Although it was still early in the morning, the city was ablaze with lights. The streets and roads were filled with people wearing gas masks as they went about their daily business. Buildings were so tall that they reached the clouds.
The impact of technology on the present was incredibly apparent when they looked through the sky: multiple security drones patrolled the area while streets were filled with garbage-picking robots.
A drone was circling in the sky, and Ethan kept an eye on it. He avoided the blue light that it beamed out of its inner compartment every minute or so. He seemed fascinated with the way the drones operated.
On the other hand, Castiel eyes were glued onto a huge billboard on a tall glass building. It was nothing special contrary to what he had seen before when he was younger, however the picture that was shown on the digital screen confused him.
A woman with long wavy flaming red hair and bewitching red eyes, wearing a suit could be seen flashing on the digital screen. In big fonts beside her wrote, 'The Queen Of Networking.'
Another man appeared on the screen, he had dark raven hair and hypnotising grey eyes. From the looks of it, he seemed like a serious young man shining with superiority amongst the others. This time in large red bold fonts wrote, 'CEO Of Kano.'
In a moment of awkwardness, Castiel obstructed Ethan's vision to prevent him from seeing the building. His gut feeling told him that what he was envisioning is not at all incorrect.
Zephyr hid behind Ethan and Castiel, trying to avoid the gazes of people. He bent his knees just a bit to appear shorter, and hid his face behind Castiel's shoulders, who was strangely positioned.
When Ethan realized that Zephyr was acting strange, not even being fazed by their new surroundings and instead going into hiding mode. He asked in an angry tone, "What's wrong with you, Zephyr?" It came out harsher than Ethan had anticipated.
Castiel heaved a sigh of relief quietly when Ethan wasn't looking around anymore. They had walked pass the building just a moment ago so he could be at peace now. However, another problem arise behind his back.
Zephyr stood up properly and avoided eye contact with Ethan's piercing glare. "Nothing." He replied softly, while inching closer to Castiel.
Ethan made an irritated hissing sound and went back to his task, checking how much further they had to venture in order to reach the distributor. Thankfully, it was only a short walk from where they were.
When Ethan had located the distributor's building, he got Castiel's attention. "The cards, Castiel." He said, looking at the long queue outside a large wooden building that looked like a storage area with so many bags and carts around.
Castiel took out the cards and gave half to Ethan and was about to pass some to Zephyr so he could help but the younger could be seen backing off into a dark alleyway beside the wooden building.
"Zephyr?" Castiel said, worried while Ethan just shook it off.
"We'll force him to take some of the bag later. It seems that he's uncomfortable being around so many people from what I've gathered so far. He flinches whenever a stranger gets too close in his personal space." Ethan explained, using the new set of behaviours that Zephyr displayed to conclude as to why he was acting that way.
"Oh." Castiel scratched the back of his head in confusion, wondering how Ethan was so observant all the time.
When their turn came, they gave the distributors their stacks of cards. The distributors gave them an odd look and murmured amongst themselves.
"Is this for your..family?" the distributor asked suspiciously, bending down to talk to the kids.
Castiel immediately put on a polite smile and shook his head. "We're running errands for our neighbours to earn some pocket money!" he explained in a cheery tone.
The distributors looked at each other and laughed, amused by the young children. One of them ruffled Castiel's hair and smiled.
"Alright, kiddo. I'll get you the meals." The distributor said, walking to the cart and taking 13 boxes out and packaging them into a few plastic bags.
The distributor passed the bags to the two children and gave them a warm smile, also handing them back the ID Cards. "It's rare to see such bright children around nowadays." He complimented.
Ethan was trying to smile too but his mouth muscles were getting sore. "Thanks." He said before walking away to find Zephyr.
"Quit hiding, I know you're there." Ethan said in an irritated tone when Zephyr didn't make any attempt to even approach the distributors or get out of the alleyway.
"Sorry, need my help?" Zephyr apologised, coming out from the dark alleyway with a weak smile on his face, trying to wipe away the blood on his hands by smudging it against the dirty wall.
"Here." Ethan said, pushing a bag towards Zephyr's chest.
The three decided that it was time to end their trip even though they hadn't done much besides avoiding a disaster and completing their task. The sun still hasn't set but they felt like it would be a wise decision to return as soon as they could.
People walking by them appeared to be in distraught, looking back frantically and discussing a topic in a concerned tone of voice.
Guards in a grey set of uniform could be seen loitering around in small groups, guns held tightly in the grasp of their hands. The citizens seem to recognise them as an official patrol group and bowed when they passed by as a sign of respect. But when the guards weren't looking, the citizens strayed far away from the intimidating group as fast as their feet could take them.
In order to disperse the crowds, the guards headed to where there were more people gathered together, still inspecting the surrounding area for every detail. There seems to be a clear purpose as to why they were dispersing the citizens.
When Ethan saw the guards, he nodded to Zephyr and Castiel. The three walked side by side, attempting to strike up a conversation so they could appear relaxed and at ease.
Keeping the necklace in his pocket, Ethan remained calm and scanned the area for unfamiliar information, waiting for any new developments that might be of help to gain insight.
Unwillingly, Zephyr stepped out of the shadows and walked beside his friends, putting on his poker face as he focused on his path, disregarding the tingling pain that continued to permeate his body.
Castel put on a soft smile and led the group, he seemed the least suspicious of the bunch. He wasn't concerned as he felt like the guards would more or less ignore children of their age as they were too young to be of any harm. As his assumption proved to be accurate, the guard didn't even look at him when he passed.