“Water... Liquid...”

Cain slowly dragged himself towards the river, desperate for the cool flowing liquid to replenish his vitality. Blinking in the side of his vision lay the System screen, blinking with alerts.

Danger: Health has fallen below 50%

Danger: Health has fallen below 25%

Danger: Energy has fallen below 50%

Danger: Energy has fallen below 25%

“Alright, alright. Clear screens,” Cain muttered, scooping water into his hands and slowly drinking it. He could feel the liquid flow through his body and replenishing his body.

“Was that REALLY necessary?” he asked, rolling on to his back to stare at his sister, who had calmly sat back down in her chair and began inspecting her fingernails.

“Yes, yes it was. You need to be able to walk on water, communicate mentally, AND dodge my attacks if you want to be of any use,” Ariana replied, shrugging at her nails and letting her hand fall down to her side as she leveled a look at Cain.

“But I’m not even registered at the Association yet,” he complained, giving her a pitiful look. “Most people don’t even begin training until next week. Hell, the Academy selections haven’t even begun.”

“And you’re my brother. Like hell I am going to let you get to the Academy and get whooped by all those little rich snobs who think three-star ratings are god sends and ruin my name,” Ariana replied, pointing back at the river and snapping her fingers.

Sighing, Cain stood up and walked back over to the river. After he had gotten the hang of feeling the energy flow, water walking had become quite simple for him. The only issue was that, even though he had increased his intelligence attribute, multi-tasking with three things was still a huge hurdle to overcome.

“What do you even do anyways? I know you work at the Association, but even when I was getting my rating, they seemed to know you and gave me better treatment after they found out I was related,” Cain asked, mentally preparing himself for what was coming next.

“Oh, I never told you? I’m in charge of this cities defense systems. They saw my trap abilities and decided I would be a good fit,” Ariana said, standing up and stretching before picking up a pebble and holding it in her hand. Once it started glowing, she smiled and stared at Cain, whose mouth was wide open.

“Now dodge little brother.”

Thwack

System Alert: Health has fallen below 75%

-----

The Association headquarters was stationed at the middle of the city, plain in decoration but everyone knew exactly what it was and who used that building. To Cain’s eyes though, it looked like just another high rise building in the middle of a multitude of high rises.

“This is really it? I was expecting something a bit more... gaudy,” he said, eyeing the front door suspiciously.

“Of course, why would they spend the money on something that is perfectly functional, when they could spend it on themselves?” Ariana said, snorting at his question. She did make a fair point, Cain acknowledged. Before the Gate’s and after, the rich’s money spending habits never seemed to change. The amount of money they had put into building centers inside the Gate’s to train their military forces was astounding. He had seen the numbers once, and the sheer amount of zeroes made his head spin.

Walking through the front door, Ariana flashed a pass at the guard at the gate, and motioned Cain on through while she spoke with them for a brief second. One salute later and another guard had popped up, almost out of nothing, and gestured towards a door on the right side of the entry way.

“We had hoped you and your brother would show up soon,” the guard said, leading them through a maze of corridors. Ariana just shrugged slightly and followed her attitude suggesting that Cain had better keep his mouth shut. She obviously wasn’t comfortable with this form of attention, which meant to Cain that she hadn’t been stationed or even to the headquarters in quite some time.

“And here we are. The clerk over at the window will take care of your registration immediately.”

Cain raised an eyebrow. The internet was full of horror stories about waiting at the association for registration. It had even been likened in comparison to waiting at the DMV. Waiting until the guard left, he turned to Ariana, who was already speaking before he opened his mouth.

“Perks of being a high ranking official. I want to be in and out of this place before... Crap,” she said, her head swiveling to the side and staring at a short man dressed in a business suit.

“Ariana, how utterly glorious to see you,” he said, disgustingly graceful at the way he avoided people in the crowded room. Pulling a handkerchief out of his top breast pocket, he mopped away the slight sheen of sweat that glistened his forehead.

“Senator Elijah, how nice to see you here,” Ariana said, her jaw twitching slightly.

“Isn’t it though? My dear son, Theodore, is registering today, so I obviously just had to come and see how things were proceeding. Such a skilled little boy he is, he even achieved three stars at his Gate. Isn’t that wonderful?”

“Yes, yes, truly wonderful. Now if you’ll excuse us, my brother needs to be registered as well, and then I do really need to be getting back to work,” Ariana said, wrapping an arm around Cain’s shoulder and pushed him toward the clerk, leaving Elijah in the crowd staring after them.

“And who on earth was THAT,” Cain asked as soon as they were out of ear shot.

“One of the donators to the Association. He likes to think he carries a lot of weight here, but all he has is money. Which of course, is what the Association really cares about right now. The more people that are born, the more ratings the country has, which in turn means they need more money,” Ariana said, pushing Cain right in front of the clerk.

“Hi, may I help you?” the clerk asked, raising an eyebrow at the pair who had quite obviously cut in line.

“Ariana Everdale, here to register my brother, Cain Darkgleam.”

“Ariana... oh dear me. Please forgive me,” the receptionist said, her eyes wide. Around the room, whispers began sprouting up as her name passed from person to person in line.

“Seems you’re pretty famous,” Cain said, wincing as an elbow slammed into his rib cage.

“Yes, it seems all your papers are in order. Ms. Everdale had them sent over last night, so we managed to get them processed as quickly as we could. Here is your I.D. card and paperwork. Please have a good day!”

“Alright, let’s go. I can’t stand this place...” Ariana muttered, steering Cain out of the room as quickly as she could without knocking someone over. She didn’t stop pushing until they were out of the headquarters, and it was taking all of Cain’s balance to not fall over.

“What was that?” Cain asked, turning around and looking at his sister bewildered.

“I cannot STAND the headquarters because so many creeps like Elijah just meander in. Enough questions now, let’s go get something to eat. Even five seconds with him makes me want to drink,” Ariana said, heading down the street and towards her favorite bar. Cain groaned and hung his head, following slowly. At least she was light and they didn’t live too far away for when he would eventually have to carry her home.

------

“I wonder if my new piece is ready yet...”

The voice sounded out in the darkness, the metal mask reflecting in the light of the multitude screens as the being stared at them, pondering in curiosity. A slight smile contorted the mask as a laugh resounded shortly after words.

“Well, there’s only one way to find out.”

Click click click.