The City of Ionia

“Open the door,” said Jill, who carried the man on her back.

Owen jumped in front of her, doing what he was asked.

From the cabin's entrance, they made their way to the poorly built stairs leading to the basement. The only source of light was a few candles on the dresser. Their shadows followed them through the dimness. Jill dropped the man on the ground without care, making Owen cough a few times.

“Goddamn! Why the hell is it so dusty here?” he complained with a few coughs.

“I can live with it, so I don’t care that much,” Jill replied, stretching her back.

Owen heard a few cracks along with a sigh of relief.

“Are you forgetting that you live with multiple people?” he stated while examining the unconscious SCAR agent.

“Oh please,” she rolled her eyes with a bit of attitude, “I’m the one who spends the most time down here. The only time anyone else comes to the basement is when someone tells me dinner is ready. Other than that, none of you guys are ever here.”

Owen stayed quiet, knowing Jill had made a valid point. He noticed Jill gathering pieces of rope along with a chair. There was a vague sense of what was going to happen.

“Are you going to—”

“Owen,” Jill said, turning her head. I have a few things to ask him. I want you to leave, please.”

He heard a hint of desperation. Owen took no note of that and rebelled against her.

“No! Why should I leave? I want to see this through. Why can’t I?”

“I’m asking nicely. Please leave.” Her voice strained with a bit of frustration.

Owen completely ignored Jill’s stubbornness. “Give me a proper reason, then I’ll consider it.”

“Owen! Shut the hell up and leave!” Her vocals blew off the ceiling.

Frozen, Owen took a dry swallow.

It was rare to see Jill raise her voice like that. It was so rare that Owen had previously forgotten how Jill sounded when she was furious. The usual calm and collected person raged up like a ball of fire, striking Owen in the soul.

He quietly stood without making a noise, going to the stairs.

“Owen…” That time, there was no anger. Instead, her voice was sprinkled with regret.

Without looking back, he said, “No… it’s ok. There’s probably a reason why. Just don’t do anything stupid.” The creaking of the steps was all to be heard.

He went outside, going to a place where peace was the only thing to be found.

His tree.

His tree wasn’t unique in any way. It was more or less a copy of the thousands of trees in the area. What made it special was that this discrete tree had a branch at the top, which he could easily sit on while gazing at the beautiful horizon.

The walk to his special spot took a couple of minutes. From there, he climbed the tree the same way he always did. His shoe toes creaked noises as they skidded against the bark, and his arms lifted him higher and higher. The bark was soft and easy to grasp—so easy that it was child’s play. The lack of wind helped Owen climb faster.

He soared through the sky. The leaves were his wings as they branched out, ruffling with each other. He’d done this many times, but he still wouldn’t dare to look down, where he was a prisoner to gravity.

He was at the top. His legs dangled through the thin air, lightly swinging them back and forth. The refreshing air placed him at ease.

Owen looked up, noticing clouds flowing through the bright orange sky. The beautiful colors brushed across the sky as if destined to make an incredible piece of art.

Birds circled in flocks, cawing at random intervals. From a distance, he could see the sun sinking behind something man-made.

Something that separated two types of people.

He could see the wall towering over everything in sight, marking the borders of two distinct groups.

On one side lived the developed, educated, and idealistic humans who found peace long ago. They ran with full stomachs, not worrying about the next meal.

On the other side lived the unfulfilling, ignorant humans who searched for peace through violence and crime. People in the lesser towns constantly scavenged for food, wondering if they would fill their empty stomachs.

Wondering if they fill their empty hope?

Unlike Jill, Owen never cared about living in the City of Ionia. He didn’t care where he lived. He could live in the middle of nowhere. More than anything, Owen wanted to live with the people he adored.

Nothing more, nothing less. Just peacefully living with the people he cared about.

Jill dreamed of living within those walls. She wanted to combine the two groups as one. Owen had no clue where Jill got the idea.

Maybe she thought it herself?

Owen shook his head after that thought. Jill was a realistic person. She wouldn’t aim for something big and ridiculous like this. She would never think of something so extravagant.

However, he never asked where she got that idea from. Maybe it was because she had a low chance of telling him. Her secrets remained folded in a sealed bottle, never to be opened.

Just like today, when Jill’s anger strangely devoured her. She never got that angry. Owen wondered if Jill had a bad encounter with a SCAR agent in her past, and this could be some sort of revenge. Once again, he shook it off, knowing it couldn’t be anything like that.

At least, that’s what he wanted to believe.

The sun started to disappear behind the walls, and Owen climbed into the sunset as it did.

At least that’s what he wanted.

“Yo, Owen.”

He looked to his left and noticed someone on a nearby branch. A teenage kid sat comfortably with a piece of hay in his mouth.

“Matty?”

“How’ve you been? Don’t tell me you were going to climb down. The night just started.”

He clicked his tongue. “You know I have difficulties climbing down in the dark.”

“Still? Damn, that sucks.”

Matty was the type of person to pop up unexpectedly. He was the last person Owen thought he would see. He wasn’t prepared to speak with anyone, especially someone on the same tree as him.

“So, what’s up? I haven’t seen you here in a while,” Owen said.

“Last time I saw you was at that party in Ulm. You chased women like some sort of competition. It’s been what… a couple of months since?”

“I–I–I did not chase women. I just asked if they wanted to dance, that's all. There was no chasing involved.”

“I saw differently. If you want a woman so bad, take the one that lives with you.”

Owen’s stomach churned from those words.

“Jill? Well, to be fair, I tried at the beginning. I can’t think of her like that, though. My brain won’t let me. Besides, she’s more of a bossy older sister, if anything.”

“Heh, I’ve only seen her once, and I can agree. Well, not really, but who cares? I’ll take your word.”

“So, what about you? Anything new?

I’ve been good. Just traveling with my father.”

Matty’s father was a traveling merchant. They were always on the move and didn’t have a stable place to stay.

“You sure love traveling.”

“Heck yeah. I love it. We get to see the outside world and shit. Though, one time at Qualic, we almost died because the place blew up. Scary times.”

Owen recalled hearing about that. Qualic, the town in the mountains blew up the ash and rubble. He didn’t know how or why. He just knew it happened.

“It must be scary—seeing your life flash before your eyes,” Owen said while looking at the distant wall.

“It was. Thankfully, we weren’t close enough to be impacted. I could be missing a leg or even dead if I was anywhere near it.” He followed his words with a laugh.

“Matty, this will sound crazy, but bear with me.”

Matty looked at Owen as though he had a giant pimple on the bridge of his nose.

“Are you going to say something that can get me in trouble for just hearing it?”

“N—No. I want you to imagine something. What if we lived in the City of Ionia? Would life be much better?”

He snickered at his question. “The City of Ionia? Hell yeah, it’ll be better. Living there is like living in paradise. I can already see myself and my dad being the best merchants paradise has to offer.”

“It’ll be pretty nice if we can live there,” Owen said, wanting to know Matty’s reaction.

Matty looked at the orange sky with a faint smile. “One can only dream.”