Ashton was jostled back and forth along with his pudgy comrade Kaz, in their rickety carriage. Ashton's black skin glistened as sweat rolled down from the heat. His lean muscles rippled slightly as he tried to steady himself in vain.
Kaz was the polar opposite, creamy white skin with layers of fat snug beneath. The boy enjoyed the heat and oddly enough, hadn't broken a sweat. The only discomfort for Kaz was the swaying of the carriage.
The two boys were nervous as they were on their way to a realm portal in the capital of Oolong County; the capital was Oolong City. They had been shipped from their backwater village to the wonder filled capital. The two had just enough money to catch a ride to the realm entrance.
Their finances had not allowed them to come early and explore the capital, like wealthier kids.
Their heads turned to and fro as they rode past a bustling city made of black wood, white marble, and pink jade. It made for an incredible sight. The eleven year olds would point, shout in exclamation, and laugh amongst themselves.
They must have attracted enough unwanted attention from bystanders as the driver sternly yelled for them to hush up. The boys calmed themselves, but their goober like smiles never crumbled.
After a couple of hours, the boys were finally taken to their destination. After getting off the carriage they waited in an immense crowd that was scheduled to go into the big portal standing in front of them.
"Man, I can't believe we're going into a realm to get our first bond. It looks like most of the villages around Oolong county sent people."-Ash
"You're telling me, I can't understand why the royal family would allow something like this given our social standing." -Kaz
The royal family decreed that a few realm entrances be opened to the general populace and all those ages eleven to thirteen, be allowed to enter. The announcement came a few years ago and the realms are opened once a year.
The reason given was to increase the quality of people's beasts and decrease the staggering death rate. People would normally buy beasts or hunt them in the wild, that however, meant that many would have low quality beast because of how difficult it was to tame quality low tiered beasts.
Buying a bond of quality was expensive and also a point of contention with the people. The nobles, aristocrats, merchants, and religious groups all muddied the waters by making it difficult for average folk to get higher quality bonds for a decent price.
This increased social divide and drove the general populace to start selling themselves to these groups as a means of obtaining more opportunity.
On the other hand, going into the wild to find beasts was dangerous, even more so throughout Emerald Kingdom. A kingdom notorious for harsh environments and beast waves; Oolong County being one of several counties making up the kingdom. Too many deaths to the crown meant not enough bodies to combat beasts and accumulate resources.
Ash was still skeptical of the crown allowing nobodies to gain better opportunities; his father taught him better than to blindly trust the reasons given to the general populace.