We finally walked past the gate ahead of us and its full spectacle was hard to ignore. A modern building designed to be like what you would see of sky scrapers, surrounded the round arena. The building was glass, letting the people view the opposite sceneries. The hand crafted interior was precise in its design, showing off the hard work of the architect's design without spoiling what everyone here wanted to see inside. But Elara was the first to speak, smiling with her spoils.
"Feast your eyes on these—V.I.P. passes. Lines are now a thing of the past for us."
Drawn in by her perpetual readiness, I couldn't help but express my admiration.
"Elara, your arsenal of surprises is endless. We're barely acclimated to this world, yet you navigate it with the finesse of a seasoned local."
Her smirk was a mix of pride and mischief.
"Keeping my an ear out pays off here. In a world where magic and tech reign, being in the know is just as crucial."
The weight of constant discovery was palpable, prompting a deep sigh from me.
"Each day unfolds like a relentless stream of lessons. It's an exhilarating, yet daunting task to keep pace."
Riya's look was soothing, her words a gentle nudge of encouragement.
"Volkner, this unconventional journey of yours? It's far from over. Embrace the peculiarities; they're what make this adventure truly ours."
Her reassurance was like a beacon in the unfamiliarity.
Grateful for her support, we continued onward, with Elara showing the way, her V.I.P. passes in hand.
Riya's calm acceptance of Elara's impromptu advantages caught me by surprise.
"Aren't you even a bit skeptical of Elara's shortcuts?"
With a light-hearted chuckle, she offered me a glimpse into her perspective.
"My role is to ensure your well-being. While Elara's approach is unorthodox, it's not reckless. Your curiosity, though, has me perpetually on alert."
Though delivered with a hint of jest, her words carried an underlying seriousness, a reminder of the delicate dance between adventure and vigilance in this new realm. As we made our way to the VIP line, we found the entrance to the lobby. The lobby was grand with tiled flooring, white walls and ceilings, the lines long, and gates inspecting each of the guest waiting with impatience to enter the arena. The many levels above us showed the floors of the building leading to the arena. Food stalls filled many of the halls. This lobby showed as much as it could, still without revealing the arena inside, luring the spectators' curiosity even further. At the VIP line, the bodyguard was a Zephyr dragon like Aerelith Galeborn from the news earlier, except his scales were gray. His voice was deep, bringing together his tall stature to create a somewhat intimidating figure, but a far cry from those I've met before.
"Give me your passes or I'll personally kick you out!"
One of the most interesting things about this situation was that I know sometimes places and people will be insulting, more so than what the public standards allow. Because of their dissuasion to the public outright, only the stuck up elites will stick around. Those people know what goodies lie behind the doors. But this also makes me nervous. I will expose myself to the elite. They're attentive people, they won't leave even the unimportant details out if they think it will profit them.
I experienced something like this from a time when things were going awry within the military, the higher ups appointed me and Elara to make the investigation. I had an array of monitoring devices at my fingertips, while Elara was a dangerous manipulator when given the command. Delving into all the footage and information with the help of Steve, I found that there's a leakage of information leaving Homebase. Armed with the information, Elara became a stranger of unique identity and face to find out the gruesome activity they were doing, killing civilians on the battlefield, selling organs, leaking information, everything they could do to make an extra dollar. These people were all elites, looking for another opportunity to make money. The greed of the people makes for many secrets like this here.
I have a genuine dislike for the Elite. The Elite come all too easy with their own ideas of what is right and wrong, making their ideals much more dangerous than the common folk with their wealth. It's the same thing with King Aethelric. He looks like as if he was one with lightning, but just like his element, it always goes for the easiest path. That sometimes isn't the best for everyone. To be honest, I may just be anxious. The wealth of information to rediscover is too vast. Like the transition from highschool to adulthood, no one left to direct you on where to go. People, when their old identity disappears, like to find a new role to fit into. Like the time a highschool teacher's experiment made their own cult, showing the people's aspiration to be a part of something bigger than themselves.
But now Elara Finished talking with the Zephyr dragon and we walked through without a problem, although once we turned the corner the scenery changed. The white marble floors decorated in blue wisps that seems to represent the aether that is all around us. The matt black walls with blue stripes pulses with palpable aether in the air. Cool, was what I felt, soothing the overwhelming heat from the lobby, most likely from the other spectators and their collective body heat.
"I find it intriguing that the air in this section is so comfortably cool in here."
Elara's lips erupted into a smirk. I could already see how proud she was.
"The world between the common civilization and the Elite is wide here, they're overwhelmingly prosperous here, our country back home couldn't compare to the wealth they hold right now, this is why Alopexia is so willing to collaborate with their passion projects."
Riya added more to the conversation.
"Herold Benedict warped this world into this messed up chaos it is now, but the people pressed on, seeing what the other nations, would potentially get from summoning people from the unknown. But the fact that both Aetheris Regnum and Alopexia had gotten such intelligent heroes was a miracle in itself. Even if you could see the total gross worth of it all, I don't think we could grasp the vastness of it all."
It only made me more curious about the world and everything it entailed, having knowledge to create an abundance of new building and construction methods might help, but I don't understand how can a country have a richness so expansive, that even our country back home can't stand up to it. Elara's voice was jittery with excitement.
"There's the room!"
I stood straight up, unsure if we could run into the other elites in this waiting area. Being too out of place could get us into trouble. Even Elara's mood shifted right before entering the door. The air about her change too. It seems my suspicions were right.
"our seats are at the front, the three at the end."
The room indeed has other elites inside, two of the Fox race, a human, and a couple from the Zephyr race. Thankfully, they focused on the hero. Thalen's match was to begin in 50 seconds. A screen hanged from the low ceiling, a few of them at a decent size to watch from, perhaps for moments when our room could not see the battle. I sat down and awaited for the counter to hit zero.