Mark walked through the trees in awe. All the trees were different here than the ones on Trinsa island. It amazed him. The only trees around in Trinsa island were fruit and flower trees but here, they were all different. He ran his hand over the bark of the trees as he passed by them, marveling at the variety of textures. Some were smooth, some were bumpy, some were even spiky. He didn’t know trees could get spiky.

    Mark peered out past the trees, noticing a large structure not far from where he was being illuminated by the moonlight. He approached excitedly but cautiously. His mouth dropped as he stood at the base of this large structure and looked up. The entire wall was made of marble. He had never seen so much marble in his life.

    He gently touched the wall and walked along it until he reached a corner. He peered around it to notice a gate. He walked over, looking through the thick metal bars of the gate into a long, dark tunnel.

    Mark raised his hand to push open the gate but it opened before he could touch it and screeched open. “Okay. That’s not creepy—”

    He stepped through the gate and began down the tunnel when a realization finally hit him. He had come across the Lost World District. The Lost World District serves as a place where criminals, abandoned children, wandering souls, and exiled people come to live; some forced to live here more than others. Mark remembered hearing stories about this place and being scared of it. He always imagined it as a terrible, dark place littered with disease, crime, and death.

    When Mark stepped out of the long tunnel, everything he believed and imagined about the Lost District was disregarded. He squinted when the bright sun shined down on him. This confused him because out in the forest, it was still night. Everywhere he looked was bustling with life. The trees were green, birds were singing happily, people were laughing and having a good time.

    There was a castle overlooking the entire district. Houses lined the stone path he walked on. There was no sign of disease or crime as he had previously believed. In fact, based on the decorations everywhere and a crowd of people piling into the center square, it seemed they were celebrating something. Mark never believed they were the celebration type of people.

    As Mark approached the center square, he still could not believe how beautiful the place was. He stood by the fountain in the middle of the square and looked up to where everyone else seemed to be looking. There was someone walking up to a podium that they placed there and decorated with bouquets of violets and white poppies. Mark could hear a couple people behind him murmur something about a “fortune teller” and “chart keeper.”

    ‘That’s right,’ Mark thought when he remembered who the chart keeper was. He is the being that controls when a person would die. A person’s chart is written as they live and if it stops writing at any moment, this being evaluates the person’s life and decides if they should continue living based on if they committed a serious sin or if they simply lived out their whole life or not. Mark had always found this being’s job as fascinatingly scary.

    The fortune teller stepped up to the podium and everyone began to cheer and chanted “Jinyoung” over and over again.

    ‘Jinyoung?’ Mark thought. ‘Must be his name.’

    Jinyoung raised his hand and everyone quieted. “Today we celebrate another year without going to war,” he said and everyone cheered again. “Since the queen died, things have been shaky here on Thyslao and I’m glad there hasn’t been a war yet.”

    Mark felt his heart clench. It was true. Since his mom died, his dad had been making bad decisions that appeared potentially dangerous for everyone, including those on Trinsa Island. He recalled a time when his dad wanted to end the Warlock and Faerie districts because he felt that only the royals deserved to have any type of power and even called for the chart keeper himself to be abolished. Luckily, the royal council denied his request and talked his father out of it saying it was too risky and might throw off the balance that kept Thyslao going for all these years.

    “Let’s all hope for another year without war and for a sensible king to come forth,” said Jinyoung. Everyone shouted and cheered.

    Mark’s stomach twisted. Would he be the sensible king they wanted or would he be just like his father? Would the people even want him as their king? They don’t even know he exists. And even if they did, they’d probably hate him anyway considering he has the same blood as they king they hated.

    Mark ducked his head and pushed through the crowd. He felt like throwing up feeling the tension building up in his stomach. The thought of him becoming king and everyone hating him scared him. He stumbled into an empty alley between a house and a shop building and leaned against the wall. He buried his face in his hands and groaned. He bent into a squat and slouched over. He suddenly felt an enormous amount of pressure about him becoming king. His dad had done a lot of things, a lot of bad things that Mark could have to deal with and he had no idea how he would deal with it all.

    This entire district hated his father. Who’s to say that the other districts also feel the same way about his father. What would they do when they find out about Mark? Would they take their rage out on him? Mark in a breath trying to calm himself and looked up. No one can know he was the prince. Who knows what would happen if they knew.

    He stood back up onto, brushing his hair back with his hand and turned to return to the center square when he heard a whistle from behind him. He glanced back to see three males approaching him.

    ‘Oh, great,’ Mark thought, ‘they look like trouble.’

    The three approached him and studied him.

    “Can I help you?” Mark asked trying to keep himself calm.

    “You’re not from around here, are you?” The one in the middle asked. He tilted his head, his eyes moving from the top of Mark’s head, down to his feet.

    “Um…” Mark considered his words for a second. “I’m...new here.”

    “Yeah, that’s obvious,” the strange male on the left said as he pushed Mark’s head with his finger. “Where you from? I know for certain you ain’t from Thyslao.”

    Mark felt both annoyance and anxiety bubble up inside of him. He had a feeling that he wouldn’t look like he belonged anywhere and tried to find the most casual thing he could wear from his closet but it was hard considering his closet mostly consisted of tailor-made suits and expensive clothes. He definitely didn’t look like someone from the Thyslao continent either. Everyone from each district on Thyslao had some kind of dominant trait about them. The hunters were known for their intimidating auras and are always carrying their prized weapons. The demons were marked with striking gold eyes and, if their kind called for it, an odd color of skin, wings, horns, or a tail; sometimes all if they were lucky enough. Warlocks are known for having icy blue eyes and snowy white hair while faeries always have bright amber eyes and a strange hair color. Mark had none of these features. And since the Lost World District is a collection of people from Thyslao, he’d definitely not fit in.

    “I’m...from Crestha,” Mark lied. He wanted to get away from these guys as fast as possible and if he were forced to use his ice powers against him, at least the excuse of him being from Crestha would be believable.

    “Crestha? Ah..., you’re a foreigner…” One of the males said as he rolled his eyes. “Yah, Jiho, why are we wasting time with his guy? He isn’t even from here. What’s the point?”

    The one named Jiho grunted in annoyance. “Because, Jiseok hyung, he’s on our turf and he obviously got money. Who cares if he’s a foreigner?”

    Jiseok rolled his eyes again. “Yah, if you keep his up, she might come and kick our asses again and I don’t wanna get my kicked again because of you. Pretty sure Kyung doesn’t either.”

    Mark raised an eyebrow watching the two argue. ‘She?’ he wondered.

    The last male named Kyung rubbed his forehead. “Guys,” he said. The two kept arguing. Kyung opened his mouth to call out to them when a small rock flew and hit the side of Jiho’s head. Kyung and Jiseok both froze as Jiho swore under his breath.

    “Yah,” a female voice said as someone stepped out from the shadows, “how many times do I have to remind you es not to make trouble anymore?”

    Jiho scoffed. “Why should we listen to you? You going to tell on us to Jinyoung again? This is our turf and this guy here is trespassing.” He jabbed a finger at Mark. “Now, why don’t you just leave us alone?”

    The girl’s eyes landed on Mark. “Bullying a foreigner? That’s low. Even for you.” SHe raised her hand and a small ball of fire slowly formed in her hand. “Should I remind you again not to be punks anymore?”

    Mark gasped softly. She could control fire but she’s not a royal. Mark would know if she were a royal and he had never seen her on Trinsa island ever. Maybe she was from Crestha. But why would someone from Crestha be here?

    Both Kyung’s and Jiseok’s hands went immediately to their butts when they saw the fireball in her hand and they immediately ran for it, disappearing into the crowd. Jiho growled in annoyance and turned. He bumped his shoulder against Mark’s as he left the alleyway.

    The girl sighed and shook the fireball away as she brushed her hair back. “They’re seriously just tough for show. They’re not really that scary.”

    Mark nodded. “Sure...uh… Thanks.”

    “Don’t mention it.” She crossed her arms and nodded at Mark. “You got a name?”

    “Uh, Mark,” he said, refraining from admitting his last name. “Just… Mark.”

    She examined him for a moment and hummed. “Well, just Mark, I’m Somin. Try to stay out of trouble while you’re here. I won’t be there all the time to save you.”