Beyond?

***Free City States of Nict, Tri***

***Azir***

“Uuuhhh...” My head hurts. It has been almost a year since I came to this world. I think I am able to hold a decent conversation by now.

But reading all the books and scrolls in my parents' library all day long still takes a toll on my mind. I massage my temples and try to recall everything of importance.

This city is called Tri and it belongs to the Free City States of Nict. There are six cities like ours which are forming a hexagram. The names of the cities are from the top clockwise Mono, Di, Tri, Tetra, Penta and Hexa.

The free cities are protecting the borders of Nict. All of them govern the smaller cities and villages around them. That's why each city is practically its own nation.

In the centre of the hexagram lies Nict, the capital.

Each city is governed by one of the great clans. Mono is controlled by the Siorda who have the power of a perfect memory.

Di is ruled by the Anja who are basically pyromancers.

Tri belongs to my clan, the Zait. Apparently my father is the governor of the city. My clan can shape mana according to our wishes. If I understood my mother correctly, mana is nothing else than what I call life force. The people of this world seem to have a major misunderstanding about the nature of magic.

Tetra is under the control of the Veit who can enchant artefacts and people with ease.

Penta belongs to a group called Eddin. They can heal with a touch.

Hexa is ruled by the Tinn who are able to move things with their minds.

Finally there is the capital which is held by the current ruling house. The Gejene are the current rulers. The ruler of Nict switches accordingly to which house wields the most power at the moment. Though the Gejene have held their position for over five hundred years now. The Gejene have the inborn ability to transmute any matter from one state to another.

There are smaller clans with other abilities too, but I don't want to remember them.

None of these abilities are unobtainable by magicians from other clans, but they are still something like a symbol for their power and their clan. All magicians are able to cast spells with incantations, runes or magic circles.

There is a group which is called dark or rogue magicians. They perform magic which is seen as evil and therefore they are hunted. Summoning magic belongs to that category, as well as taking someone else's soul or making blood sacrifices.

The Free City States of Nict are located on a huge landmass. Nict lies on a fertile plain with many hills and good access to all kinds of resources. To our west is a great ocean and I found hints that there is another continent beyond the horizon. But the information I found about it is scarce.

To the north is a long mountain range. The Dwemer Kingdom resides there. Its people look a little different from us and have a darker skin. They build their cities deep inside the mountains. We are on bad terms with them and neither of us lets the other pass through their territory. So we don't know what lies behind the mountains.

Eastwards are the Great Grasslands. They stretch on and on for many months of travel time. Behind them lies another big country called Quinn. But it's hard to pass through them because the Nomads live there. They attack everyone without decent protection and act like savages.

Southwards is a conglomerate of many small nations and kingdoms. None of them come even close to the power of Nict, so we don't bother with them. Of course there is trading, but since our geographical location is very good we don't need much.

The power and safety of Nict comes from the ancient teleportation gates which link all seven cities with each other. So all cities are in fact one big city, even if they are hundreds of kilometres apart. Nobody remembers from where the Gates came. They are simply there.

So if one of our neighbours attacks a city, we are always able to relocate food, water and reinforcements in the blink of an eye from any other city.

Now that I think about it, isn't this world very poorly explored? It's hard to imagine that nobody ever tried to travel over the world. I sit up and look around. I think I've read all the books on history and geography by now.

My mother is out of the house, so I can't ask her. She wanted to buy clothes for the new addition to my family. Hmm. A little sister... I doubt that I'll be a good big brother. Especially with the matriarchal social structure of Nict. I need to make sure that she doesn't become too spoiled.

Then that means that I can ask only my father. I don't have the greatest relationship with him. He probably never really accepted me as his son, unlike mother. Maybe he'll feel different about my little sister? But doesn't that mean that I'll be left out? I was alone in the ice for so long that I totally forgot how pleasant relationships with other beings can be.

So when my sister arrives, he'll probably be overjoyed and focus his attention on her. I have to build a decent relationship with him before that, or there will be a wall between us which will be hard to overcome.

I get to my feet and toddle out of the library. His office is just two doors down the hallway. I arrive and peek inside to find him at his desk. He never closes the door to his office and stays there almost all day. Maybe it's to avoid contact with me?

A few steps take me to his side, but he is too absorbed by his work. So I tug at his clothes. “Dad? I have a question.”

He looks down and blinks at me. “Ehm, sure?”

I keep holding onto his clothes to steady myself. “I just thought about the geography of Nict. Why is the world so poorly explored? There are at least a thousand years of history in our library, but most of it just consists of uninteresting quarrels between the clans. Neither did I find anything on how Nict came to be.”

Yoran frowns. “That's because the free city states of Nict were once the Empire of Nict. The people say that most of our great artefacts like our City Gates were created in that time. The emperor and his family ruled all of Nict. We even controlled our neighbours and it is said that we had settlements across the ocean. We even had contact with countries far away from here because our ships were strong and went on great voyages.”

He scratches his cheek. “All this ended when the emperor's wife bore him twins. They looked and acted exactly the same, so nobody could keep them apart. That created a division inside the empire on who should ascend to the throne. Both brothers fought each other and drove the Empire into a civil war like none before. We don't know much about that time and what I tell you is just hearsay, but at the end of this war our Empire had lost its former glory. The City States of Nict formed out of what was left. We are still recovering from the war and even after a thousand years of rebuilding we don't understand many of the artefacts which were left behind by our ancestors. The war is also the reason why we are on bad terms with our neighbours.”

“The reason for the unity of Nict are the Gates. Without them we would be just seven independent countries. Well. To make the long story short. After the civil war nothing was left. No records, most of our knowledge lost and the people caring mostly for themselves. The emperor's line was extinct. Either they fell during the fights, or to assassination. Who knows. Their unique trait was that they could master all magic after a single look at it. Did you ever take a closer look at the peoples eyes?”

I purse my lips. “They are slit. Mine are a silvery grey like yours, mom's are blue.”

Yoran nods. “And it is said about the emperor's line that their eyes shone in all colours, depending on the angle you were looking at them. Anyway. The emperor's line is gone. There are no people like that in Nict, or it would create an uproar. Some factions would surely try to get such a person back into a position of power.”

While he was speaking I climbed onto his lap and took a look at his work. It's just taxes and reports. I take one of the sheets. “How did you and mom meet?”

***Free City States of Nict, Tri***

***Yoran***

I chuckle upon Azir's question. “In the academy for magical studies. My former clanspeople were the Anja. I was allowed to study there despite my small magical abilities. I am only able to conjure small flames and I tire very easily. My strong points are my abilities with the spear and my talent for leadership. When I met your mother it was love at first sight. Though she wasn't interested in me at first, I tried everything to get her attention.”

“I even beat up a guy who made a move on her. He was very proud of his magical power, but I simply pummeled him into submission with my fists. There is no point in magic if you aren't fast enough to cast a spell before the enemy plants his fist in your face.” I chuckle. “In the end I managed to impress your mother and we married. So I became the governor of Tri to assist her.”

Azir points at a column of numbers on my tax report. “There is a mistake there.”

I squint my eyes and look at the report. “Hrm. Well, I didn't have time to check them...”

Azir pulls the next sheet from the pile. “That's wrong too! There are too many mistakes for just two sheets!”

“Well, that's...” I erase the numbers and try to calculate them again. “... like I said. I am not done yet. How about you go back into the library and I do my work.”

But Azir doesn't move and watches me while I try to correct my calculations. “Dad? Could it be that you are really bad with numbers?” He takes the pen from me and starts adding up the tables like someone who has already years of experience.

I feel my face turning red. My son shouldn't see this side of mine! So embarrassing! It's already hard enough to be a good role model for a genius like him. “It's not like I am bad! I just need longer than other people. The numbers and letters tend to move around when I focus on them. It's frustrating.”

Azir looks at me with pity in his eyes. “Dad. There are eyeglasses for cases like this... go to healer Laney and let her make some glasses with lines in them for your problem. It's easier to focus like that.”

I frown. “Where did you learn that? I don't think that I ever heard of this before.”

Azir freezes. “Not? I don't know. Maybe I read it somewhere? I spend a lot of time in the library. Just get the eyeglasses and we can modify them together. And when you get done with your work faster, you can teach me the spear!”

I slump down and sneakily wipe a tear out of my eye. My image as a father took a serious dent today. I pat his head. Hopefully he won't spend too much time with me to find my other flaws. “Maybe when you are a little bigger.”

.