Angel Monarch-Chapter 596: Children of a Bygone Era

Aralim’s legs were already tired, even though they had only been walking for the past hour. He took heavy breaths while watching the bone wings on the backs of his two companions, his only friends, Naomi and Sorath.

They were twins, a bit older than Aralim himself. However, from the outside, one would guess the age difference was much wider. Naomi was a head taller than Aralim, while Sorath towered over them both.

For this reason, Sorath walked at the front. When on missions, always the tallest carried the lantern on their heads. This way, the light illuminated a much larger area... well, calling it light wasn’t exactly correct...

The Realm Aralim and her friends lived inside was consumed by light. Other than inside buildings, only brightness existed. The lantern didn’t bring light to a dark world, but shadows to a world of only bright radiance.

The creatures adapted to this reality as well. For example, Aralim’s race could perfectly see in the dark, like the creatures of other races saw in the light, but not like he knew that.

He had only heard stories about races outside of this Realm. Ancient written texts that remained from an era where the blinding light was contained...

"It must’ve been heaven..." whispered Aralim, causing Naomi’s ears to perk up.

She glanced around, smiling, which stretched the black fabric on her face. Every member of their race born disfigured and blind, but with these special fabrics, they hid their faces and could see again.

"You’re dreaming about the past again... I told you, Ara. Stop thinking about it! The past won’t let us survive and won’t fill our stomachs!"

As Naomi spoke, her tone firm yet understanding and kind, Aralim’s stomach growled. All three teenagers looked like stick figures, with only a few bits of muscle and skin growing on their bodies.

They were all heavily malnourished, like everyone in their home. Food was a scarcity, which forced the citizens to eat... less desirable sources of food...

Of the three of them, only Naomi had the tiniest bit of fat on her chest, creating a small bust. She was luckier than most girls, who looked more similar to planks than grown women.

They all received the same daily rations, except pregnant women. They received twice the amount before birth, then one and a half until the baby matured out of breastfeeding.

For this reason, many girls tried becoming pregnant after their first menstruation, which the city leaders forbade. The earliest one was allowed to become pregnant was 15 long rotations after birth.

However, there was another stipulation... every girl needed to become pregnant at least once before they reached 17...

The rule might’ve been cruel, and many disagreed with it, but sadly, the city’s survival depended on such horrible rules.

After his stomach growled, Aralim felt a fist punch his stomach. There wasn’t any strength inside the punch, and as his gaze landed on the hand, it opened, revealing a wrapped jerky.

Aralim took the jerky from Naomi’s hand and broke down a piece the size of his fingernail. He gave the jerky back, and while Naomi put it back into her bag, Aralim asked with a morbid curiosity...

"Who’s meat do you think this is?"

Naomi scowled at him, but sighed a moment later and answered, "It’s better not to know... That’s why we keep the food rotation a secret!"

The young teen shrugged and popped the meat into his mouth. It had barely any taste, and he needed to chew for a few minutes before it became digestible.

While chewing, he glanced around the area. The lantern gave them vision within a fifty meter radius, but sadly there wasn’t any interesting nearby.

They were still close to the main island where their city was located, so they didn’t need to watch out for monsters yet.

The hardened earth ground below their feet felt warm. There were a few strands of golden grass growing here and there, but otherwise nothing survived in this area.

This was one reason their city was located on this island cluster. The plants couldn’t survive here, which caused the monsters to also stay away.

It also meant they couldn’t cultivate crops outside, but safety was more important than reliable food sources... At least that’s what the leaders believed. However, the three of them disagreed, which was the reason they snuck away on this expedition!

"Naomi, are you certain we’ll find a better place to live? Will this time be any different from the past dozen expeditions?" asked Aralim, his voice tinged with doubt.

The determined and confident smile stretched across Naomi’s face as she glanced back.

"I’m certain! I’ve spent the past few rotations studying the maps my dad has. I think I finally found a place that could serve as a better home!...

"The reports say monster sightings drastically decreased there in the past ten long rotations, which means something must keep them away! I’m sure whatever it is, we can use it to find a better future!"

Aralim’s ears perked up, and he also smiled in excitement...

"Maybe it’s an artifact from the past! It probably came alive and chased away the monsters!"

Naomi just chuckled and rolled her eyes. However, he might’ve been right, so she didn’t say her opinion... She hated being wrong, but it would’ve been much worse to lose against Aralim’s crazy ideas...

They walked for a while longer before Sorath suddenly stopped. Both Naomi and Aralim stepped beside him, instantly realizing why he hadn’t marched on.

"We’ve overshot the crossing," He said while glancing at Aralim. "How long until the next rotation?"

Without a word, Aralim reached into his pocket and pulled out a circular metal object. He pressed a button on its side, which caused a metal pin to point in a seemingly random direction on the circle.

There were fifteen large marks carved into the circle, each segmented into seven different parts. Naomi and Sorath couldn’t read the Rotation Watch easily, but after staring at it for a second, Aralim spoke...

"It has already passed. We were too slow..."

"You mean, you were too slow. If you didn’t dally around in the morning, we would’ve reached the crossing!" said Naomi, her voice annoyed, but a moment later her brother smacked the back of her head.

She yelped and glanced at him with annoyance, but Sorath just snorted and with a wide grin said, "It isn’t his fault alone. As I said, we’ve overshot the crossing. We need to track along the edge to reach it... Your guidance was just as much of an issue!"

Naomi, instead of bringing up excuses, simply stuck out her tongue and glanced away to hide the embarrassed blush on her face.

"Also, I wasn’t dallying around," said Aralim in a mocking tone. "I found a large piece of rubble embedded in the ground and was trying to dig it out!"

This time, both Naomi and Sorath glanced at him with an expression that said, ’Do you even hear yourself?’

He quickly glanced down at the Rotation Watch, pulling his blindfold further down, so it hid his bright red face.

"Anyway... We’ve an hour before the next crossing. I suggest we find it, and wait until then!"

"You just want to take a breather, don’t you?" said Naomi with a wide grin while elbowing Aralim’s ribs.

The youngest of the group stayed silent, which was an admission of his guilt. They agreed with his statement, though, and began walking along the island’s edge until they found a long, artificial outcropping... The crossing...

The Realm in which they lived was a strange one. Other than the constant blinding light, the only lands were massive floating islands, which rotated around each other.

The city in which Aralim and the others lived was located at the center of a barren island cluster. Many smaller, few dozen kilometer long islands rotated around it at constant speed. They set up their time system based on these islands’ rotations.

For example, a long rotation equated to the furthest island rotation speed, which was located on the cluster’s edge. Each full rotation marked a person’s birth anniversary. Aralim was 15 long rotations, while the twins were 16.

The Rotation Watch tracked fifteen different islands’ rotations at once. You could track time perfectly with it, but reading it was quite complicated. They also needed to rewind after every long rotation, which could cause problems. Then, there was the price issue...

Aralim could never have afforded a Rotation Watch. It could cost a long rotation’s worth of rations, which was way too expensive.

However, his mother and father were both expeditioners, who perished a few long rotations ago. They taught him how to use it, and after their death, he inherited the Watch with the promise he would follow in their footsteps.

"Well, this is certainly not what the leaders had in mind..." he whispered with a lighthearted chuckle.

He and the twins sat at the crossing’s edge, their bare feet handing over the dark emptiness below. Nobody was certain if there truly weren’t any ground below the floating islands. However, they explored about half a kilometer below the main island, and found nothing.

"Nah, this is exactly what our father had in mind," said Naomi, clearly understanding the meaning behind Aralim’s words. "He knew I’m a free spirit and Sorath would follow me for safekeeping... We needed a Rotation Keeper, so he let you keep your parents’ Watch!"

Aralim sighed while watching the tiny needle close in towards the sixth segment. A few minutes passed before they heard a low humming noise and saw a similar artificial outcropping approaching the crossing slowly.

The three of them stepped over to the other island without hurry, then stood back in a straight line, and continued their journey...