how many wishes does it take to get to the center of a persons heart

Neo stood in front of the forgotten city, the large unmovable walls stood tall and mighty......but the inner streets echoed and bent in loneliness. Neo took a step through the open gates, his foot kicked a small rock. The rock skipped on the stoned walkway causing echos to travel across the vacant kingdom. Neo looked around and adjusted his glasses he then began walking again, his worn boot barely making a sound and his staff hitting the stone floor rhythmically as he gently brought it down every time he took a step.

"Now....lets see.... if the gate is here...... then the important buildings such as the main castle and library should be in the center......."muttered Neo as he continued deeper into the empty kingdom.

"Aye.... Goddammit..." Ravage cursed. He had recently gotten his passport from Forgotten Isles and was trying to find his way to another city, yet here he wandered Sacred Skies, lost... and drunk. "Oi!" he cried out, trying to communicate with some figure in the distance, "Ye gots any rum?" he asked.

"Hmmm.....I have some sake.... will that do?"inquired Neo as he held up a bottle of rice wine that he had taken out of his magical bag. He walked up to the odd drunk man an got a closer look at him.

"You can have the whole bottle if you want.....I just have this sitting here in my bag, I never really had the time to drink it"chuckled Neo.

"Aye, it be not thee Drago's Tongue, bu' wil' do." Ravage said trying to get a better look at the drink. "You be the first I see off that dreaded islan'. Why Maria is a mad woman, and her daddy one hell of an employer. Ye wouldn't happin to be part or that clan, are you?" he asked. He neared the man, trying to find answers.

But as always, he was too drunk to comprehend anything.

"Well......I hope you do enjoy.......Hmmm Maria?......The name sounds vaguely familiar.....I'm not quite to sure myself......"muttered Neo as he tried to remeber the name, noting but a hazy cloud of vague memories.

"Well.....Perhaps you'd like to join me as I explore this place...." smiled Neo as he looked down the empty streets.

"Sure." Ravage said with a smile.

Well that action itself was creepy. It's hard to smile if you don't have skin, or a face... or anything really. He was just a walking skeleton who got drunk. But even that made no sense. He had no liver, or organs to absorb the alcohol. How did he even manage the devil fruit? His entire being defied logic. But now he stood with an odd man who held a staff that had no name and wished to look for books...

But what kind of books?

Neo smiled and turned towards the empty path, he walked down passing by many abandoned buildings. He reached into his magical bag and retrieved a map. Neo skimmed through the map as he adjusted his glasses.

They continued to walk till the arrived at the library, Neo had already read all the books there during his previous exploration. Instead Neo walked to the side of the library his finger tips traced the bricks that built up the monumental building. Neo then stopped and looked up at the sky, he waited for a couple of minuets as he watched the beam of light from the sun move onto a specific brick. Neo then too his staff and smashed the brick in. The ground shook and the alleyway split open revealing a set of stairs.

"Aye." said the pirate, following the man. He had no idea where he was going, he only knew the human had his drink.

"This place is empty, I cleared it out myself. If you want something, I'll help you find it." the voice came from the shadows, and it was the shadow itself. Well, it was the Shadow Knight. Darkurr seemed to lurk in this part of Pandora quite often. He felt like it was his duty to protect Sacred Skies. Perhaps one day he could make something out of it. Maybe it could be a city. Maybe it could be his mansion...

Neo chuckled as he walked down the stairs. "This place isn't as empty as you think....I have a theory.... a theory why this kingdom is empty......But I have yet to prove it...." said Neo as he took his staff and tapped it on the ground.

"This place may have people residing in it......That's whey I'm here to look for them.... As you can see the kingdom itself is in good condition...... if it was abandoned long ago this place would be in ruins..... As you can see it seems that everyone just vanished.....or perhaps gabardine this place?....Why? The walls are strong, the people here could easily defend against enemy forces..... Well That is if they had a proper army, which I assume they do......Judging by the military barracks found north east from here.... I think that there are people living here underground.... But once again this is only my speculation..... I've already created an accurate map of the whole kingdom.....but I still have yet to map the catacombs bellow...." explained Neo as he took out a large piece of paper.