Chapter 9: 8. The Daily Life

8. The Daily Life

- 4 Years Later / Azar Household / District of Cordon -

In a small house built with walls of hardened clay protected by sheets of metal, a wave of fragrant smell wafted from an open window. The top was secured by a detachable roof of more irregularly-placed metal sheets attached to each other by nails, amplifying the level of smell released from the side of the house.

Sizzling and bubbling were heard, growing progressively louder by the minute. Pans made clunking noises upon striking a solid surface and the clatter of utensils rattling.

"Josh, bring me tomatoes from our garden," the woman called out through the small opening where a boy sat staring out into the oblivion while tranced by the smell.

Rosey Azar, a 29-year-old mother who gave off a mature aura around her, though intimidating when furious, stood near the counter while holding a pan in one hand and a ball of fire in the other. Utilizing the energy stored in her body, she released the energy through her body and out to her hands, converting it to flames that emitted brightly and excitingly.

Underneath the pan were a dozen sticks neatly arranged. With her fire at hand, she cast the flame on the dried wood, burning them and heating the pan filled with various ingredients.

“Hey,” Rosey called once more. “Where’s my answer!? Hurry your feet!”

Immediately, Josh jerked his body forward and woke up from his sleepy state. Sitting on the dry soil next to the entrance door, he sat straight up in shock.

“Okay, coming!”

Without time to waste, he attempted to stand up to do what his mother had called him to do; however, he got stopped by a weight pinning his bottom down. His bum touched the floor again from something heavy, rendering his 7-year-old body’s strength useless.

Josh looked down in wonder, and on his lap was a little girl several years younger than him, who remained still and asleep. Curling her small body up from Josh’s sudden movement, she let out a small grunt of discomfort while twirling her legs even more.

Like Josh, the girl had black hair but it reached straight down to her upper shoulders. However, it became messy as she struggled to find a comfortable position when sleeping on his lap.

She wore a cotton shirt primarily pink but also a bit of white with puffy shoulders and sleeves that only reached down to her elbows. Her light blue pants were short, ending below her upper thighs. She and Josh wore relatively short clothes since this was the time of the year that would be the hottest.

“Um,” Josh said with a mildly panicking voice. He raised his knees up and down, causing the girl’s head to bobble. “Jisanne, wake up. I have to go help our mother.”

Jisanne was a 2-year-old girl that still had yet to speak properly. Due to the frequent interactions with her family, she was able to listen and understand to some extent when given a simple topic.

She tightened her eyelids, grunting yet again while refusing to wake up or move from where she was. With every second passing by, Josh’s sense of desperation to stand up rose like wildfire with a subconscious thought of knowing her mother was gradually losing her patience.

“J-Jisanne!” Josh lightly shouted while shaking her shoulders back and forth.

Suddenly, there was a voice he least wanted to hear. His mother, who kept stirring the food with the pan, shouted with more seriousness.

“Josh, hasten yourself! If I call you one more time, you better get ready to eat some burnt food!”

“Um- I’ll be right there, mother!” Josh hurriedly replied as he turned to the side where the window was, just a few feet above his head. In hopes of not eating burnt food again, he made sure that his mother heard at least some word of reply from his mouth.

Not too long ago, a similar scenario took place without Jisanne. She was resting inside their home in a small box, usually shared by both her and Josh. However, on that day, the window was unfortunately closed due to a sudden rise of dust storms.

Rosey despised the thought of her home being fogged from the dust carried by the hasty wind. She closed any openings before dust could enter. The rooftop was the trickiest since reaching high was not her strong suit, and Lucas wasn’t there when she needed him the most.

Rosey always expected her son to listen and respond because he always did. But Josh was the complete opposite when he was outside, especially when he laid down on the solid ground with the windows closed. Days like these, Josh couldn't hear Rosey shout. So from here on, he made sure that the window was not closed before resting; otherwise, it would be another day of eating black and crusty food just because he didn’t hear his mother.

And right now, Josh’s food was on the verge of becoming darkness itself, a black void he never wished to eat. After Josh shouted with his voice aimed at the small opening, he turned back to continue waking up Jisanne.

But then, to his surprise, two large gleaming red eyes stared back. Jisanne’s large head rose straight up and stared intently at Josh with her mouth opening in the slightest effort. It was as if she was looking at something that piqued her interest. She lied on his lap, waiting for his next move.

“Oh- Jisanne, you’re awake,” Josh said with a panicking voice. “That’s fine. Come here.”

Using his two arms, he placed them under Jisanne and lifted her from the ground as he stood to his feet. Hurriedly, he faced the closed door and opened it by nudging his foot between the crack, sliding his leg back, and pushing it with urgency. The side of the door had small metal flaps that allowed it to be nailed to the wall, causing the door to stay elevated and open quite smoothly. Josh swung the door and slammed it against the wall.

He ran inside and placed Jisanne in the small box used for sleeping. He quickly ran out to the back, pushing the backdoor open and letting the gentle wind finish the entire swing.

“Josh,” Rosey said furiously. “Close the door before you do anything else! We don’t want dirt to be on our food, for goodness sake!”

“But there’s no wind right now,” Josh replied as he entered the small garden at the back of the house.

Plants they owned were supported by circular tubes made of string-sized rods, four of which were stuck from the ground and out, supported by further rods.

Plants never looked like the pictures in the books Josh had read. The leaves were fragile, weak to fall, and had patches of yellow and brown that were unpleasant to look at. However, they did bear fruit - tomatoes, melons, and grapes. For Josh they looked small and “little-juiced,” he would say. But it was better than nothing.

Looking around the tomato plants, he searched for the ripened ones that shined red with juicy contents inside. As gently as he could, he pulled the squishy red orbs out and collected roughly 15.

“Wind or not, it’s safe for you to keep it shut. Who knows what will be out there watching us.”

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“I know, I’m sorry, mom,” Josh apologized while walking inside the house to hand over the tomatoes to Rosey.

Three years passed since Lucas and Rosey set new rules in their household, allowing their child to go outside and do things according to his will.

But they allowed such freedom under few conditions. He was allowed to do whatever he wanted as long as he was willing to learn about the world they live in: religion, a bit of culture, social hierarchy, the tower, wall, currency, basic academic understanding, the well-known tale, and the world of flames.

With so many risks to consider and the possibility of mercenaries coming across Josh one day, Lucas and Rosey focused exclusively on training Josh's body to be able to fight and defend himself. Previously, when Lucas encountered these men roaming around the marketplace, he knew the dangers that seemed to lurk around Josh.

He planned to help Josh with some of his studies while Rosey offered her time to help him with fire manipulation - and also the majority of his studies. Rosey, day by day, visited the market to find materials for Josh’s needs. They placed complete trust in their child to remain inside and never step out until one of them comes back from their errands.

Rosey’s primary objective was to gather enough food to feed four mouths with additional help from Lucas. But Lucas had different intentions with the money he possessed. It was the sole reason he and his group went to the SHT in the first place - it was a risky job, but a well-paid one if tackled diligently and cautiously.

“Is there anything else you need?” Josh asked while facing his mother, who was busy cooking food.

“That is all. You can go back to doing whatever you were doing. The dish was saved," she replied with a small grin on one side of her face.

“Okay…” Josh, on the other hand, felt like lying down from exhaustion.

As Josh turned around, he saw the two crimson eyes peering out of the box and staring at him. Jisanne’s small body could only allow the upper half of her head to reach above the box.

Josh walked to where she was and picked her up once more. She felt heavier this time around. Perhaps it was because of the sudden tension beforehand, he thought.

“How much attention do you want?" Josh asked Jisanne, gazing out the open door leading to the outside world. “Speak for once, Jisanne… You always make me think that there’s something on my face if you keep on staring at me like that.”

While Josh walked back out, he recalled the number of times he had to deal with Jisanne’s ongoing stares. Her personality was still a blur to her parents and even Josh. Their efforts to understand what she was thinking were hampered by her silent attitude.

During the first few months after her first breath, she behaved like any ordinary baby - a cycle of ongoing feeding, crying, and then sleeping. Then, around the time she turned one and a half, her behavior changed dramatically. It’s as if her emotions left her body. Occasionally, she showed sadness or joy, but for the most part she was blank, staring longingly at Josh.

He thought it was normal for a baby to do that until his parents said otherwise. Jisanne was his only comparison other than himself, who barely remembered his past as a baby.

Walking back outside, the beaming sun shined down on Josh and Jisanne as they stared at the tower before them, soaring hundreds of meters high. In the distance, dust was picked up and moved around by the twisting winds. As if exchanging looks, the tower awaited Josh’s eventual arrival until he grew old enough to follow in his father’s footsteps.

After a few seconds, Josh looked down to his side just below where the small window was. A large book about the size of his torso lay on the ground. Its texture looked as if it originated from ancient times, a sacred item that should be stored away. The book had a dark brown look, and its thickness was insignificant, reaching about the width of a finger.

That’s right. I fell asleep while reading, Josh said to himself.

Sitting back down on his previous spot, Jisanne lightly pushed away from his hold and landed on the ground feet first.

“What’s wrong?" Josh asked. She was usually on the receiving end, a girl that follows rather than makes decisions. In this instance, Josh thought it was rare for her to push herself away.

Jisanne pointed her finger in front of him, directing Josh’s gaze in the direction of a gaping blue sky stretching miles far. She pointed away from the SHT, confusing his mind with what she was pointing at.

The blue sky? What about the sky?

“Um, are you talking about the tower?” He tried to clarify, but Jisanne quickly shook her head in response. She continued to point in the same direction without pointing anywhere else.

Josh remembered his father always talking about the city in the distance. Josh couldn't see it, so he could only skepticize its existence. Though he saw a few glimpses of its looks in books, he never understood the enormous size that Lucas always talked about.

Is she talking about the city? How does she know about that? M… Maybe she was listening to us talk about it.

“Is it the city?” He asked, trying to clarify once more. But to his surprise, she nodded. Even if she never spoke, this response was not very common.

“I see! Do you want to know what it looks like?” Josh said as he grabbed the book beside him and placed it on his lap. Her response was a small grunt of disagreement. Josh looked at her in bewilderment to only see her stare back with her hand pointing at the same place. With her other hand, Jisanne tucked on his sleeve, pulling it back and forth attentively.

“You want to know when we’re going there?” Josh speculated based on her gestures. She shook her head vigorously.

“You,” Jisanne spoke with a soft tone. Josh could understand her light-toned voice despite her rarely speaking. These were the situations where Josh’s interest was pursued to the end. This was the time when he could finally understand his quiet sister a bit more than before.

“Oh. Y-You want me to go there?” Josh asked, emphasizing himself with his sudden raised voice. And she nodded.

“Ah, all of us will be there soon enough. It won’t be just me, Jisanne.”

Josh focused on the book on his lap with his hands on top of the front cover. With a grin, he looked at Jisanne from the corner of his eyes and beckoned her to come closer.

“Come,” Josh said as she slid herself closer while looking at the large book with its height that almost matched hers. Sliding his hands to the side, ready to open the book, he revealed its title: The World of Flames.

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