The horse-drawn cart that carried both Nire and Melvin rattled along the trodden dirt path. Its speed wasn’t as fast as what Nire had imagined for a horse-drawn cart, but there was no denying that it was faster than Nire’s walking speed. As the two rode in the cart, Nire admired the scenery. The bright shining sun up above, not scorching, but warm to the touch, the birds and small animals up in the trees and in the tall grass, Nire took it all in.

“So, Mr. Melvin,” Nire began after she had seen enough of the plains, “you said we’re in a place called Sonnum?”

The cart continued rattling along, and Melvin spoke in a loud voice to ensure Nire could hear him, “Yes, it certainly is beautiful, isn’t it?”

“It really is,” Nire said as she sighed at the beautiful view and leaned against the crates filled with goods loaded onto Melvin’s cart. “Can you tell me a bit more about Sonnum?”

To that, Melvin laughed aloud and responded, “I did promise to tell you more, didn’t I? Well, out of the four other kingdoms, it is the most central one. Because of that, some people have dubbed it ‘The Central Kingdom’.”

The word “kingdom” had piqued Nire’s curiosity. “Kingdoms?” she asked. Nire’s imagination had started to spin with the idea of kingdoms. She was often told the story of large and grand kingdoms built out of gold and the like in which only the richest and most powerful people lived. However, she couldn’t remember from whom or from where she had heard about kingdoms.

“They’re called ‘The Five Kingdoms of Xyer’ even though they’re not all necessarily ruled by kings and queens.”

Confusion began to settle in, “Why are they called ‘kingdoms’ then?”

Melvin began to ponder this fact as well for a moment. “Well, this land we live in, Xyer, used to be ruled by kings and queens in the past. Considering how long Xyer has been a country, I don’t think it’s been that long since most kingdoms have abandoned the monarchy.” The young man really didn’t think much about this fact after thinking about it for a bit, so he simply finished by saying, “It’s nothing to worry about, though. I heard that the reason behind it was simply because there weren’t many direct descendants left to inherit the kingdoms.” Nire nodded in understanding and continued to listen to Melvin’s explanations.

“Anyways, as for the other four kingdoms, to the north, we have the Kingdom of Lou Peng. It’s actually through that mountain I think you climbed down from. To the east lies the Kingdom of Umbrier. It’s almost perfect. Almost. To the south, we have the lovely Kingdom of Roublaire. It’s so nice, perhaps one day when I’ve decided that I’m done with traveling, I’ll settle down there. To the west lies the mysterious Kingdom of Tyca. I’d love to go explore there more often if I could. And finally,” the cart pulled up through a large brick tunnel, “we have the great, central Kingdom of Sonnum right before our very eyes.”

Nire looked up at the arching brick walls that surrounded her, then darkness overtook them as they went further into the tunnel. When they exited the tunnel, Nire squinted at the bright sunlight, then after fully adjusting to it, a wide smile spread across her face. The city was large and bustling full of people dressed in all kinds of different styles. Nire was reminded of what Melvin had commented on her clothes for a brief moment and realized that despite all the various styles these people of Sonnum wore, no one wore clothes similar to her own. Not knowing the reason and not really paying much mind to it, she shrugged it off and continued taking in the sights of Sonnum.

Aside from the large amounts of people who seemed to be shopping, dining out, or just casually strolling around, there was also a fair amount of people who seemed to be traders like Melvin as well who pulled carts and large packs of their own. The buildings were all built out of the same brick as the large tunnel they went through and beautifully decorated and framed with large pieces of wood as well. Some buildings even had planters hanging from the walls and windows. Nire knew for certain that Sonnum was a land she had never seen before, but had only heard of and dreamed of until now.

Melvin eventually pulled the horse-drawn cart into what seemed to be an unloading dock for large carts in a back alley far from the hustle and bustle of the city and helped the little girl jump off from the back of the cart. “Nire,” he started to say after she had both feet on the ground again, “thank you for traveling with me this far.”

“It was really no problem at all,” Nire beamed full of joy and excitement after taking in the city. “You taught me a lot of things and helped me reach Sonnum safely, so I should be the one thanking you”

For a second, it looked like Melvin had been caught by surprise at Nire’s words, but he quickly recovered from that and struck a proud pose and winked towards Nire. “The pleasure was all mine. I do hope we’ll meet again on another good business day.”

“For sure!”

“Take care now,” Melvin called out as he turned his back towards the lone girl and began to unhitch his horses from the cart and lead them towards the stables.

Nire watched him work for a few more moments before she, too, turned her back on the young man and started walking towards the city center. A slight sadness tugged at Nire for she was all alone again, but she tried hard to not let it get to her. “I feel like I’ve done this before,” she chuckled softly to herself as she began to see what Sonnum was all about.

The bright sun that shone overhead soon began to set into a beautiful, cool twilight. Nire sat at the edge of a fountain swinging her feet while sighing with satisfaction to herself. “What a day,” she thought aloud to herself. “Sonnum is pretty great.” Though the sun was about to set any time now, there were still decently sized crowds of people wandering about the city. Nire sat in silence and smiled as she watched these people move about and enjoy what little time they had left of the day. A calm breeze blew through Nire’s hair and she breathed in the crisp twilight air. Just then, a sudden jolt of pain grew in her left eye and she developed a foreboding feeling that something was amiss. A piercing ringing began to reverberate from within her brain and as it grew louder, the panic from within grew as well.

What’s happening? Nire thought to herself as she clutched her hands to her eye and scanned her surroundings frantically. There! As soon as she took notice of the still figure that stood among a crowd of busy people, the shrill ringing ceased. That was how she knew that that was what was wrong. The figure dressed in a long, pitch black tunic with deep purple embellishments along the sleeves and neckline wore a face covering the same shade of black that gave Nire the deepest chills down her spine. It seemed to arouse some deep, dark memory from within that had been sealed away. Fear and anger overtook Nire. Looking in the direction of the lone figure, all time and sound had seemed to stop. Nire removed her hands from her continually throbbing, now glowing red eye, as three words bubbled out of Nire’s throat from deep within, “I’ll kill you.”

The mysterious figure then immediately sloshed into a pool of purple slime before reappearing right before Nire, fully formed once again, it began to speak. “Now you have nowhere left to run,” it breathed into Nire’s ear before quickly grabbing hold of the girl’s neck and then lifting her up into a choke hold.