Zain had opted to take his courses at the same time as Brayden, so they could discuss their lessons afterwards; Luckily, once he set up his phone, signing up for classes was rather easy.

  The smartphone he was initially given had some preset apps which had all of the things he required: A banking app which monitored his credits on his card, a schooling portal which had all of his classes along with his homework assignments, and a resident portal for putting in maintenance requests. There was limited data on his phone, and not too much storage space, but despite these shortcomings, he would have to admit that it was a pretty up-to-date smartphone.

  Looking around his dorm room, most of the appliances looked to be of a regular quality, similar to those he used in his day to day life; Apparently, this stuff was considered on the cheaper side here (according to Brayden), but from earth standards Zain considered it up to date, if not more on the expensive side. What newer appliances looked like was something that did interest him, but he decided to look into it later so he wouldn’t feel jealous. Maybe if he saved his money he could splurge on some cool stuff, but for now he just planned on getting his bearings.

  Once he and Brayden had finished their breakfast, they had decided to go out to get some things Zain would need for his bedroom and along with more groceries.

  Opting to wear his favorite outfit, Zain quickly got ready so he could finally see what the city looked like during the day. He recalled that it was rather cold outside during the night so he opted to wear a long sleeved undershirt along with the leggings he was transported in. Fortunately there was a mirror in the hallway that allowed him to make sure he looked decent enough to leave the dorm. He really had nothing to get ready with besides his clothing, so after he was finished changing, all he had to do was grab his phone, wallet, and keys.

  Due to Brayden’s insistence, his translating necklace was hidden beneath his clothing; As his roommate had pointed out, it was a surefire way to let those around you know that you were new and it could lead to more problems than it was worth.

  Zain sat in the living room, twiddling his thumbs as he waited for Brayden to finish getting ready. Admittedly, he was rather excited to leave the apartment.

  It had been hard to see the city when he had been taken during the night, so he was hoping to witness more fantastical elements he had not been privy to.

  With the added knowledge that there was magic within the world, he was hoping that he could see some people making use of it during the day. Brayden had assured him that there definitely would be real world examples, but Zain had some difficulty imagining what it would be.

  What kind of magic could be used on a daily basis?

  The answer to this question made his imagination run wild as he waited for what seemed like forever.

  Brayden soon exited his room, with the outfit he would be wearing. He wore a blue polo shirt with some beige cargo shirts. A nice looking watch hung around his wrist. It had dark brown leather straps with a red back on the watch itself.

  Apparently, when he had chosen to refine his translation crystal, Brayden had opted to incorporate it into a watch; he said that it had taken a while for him to save up for this accessory, but he was very proud when he finally got it.

  If Zain wanted some extra money, he could visit the job boards that had odd job listings and entry level job applications. Caution was needed when applying to these jobs as some of the listings were sketchy (it was basically craigslist the way Brayden described it), but it could be helpful for extra cash when you had nothing to your name.

  “I like to visit different job sites so I can detail the process for others like me. I usually stay for like a week after I explain what I’m doing and most places are cool with it. If you're not really sure what kind of job you want right now, then you’re free to join me while I shadow. Was there a career you were working towards before? I can probably give you notes on how to work towards it.” Brayden sprayed a cloud of cologne in the air and stepped into it, then added some extra squirts into his neck.

  “Hmmm…I was thinking of enlisting in the army once I finished school…”

  For a split second, worry flashed on Brayden’s face.

  Maybe the army doesn’t have the best reputation here…

  “But I wasn’t really married to the idea. It just made sense given my family financial situation and because I wanted to go to college.”

  Brayden exhaled in relief and nodded in understanding. “Yeah, that makes sense. You can’t go to college unless you have permanent residence here so that is more of a long term goal. You’ll have scholarships available, but it takes at least 5 years to get permanent residence and citizenship. For now we'll focus on short term goals.”

  “Is there something wrong with the military here? I’m just a little curious…”

  His roommate seemed a little hesitant to answer, but after a few seconds, he finally shared his opinion. “I have only been here for like 4 months, so I don’t know everything there is to know about it, but most of the stories I have collected from those in the military have not been the best. Especially for ‘ethereals’, as they are usually sent to the front lines of conflict. The things they have seen are not great…and there is little support for them once they leave. I don’t recommend it, sadly.”

  Yeah, I guess that makes sense. Plus, I don’t think I would want to fight for a country that I barely know…

  Brayden finished lacing his shoes then grabbed a drawstring backpack he had brought out of his room. He placed a handful of notebooks within the bag, placed it on his back, then motioned for them to finally go.

  Excitement began to build up in Zain’s heart, as he was finally going to see the bustling city.

  They stepped out their door and headed towards the stairway; he looked all the way down, then came to a distressing realization.

  “We have to climb up and down these stairs every time we go outside?”

  Brayden looked at him and gave him a sad nod. “Good for the legs though…ha ha…” He was laughing but his eyes were dead inside.

  Climbing down the stairs was not as bad as going up them, but Zain did not want to think about his return later - that was future Zain’s problem.

  As they descended the steps, Brayden started to describe the things that were outside.

  “You’ve probably noticed that this world is a little more advanced than ours. Not only that, but there is magic, which adds an extra layer to things. If I had to describe how much more advanced, it would be maybe 50 years ahead of ours. It had the potential to be much further, but there was a calamity that happened about six hundred years ago. Because of this disaster, the progress of the world stagnated and it took quite some time to recover.”

  “Calamity? Like a war or something? What happened?”

  Brayden paused on one of the floors, looking around the storage area for something to write or draw on. After rummaging around for a bit, he spotted a small white board with some expo markers off to the side. He began to draw what looked like a map of this world; it was crude, but the general idea for what the continents looked like was clear.

  There appeared to be six main bodies of land with a few collections of islands closer to the center of the map. Then once Brayden had finished drawing the continents and islands of note, he took the expo marker and scribbled in the center.

  Zain couldn’t help but tilt his head after his friend had finished, wondering why he found the need to do that.

  Holding the newly drawn map up, Brayden began to explain some stuff in greater depth, pointing to the giant scribble at the center.

  “There was an explosion that caused a great calamity 600-500 years ago. Due to this calamity, half of the world’s population was affected and many perished. This is the center of the explosion, and even to this day, there is no precise topography of the land mass there because no one wants to live there. Aerial attempts have failed to capture what the landmass looks like because it is still covered by a shroud of black clouds.”

  Due to this explosion, famine, disease, and death affected the world for about 200 years. Many people were forced to migrate from the epicenter of calamity, which caused a lot of strife and conflict. Animals were able to adjust to the newer conditions and as a result they evolved to monstrous variations of their former selves. The world has since recovered but there are many areas which are inhospitable for human life due to wildlife that now lives there. These were usually the areas which were closer to the epicenter.

  This content has been unlawfully taken from Royal Road; report any instances of this story if found elsewhere.

  “That’s the general gist of things. There is so much more history, but if I went into that, then we’d be here all day.“ Brayden looked around for an eraser, but being unable to find one, opted to use his hand to erase the board. After setting the board back within the storage area, they began to descend again.

  “So there are some parts of this world that are not inhabited by people?” That was hard for Zain to imagine, but then again, he was used to a world without magic.

  Brayden nodded, “Yeah. It’s a weird concept, but after seeing some of the creatures here, I can understand. If you had to choose between settling at a nice seaside or a cliffside inhabited by 1000 dragons, then the answer is easy. But I’ve heard there are some organizations which do try to conquer those inhabitable lands and sell them to private investors or the government. Most people tend to stay within the safe zones though, and it is pretty much the same as our cities. Except for the magic - but that’s a given.”

  Even though he might have been half joking, Zain couldn’t help but immediately zone in on the one piece of information that piqued his interest. “Dragons?” He gave a kiddish smile.

  Brayden looked at Zain and flashed a similar smile, “Yes, Dragons.”

  He tried to keep his cool, but his hands reflexively balled themselves and pumped excitedly in the air. Biting his lip did not even prevent the squeal of excitement which escaped from him.

  Brayden snickered as he saw Zain's poor attempt to suppress his excitement, adding on with a glint in his eye, “It’s not only that. Once you get out, you’ll lose your mind once you see all the mystical stuff they’ve got.”

  Subconsciously, Zain picked up his pace, trying to finish going down the flights of stairs as quickly as possible. After they had descended the final flight of stairs, Zain tried to proceed out the door but he was stopped by Brayden who had stopped at the RA desk for some reason.

  He hurried back, wondering why he would need to stop at the desk.

  Cole was not at the desk this time, in his place was a chipper petite woman with strange flowers in her hair. Brayden beckoned him back towards the desk, an amused grin on his face.

  “I know that you're excited dude, but there is some protocol we have to follow. Sorry, I forgot to tell you before we left.” He turned towards the woman with an apologetic smile, “Sorry, Aimee. He's new…”

  Aimee giggled, then shook her head. “It's alright. I remember when you first came. You were about the same.” Brayden hung his head in response, slightly embarrassed by his previous naivety. The young woman reached into one of the drawers then pulled out a tablet. She handed the tablet to Zain and leaned over the desk to better position herself to help him. “Every time you leave and return, you have to fill this out. I hope you brought your ID card with you.”

  Thankfully he had not forgotten it, he dreaded to think what would have happened if he had. Aimee began to show him how to navigate the program so he could sign out. It seemed rather tedious and Zain couldn't really see the point.

  “Is this really necessary? Do I have to do this every time?” He complained.

  She flashed him a sympathetic half smile and nodded. “Sorry, but it is protocol. You only have to put up with it for a year so try to bear with it.”

  When he had finally finished filling in the boxes, he got a prompt on his screen for his ID. The little infographic instructed him to press his ID to the screen so he did so, questionably. Once he did as prompted, his ID glowed with circuitry-like lighting pulsating, indicating that the task had been completed.

  He pursed his lips in slight surprise, then handed the tablet back to Aimee. After checking that the paperwork was in order, she nodded and congratulated him on completing his first sign out.

  She handed the tablet to Brayden, who finished his sign out rather quickly. It would seem that Aimee didn't even see the need to check over his sign out as she simply put the tablet away. She gave them a smile and waved them goodbye as they finally departed.

  There were several bus stops near the campus, but the quickest route to the store was going by subway, which was about a five minute walk from the dormitory.

  Zain looked around at the people who were commuting to the campus. He had expected there to be more people out and about, but he hardly passed that many people, and the ones that they did pass were bundled up for the colder weather. Brayden had mentioned that it was the weekend, so that could explain why there were so few people outside, but as he looked at those who were passing by, there were not really features that stood out from those he was used to.

  “Is there something in particular I'm supposed to be looking for? Besides the plants, I don't really see too many things that would be considered fantasy…”

  “Yeah, the people around here are not familiar with the magical elements like the locals, so don't expect to see anything until we get to the subway. Trust me.”

  Growing more antsy by the minute, Zain had to calm himself by exhaling; his breath fogged the air around him immediately, indicating how chilly it was that morning. He looked at Brayden, who was wearing cargo shorts.

  “Aren't you cold….”

  His friend looked surprised by the question for a second before answering. “No. I came from Canada so this weather is pretty pleasant to be honest.” He paused, hesitating before he continued the conversation. “Where were you from? If you don't mind me asking…”

  It was Zain's turn to be surprised by the sudden question. However, it made sense that his roommate would be asking these things now; they had not really talked about themselves since they were both too interested in discussing the inner workings of this new world when he had first arrived. Looking at his companion, who was eagerly awaiting his answer, Zain decided that he could probably open up to him as he seemed trustworthy. “I'm from the US. Georgia, to be specific, which is down south. This is like fall or winter weather for me so I consider this chilly. I also personally don't do well with the cold…”

  Zain was glad that there was probably no wind down here as a single gust would go through his casual hoodie. Brayden laughed at this statement.

  “Sucks for you dude, this weather is the norm here. It rarely warms up unless the volcano intensifies. Even then, it's 70 degrees at most.”

  Zain groaned which increased Brayden's amusement. They both had a good laugh as the subway entrance came into view.

  The subway looked rather impressive in Zain’s opinion: With an entrance resembling that of a cave, there were arches made of metal melded into the stony underground. There remained stalactites on the ceiling which made the ceiling look as if it was completely untouched by human forces; as one’s eyes traveled down, man made structures became more prevalent as it transitioned into a more modern transit system.

  The stairs leading downward were clearly made from polished stones, but a small waterway in between the ascending and descending stairs held a small biome of plants and animals.

  Despite looking like a cave, there was immediate warmth as they entered. Signs of caution, advertisements, and instruction infographics lined the halls leading them to the ticket area; Most were written in french, with the words slightly irritating his eyes as he looked at them because his brain automatically translated them. He had to blink rapidly in order to focus his vision again.

  They soon made it to the turnstile, with Brayden seamlessly passing through. Zain fumbled a bit, trying to retrieve his ID from his wallet, but once he did, he placed it on the screen causing its underlying circuitry to light up again, in turn granting him entry to the inner lobby area.

  A fountain had a stony goddess within its center, but the pool where the water landed had stalagmites within the basin along with colorful marine flora living in the clear water; the water itself seemed to glow slightly, as if small particles illuminated every ripple.

  The support columns were all covered by mossy overgrowths, with the greenery visible in the grout lines of the flooring. On the walls, there seemed to be strange paths of water that led to open pools of water, which for some reason had benches within them. Zain could only assume they were strange art pieces.

  There seemed to be a mix of natural formations along with man made structures which raised the question: Where did these natural formations come from in an artificial city?

  “Where’d all this dirt come from anyway?” Zain questioned.

  Brayden blinked, stupefied by the weird phrasing of the question. After taking a second to realize what he meant, he answered to the best of his abilities.

  “I’m not sure…I think it has to do with the establishment of the city…but unfortunately I haven’t made it to that chapter yet.” He said, sounding a bit remorseful.

  Sometimes I forget there’s a limit to Brayden’s knowledge.

  “Don’t worry about it, I don’t expect you to know every little thing. Just let me know when you find out. Sounds interesting.”

  Just then, small automated messages announced the arrival of the subway. There were not that many people waiting for the subway with them, likely because of the time of day they decided to leave. It did not seem that busy today, luckily, but Zain remembered something Brayden had said before.

  “So, you said something about understanding aura when we went out…but what did you mean by that?”

  Brayden smiled, “Technically, you’ve already seen it, you just didn’t know you did.”

  Before Zain could ask what he meant by this, the train made its stop right in front of them. The doors opened and a few people made their way out through the opened doors. Both he and Brayden began to move forward, with Brayden nudging him slightly as he spoke again.

  “Just take a closer look at the people on the train, then you’ll see.” A mischievous look crept on his face as he winked at his puzzled friend.

  Look at people? Isn’t that rude…

  Nonetheless, Zain complied with the strange request.

  Without being too obvious about it, he made discrete glances at the people they passed on the train as they looked for open seats. A lot were disinterested in their surroundings and were either looking out the window or at their phone screens. Many were bundled for the cold day, and were therefore hard to see in their entirety.

  He thought he caught some strange coloring in some people's hair, but as they walked, he wasn’t able to stare long enough to make out what was quite so strange about it.

  I guess they like dyeing their hair here…I guess, but what does that have to do with…

  Just then, Brayden stopped in front of him, having found two seats next to each other. Next to them was a mother and child, and on the other side was a young man who looked dressed for work at a service industry job.

  They sat down, and Zain furrowed his brow as he was still not sure what he should be looking at. He glanced over at the kid that was right next to him, looking at the game console she was holding. The graphics were really nice, and it looked similar to the switch or the steam deck.

  He looked at the little girl, who was really good at the first person shooter she was playing; She wore what one would expect for a little girl to be wearing, with the braids in her hair being pulled into two buns. The way they were adorned looked nice but the train made them tousle around in an unnatural way…

  Wait…IS that her hair?

  As he looked closer, the buns on either side of her hair looked like the heads of jellyfish: the hair which hung out from them looked like tentacles, writhing as if they had a mind of their own. There was a slight shimmer- no- glow to her locks, as if there was natural light emanating from them.

  Zain glanced at her mother, who wore her hair in a similar fashion. It would appear at first glance that she was wearing some sort of bonnet over her bun, but she too possessed a jellyfish-like attachment to her hair. This jellyfish was much bigger and intricate than the kid’s, but they looked very similar.

  What is going on?

  Zain looked at Brayden, who had a knowing look on his face.

  With a childish smirk, he inquired, “Want me to explain?”