The group started to walk around the small city with Lily leading the way.
The sun was already up in the sky and it was so hot that many people were already inside their houses, although the streets were full of children who were playing.
Naluri's house was in front of the sea; in just a few steps they would reach the nearby jetty. "We can go and first see the part on the water, then we will go to the one on the land, how does that sound?" asked Lily with a smile on her face.
"For me it's alright," the first one to answer was Liro, who was extremely curious to see the city. The other two nodded their heads.
"Let's go then!" said Lily as she started to walk. In just a few steps they reached the jetty, which was extremely long. Darian could see the shallow seabed; the water was extremely clear, and he could see all the fish swimming there.
"Woah, not even on old Earth was I ever able to see an ocean this clear," surprised at the sight of the sea, Darian kneeled down just to have a better view of the extremely clear water.
"Wasn't it this clear during your time?" asked Lily, confused. For her, the ocean had always been like that, especially because all around the world right now the sea was this beautiful, so it was completely normal for it to be this beautiful.
"It depended on where you went. It could be extremely beautiful or really bad, but… this is extremely good!" shouted Darian as he got back on his feet. Around them, some people were passing by; as they noticed the outsiders, they decided to take another route on the jetty and gave them a weird look.
"Sigh, I guess they will always see us in a weird way," Liro sighed at the sight of the people walking away from them.
"Don't mind them… I swear there are good people who will be nice to you!" answered Lily, trying to lift the mood again.
The group kept walking around. There were many houses built with wood that were floating on the water. At one point, they reached the end of the jetty and ended up looking at the empty horizon.
"Woah," Vane gasped, surprised at the sight of the sea in front of him. It looked infinite, and the black planet was not even visible in that direction; there was just emptiness.
"From here, during the festival, everyone uses their magic directly into the water to give it to the creature living under us," said Lily, a bit annoyed. The more she thought about this creature, the more she realized that it might not exist.
"I can't even imagine how beautiful this will become once everyone uses their magic together here…" said Liro as he thought about the idea of many people using their magic together in this place.
"Eheh, it really becomes beautiful. Tomorrow you will do the same," said Lily as she started to walk away. Suddenly, Vane had a doubt.
"But I can't throw anything with my magic into the ocean. How does this creature eat my spell?" asked Vane as the group started to move toward the part on land.
"Oh, there are multiple people who can't cast their magic directly into the water. Take fire users, for example. It's said that what the creature eats is not the magic itself, but more the essence that it produces, which goes directly under the sea and lets it eat it. So as long as you create it, the creature will definitely eat it."
Suddenly, Lily stopped for a moment and sighed.
"That is why I think it isn't real. It feels too surreal." Lily started walking again, and everyone followed her.
"But you said that about a month ago people heard it, right? Do you think someone could have seen it?" asked Liro. Lily stopped again for a moment as she started to think.
"Now that I think about it, Archie said that he saw something, but I haven't asked him much."
"Do you know where he could be right now? Maybe we could go and ask him," said Darian.
"Yeah, we can go. He should be around here as usual," said Lily as she suddenly changed direction.
The group started to walk along the beautiful shore. There was a small promontory; the group saw a small house and stopped for a moment, wondering what it was. It was alone, and there weren't any other houses nearby.
"Oh, that is the house of the Tideflares. We barely use it, though," sighed Lily. The group turned a natural corner created by the rocks.
"Archie should be here," said Lily. The moment she turned the corner, Archie wasn't there.
"Weird. During this time, he usually sits here to fish… oh well, he's probably somewhere else. We will ask him later, I guess," said Lily as she decided to turn back.
"So this Archie stays there fishing the whole day?" asked Darian, wanting to learn more about this person.
"Yeah, he says that fishing is the best thing in the world. He always wanders around with a fishing rod and his bucket," said Lily as the group returned to where they were before.
"So did he go to try a new spot?" asked Vane. Lily shook her head.
"He has already tried all the spots around the city, but he says that only that place is perfect. I can't figure out what is so important about it," sighed Lily.
"Maybe it's because it's far from the city. There isn't much noise, and there are more chances to catch a fish," said Darian, as he knew a bit about the basics of fishing and that you need a silent place for fish to get closer.
"I guess so," said Lily. They reached again the part where the group had started their walk on the jetty.
"So should we go toward the other part of the city?" asked Lily as she turned back toward the group, who nodded their heads.
"As you might have seen, the city is divided into two parts," said Lily as she started to lead the way. "The part we visited before completely stands on water, while the other part is built on land and is much bigger than the other, and more people live around here. In the other part, only a few people have houses; it is more used for fishing," said Lily.
Around her, some children were playing with a ball. They kicked it too hard, and it went near them.
"Hey, can you pass the—" one child tried to speak before he got interrupted by his friend.
"Shhh, they are outsiders. My mother said that they are really bad people; you should not speak with them," whispered the other child. His voice was loud enough that everyone could easily hear them.
"Just leave the ball there, Darian. They will take it," said Lily, annoyed. 'The news of outsiders being here is really spreading fast…' she thought, annoyed.
Darian didn't listen to her. Instead, he grabbed the ball in his hands and walked closer to the children.
"I hope I'm still good… Snowy, you'd better go down," he whispered. Snowy jumped down from his shoulder and stayed close to the others. The children watched him, scared.
Suddenly, Darian started to juggle the ball. He was still good. The children, surprised, looked at him with wide eyes.
"Woah! How can you do that?" shouted the one who first spoke to the group. He immediately rushed closer to Darian, who was still juggling the ball. 'Skills, don't leave me now,' thought Darian.
With a beautiful move, he kicked the ball onto his neck, and it landed perfectly on his body.
"WOAHHH!" shouted the other children. Now the fear was gone, and they watched him with admiration.
"S-Sir, how can you do that?" asked one of the children, still amazed.
Darian grabbed the ball with his hand and slowly gave it back to one of the children.
"Simple. I have liked football since I was younger, and I always played it with my friends," said Darian as he walked away. The other children were so happy that they tried to replicate what he did.
"Woah, Darian, I didn't know you could do such things," said Vane, surprised, as he greeted him by putting his hand on his shoulder. Snowy jumped back onto his shoulder, almost losing balance because of Vane's hand.
"Yeah, that was incredible," said Lily, surprised. Everyone was watching Darian with sparkles in their eyes.
"Oh well, I simply trained while I was a child," said Darian, laughing softly, proud of himself.
Before the group started to walk again, one of the children, who felt safer around Darian, grabbed his shirt to speak with him.
"Th-thank you, sir. I knew you weren't bad people," said the small child, looking down.
Darian stopped for a moment and patted his head.
"Don't worry. Go and have fun. We promise that we won't bring any damage to your beautiful city," said Darian.
The child raised his head and smiled at the man. "Thank you!" he said warmly before returning to his friends, who were still trying to imitate Darian.
"I'm so glad that there are some people who don't treat outsiders badly," said Lily, looking at the child thanking Darian.
The group then kept walking around the city until they stopped in front of a big tree. The tree was extremely beautiful and huge. Everyone had already seen it from far away, but now that they saw it from below, they felt amazed. Around it, there were multiple people, some of whom were giving bad looks to Darian and his group.
"You know, people say that this tree was here even before the city was created. It must be really old. Don't you find it beautiful?" said Lily as she sat down on a bench right below the huge tree.
The group did the same and sat down too.
"Well, I think this is definitely old. In fact, now that I see it from here, it must be at least around 400 years old," said Darian. From there, he could see the bark.
Some people saw Darian touch the tree behind him and started to whisper among themselves.
"That tree has been there for all these years. I surely hope these outsiders won't ruin it," whispered two old people who were sitting on the bench right next to the group.
"Let's go, guys… I think they don't want us here," whispered Liro as he looked around. Many people were giving them weird looks, and he was starting to feel awkward.
"We will stay here. We aren't creating any damage," said Lily, annoyed. The air around the group felt really heavy, and the pressure was too much.
Suddenly, everyone heard soft music coming toward them.
From a small alley, Garoo came out while playing his flute. All the people shifted their attention toward him, almost as if they had forgotten about the group.
"Hey, it's Garoo!" said an old woman as she slowly walked toward him, her body moving to the rhythm of the song played by Garoo.
Garoo opened one eye and noticed that some people were still worried or tense. A bubble came out of his flute, floated to the ground, and exploded. Everyone started to smell an aroma that made them more relaxed.
"You know, he usually plays the flute like that. Many people gather around him just to listen. He always makes everyone happy thanks to his music," said Lily as she started to move her feet to the beat.
Darian and the others listened to him. Even Snowy started to move his head to the rhythm.
After a while, Garoo stopped playing and bowed to the crowd.
"Thank you, everyone!" said Garoo as people started clapping.
"Yo, everyone," said Garoo as he walked toward the group.
"Hey, Garoo, beautiful song," said Darian, surprised to see him there.
"Eheh, it wasn't anything special. By the way…" Suddenly, Garoo turned serious for a moment. Everyone watched him, worried.
"Oh, don't worry, it's nothing," Garoo said, stopping for a moment before speaking again. Then he returned to his relaxed smile.
"What is it, Garoo?" asked Lily, worried. Garoo didn't answer and turned away.
"Oh, it's nothing… Lily, come with me for a moment," said Garoo.
"Guys, I'll be right back," said Lily. Everyone nodded, wondering what was happening.
"What is it, Garoo?" asked Lily, worried, as he led her into a small alley.
"It's about Archie… I need you to keep an eye on him," said Garoo with a serious face. Lily gasped; she had never seen him like that.
"Archie? What do you mean?" asked Lily, confused.
"It's nothing important, really… I just need you to tell me if he does something strange, alright?"
"Today I went with the others to talk to him… now that I think about it, he wasn't in his usual spot today," said Lily. Garoo looked worried.
"Do you have any idea where he is?" asked Garoo as he started biting his nails.
"No… but why is Archie so important?" asked Lily, confused.
"It's just that…" Garoo stopped in the middle of the sentence.
"I'm just worried that he's doing something strange… just tell me if something happens, alright?" asked Garoo. Lily nodded, still confused.
"Should I tell the others?" she asked. Garoo shook his head.
"Keep this to yourself. I don't trust them as much as I trust you," said Garoo as he walked away, disappearing into the dark alleys of the town.
Lily returned to the group.
"Did something happen?" asked Liro, worried.
With a smile, Lily answered, "Don't worry, he asked something about tomorrow's festival."
She sat back down near the group.
"Oh, tomorrow he has to play in front of everyone, right?" asked Vane.
"Yes… you know, he needed some advice on whether he should speak first before playing his flute or just start playing directly," said Lily, making up an excuse.
The group stayed under the tree for another hour until Lily stood up and stretched.
"Should we head back, guys? The sun is about to set," she said. The sun was barely visible now, and the streets were becoming empty.
"Yeah, I guess it's time to head back," said Vane as he got up. Liro and Darian did the same.
The group started to walk toward the house. Suddenly, as they turned a corner, they saw Archie.
"Oh, everyone!" he said, waving at them.