Abituk

The small coastal city was quiet this early in the morning, a few fishermen gathered near the docks preparing for a day out on the water, and some miners gathered on the other side of town, climbing into a cart headed for the sapphire, copper, gold and iron mines in the mountains to the south. Nothing significant has happened in this town for hundreds of years. The miners go up the mountain, and the fishermen go out to sea. Monotonous is a kind way of describing the town. Gared would describe it as mind-numbingly, eye-gouging, scrape-your-fingernails-off-against-the-floor-boards-just-to-feel-something, dull. He daydreamed of adventures and heroics in the lands to the west, where royals and knights held tournaments and masquerade balls, and adventurers delved into ancient dungeons and tombs to uncover forgotten treasures. He knew he'd never leave Abituk, not if his father could help it. Being the only son, he was expected to go work in the mines in less than a years time, after his 15th birthday. From that day on he knew he would be stuck here, his family becoming dependent on the wages he would earn from the ore he dug. The dock bells shook him from his musings and he noticed a large sailing vessel had dropped anchor and it's dinghy was not for from shore. Before he knew what he was doing, he was running toward the docks.