The jury was visibly angry. It's remarkable that so many distinct people could all express themselves simultaneously and in the same exact way. But they still could do nothing, their faces sour as the judge left the room. They shortly followed after and as they walked past a few nodded at Kirby. The bench clerk gave Kirby a small, black plate that had chrome lettering.
It detailed Kirby's age, gender, blood type, height, and had a seven digit number in the bottom right corner.
As he was checking it over, the bench clerk approached Tien.
The two talked for a bit before the conversation began to include Kirby. Kirby quickly slipped the card into the pocket of his tattered clothes and turned to face him.
"Please step down and follow your chaperone. He'll explain the next steps."
"I don't… okay, got it." Kirby made his way over to Tien, not daring to speak up. He just awkwardly made his way over to the exit with his "chaperone" at his side.
When they finally left the courtroom they found themselves to be immediately outside. Kirby looked up at the moons. The red one seemed to be quite a smaller, opposed to the blue one which had seemingly approached.
His eyes reflected the two glowing orbs in the sky and he marvelled at such a sight. A supposedly crafted miracle. What power and wonder must one have had to create such a gorgeous sight?
As he stood still, Tien chatted up the sorry looking guard. A man that had only been here since they went into the building, but looked as if he had spent years at the post. He seemed happy when Tien gave him the news of their relatively successful trial.
He gave them both a short nod when Tien started moving back down into the town with Kirby. As the two made their way through the glowing masterwork an ambient hum could be heard coming from between the stone paving on the ground. The combination of atmosphere and sights emulated a tapestry to perfection.
It wasn't any less busy than it was in the day, maybe even more so. The seemingly mid-sized outpost had a larger population than it had appeared at first glance. The denizens looked as odd as before but kept to themselves and would even avoid eye contact.
Most in the crowd cloaked themselves, appearing as misshapen blobs of the night, contrasting the gorgeous background with their contortions as they pressed on.
The blurry scenery, swathes of cloaked figures, and the reasonably brisk pace at which the two walked removed any and all sense of space one could have. It was dizzying. But Kirby held on. He knew he'd have to pay attention to every little thing to understand his situation.
His rapt attention to his surroundings led him to befuddlement when he found himself suddenly present in front of a Victorian style mansion. The sea of cloaks and shifty looking denizens gave the entire street the building occupied a wide girth.
A simple sign hung from above the large building's entryway. The simple arch had no physical door but rather what appeared to be a film of light, distorting the scene behind it.
Although the mystery curtain was interesting, it was of less prevalence to Kirby. The supposedly normal actions of those around him would be something he'd have to learn over time. A language would be far more important than any trivial custom.
The sign was simply unreadable, donning two scandalously ornate letters.
*Oh, well, of course, I can't read it. This is an entirely different world, how do I make sure this isn't a point of contention?*
*There's no way around it, huh?*
Straightening up, Kirby cleared his throat, ready to ask the most obvious question that the situation entailed. But before he could quite word out his inquiry Tien clapped his hands and exclaimed.
"Aha! You shouldn't speak Makken or Unglish right? There are two big languages that you're probably going to have to learn to function around here. Yeah, my apologies for not saying anything before, but there's been no chance too."
"How can I understand you then?" Asked Kirby, skeptical of the flagrant discrepancy in Tien's extraordinary short explanation.
Tien looks over to Kirby, with an eyebrow raised and a hand on the curtain he says one word and walks through the door.
"Magic~"
Kirby chuckled a little bit before following Tien into the building. As uninformative as that may have been, it did remind him of who he was talking to.
The interior was a medium sized lobby. A typical basketball court in size. The floor was made from ornate, patterned tiles. The walls were simple and clean grey bricks, perfectly accenting the flooring. The roof was arched upwards with wooden accents alongside the grey brick pillars, which were the same material as the wall.
Tien ignores the odd surroundings and makes his way towards one of the three counters. When they reached the woman stationed there Tien hands her a white card, and gestures for Kirby to do the same.
When he gives her the card he thinks something is off.
"Wait. How can I read that card?"
"Ah, it's higher quality. Identification is incredibly important whilst travelling. You don't want to be mistaken for an enemy of the order do you?"
"That's fair…"
*Wait… What did he mean by order?*
"Welcome to Artifact! And the Mage Union! Tien over there will be your guide for the next month or so. But please, feel free to ask me anything!" The woman said, upbeat and with a smile. You could see the same expression on any experienced servicewoman or man, regardless of the place or time.
Tien was about to turn away before she asked something of Kirby.
"Hey, how did you convince the big guy to give you such a fancy card?" She asked, stroking her chin in a comical fashion.
Tien simply eyed her, squinting and thinking so definedly that one could see the cogs churning in his head.
This continued for a moment before Tien sighed and gave in.
"The jury sympathized, shocking as that may be." Tien replied, resigning himself to the future questioning someone with her temper would bring about.
"Alright Kirby, before you go do you know what that card means?" She questioned Kirby, not bothering with the tired expression from Tien.
Tien's eyes went wide, he realized what she was trying to do.
She began to speak louder, "That right there is a black-silver card. Second only to a black-gold card. A person's identification is used to determine status. Yours puts you only slightly below the outpost leader here, and above everyone else that's currently in the city!"
At this, the lobby which was sparsely populated went up an entire notch noise wise. There were even a few people who'd coyly slipped into the room when she started talking louder.
"Then what does the grey card Tien has mean?" Kirby asked, gaining some audible chuckles from the surrounding people."
"Oh, there's nine sets of personage for those outside the church. White, Grey, and Black each split into the three most common minerals, easy to understand, right?"
"Surprisingly so… Did it just happen like that?"
"Oh, no. As people from all over came here it was much easier to communicate with them if we ourselves knew what is what."
"Alright, thank you for your assistance… Do you mind sharing your name with me?"
"Oh, of course! My name is Amlot Treble!" Amlot replied with a warm smile now accompanying her coy eyes.
Before anything more could happen, Tien grabbed Kirby by the shoulders, pulling him to a nearby door. It was then that Kirby began his tour.