Volume I: Chapter II: Dorado:

Believe it or not, my father, Jonah Megistus, is actually an outsider in Dorado. According to the story my mother used to tell me, he showed up in Dorado one day just to pass by, but later that night, a large horde of grimm attacked. When things were looking bleak for the village and its people, he single-handedly fought them off as if he was a one-man army, to the shock of everyone who saw. He was almost immediately accepted as a hero and his skill in fighting made him the most revered man in the village, since Maria Calavera (a former resident of Dorado from many, many years ago). The people wanted him to stay and even offered to build him a home. He was a bit hesitant about it at first, so he decided to stay a week and give it some thought. During that week, he was greeted by many people who wanted to give their thanks and they even brought him gifts as well, but he was very stand-offish since he wanted to be left to himself. As far as I can tell, from the story, my father was a loner and wasn't used to getting this much attention.

Anyway, one of those people he met was a young woman wearing tattered, dirty clothes. However, unlike everyone else, she had nothing to bring him since she did not have much (if anything at all) to give. She was homeless and spent her days begging for food in the market and her nights sleeping there. Because she didn't have anything to give, she instead wrote him a poem to show her gratitude. She loved to write (especially when she felt inspired). He was immediately intrigued by her and wanted to see her more despite her situation and ragged appearance. He would visit her in the market often throughout the week, usually bringing food and drink with him to share with her, and realized he was falling in love with her and those feelings were mutual. By the end of the week, my father decided that he would be staying as guardian of the village. The people constructed a house for him- the house him and I currently still live in- located not far from the center of town but closer to the eastern section. He then gave her a home by taking her into his own. For a few years, it was just the two (by that point) lovers living together. Then next thing you know, the woman became pregnant and nine months later, she would become a mother—my mother. My mother would stay home and take care of me as well as the house while my father was out protecting and guarding Dorado.

My father is basically the "guardian" of Dorado. Whenever there is a grimm attack or a bandit raid, it would be his job to fend them off. Regarding the fighting, he always did it on his own, but not because the town refuses to lend help, but because he refuses to receive it. I guess he prefers to work alone. He still has a bit of that loner personality from many years ago still in him. However, there are people in Dorado who voluntarily serve as watchmen. Whenever they see a horde of grimm or a bandit party, they will ring a bell to put the village on alert and summon my dad to come fight. In return, the people pay him by giving us a portion of their supplies, or livestock, or tools as a way of saying "Thanks." You are probably wondering why they don't just pay us with Lien since that is the currency in the world of Remnant. Well, you see, Dorado isn't like the other kingdoms or villages in Remnant. We pay each other through trading, whether it's supplies, or tools, or whatever.

Back to the present, I go upstairs and quickly brush my teeth to get rid of my morning breath. After that, I head back down and walk to the backroom and grab a container to scoop up some dog food for Bruno. Bruno trots to the bowl and starts eating his food and I walk to the window in the living room to take a look outside. A blue sea fills the sky as there are currently no clouds occupying it. It looks to be about 11 a.m. judging from the eastern clock tower that also serves as one of the four

watchtowers that are located in each corner of the village. It doesn't look to be very windy either so I think I will leave my jacket behind.

I pulled the door open and stepped outside my home. The lukewarm air feels nice. Days like these are rare so I might as well enjoy this one while I still can. Since that night, as I said before, grimm attacks have increased for reasons no one knows and because of that, dad has been working much more than usual.

Dorado isn't a very large village, I'll admit, but it is very comfortable to live in despite that. It is surrounded by a white stone wall, forming a diamond around the city with one tower that serves as a clock/watch tower on each corner. The village is divided into five sections: Luna (the west quadrant), Día (the north quadrant), Noche (the south quadrant), Sol (the east quadrant and the side that I live on), and the center area is known as La Estrella Marketplace.

Día is the agricultural quadrant and the only quadrant without a gate to enter and leave through mainly to prevent animals from getting in and stealing or killing livestock. However, there is a pretty big tree whose branches reach the wall that an animal could use to get in and out (if it uses the tower to get up and down the wall), but we are planning to cut it down tomorrow. It is mainly used for gardening, farming, and harvesting of crops. It's where most of our food comes from. It is also where most livestock are kept as well as some animals that are captured during the occasional hunts in case we ever run low on stock. In short, Día is basically a mini farm. I like to go there a lot to interact with the animals and clear my head due to the openness of the place. It is the least populated section of the village as well, so it is very quiet there most of the time.

Luna and Sol are the main living sections. Sol and Luna are both suburban neighborhoods; however, the homes are constructed a bit differently on both sides. The homes in Sol are like traditional neighborhood homes with grass lawns (some of which have fences around them and stone porches). The houses themselves are usually two floors, but there are some that are one floor and are L-shaped. The houses are built with wooden shingles (sometimes painted) and usually have shingle roofs as well. The homes in Luna are very similar only they are made of stone and usually have red, clay tile roofs.

Noche is probably the most active quadrant. It's where you can find taverns and other places to spend the night, especially if you're just passing through and need a place to stay. It attracts a lot of outsiders. In fact, on a regular basis, there are more outsiders that occupy it at a time than there are Dorado villagers in that area. Dad always tends to avoid Noche for some reason, but I'm not too sure why. He only goes unless he absolutely has to. As for me, I'm not allowed over there under any circumstances, so I tend to avoid it as well.

The last section, as well as my favorite, is La Estrella Marketplace. There, you can trade things for supplies, or crops, meat, etc. You can find pretty much anything you need there. I don't really like it in the mornings though since it is pretty densely crowded. But at night, it becomes a completely different environment. In the center of the marketplace, there is a beautiful fountain with a star-shaped statue at the top and at night, when the moon is in the right position, the moonlight hits the statue in a way that it makes it appear as if it's glowing. I find it even more magnificent when the lanterns that align with the perimeter of it are lit. It makes me feel so serene and it is such a tranquil environment to be in. On nights when I can't sleep or when I wake up late at night because of those nightmares, I sneak out at and feed the animals such as the fish living inside, turtles, ducks, and other animals it attracts. I find it very relaxing. My mother and I used to do it a lot when I was younger. Now I just go alone, but I always bring an extra piece of bread with me for her. I know I can't actually do it with her, but the extra piece of bread is comforting to me because it feels like she's there with me when I feed the animals.

I stand in the shade of the overhang of my roof that looms over the stone porch and close the door behind me. I decided to wait a couple minutes for Bruno to follow me through the dog door. Some days he'll follow me around town and other days he stays inside. I wait for a few more seconds for Bruno and it seems like he's not coming out today. I step out from under the shade of the overhang and into the outside world (or at least, as outside as the world can get while inside the stone walls of Dorado) and head toward Día. This early August (4th) air feels nice.

Unfortunately for me, my home is closer to La Estrella than it is to Día despite Día and Sol being right next to each other. This means I have to walk through the crowded marketplace in order to get there. It's more crowded than usual today. For me, that is both a good thing and a bad thing. It's bad because I am usually not great around a lot of people (probably got that from my dad), but it is also good because there are so many, no one will notice or pay me any mind, especially if I just blend in and try to avoid the booths. I begin fording through the sea of people and almost ended up bumping into a tall, tan-skinned man, wearing a green tunic with gold accents (probably a tavern manager) who was trading with a short, pale, red-haired woman (most likely a farmer) a dozen eggs for a half gallon of milk. I then see an opening behind one of the booths (a pastry and baked goods booth I might add) for me to sneak through while the person tending to it was preoccupied with a customer. As I get behind the booth and try to make the rest of my way through, I hear the voice of the person tending to it call my name.

"Hey Simin! I made a peach pie that I saved for you and your dad. Be sure to pick it up once the day's over, okay?"

In response, I just give him a thumbs up and a nod as I slide through and quicken my pace a bit. He's a good friend of my dad (and a really good baker). He likes to give us free desserts every now and then. There was one time where he gave us some banana bread muffins and cream-filled glazed donuts. They were amazing! It was also the time I realized donuts are my weakness (which is why I stay away from them. They are just so tempting). After about a minute of squeezing and weaving my way through the hustle and bustle, I manage to break out and get to Día.

There is a man who lives in Día that I sort of know. I'm heading over to his house right now. His name is Aaron Noel. He's also an outsider who came to Dorado about a year or so ago (or at least, that's what he told me). I reach his home, which is not very large compared to the ones in Sol and Luna. I step on his wooden porch that causes a loud creak as I put my pressure on the planks and I open his screen door and give a couple knocks on the wooden door right behind it. I hear the heavy footsteps of someone walking to the door and what sounds like someone muttering under their breath that sounded like something along the lines of, "He's later than usual." The old, beat-up knob of his door turns and the door opens with a low creak, revealing a tall, slim, tan man with tired eyes (one of which has a deep, vertical scar underneath starting from under his eyelid and ending in the middle of his right cheek) and a freshly shaved face, whose beard appeared to have already been making its return. He's wearing black gardening boots, cargo shorts with a murky shade of green, a white t-shirt, and a large, sun hat that looks like the straw holding it together was starting to fall apart. His arms and legs were covered in hair, making him look almost like a malnourished grizzly bear due to his thin frame, but I assume that is due to a very high metabolism considering his piece of land always had a lot of food in it, so there is no way for him to go hungry. He also had a bandage that always covered his right hand. He looks down toward me and says with his low, slightly rough voice:

"Hey, kid! I was starting to wonder if you'd show up today. I'll get you a couple bags."

He turns around and heads toward a back room. As he does so, the low collar of his t-shirt reveals some kind of burn around the base of his neck that forms three letters: "SDC". On his lower back hangs a stub of what's left of what used to be a lion's tail- presumably from some accident or dangerous encounter. I once tried asking him about it and where he came from and all that, but he was dismissive and told me not to ask him again for both of our sakes. I don't exactly know what he meant by that. He's very secretive. Someday, I'll learn his past, but that won't be any time soon. He soon returns with a couple small bags filled with corn kernels and hands both of them to me.

"I should let you know there's also a basket of apples by the stables if you want to feed the horses when you're done. But that's for later. Right now, I want you to feed the chickens, the goats, and the sheep. I'll take care of the other animals like the pigs and cows and tend to the gardening and harvesting of crops." He says looking outside to see how sunny it might be. "That sound okay?"

I nod in response.

"Alright. Get to feeding then come back here when you're done. You can just leave the bags on the porch and then you can go and feed the horses or whatever. I'll most likely still be tending to the crops when you're done, so you don't have to check in with me. You can just head home after that. Okay?"

With a nod, I walk away with the two bags- one in each hand- and walk toward the sheep and goats first. You are probably wondering how this guy knows me and how I got a "job" as an animal feeder. I was nearing my eighth birthday- it was two months away to be exact. I would come down here often and pick apples from trees in the orchard and use them to feed the horses in the stables. One day when I was climbing a tree and was reaching for a shiny, red apple, I heard a voice:

"Hey! Whaddya think you're doing?! Get down from there!"

I followed the voice's order and climbed down and the owner of said voice walked up and confronted me.

"So, you're the one who's been stealing from the orchard." The man said

Turned out the apple trees belonged to the visibly annoyed man, who planted them in his orchard.

"Now answer me this, son: for what reason are you stealing from my apple orchard?"

I didn't really know what to do and since this was when I was having difficulty speaking, I was having trouble trying to say anything.

"What's wrong, son? Did you not think you'd get caught? Now I asked you a question. Why...are you stealing... from my orchard? Are you hungry? Is that it?"

Instead of speaking, all I did was point over to the stables and hoped he would put 2 and 2 together.

"What about them? Oh, are you telling me you wanted to feed the horses?"

Relieved, I nodded, confirming that he was correct with his guess. He then looked away nodding to himself as if he was thinking something. He then started walking toward the pens and gestured for me to follow.

"Come with me, you and I are going to do some work. Regardless of your reason, I can't just let you take things that don't belong to you, kid. Especially without asking."

I followed him to the pens and he handed me a bag and we pretty much spent the day feeding all the livestock (which I'll admit, I actually liked. I love animals). Afterwards, we sat down for a bit and he asked me something.

"I could tell you we're enjoying yourself back there. You like animals, don't you?"

I nodded.

"Then how about I make you a deal? Care to hear it?"

Again, I nodded with an audible "mhm."

"I can't have you just come and take apples from my orchard, even if you were only just trying to feed my horses. You see, I grow those apples so I can trade them at the market on the weekends. So here's the deal: whenever you feel like coming over, instead of taking them without permission, you come over whenever you want and help me feed the livestock for a bit and I'll even let you feed the horses some apples from the orchard in return when we're done. And if you're feeling hungry, you can even take an apple or two for yourself as well- but no more than two. Got it? Is that okay with you?"

I signaled with a final nod.

"You're a quiet one, aren't you? Well alright. It's settled then. I guess I'll see you next time you feel like coming over then. Anyway, I suggest you head on home now. It's starting to get dark."

I got up from my spot and as I turned around and walked a bit into my short journey out of Sol, I heard the man call for me.

"Hey, kid! One more thing:"

I turn and see a bright red, round object flying toward me. It was an apple. I caught it and looked back at him in a way that I was silently asking if he was sure he was okay with giving it to me.

"The name's Aaron Noel! And stop looking at me like that. Just take it. Consider it a token of gratitude."

With that, I waved to him and headed back home, eating the apple. Since then, I've been returning every Monday, Tuesday, and Friday that I am able and helped with feeding the animals and I would get to give the horses some apples in return as well as take a few with me.

Back to the present, I walk off to the pens with the two burlap bags of corn kernels and head over to where the goats and sheep are held. I take the bag from the bottom and take care not to let the kernels spill on the ground. Still holding it from the bottom with one hand, I take my other hand and hold the bag from the side as I pour half the kernels out for the sheep and do the same for the goats, who all in unison, raise their heads in curiosity and all head over to eat. I then head to the chickens, who were conveniently right next to the goats, and I take handfuls of kernels out and toss them into the crowd of the feathered creatures and I keep doing this until the bag is empty. After I'm done, I go to the porch to drop off the two bags and head over to the stables.

Upon reaching the stables, I see a gray metal bucket filled to the brim with red apples. I take an apple from the bucket and put it in my pocket for later and begin to feed the horses. I take an apple and hold it to a horse's mouth, remembering to keep my palm open and let it take it from my hand. One by one, the apples disappear and about ten minutes later, all the apples (except two) were gone. I then decided to pocket the remaining two apples and head back home.

As I go through the marketplace, there is no sea of people for me to wade through now. I made sure to stop by the pastry stand from earlier and pick up the pie the man left for me. In return, I left one of the apples I took with me on the stand as a token of gratitude. Due to the lack of people in the marketplace, I end up reaching my home much quicker than it took for me to get to Día earlier this morning. I opened the door and I was immediately greeted by an excited Bruno. I pet him under the chin and proceed to give him some more food. I then sit at the table and take the apple out of my pocket and start eating it as I wait for my father to return from work so we can train.

A few hours pass until my father finally arrives home. We have dinner, which consisted of rice, chicken, and a cup of tea. Being the occasionally forgetful child that I am, I immediately grab the cup of tea and burn my fingers when grabbing the cup, almost causing me to spill it. I fanned my now burning fingers in an attempt to alleviate the pain.

"Easy, Simin. You okay?" My father said with a hint of concern in his voice. "Might want to wait a little longer. Here... this should help." My father says handing me a rag to grab so I can hold the cup.

I take those words to heart and wait before using the rag to hold the tea and give it a few gentle blows before taking a sip. It tastes like chamomile. We finished our dinner and tea and my dad informs me that we will be training soon.

"We're going to train at 10:30 which is in about half an hour." He says, looking out the window toward the Sol tower.

"I am going to get ready. In the meantime, I want you to go to the yard and wait for me there. But don't just sit there and do nothing while you wait for me. I want you warmed up by the time I get back. Tonight, we will be sparring... and I will be using my weapons, which means you will be fighting unarmed. As always, I won't be going easy on you, but I will be merciful." My father shoots me a look and then shifts his eyes to the door, signaling that I should get going.

I head out to the front yard and warm up by stretching. I start off with my legs, then my sides, then my shoulders. I started practicing moves and techniques until he emerges from the open doorway of our home a few moments later with a pair of sais that double as firearms. The handles were similar to pistols and he could either fire at enemies from either afar or as he is striking them with the back ends, causing extra damage. Sometimes he would use the recoil of the weapon to boost his strikes in both speed and power when stabbing. One of these days, I hope to have my own weapons- similar to his, but also completely different if that makes sense.

"Here are the stipulations for tonight's session:" He announces. "Your goal is to strike me once. No more. No less. I mean, you can strike me more than once if you want- if you can-, but your primary goal is that you need to at least hit me once to win. And it needs to be a solid strike. Not a grazed hit. A SOLID strike. More importantly, a solid hit on any of my vital areas. If you hit me in any vital area, it's over and you win… or you can try and apprehend me. But, if I apprehend you or strike you, then it's over and I win. Those are the stipulations for tonight. Is there anything I need to repeat?"

I shake my head no.

"Are you ready?" He asked, his tone switching from the laid back one I usually hear to a more serious one.

I nod and get into a fighting stance. During our sparring sessions, I no longer face the man who is my father. From that point up until one of us strikes or apprehends the other, he is my opponent.

"Okay. Then let's get started."

*Chapter End*

Hey, everyone! That concludes chapter two of Volume one of my SLVR fanfiction. Next chapter will be my first ever fight scene, so that should be fun. Now before we get to the fun fact for this chapter, I need to say something first:

I have a confession to make: Volume one is still not completed yet (but don't worry. That doesn't mean I just gave up midway through or lost motivation and am just leaving it here or anything like that. I am still working on it and have actually just finished revising chapter 14 last night).

So you're probably now wondering why I am even posting another chapter despite the volume not yet being completed. Now I did say that I would hopefully start posting in a couple months (which was a couple months ago that I said that), but I'm not doing it because I'm just trying to stay on schedule or anything like that. The real reason is with everything that's going on in the world right now and these scary times we're currently going through, I felt now would be the best time for me to start posting and hopefully distract everyone and get everyone's minds off of what's happening even for just a little bit. We are al going through a very stressful and anxiety filled time right now and I want to try and help alleviate it in some way, shape, or form through my writing.

Right now, the amount of content I currently have should last about 4 months (maybe slightly more or less since I will be writing more chapters while I am posting). So this means that until I run out, (starting with the next chapter) I will be posting regularly a new chapter every Friday on Wattpad as well as and archiveofourown.

This isn't going to affect my writing process however. In other words, this doesn't mean that I am going to start rushing to finish the volume or anything like that. I will still be working at my normal pace (while also juggling class assignments) so I don't end up rushing or half-baking anything.

Also with schools shutting down and the hectic week I just had along with transitioning to online courses, I can't promise that the new chapter will be posted this Friday. If I don't post this Friday, then it will be next Friday. And if I don't post next Friday, then chances are I'm probably dead or got into an accident that caused me to lose my hands. Anyway, I'll give an update in the comment section in case anything develops.

I think that's all I have to say for tonight so I will leave you with this message:

Stay safe.

Stay healthy.

And most importantly,

Stay strong.

And as promised:

Fun fact #2: Aaron was supposed to have a sort of thick Southern accent, but it was so tedious for me to type and read that I just had him speak with no accent. Also Aaron wasn't his original name. I changed his name at the last second when I did a second revision for Chapter 2 before posting it.