Elias and the twins were seated in the back of the seminar hall. It felt odd to have two identical girls with bright smiles on either side of him. He was still not sure why they were talking and hanging around him, but it felt good to have someone to talk too.

The strange thing was that they choose him, a boy from the slum and not a city person. The city folks appreciated people from the cultivation zones, without them there was no food. He hoped that this wasn't a bad joke they played on stupid boys from the slums. The hall felt so big it like you could fit a hundred people in it. But there were only three more people in the hall so it felt big and empty.

The other three were one girl and two boys, they sat some chairs from each other. But the two boys were sitting close and it looked like they were whispering and glancing at the lone girl.

She was obviously not comfortable with the whole thing and she continued to fidget with her glasses and kept looking back to avoid their gazes. Elias could not understand what the two boys were whispering like two school girls about. But then again he had hard to understand people in general, so he was not that shocked about not understanding.

"I think that glasses girl is interested in you" Ella whispered and snickered as she elbowed him in the stomach in a playful way.

Elias felt how his cheeks went bright red and he slid down in the seat to not proclaim his blush for the world. Well, he didn't blush from Ellas whispers, but from Ella's closeness. He was not used to girls and close proximity with them.

"Ella, aren't you a bit close?" Freja asked and leaned in against Elias. He looked from one girl to the other and tried to comprehend this predicament.

Could you overheat like an engine blowing out overpressured steam? In this case, the engine was his head and it felt hot and red.

The girls looked at each other and snickered even more before they sat up in their seats and gave him a look. Ella opens her mouth to say something but the door to the hall opened wide.

All the heads in the hall snapped to the door, where a middle-aged woman with a youthful sheen stod. She looked like a newly polished piece of metal that you knew where restored and second hand.

Elias had seen tons of women and some men have this aura of youthfulness. And he knew exactly where it came from, a piece of technology made and programmed in the slums and in the factory Elias worked.

And he hated it and the people that used it, he had seen the horrors from the trails they had done before it was usable. Destroying poor people's lives, to look a bit younger. The worst part is that these people didn't care at all if people died for their vanity some poor person died for their vanity. It only made them look younger, but they were still as old on the inside and would still die from the same sickness.

The women walked slowly up to the podium and looked at each of them, holding their gaze for a few seconds and then sighed loudly.

“My name is Rita Fein, and I'm a representative from the System HQ.” She said with a bored tone and flipped her papers before she continued

“Today you are here because you all just turned 18 years old and are still alive, congratulations to you all”

She droned on about how lucky they were that the system was taking care of them and that they should feel grateful for their lives, and that the system was in place. Rita Fein did not seem to like her work at all and read from the piece of paper she had with no emotion at all. She had an accent Elias could not place, but then again Elias had not met that many people outside the slum. And the funny thing about the after-war world where that the council had decided that everybody should speak the same language and that would be English. But there were still accents, but he guesses that where normal when you discard a entire language.

Rita turned to a large display screen and started mapping out a travel plan that the system had sat for maximal exposure to people with a laser pointer. Elias felt restless and wonder why he had to waste his precious time in a hall with a woman that did not care for them or her job.

This whole thing was just a ploy to get some more system propaganda in before they were let out into the world. All this information could have been tucked into a discom app, with an interactive map and all.

After 20 minutes of monotone droning Rita turned to the bored youths and sighed and took a short water break before continuing about how the system was gonna pay for their trips and lodging. Elias was hit by the reality that he had a chance his sister never had, but he still felt that it was odd that they had to survive their fated birthday before the system cared when loads of richer younglings were off to travel when they were 16 years old.

“If you want to live in more expensive places you have to pay for out of pocket.” Rita said and looked sternly at them and added while she looked eyes with Elias “ And, don't steal other people’s money or property!”

“That's that, should we start then?” Ella said while leaning in close again. Elias meets her eyes and for the first time noticed the deep blue color they had that was glittering like a vast sea.

“Let’s get this started then!” Freja said as she also leaned in close and smiled at him. Elias looked back and forth and were trying to figure out what they meant with it.

“Start what?” He whispered after a while and tried to stay calm with these two girls so close. The twins looked at him then at each other and started to snicker again.

“Out adventure of course” Ella started and gave him a smile and Freja continued “So let's go!” They grabbed an arm each and got him to his feet. Elias was afraid that Rita would say something about staying to the end of the seminar.

But Rita Fein just looked at them and then continued about that you get registered at the front desk and that you could take off. She even looked a bit glad that people were starting to leave, she must hate her job.

The twins dragged Elias out of the hall and they were brimming with joy and excitement and Elias felt so grateful to them. Their happiness was contagious and Elias started to feel at ease with the situation as they scanned their discoms at the front desk.

As the twins danced out of the building Elias felt a pang of anxiety about if he would live to travel with them. It sounded kinda fun to hang out with these girls and exploring the world with their positive attitudes.

“So are we off to the slums to get your stuff first? ” Freja asked as they walked down the street to the speed rail station. She a few steps ahead of him and turned around to walk backward as he replied “If it's not that much out of the way?”

“Well, you are to accompany us home too so it's only fair that you get to present us to your mother first” Ella said as a reply and Elias just looked at them dumbfounded and Freja added “It’s common knowledge that mothers care for who your child is taking on a trip around the world”

Elias looked at them and gave them both a big smile. And hoped he would not lose them during the trip to find three soul mates.