Just outside a large city suddenly appeared out of nowhere two 12 year old children, one dark skin, the other a tanned white.
They both collapsed onto their backs, seemingly knackered and out of breath.
"This coat, its hard to move around in but it was a big help for sure" panted Royale.
"Yeah, who knew it would have stamina regeneration, we wouldn't have been able to keep it up for that long if it wasn't for that and even then we had to stop and rest three times. This ability is going to take a lot more work to master" stated King.
"Mhmm" agreed Royale. " But then again what should've taken at least 5 hours to get here technically only took us 1 hour so I'm not complaining"
"I guess..."
Royale slowly got to his feet and stared over at the large fortified city just a ways off.
From where they were, all that could be seen was a large wall seemingly made of brick which presumably circled the entire circumference of the city. Off to the left of the wall was a large hole in the wall, inside of which was a massive gate opening up to the inside of the city.
Without bothering to wait, Royale made his way through the finely trimmed grass towards a path leading to the gate, leaving King to scramble after him.
They followed the path up to the gate, only pausing to let pass a fancy looking floating vehicle.
King was constantly observing their surroundings and taking in anything he could. The clean road, the healthy green grass, the clear sapphire coloured sky and beaming sun, the towering trees in the distance as well as the menacing Proud Wall that they approached with every step they took.
Finally arriving at the gate, they joined a group of people with similar intentions of entering the city, and passed quickly through.
As they entered the city, King and Royale felt something briefly wash over them as if they had been examined from the inside out by some sort of X-Ray.
"That explains the lack of security at the gate, this city is protected by some sort of barrier that probably somehow detects dangerous people and objects" explain Chronus
But his words were pretty much unheard by King and Royale who's attentions where snatched by the view of the city before them.
Beautiful and elegant buildings, spotless roads and pathways, adequate greenery and trees, not to mention the sheer size of the place. It was simply too perfect.
Ruined only by the hordes of people going about their days and affairs, it was almost picture perfect.
"We're here, Now what?" Asked Royale expectantly.
"I guess we ask around for where the entrance exams are taking place" answered King.
"Shouldn't we find somewhere to settle down first? We also need proper weapons, not to mention those hair cuts"
"Royale's right, that should take priority at the moment. However there is a problem, all of that requires money and we have none" Mentioned Chronus
"Money's not a problem for now" said Royale while reaching into the inner pocket of his coat and pulling out a small pouch of what King presumed was money.
"Where did you get that?"
"While you were talking to those guards I wasn't just standing around you know?"
"Well you are now, Move out the way!" Interrupted a large man in a Black cloak
King and Royale who had stopped at the exit of the gate tunnel quickly scurried off to the side, letting the large man as well as a others pass by.
"Tcch- kids"
Ignoring them, King turned to Royale "So you stole it, you want us to use stolen money? That's a serious crime! "
"Yes I know but I also knew we would need some in the near future so I made sure we had some. If I ever come across them again, ill pay them back double"
The slightly disappointed look on King's face disappeared as he sighed and began walking off into the city.
"Well as long as you have a good reason I don't mind, hurry up. The faster we're settled in, the less time we waste."
"YhYh" said Royale quickly catching up to Kings receding figure
"Finding a hotel or something similar shouldn't be too hard, especially in a large commercial city like this one" commented Chronus
King and Royale walked through the city in search of a hotel, being extra careful not to get in anyone's way or communicate with any strangers. A task that was relatively hard considering all the posh and beautiful shops they passed by and their workers who would persistently try to persuade customers to enter.
After a while of walking around aimlessly, they finally stumbled upon a big and impressive blue, cream-coloured and gold building on which read in huge letters HOTEL CAMBRIA.
They climbed the elegant marble steps up to a platform on which a group of people stood arguing with a single man in a navy blue suit in front of a pair of handsome gold and Dark brown doors.
The group consisted of the same large man in a Black cloak they encountered at the gate earlier.
"What do you mean we're blacklisted!" Shouted a short man wearing a black Panama hat.
"Sorry sir but your details have come up on our system as blacklisted, we cannot offer you our services" replied the man in a suit, a stern look on his face.
King and Royale simply ignored this and headed past the group towards the entrance.
"If they are blacklisted, they are blacklisted, what does this have to do with me?" Said the large man in an annoyed voice.
"I'm sorry sir but if they claim you to be their associate, by company law I cannot allow you entry either until proof otherwise"
"Tccch, you damn ingrates, what you gotta get me involved in this too?" Grumbled the man before spotting King and Royale passing by nonchalantly. He saw an opportunity and latched onto it.
"I'm with those kids over there! They're under the legal age so they can't register, that's what I'm here for"
The suited man turned towards the pair and scrutinized them. "You're right they are below age but if you don't mind me asking, what is your relation with these two!"
"Erm -er-"
"He's our uncle" intervened King. He and Royale had stopped walking upon discovering they couldn't register without being above the supposed legal age.
"What? I- I mean yh, those are my nephews"
The suited man however was not dumb
"Is that so? In that case what are their names?" He asked while maintaining a suspicious glare on the man who towered considerably above him.
"Ermmm -er Kieve Swivson and Joe Canyum"
"Date of births?"
"12th of Sauge 1664 and 21st Fraulum 1665"
"Hmmm, just one thing left that doesn't make sense. I can understand the White one but if your both of their uncles then why is one of them black?"
"Eeerr..." The mans train of lies where about to come to an end as he fumbled for an explanation.
"I'm his half nephew, my step mum is his sister!" Intervened Royale, quickly coming to the rescue.
"Hmmmm" the suited man was still suspicious and could tell it was all a lucky lie but during the time he had wasted questioning them, the others who were blacklisted had begun attempting to sneak past, it was clear the large man had no affiliation to them so there was no point wasting his time on him.
He flicked his hand in the direction of the doors signalling for them to pass through before rushing after the others.
"Tcch- stupid ruffians" muttered the large man before walking towards Kurtis and Royale who were both waiting for him at the entrance.
"Guess I owe you kids huh? Come on, Ill sign you in. If you're lucky enough I'll pay your fees, but only for a week. This place isn't cheap" he said all the while walking right past the pair, barely sparing them a glance.
King and Royale side glanced at each other before shrugging and following behind him.
Inside waiting for them was a large entrance hall, exquisitely furnished and decorated in the cream, blue and gold colours of the Hotel.
leading off from the hall were many corridors and rooms leading off to the other facilities of the hotel.
They followed the large man through the room treading carefully on the polished wooden floor towards a large circular marble desk at its centre that easily occupied almost half the space and behind which stood a team of many attendants in blue office suits patiently dealing with customers and taking care of bookings.
They made their way towards One of them who was free and the large man cleared his throat loudly to grab her attention before speaking without waiting for her to answer.
"Two rooms please, one regular and one double. Preferably first floor near the elevators and with balconies if available. 2 weeks booking with food expenses involved and gold customer care. Should be around 5,000 Musar"
'Musar? So thats their currency' noted King
"Okay, please sign and fill this in" The woman quickly responded as if she had not just been busy and handed the man a glowing tablet of sorts that had writing on.
He quickly flicked through and filled it in before handing it back to the attendant.
"Thankyou, please wait a few second sirs" she said before putting the tablet up to the screen which it disappeared into right before their eyes
They waited no longer than 5 seconds before the woman looked up from the screen on her desk and smiled warmly at them.
"Your rooms are ready sirs, please follow this assistant right through there to your rooms" she said, gesturing towards an assistant in a similar, crisp navy blue suit as the attendant and the man from earlier.
'that must me the workers uniform' thought King as they promptly followed the assistant to and through a large corridor at the far right corner of the entrance hall were they arrived at another hall, smaller than the previous one but big nonetheless.
This room however had no ceiling, instead if one was to look up they would see the numerous floors of the hotel going on and on. It seemed this was were you went to ascend and descend floors as there were a pair of huge escalators at its centre intertwining up and down, opening up to the different floors as well as hundreds of people making their way up and down them, going to and from their rooms.
on each of the four creamy walls were four pairs of double doors that would occasionally open up to let out the passengers within, letting the party of four know that they were elevators.
Despite their calm outward demeanours, both King and Royale were mesmerised by this room. King had expected this world to be behind in technology when compared to his previous one but he was now almost certain that it lost in no categories when it came to technological advancements and even seemed superior in some areas when he thought back to the floating vehicles they had seen on their way here.
The assistant did not seem as impressed and impatiently made his way to the closest elevator to their right and entered it, gesturing for them to follow suit.
The elevator ride was quick and smooth and passed by in silence before the doors opened up on to an open landing. 50 metres ahead of them was a sort of balcony that oversaw the large hall they had just come from, along which were sections that opened up to the escalators at opposite ends from each other, one going up, the other down.
They had no time for pause as they were quickly on the move again, this time heading left past large doors with gold plated numbers on them ranging from 1-20 on this section of the first floor.
They weren't walking for long before they stopped in front of a large maroon coloured door with the Number 17 on it and just below that appeared a sort of screen that read 'Kieve Swivson and Joe Canyum'.
The man had signed them in under these names.
"Please put your hands flat on the screen sirs" the assistant instructed.
King and Royale did as told and watched as the screen somehow scanned their hands before flashing green with a new set of instructions 'Place your faces in front of the screen to be scanned'
The screen had lowered itself to their height earlier so they had no problem positioning their faces in front of it. They starred straight at it as it scanned their faces before flashing green again with the words 'registration complete' before showing identical pictures of their faces with names above each person.
It seemed to have decided that Royale was Kieve Swivson and King was Joe Canyum.
Not that they minded.
"Okay sirs, face and finger print id have been registered, you can now enter your room," he then turned to face the large man who silently watched all this take place "you sir please follow me to yours" the attended recited before swiftly turning and continuing down the corridor.
King and Royale glanced at each other before Royale pushed the door open to their hotel room.
They had noticed the immense space in-between each room door when travelling down the corridor but once they entered the room they understood why.
The room was pretty much an apartment in its size. The door opened up to a spacious living room with cream coloured carpet and royal blue furniture and adequate decorations. There was an open doorway with no door that led to a small kitchen on the left wall and another on the right wall that led to a sizeable bedroom with two vast beds beside which were two tables each and a further doorway (this time with a door) that led to a huge bathroom and toilet equipped with a shower and wall entirely consisting of a mirror.
On the wall opposite to the bathroom door was a set of see through sliding doors covered by royal blue curtains that led to a wide balcony that gave a magnificent view of the beautiful city.
The room was simple but elegant.
On the beds were sets of clothes: Royal blue Cargo pants, Plain white tee-shirts and socks along with royal blue and black hoodie.
Wasting no time King and Royale had quick showers and changed into the fresh pairs of clothes before quickly heading out of their rooms and back downstairs using the escalators.
Once downstairs they hurriedly found an assistant, they were easy to spot in their blue suits.
After asking him for directions they quickly headed to were they were directed, the barbers.
After weaving through many corridors, past all sorts of rooms such as gyms, swimming pools, spas and restaurants, they finally found themselves at the barbers where they sat down on one of the comfy chairs waiting patiently for their turns.
The barber shop in itself was just as impressive as any of the other rooms in the hotel, Large, clean, professional and centred around the same royal blue, gold and cream colours as the rest of the hotel.
In front of where them was a row of barber stations, large leather rotating chairs in front of mirrors and tables full of hair clippers, razors, gel and more.
It seemed pretty popular as all 10 of the stations were busy and they had to wait a good ten minutes watching others get their haircuts as the waited their turns.
There were others waiting for them as well, but eventually one of the barbers finished with their client and turned towards King and Royale.
"Which one of you handsome boys is next" it was a woman, probably in her thirties, she had short, stylish blonde and brown hair and hazelnut eyes and clear peach coloured skin.
Royale and King glanced at each other, having a silent conversation before agreeing King would go first.
He stood up and walked over to the woman, sitting down on the comfortable leather chair and staring himself straight in the eye in the mirror as the woman strapped the barber cloth around his neck and grabbed a pair of clippers, passing mana through it as it buzzed to life before looking at him in the mirror with an expectant smile on her thin lips.
"Quite the handsome young lad aren't you, once I'm done with you, you'll have all the girls drooling over you." She ruffled his over grown mane and tutted her teeth "Gotta do something about this abomination first though, what would u like me to do with it?"
It had been years since King last got a haircut and he now looked completely different, he had no clue what would be best so confided in the professional.
"I don't know, whatever you think would look best"
"Oooh quite the brave one huh, don't worry, you can trust my skills. Your gonna leave here a new beast" she muttered almost flirtatiously and quickly got to work.
Soon after he began his haircut, Royale was picked up by another barber, this one dark skin like himself.
Fifteen minutes later, King was done and was waiting for Royale.
"Wheeeewh" whistled the hairdresser woman "I told you you were gonna look good, and your hair colours! you my boy are a fine young man"
King didn't know much about the currency so he just handed her the small pouch of money and let her extract her own payment, not caring much for if he got scammed or not. The woman seemed more interested in admiring her own work
Ten minutes later and Royale too was finished, they paid and headed out of the barber shop back to their rooms all while conscious of the stares they were attracting.
It was no surprise, now clean and well groomed it was clear as day these two were unfairly handsome, stunning even.
King with his peach coloured, lightly tanned clear skin, and Royale with his light-brown, caramel-chocolate coloured skin. Their well defined muscles and lean bodies and good heights for their age (both being 5 foot 2 each) as well as their good posture they naturally drew attention to themselves.
but their handsome faces ,and in King's case his hair, was what captured most peoples attention.
Royale had a well defined jawline ,a slim face and smooth lips along with sharp, mesmerising gold eyes and Black irises. Coupled with a blossoming moustache at the young age of 12 that gave him a more mature epithet, slim black eyebrows, dazzling white teeth (They had managed to keep their teeth clean in the jungle by using a tree bark and water to scrub-a method that worked surprisingly well) and his jet black hair which had been styled into a fine head of box braids that reached just below his eyes which were adorned with gold hair hair cuffs with a skin fade and a straight line up .
Coincidentally the barber who had done his hair offered to give him a free ear piercing, he accepted which is why it had taken slightly longer for him to finish and how he currently had one gold and black ear stud on his left ear. The process was suspiciously quick, easy and and painless, Royale suspected there was some sort of magic or ability behind it.
In short, he was devilishly handsome.
King also was not lacking in this department. He had a slim face with a sharp jawline and no facial hair to speak of but had a charming smile and slight dimples with clean white teeth, the same sharp gold eyes as Royale but with lightning blue irises and slightly bushier eyebrows and his hair which had been styled into a charming medium length curly taper fade with curly curtains of hair that hung on either side of his eyes and a pair of black glasses he had picked up back at the guards restroom back near the jungle when they were getting dresses.
Why did he wear glasses? after all he had regeneration- Turns out that his regeneration couldn't heal what he was born with before awakening the ability, they had noticed this during the 6 years spent in the jungle. Although not perfect these glasses seemed to working for now, he would get properly prescribed ones as soon as possible
What stood out the most about King was his hair, and not only because it was beautifully groomed. It was the colours. Predominately white, it was peppered with electric purple and blue aswell as a dash of gold in the ratio 50% white, 20% electric Purple, 20% lightning Blue and 10% Gold. It was an elegant mane of colours.
So yeah, it was no surprise the pair of friends caught a lot of attention from their surroundings as they headed out of the hotel onto the streets in search of the Academy trials.