Falling. 

They were falling. 

Screaming, Titania held onto her brother who by contrast was completely unfazed. 

A bottomless black hole underneath them. 

And they were falling. 

Suddenly and with a harsh movement they hit the ground. Admittingly, Titania held on to her brother's arm like a trembling lost foal. It was completely dark. Not a single source of light around. 

Raon was carrying her like a princess, and Titania took a deep breath’ the only sound in the darkness. 

A Snap of Fingers. It thundered like a bomb through the silent darkness as if they were in a large space. 

Seconds passed like hours. 

Then, all at once, orange Lights brightened up the room. One after another they flickered to brilliant life, and Titania gasped. In front of them a giant hall was laid out. The floor was made of stone shimmering in the lightest of blue becoming gradually darker, flickering stars on it. The ceiling high up painted with stars, swirling and brilliant moving lights. Pillars left and right filled out with gold and blue patterns.

Like a fairy tale.

 

Curtains hung on either side, but the windows… No, windows was the wrong expression. It was more like there were blank, black light-sucking  glass walls. 

“This is my palace.” Raon said and caressed the pillar next to him. “My personal paradise.” 

Titania turned around and stared at her brother when he snapped his fingers a second time. 

“I'll show you.” 

They walked through the ball room. And Titania had to admit she struggled to find words to describe it. The hall was haunting and beautiful alike. Raon touched one of the blank black walls and smiled at her. 

The surface wobbled and parted as if it was liquid and gave way to a motorpark. Cycles, Cars, Hovercrafts, Ships…whatever one desired, it seemed to be there. The hall where he stored it was ginormous. 

She stared at the wide expanse of vehicles until, suddenly, someone stepped out from the shadows. A woman clad in dark clothes, pale as a white sheet, her hair a dark brilliant black curtain almost touching the ground. She bowed to them, her ears pointed, like a faerie. Something starkly artificial about her way of movement. Her smile just a bit off, and her eyes just that bit blank to make one uncomfortable. 

“Master.” Her voice was a mere mechanical  whisper, and Titania flinched as the creature stepped forward. It looked more like a corpse than a person. A living corpse, a figment of feeble imagination. 

“Ah, we would like to have something that would get us safely to the border zones and back. You know these things better than me, Blade.” Raon said and the woman smiled. Titania half expected a blank and empty smile. She shook off her thoughts when seeing how it was a genuine one, one full of light and … care, but then there was that stark lack of it in her eyes

She shuddered. 

“Sure, if you’d follow me.” The woman said. Then, looking at Titania. “You as well young Mistress.” 

“Okay.” Titania followed her brother and the woman led them past one vehicle after another. 

“This would do…your keys, Master.” The woman handed a pair of keys into the Raons hands and he nodded as he told he with a simple sign to get on. It was a motorcycle. Titania noticed a lot of them were here, but unlike the others this one had a mage driven hover underneath it. 

“Here, take it.” Raon handed her a helmet. She looked at him and put it on before sitting. 

“Can you hear me?” Raon asked through the helmet’s earpiece and she nodded, hugging him. 

“Good.” 

“Have pleasant travels Master, young Mistress.” The woman said and bowed to them, snapping her fingers. Titania held on to her brother like a vice. 

Falling. 

They were falling again.

Flinching she felt the air leaving her lungs as they stopped and suddenly was ripped forward. “Hold on well.” Her brother said in front of her. “Hoverbikes are not safe, as in safe to drive, but their mobility makes them the safest option at the border Zones.” 

“I see.” She gripped tighter. “Can you teach me how to drive one?” 

“Mhh…I will… not, since mother will not like it.” Raon shook his head. Titania shrugged her shoulders. 

“You are already taking me to the border Zone without permission, you might as well teach me how to drive a hoverbike.” 

“Not wrong.” His turn to shrug,and slowly the speed they traveled at decreased as the streets got smaller, and tighter. 

Slum-Zones. 

Underneath them, the well made streets vanished to muddy brownish mass; bare ground. Next to them a few birds rose from the sides and Titania's head whipped up. There was a muddy wall up front in the distance. Here and there shadows hushed by and a woman from a window whistled down. Her brother, unlike how she knew him, raised a hand in greeting before driving past. 

There was laundry hanging on long lines above them as more and more people became visible. In some corners, no imagination was needed what woman and man, half clothed, skimpy or even not dressed at all were offering.

Their bodies, their only true possession. 

There was trash lying around, a few men were carrying it on top of their head transporting it, or on small carriages. Children were playing around, some were offering stuff and there if they had any to offer. Many were without shoes but strangely she noticed while seeming thin as sticks their expressions were not hopeless. The smell was, although bad, not like Acid, she remembered this place…different. 

Had things changed?

We are Tarajan, we do not forget where we came from but neither are we charity. 

We do not need the weak of mind. 

Harsh it was but maybe that was right. She held on tighter to Raon as the slums were getting thinner and thinner, green spreading. At first it was a small outskirt like scatterings that caught her attention when the destroyed wasteland came into sight. High towers. Skygrazing, higher than the ones in the city center. 

Fallen. 

Rubble.

Ruin. 

“This…”

“Was once the City…they called it Different. This was supposed to be a skyline.” Raon stilled as they drove deeper into it. 

“That is why no one ever says names…why they say it is cursed.” She muttered. 

“Superstition.” Raon snorted and then came to a still. “Hold on even tighter from now. We are in a danger zone now.” 

She remembered something about danger zone camps. But there was nothing here. 

“This…shouldn’t someone be here?” She asked faintly and Raon laughed. 

“There should…but there is not. We are spread thin, very thin.” 

She stilled and gripped tighter, leaning forward. 

“We operate on a call to the emergency system. Other families have walls. Hunter Walls. In a distance of one kilometer from each other teams are located. in case of an attack an alarm is lit and the defense starts.” He explained what she already knew. 

“I thought the same case was with us as well.” 

“No. Our City Zones have a far lower ratio of mages to begin with…. Tarajan borders operate on a call for help system. Paid Volunteers station themselves in closer distances on the outskirts of danger zones and set off an alarm in case of sight and attack. The alarm is sent to the bird’s Telepaths which then alarm in turn the mages spread throughout the border Zone.” He told her, “Over there.” He pointed at one of the towers where Titania's breath stilled. 

On the wall was a small girl. She should be around her age. Dressed well with a food packet next to her and a pair of looking glasses. A small transmitter stone on a piece of leather snugly hung around her neck.

“That is one.” 

“She is my age.” Titania muttered and Raon nodded. 

“She is a scout. She must be good at it considering age. Most important requirements are fast feet, good eyes and excellent danger perception. Their death rates are as high as average mages in other zones.” 

The sight vanished into the distance as the green got thicker and thicker, they were now in what was a forest as suddenly the trees vanished and it lit up in front of them. There was nothing there but the ruins of what once must have been a giant bridge. 

Wow….

Raon drove past it when the battlefield became visible.There was nothing there save wasteland, a few trees, lone monoliths still standing. Biting her lips she stared at it wide eyed. Soon a team, a camp came into sight. 

A few tents standing in the middle of devastation. Greeting hands rose as they drove past it. Not too far away were wooden crosses standing. 

This is the front. 

“This is what you wanted to see.” Raon said when there was a monster coming into sight. Running towards them.
Utter peace and calm among the hunters, internally Titania wanted to shout a warning. An audible blast thundered through the air. Having her gasp, as the beast was ripped into shred in seconds. 

She turned to see a mage. His emblem identifying him as a fourth order mage, he had a gun similar to hers in hand. His gaze was dark in worry and as if moving by invisible commands the Team formed.
Raon, not fazed the least, drove behind them and stilled his hover bike. 

“Stay here, once a monster attacks you, you press this button, the bike will get you home via Autopilot.” he told her and jumped down. 

“Okay…” Titania had no intention to disobey but neither to watch and do nothing. Taking out her guns she released the trigger.