On that day, the market was the center of the world. Okay, maybe not exactly the center of the world but definitely the center of my world. A world that belonged to a young boy, an apprentice of a local herbalist in a remote town, in the smallest kingdom on the entire continent. But it didn't matter to the little boy, it didn't matter because he didn't even know of better or bigger. Every little joy was the greatest in the world, and every little tragedy was a misery that never happened before. Every child's problem or the one I would hear older people mention in passing seemed insurmountable and unsolvable to me. At that time my mind was small, later, it seems to me that I read in a book or some sage told me something that enlightened me and all my understanding of my world then. The biggest problem in life is the one you currently have in front of you, not the one that will come, but only the one you need to solve at the moment.
The hustle and bustle of people that day made the streets impassable even for little skinny boys like my friends and I were. We did our best to get to the central square on time, the circus was located there. A real circus! The same one the traveling merchants and their guards were talking about. We talked about that circus for months, when the mayor once mentioned that they would come to the Feast of Heaven this year. For days, we toured the place assigned to them by the mayor, but it was not possible to see the animals. They say that, after they set up incredibly large tents, they brought them inside on a dark night without a moon, so that the people would not see them. Old Willis says that he saw a monster on four legs, whose horns grow under his head and up, and that it is bigger than four cows together. We all laughed at him, of course, such a thing certainly doesn't exist, and we all knew it, Willis lied all the time. We elbowed each other cruelly, just to get in line as soon as possible. On the marked territory with the red ribbon, next to a small pillar, stood a muscular and large man with mussels in both ears, engrossed in a conversation with a mustachioed skinny guy with a sly expression on his face. It seemed as if they were planning a conspiracy, and then the diminutive nodded to this large man, so he went to the small tent of red cloth and removed the curtain from the front. There was a big bronze jar inside, it seems to me that I could fit inside, and there would still be room. The muscular man stood next to it, taking two silver coins from each of them and putting them in that jar. The ringing of the coins was mesmerizing and for a moment I stopped thinking about the miracles we will see today. I knew somehow, like a child's instinct, that today would be a day that would change my life. That it will be a day I will often think about.
The sun had already moved well in the cloudless sky, when he three of us came in line. Each of us had exactly the amount of money needed for a ticket. We went on impatiently. They dived into the strangest world of noise, noise, music from various instruments and the sounds of all kinds of wild animals. Next to each of the animals stood an acrobatics performer. There were a variety of colorful talking birds, as big as a child. Big cats that have weird patterns on skins. I was lost in a sea of those sensations, some strange smells and unbearable noise coming from all sides. Somewhere in that mess, I lost my two friends, there are a lot of people here. I remained in the front rows next to a performer who had a gold chain around his neck, thicker than my finger and a scar on the left side of his face that could only have occurred in some street fight or war. It was deep, making him dangerous. Beneath his feet, on the sand-enclosed space, lay the largest and strangest snake I had ever seen. She kept her eyes closed, all four pairs of eyes. Her scales were a strange shade of bronze, beneath which the golden color occasionally shone, depending on which angle you looked. Perhaps that part of the fun was the most uninteresting because it was the only animal that didn’t perform any tricks, and her trainer seemed completely uninterested until I got close.
What is that? I asked, scared.
Dragon-snake from the Island far behind the Abyss boy, no two are the same, nor are there two on this continent. It has magical properties. It is said that he who masters the mind of the Dragon-snake, realizes the magical world He said in a harsh voice, accustomed to smoking those herbs that are brought from the East for pleasure.
At that moment, the snake opened its eyes and looked in my direction. Several things happened at the same time. Somewhere in the distance, people started screaming, the central pillar was bursting in two, people were trying to get out in a panic, while the trainers were trying to calm down the frightened animals that are now out of control. The Dragon-snake was now covered in golden scales and was looking at me in hypnosis. No one paid attention to me from the crowd of people pushing next to me. I couldn't take my eyes off her. The dresser stood in astonishment and looked at me, then a curtain slipped behind his back. An old gray-haired man entered, with a gnarled hawthorn stick in his hands and dozens of ornaments on his arms and face, around his neck. He looked at me, as the dragon snake looked at me. He whispered something briefly to the trainer, then he approached me quickly. The screams of people and the panic were now deafening. Calls for help came from all sides, people were run over in a stampede. The children cried, left behind. Suddenly he pulled out some kind of club when he was close to me.
Sorry boy, I'll explain later was all he said. And then I felt a sharp pain in the back of my neck. The next thing I remember was waking up in a carriage, far out of town, away from any area I was familiar with, with a terrible headache. Next to me in the carriage was an old man, and the dragon-snake was curled up around my legs and still golden scales.
And now, decades later, I am returning to my hometown. Then my life changed, years later I became what few people believe exists in this world. Mage. I know the history, the origin and the collapse of every kingdom, politics and every internal game, I lived with the nobility and the beggars. I control the Dragon and represent a new conquering force. But above all, out of nostalgia and respect for the place where it all began, I will return briefly to my hometown.
