01
The sky was filled with a thick and smelly smoke. It mostly gathered around factories or streets with tall buildings, giving the city a disgusting image only full of pollution and darkness. The people who walked across it wasn't any happier either; they were always rushing to go somewhere, not even noticing that the air they were breathing was rotting their lungs, slowly and silently. For them, they were more important things than being healthy, like money or work. Really sad, but true. In any case, they didn't seem to care. They were used to live that way, and not everything was just flaws. The capital, called Rakushou, still conserved some antique structures, typical of chinese culture. Those things were hard to find nowadays, and it resulted really charming as it was.
Another good consecuence worldwide pollution granted was the high and advanced technology. It wasn't strange to see a flying car or moving streets, but that wasn't all. In some parts of the most rich cities, they were energy circles in the ground. Using them, anyone could teleport anywhere as long as they paid. Some people even owned circles like that, but that was really exclusive. The energy that runned all of those inventions was something they called 'Magoi'. No one was entirely sure of what Magoi was, but it was a sort of vital stamina humans had developed through the years. Extracting it from people and gathering it could create massive amounts of energy, which could be used in a lot of ways. Only the countries' leaders knew how this was made, since normal people didn't need to understand it. After all, would they be able to continue living as always knowing the technologies they used each day was made of people's lifes? Extracting Magoi was risky and it wasn't strange at all that someone died on the process. That wasn't necessarily a problem since the people used for that were usually criminals. Usually.
Hakuryuu Ren was one of the princes that lived in Rakushou. As such, his life was full of luxuries and he had almost everything he wished for. He owned one teletransportation circle aswell, although he didn't use it that much since he didn't get out of the palace enough for it to be useful. He only did when necessary, for example, in the middle of a war. He could escape easily or approach his enemies.
However, living a life full of comfort wasn't what he wanted. He did have a lot of belongings, he could eat whatever he wanted and he was spoiled constantly- well, not him, but his family. Hakuryuu used to lived with the minimum conveniences. Not because he did like it, but he didn't really need them. As longer as he had a proper place to study, that was everything he could care about.
His family was different, more greedy. They took advantage of their blood to have fun each day. There was a huge difference between their rooms and Hakuryuu's. While they had unnecesarily big beds, decorations and valuable objects, no matter how useless they were, Hakuryuu was modest and only possesed a normal bed and a closet. Sometimes his attendants would ask him if there really wasn't anything he wished for, and he just denied it bluntly. Why spending money when he didn't need it? He prefered to save it for important occasions.
Another example of this facet of him was that he always prepared his foods himself. He'd always arrive to the kitchen too soon in the morning and start cooking, making the real cooks feel somehow ashamed. Hakuryuu loved cooking and trying original receipes since he was young .Plus, he didn't like relying in others. If there was something he could do alone without help, he'll do it without considering it twice.
However, doing those kind of things didn't change the fact that he had a very boring day-to-day. He had almost no work since he was just a prince, and no one to be with. He wasn't much of a friendly person due to his distrustful and timid personality, and he liked being alone, even if it sounded gloomy.
That day was an exception. Hakuei, Hakuryuu's sister, was ill, so she requested him to go buy some medicines. She could have asked Seishun for it, but she had some private reasons to not. More exactly, she wanted Hakuryuu to leave the Palace for a bit. If no one did so, he would shut himself for weeks, only reading and studying without going out at all, and that wasn't healthy. Hakuryuu wasn't aware of this so he felt annoyed about it, but he couldn't reject a request from Hakuei, specially with her being sick, so he didn't complain and left.
While walking towards the shop, a thought crossed his mind. Just why did Hakuei send him to buy medicines? With the actual technology, it was much easier than that, and the Palace had a tone of doctors and medical treatments. He realized she must have an ulterior motive, but couldn't get to know what it was. He didn't give it much importance and chose to instead hurry up getting the actually unnecesary medicines. It was a waste of money he didn't like, but if he returned without them, he was certain that Hakuei would scold him. She was like her mother. Thinking about that made Hakuryuu smile a little.
The stores weren't too far away, and he did appreciate that. He walked at a rushed path and entered the shop. He knew the agent from before. He knew almost everyone in Rakushou, mostly thanks to his sister, who would drag him everywhere when they were kids. His sister, and also them. Beautiful yet painful memories.
''Hello,'' Hakuryuu greeted the seller with a little smile, ''Long time no see.''
''Hey! How's life going!?'' The other man was much more expressive and energetic, but the prince was used to it and grew to like it that way. It made a big contrast with him.
''Well, more or less.''
They talked for a bit, rekindling former memories and moments. Hakuryuu's mood changed noteworthily after having a nostalgic conversation with him. Although he was in very good terms with Hakuei, he didn't have any friends to laugh like that, and even if the agent wasn't the person he wanted to be with the most, he did have fun recalling his younger years with him.
After some minutes of chatting, Hakuryuu got to the point, asking him for the medicines Hakuei wanted.
''It's rare for you to need medicines. Why didn't you just use the ones in the Palace?''
''That's… a good question. I don't know. My sister sent me here.'', Hakuryuu said.
The man smiled while searching the medicines between all the goods in the store.
''I can figure out why she did that.''
''Really?'' Hakuryuu was surprised to hear that, ''Please, tell me.''
''Hm… I think you should think about it yourself. After all, you are the closest one to Hakuei, Seishun aside.''
Hakuryuu lowered his head, reflecting. He was right. He had to be the one understanding his sister. However, was it such a vital issue? She just asked his brother to buy some medications. He thought it was meaningless to bash his head up like that.
Minutes later, the agent gave him the medicines. When Hakuryuu tried to pay for them, he rejected the money, saying that his visit was enough for him. The prince didn't know how to answer to this, so he just made up with it and left.
He tried to come back to the Palace as soon as possible. He didn't like the streets: the air was dusty, full of dirt and smoke, and it carried a heavy depressed aura shaped by all the unhappy people of Rakushou. It was hard to walk without noticing the nearly dead people in the corners of the roads, starving and begging for help. Nevertheless, everyone else didn't seem to care much about them. They simply kept walking, thinking about it as something normal. They got used to it, but Hakuryuu couldn't, no matter how. Maybe it was another reason why he didn't get out that often.
As he continued walking, he noticed something strange in an alley. ''It'' was someone laying on the ground. That wasn't strange at all, but he was confused about something else. The boy that was sleeping there wore very unusual and foreign clothings. And on top of that, he was completely clean, not like those poor people with wasted fabrics.
Hakuryuu drew closer to him, lost in curiosity. He was aware of the trouble he could get onto because of this, but he still wanted to know who that boy was. After being close enough to him, he noticed something else. He wasn't wearing any shoes despite his fairly well-dressed lookings, and his face was hurt, covered in light wounds. His life didn't seem to be in danger though.
Hakuryuu hesitated on what to do next. He didn't want to leave the foreigner there, but he didn't know if it was a good idea to take him along. He may be a dangerous person. Then, something changed totally his mind. The boy extended his hand and grabbed Hakuryuu's sleeve while he struggled to say something.
''Food...'', he murmured.
Hakuryuu decided to help him and slowly carried him to the Palace in his back. He was heavier than he imagined, but Hakuryuu was strong enough to take him without much trouble. He thought it might be a bad idea if someone in the Palace saw them. They could make the boy leave, finding him suspicious. That's why Hakuryuu sneaked to his room, trying to not be noticed by anyone. It wasn't easy since they were guards here and there, but he got to do it without being spotted. He left the boy in his bed and covered him up so he could rest. He was in a bad shape despite being safe. He looked really exhausted and his feet were dirty and damaged. Did he walked from his land to Rakushou? Anyway, those clothes were unknown to Hakuryuu, so he couldn't be from any city he knew, and this made the remaining cities to be few.
Hakuryuu suddenly remembered Hakuei being ill, and he left in order to deliver the medicines to her, finding her covered in sheets coughing.
''Are you okay?'' he asked, worried.
''Y, yes, don't worry.''
''Here, I brought the medicines.''
She smiled and took them. Getting ill wasn't generally too problematic, but he didn't look well, so Hakuryuu coulnd't avoid feeling restless. She noticed this and talked to relax him as much as possible.
''Don't make such a face, I'll be healthy in no time.''
Hakuryuu stared at her and nodded, still not sure about it.
''If you need something, just tell me.''
''Yes, thank you. You can leave now, I'll be okay.''
Hakuryuu wanted to stay a little longer, but with a stranger in his room he couldn't afford to do so. With that in mind, he saw Hakuei off and left. Seishun was taking care of her and he knew he could count in him, which made him stop worrying so much.
Back in his room, Hakuryuu was shocked to see the boy was already awake. His eyes were red, an unusual color. He looked to Hakuryuu with an air of hostility, surely distrusting him. Well, the prince felt the same.
''…Who are you?'', the boy asked.
''My name is Hakuryuu Ren. I'm the fourth prince of the Kou Empire. Who are you?''
The boy remained silent of some seconds, making Hakuryuu a little bit impatient.
''I'm Judar.'', he finally said.
Judar. Also a foreign name. Hakuryuu sat on a chair, guessing the conversation would be very long. Judar prefered to keep lying on the bed instead.
''Where do you come from? You're clearly not from Rakushou.''
''So this is Rakushou?'' Judar asked.
Hakuryuu was kinda annoyed for having Judar answer a question with another question. He only talked to him for seconds and yet he was getting tired of him already.
Still, he beared with it and answered, ''Yes.''
Judar hummed in assertion. It did look like Rakushou to him, specially due to Hakuryuu's looks and room style.
''Hey, if this is Rakushou,'' Judar spoke, ''do you have any of those… magic things?''
''Magic?'' Hakuryuu was sure such a thing didn't exist. It was a bunch of made up fantasies.
''Yeah! The technology here is like magic. It makes no sense and it's awesome. Same thing as magic.''
Hakuryuu was confused to hear that. For him, their technology was something normal, but Judar talked about it as if it was something extraordinary.
''Uh… do you mean this?'' Hakuryuu took his teletransportation circle and set it on the floor.
Judar's eyes widened, unable to believe what was in front of him.
''Oh my god!'' was everything he could say.
Hakuryuu found his behavior strange, but no longer unpleasant. He liked how he was amazed by things that were natural for him. It was kind of refreshing.
''This is called a teletransportation circle. It lets you move to another place.''
''Can I have one? It looks useful.''
''You can't. This is only for nobles or rich people, and I don't think you are.'' Hakuryuu said in a respectful but clear tone.
''So you are?''
''Yes, I'm a prince.''
Judar was even more surprised after knowing this. He'd never met a prince or noble before and it was weird, he didn't know how to react.
''Well… That doesn't matter, does it?'' Judar said. ''I mean, prince or not, that's not why I'm here.''
''Good'', Hakuryuu thought, guessing he was at last going to talk about himself.
Even if Hakuryuu felt at ease speaking with him now, he didn't trust him at all yet.
''I come from a countryside. This is my first time in a large city like this. I got bored of living there, so I left.''
Hakuryuu listened in silence. He did look like he was from the fields. There, it wasn't unusual to walk barefooted. His clothes also matched with the habitual ones in the countries, aswell as his way to talk, being much less formal than Hakuryuu's.
''Do you plan of living here? I don't think it'll be easy.''
''Why?''
''It's difficult to find where to work.'' Hakuryuu avoided being too harsh. It's not like he wanted to despair Judar, although he would surely don't.
''I can do lots of things.''
''What can you do?''
''Hunt wild animals!''
''…''
Judar was puzzled to see Hakuryuu speechless.
''And you expected to find a job by hunting animals?''
''Yeah!''
''In one of the most rich cities in the world?''
''Yes, that's it!''
Hakuryuu sighed at how naïve Judar was. Or maybe silly was the right word to use.
''Hey, until I find a job, can I live here?''
Hakuryuu couldn't be more confused, or maybe he could thanks to Judar. What nonsense was he saying? Living in a Palace, being a foreigner. As if it was so easy.
''You can't!''
''What!? Hey, I'm injured!'' Judar showed him his wounds in his face and feet dramatically.
''I'm sure they doesn't hurt that much.''
''I'm also VERY hungry! I will die!''
Hakuryuu knew he was doing his best to make him pity Judar, but he did have a point. It was cruel to leave him in the street like that. However, Hakuei wouldn't nearly
accept having him there, aswell as everyone else. Maybe Judar's story was all a lie and he was a spy from another city, or maybe he was someone dangerous. Hakuryuu didn't know what to do.
''…Okay, understood.'' he ended up accepting, ''But you'll have to follow the following rules. First of all, don't go out of my room without my permission. It will be troublesome if my sister or anyone else finds you. Second, don't tell anyone you're living here. This is important so remember it.''
Judar clicked his tongue annoyed. Not like he had a better option. ''I don't like rules, but I guess that will do.''
Hakuryuu nodded, not planning on reducing the limitations at all.
''Welp, nice to meet you then. What was your name?''
''Hakuryuu Ren.''
They shoke their hands as greeting. Hakuryuu was unsure if that was the rightful choice, but he didn't sense much malice in Judar. It was a vague instinct he wanted to trust. He just hoped Judar found a job soon enough, since it would be a nuisance to hide him being there, and Hakuryuu wasn't fond of living with another guy.
Both of them were unaware of what would happen because of this. Their lifes would change forever with their meeting.
