was it?

  That made me what? The son of some grand military hero?

  ……