The town of Liver was as active as usual.

  It was a humongous town that did not look extremely modern, just like every other place in this world, but the only difference that set this place apart from almost everywhere else was how active it could get, especially at night time.

  People crowded in the streets, stalls were packed with customers, and entertainment regions were filled to the brim with people wanting to do something fun.

  Couples held hands as they walked, and families paraded around in enjoyment of the festivities.

  Various street performers played different instruments on every other street in the town, surrounded by flocks of bystanders.

  Other street performers were doing their utmost best to appeal to the crowds, showcasing their valiant martial arts, and even throwing in the usage of different Ki techniques.

  People crowded around a man who was standing with one foot on a tall staff with his hands tied behind his back.

  He seemed to be in perfect control of his balance, but not only that, he began to breathe fire from his mouth.

  Waves of people began to cheer and clap excitedly at the spectacle.

  The show did not stop there though as the fire began to shapeshift into the shape of a fiery bird, before flying off into the night sky.

  These types of performances seemed to appeal more to the pedestrians on the streets due to how appreciated combat and Ki usage was in this world.

  During all of this, a young boy had been separated from his mother.

  Tears fell relentlessly from his puffy red eyes, his black t-shirt hanging a little off of his left shoulder.

  He walked around aimlessly for a while, his grip on the large lollipop in his hand getting progressively more and more tight.

  Eventually, he stopped under the front canopy of a brightly lit restaurant which was bustling with activity, and turned to the crowds of people walking in the streets.

  Overwhelmed with emotion, the child dropped his lollipop and began to cry, wailing to the heavens for his mother.

  Some people stopped by to try and calm him down, but their efforts were all fruitless.

  Others just stared at the boy in contempt, wondering who could have raised such a loud child.

  After all, the boy looked older than five at the very least.

  'How were his parents so bad with raising him?'

  'Someone better come get their loud child!'

  'He's ruining my date!!'

  Suddenly, the boy felt a soft hand touch his shoulder, fixing his shirt on his left side.

  "Hey...Calm down okay?"

  The voice was soft, relaxing, but also had a sense of concern and care behind it.

  The little boy's cries came to a close as he turned to see an older boy with a buzzcut crouching behind him, smiling with kindness.

  "Look at that. You stopped crying already!"

  The older boy's smile widened a little as he said this in excitement, immediately drawing in the young boy's attention some more.

  After noticing the older boy seemingly think to himself for a moment, the young boy heard him again, but this time it was a question:

  "Wanna see a magic trick?"

  The young boy nodded weakly before turning around completely to face the older boy under the restaurant canopy.

  The older boy lifted a finger which began to glow a bright blue before glowing more and more.

  The young boy's eyes widened as his mouth slowly began to open until it was left agape.

  "Ki...", he said in astonishment.

  As the older boy's finger grew more bright, blue began to emanate until it began to spark and spray a little, tickling the younger boy's skin, who began to giggle and touch his face.

  Eventually, after showing the boy a few more tricks, like a floating blue worm, and a few glowing shapes which were left in the air for a while before dissipating, a dishevelled looking woman in dark tattered red robes, and a black waistband hurriedly ran over and pulled her child away from the older boy.

  "Get away from my son!"

  The older boy quickly stood up, the glow disappearing from his finger as he raised his hands.

  He was wearing baggy grey pants, worn shoes, a white apron, and a dark grey t-shirt underneath the apron.

  Furthermore, he did not look necessarily tall either, standing only at around five foot six inches.

  The young boy who saw the spectacle stop was visibly disappointed, a pout growing on his lips after his panicking mother pulled him away.

  "Of course ma'am. It's just your son was standing here alone crying, so I thought I'd cheer him up a little."

  Still panting, and a little sweaty from probably running around in search for her son, the woman glanced down at her boy who was now staring in awe at the glowing blue shapes still left in the air, slowly dissipating into blue sparks.

  She shook her head slightly before fixing her hair and bowing deeply after coming to her own conclusion.

  "My dearest apologies. Thank you so much."

  The boy slowly put his hands down, his surprised expression falling as he began smiling slightly once everything had been cleared up.

  Stolen from its original source, this story is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings.

  People walking by realised the situation was a misunderstanding and began to dissipate just as fast as the sparks the older boy had left in the air.

  The older boy scowled slightly as he watched this before quickly putting on a friendly smile once more.

  'Nosy pigs.'

  "It's okay ma'am. I'm just happy you found him."

  After exchanging a few more thanks and pleasantries, the boy waved the two goodbye and was now standing alone under the restaurant canopy.

  He watched the crowd fade by, and even stared beyond them at the stone walls enveloping the humongous town.

  Inhaling some air, and stepping out from under the canopy, he looked up at the sky which was littered with a myriad of stars. There were also the three moons up there too.

  Two small, and one big.

  Of course the smaller ones orbited the larger moon while all three orbited the planet.

  The boy tilted his head a little.

  'What even are we? A planet? A floating flat landmass?'

  As he questioned these things he sometimes saw in tabloids, he was beckoned by a deep and domineering voice.

  "BRAT! GET BACK IN HERE! BREAK'S OVER! I NEED THESE DISHES WASHED ASAP!"

  Leo sighed with a hint of disappointment and turned around, sliding the doors to the restaurant open.

  After getting his fresh breath of air under the restaurant canopy outside, his nose was assaulted by the scent of an assortment of foods once more, and his ears were touched by the sounds of conversation.

  He had returned into the bustling environment of his work place.

  Har's Dishes Are To Die For.

  However, that was not just what people said about the establishment when talking about good places to eat.

  That was literally the name of the restaurant.

  As Leo dodged a few open chairs and people standing in his way, he pondered on why his boss Har had named this place that.

  Granted, the whole thing was rather unique and would be a great way to bring in customers who were looking for something new, but to Leo, it was still more amusing than endearing.

  Once he arrived in the kitchen through a pair of red doors, the smell of food only grew stronger naturally, but he was used to this now.

  Making his way past other fast working employees, he found his way to the sink which was filled to the brim with a variety of dishes.

  Pots, pans, plates, cups, bowls, utensils, cooking equipment like spatulas and whisks.

  Leo let out a sigh of discontent when suddenly the back of his head met the fury of a bitter barber slap.

  He hissed in pain and keeled over since having a buzzcut did not necessarily provide him the safety from his boss' hand anymore.

  "Get to work! I'm already deducting your pay for being late today brat."

  Leo scowled slightly as he rubbed the back of his head and mumbled:

  "Yes sir..."

  He then reached for some gloves whilst Har walked off. Most likely back to his office to do some paperwork.

  Tossing unnecessary thoughts from his mind, Leo got to work.

  . . .

  After around five more hours of work which did not only revolve around dishes for Leo, it was now around one in the morning.

  A multitude of the customers in the shop had left, along with a lot of the waiters, cooks, and other workers in the restaurant.

  Leo had long finished his shift but stayed a little past his leaving time to make up for arriving late today. That was the policy of this plate. You arrive late, you leave late.

  Getting to work from where he lived was a job in and of itself as well, which only made Leo's blood boil a tiny bit more.

  Soon enough though, Leo wanted to slap himself for thinking an extra hour of work would free him from the clutches of his fearsome boss.

  A deep and slightly exhausted voice rung out from behind Leo:

  "Where the hell do you think you're going brat?"

  While in the employee room, and in the middle of taking his apron off, Leo was stopped by his boss, Har.

  Leo turned to face him.

  Only now did Leo question whether or not Har was getting healthier and healthier by the day.

  Har was still wearing his own apron, and was an extremely tall man with a chubby face, short dirty brown hair, a thick double chin with stubble, and a wide protruding belly.

  Not only that, but the man had a rather dislikeable personality.

  One of his traits was that he was petty, and not so lenient in the slightest towards those who showed him any kind of disrespect. He was also extremely loud and bossy towards his employees, but for some surprising reason paid them all their fair share, never straying from the employment contract that they had all signed before working here.

  Leo also disliked him a little for these reasons, but he knew that one had to have some of these kind of personality traits to be in charge of anything.

  Leo also knew that there was no way in hell his skinny short self would ever be able to take on such a overwei-, well built man.

  'Why am I thinking of fighting him?'

  "Home? I did my extra hours Mr Har. Honest."

  He emphasised on the way he said honest.

  Har stepped backwards towards the door again, his stomach and chin wobbling slightly from the movement.

  "I know you did. But I need you to do one more thing to pay off your persistent lateness. Follow me."

  Leo nodded slowly, questioning what his boss had just tasked him with.

  Once they were standing in the kitchen again, Har pointed towards the counter where food was placed to be taken to customers in the restaurant.

  "I know its late but we have some very esteemed guest's who came by after hearing from my place from someone."

  Leo glanced up at Har, squinting slightly after noticing how upbeat and excited his boss sounded compared to how he usually was.

  It made him wonder what 'esteemed guest's' could make even the most professional of men so happy.

  "Your job will be easy brat. Since there are no waiters in at the moment. You'll be the one to take their food to them."

  Leo blinked.

  "What?"

  "You'll be serving these guest's their food, and I'm picking you since if the food is carried by someone with a low centre of gravity they have a lower chance of falling over and-"

  As his boss rambled on about why Leo was the perfect pick for this job, the waiter in question just stared into space before sighing.

  'So he's calling me short. What a prick.'

  Not too long after the conversation, the assortment of foods had been prepared and were set onto two large black trays, and were placed onto the black counter where waiters collected the foods they were assigned to serve.

  Har massaged Leo's shoulders excitedly.

  "Alright Leo! Do us proud!"

  Leo sighed as he lifted both trays from their mid-sections once Har had let go of him, using his palms to balance them perfectly.

  'God. Who in the hell can have THE bossy boss man himself THIS excited!?'

  Leo pushed open the two red doors leading into the restaurant's main dining area using his back and then spun around the move forward. His quick movements made Har wince.

  Almost as soon as he entered, he noticed the lack of customers.

  Only a few people could be seen here and there eating from their plates in silence, all shooting interested looks towards the most concentrated area in the restaurant, which still was not as packed as Leo had imagined.

  Near the far left side of the restaurant, in front of the wide windows displaying the streets which were much less crowded now, were a group of three men wearing similar colour schemed clothing.

  They all wore simple black pants, each looking well stitched, clean and extremely easy to move in. Leo could only dream of owning such well made trousers.

  Two of the men had black boots on, while the one at the top of their small table wore straw sandals. The men also all wore dark green robes on their upper bodies, fastened with a black waistband.

  The most striking thing about the men was the white coloured insignia that had been placed onto the backs of the garments covering each of their torso's.

  The insignia depicted a twisting dragon spitting fire from it's opened mouth, almost as though it was displaying it's ferocity and power.

  Almost every single person in this region of the world knew this insignia.

  The insignia of the Draconis clan.

  Leo shivered and broke into a cold sweat, finally understanding why his boss Har had sent him to serve this table.

  'Why the HELL would I be tasked with this!?'

  He inhaled and let out a sigh to calm his nerves, beginning to weave through chairs, walking as perfectly as he could.

  As Leo was focused on walking straight and not making a fool of himself, his left elbow buckled slightly once he was close to their table, causing his balance on one of the trays to fail.

  'Can't fuck up...Can't fuck up...Can't fuck up...Huh?'

  Peeking from beyond the red doors leading to the kitchen was Har and two other employees, a man, and a woman.

  All of their eyes widened when Leo's elbow buckled.

  Har saw his entire career flash before his eyes, but in that millisecond he entered a state of clarity and acceptance, smiling slightly as he closed his eyes.

  He let out a wistful sigh as though he was both at peace with his life, but disappointed with the way things went.

  'Just torch my entire business at this point...'