“Tenri, you stay here. Something’s going on.” I wipe the dried crust of mud off from Tenri’s face. Tears stream along my face. “I don’t know what happened. But people are trying to snatch it away… and kill us. So- So you stay inside this- Do not move.”

“Where are you going? Are you gonna fight them? I- I can help-”

“Please- for once, listen to me... Just think about mom, okay. What will she say to me if anything bad happens to-”

“What will mom say if something happens to you?!” His voice--firm and serious, no hint of his usual punking. His eyes, teary, locks onto mine, searching for an answer.

Markus slinks out from a dark corner. “It’s too late, Jayr. It has activated….G-God help us.”

“Markus, what the fuck did you do?!”

“I don’t know… “ Panic in his voice. “Soldiers, lots of them-- they’re outside. So I hid it here. T-They were looking for it… I was not gonna give it to them, but now I’m not sure anymore.”

Why… H-how did this happen? How did they know?”

Everything around us starts to fly around. Papers flurrying everywhere, liquids floating, the dust swirling around.

“Jesus Christ.” I stare at something. Something….

“We have no choice, Jayr. The association has---” Markus suddenly lunges at me, his hands gripping each side of my head.

“Jayr! Jayr! Wake up! Wake up!” He screams at my face.

------------------------------------------------

“Markus!!!”

I see my hands reaching out, to an empty space. The room looks familiar.

What happened to me?

“Markus?”

It’s Endra’s voice. Yes. I remember. I’m in a new world.

I let that revelation slowly settle in as I compose myself, deeply breathing in and out.

But that dream felt very much real… like it really happened, a long long time ago.

“Hey.” I look at Endra, finally acknowledging his presence. He is standing right beside the bed, his cane on my stomach. With a swift flick he points it at the floor, walks towards the chair and slumps on it.

“You’ve been screaming ‘Markus’ when I went in…. Sounds like food to me.” Endra laughs. “Anyways, a physiological examination revealed that your glucose level was extremely low causing your body to shut down … In simpler terms, your body was in dire need of food. They have addressed the concern so do not worry. Moreover, I ask that you do forgive us for our negligence with regards to this matter. Your position was initially difficult, thus your physical needs were obscured as a result. So whenever you feel hungry, go to Section 2 on this floor-- 31-- and present your citizen card. Floor 31 species are also accommodated right there for their daily food necessity.”

I nod my head. “Okay.”

“So dreams? Why do you think the majority of the species dream, Jayr?”

“I don’t know.” I stare at his cane, as I clear the grogginess of my head. I really want to think about my dream for a moment-- alone. But Endra, he’s rather inquisitive.

“It’s still rather mysterious, despite the in-depth studies the experts in Hamae are conducting.” Endra’s eyes scan the ceiling as he speaks. “Some say it's merely a random construction of thoughts and memories. Some say dreams hold meaning, ever relevant when one is lost, suffering, and doubtful. Yes, I might say it’s fascinating.”

I answer him with a genuine I-don’t-know-the-answer-look, and the corner of his lips twitch in mirth.

“You are free to take a look around, as long as you don't go further beyond the designated level of your citizenship. The Keeper will send a summon for you soon, so I advise you to stay close. I assume the MAD should be working by now.” Endra tosses a circular device to me, landing on my cupped hands.

“It’s been customized for you. It will tell you the current time, your location, and the magic capacity, in the Hoggen Scale, of the person you point that sensor on- that small circle right there. The button on the left is for switching the visual interface to its different settings- maximized, minimized, and hidden. Attach that device on your wrist, it will connect itself to your neural network.”

Endra points at two buttons, each at the edge of the device.

I inspect the strange device. It looks similar to a wristwatch except it doesn't have--

Fuck! Lightning quick, the device leaps to my right wrist, latches itself rather snuggly, and needles something into my skin. A stinging sensation jerks my other hand to pull it off, but Endra quickly stops me split seconds faster with his cane.

“Calm down. Like the MAD and the Inhibitor, it’s an organic augmentation, the standard technology in this galaxy.”

Images and thoughts of Etravean technologies flash on my mind. “Yes, I can see… the information about it. So this is a variant of a Casimiro Device; a chronometer, map, transmitter, and magic sensor- all in one, invented by the great Casimiro,” I say, in awe of how seamless all of these appeared in my thoughts like they were my own, and with Casimiro- the Etravean inventor.

After a few seconds, a visual interface appeared in front of my vision, just like in the video games. This is not a surprise to me, somehow the MAD had shown me how it works. I click once on the left button of the device to minimize the virtual interface. The map showing my location, and the digital clock were immediately scaled on to the upper corners of my vision. I shut my eyelids, and it disappeared; did a few experiments, and figured out that as long as an eye is still open the interface will adjust itself.

Dang, if this device is brought to Earth, I wonder what sort of uproar it will stir. Everything around me oddly feels like a video game with this interface in my vision, the only thing it lacks are HP and MP indicator bars; nevertheless, this is really convenient.

“Good that it’s working just fine. Now, you’ll be fine on your own.”

Endra stands up. “How is time measured and divided in Hamae?”

The information emerges in my mind, and I answer him.

Public Etravean Standard Unit of Time:

Leyn:1/80 of heyn

Heyn: equals 80 leyn

Geyn: equals 80 heyn

Foyen: equals 40 geyn

Royen: equals 40 foyen

Toyen: equals 7 royen

Soyen: equals 7 toyen

“That’s good. Now I shall leave you to your own devices…. Oh one more thing, if there are any urgent questions or concerns that you need to ask of me, transmit a message to me using the Casimiro device. It has that function. To activate it, just think about calling me, and an option to call me would appear in your vision, then select yes, and speak on that Casimiro device on your wrist. It will work with anyone who owns a Casimiro device” Endra nods at me, urging me. “Try it.”

I follow his instructions, focusing my thoughts into calling him. True to his words, a message, with two selections underneath, surfaces right in front of my eyes:

Call Endra?

I gulp and choose yes.

Connected.

“Hello?”

Endra replies. But his voice is transmitted into my mind, which catches me by surprise. Weirdly, I can hear him with my ears and my thoughts-- if that makes some sort of sense.

“Alright.” Endra presses a button on the device attached to his cane, and walks towards the door. “See you around. Now if you’ll excuse me.”

“Thanks,” I call out to him.

He waves his hand in response as the sliding door swishes open. And seconds soon, I am left all alone.

But it is the perfect time to calculate the equivalent of Earth’s standard measurement of time to Etrave’s. Assuming that one leyn, as the lowest unit, is equal to a second, and work from it towards soyen.

Ugh, I think my brain will fry itself.

Never mind, I’ll just try it when I have my hands on something that I can write on. For now, touring around would be the best idea.

I heave myself out of the bed, stretch my limbs, and-- my nose. I caress it, careful. But there is no pain, it’s healed. I scramble my eyes arounds looking for something that can serve as a mirror but it is fruitless.

One more in the list for things to do later, I note in my mind as I walk out the door.

I maneuver myself around the floor’s pathways using the map, with some familiar corridors, until I arrive at the take-off platform for the fly-crafts-- as what the locals call it.

Even though I have feasted my eyes before with this bustling scene, it’s still something my eyes wouldn’t get used too for several soyen. The mesmerizing cluster of colorful fly-crafts swirling and swirling higher towards the top of the tree where a wide floor sits, its shadow partially blocking the streaming sunlight that slips through the foliage; the scene resembles a Van Gogh painting.

But I move on, worrying that passerby would take me for someone strange; nevertheless, just my luck, there is not a single existence around except the guards.

The Dyevan guards inspect me with their piercing gaze as I approach their daunting presence. So I hold out my citizen card from my pocket and show it, hoping they’d tone down that overwhelming aura. Without Endra, they seem scarier.

Should I try checking their magic capacity? What if they notice? God, forbid me from doing that.

Nervously, I clear my throat. “Err… Um, where can I get a fly-craft?”

One Dyevan guard walks closer towards me. “Can I see your citizen card?”

I crumple my eyes and tilt my head sideways, unsure of what or where that voice came from cause I’m sure I haven’t seen his mandibles move. I am waiting for the MAD to flash some images or thoughts but all I can see is the description the Endra told me about. Perhaps information about them is confidential or only available for those whose citizenship is a level higher.

“I am speaking using this.” The Dyevan guard points at a speech device on its stretching neck. “Our species don’t have a vocal cord, a tongue, and a complex brain, we can only function socially due to the organic augmentations implanted in our brains and body.”

Now that I’m really close, these Dyevan guards don’t really look organic or carbon-based. But their crystalline appearance could just be shells?

“For level 3 citizens, you can use the fly-crafts parked there--”

I follow his pointing finger. At the far side of the platform, several medium-sized fly-crafts with white and magenta vertical stripes.

“-- you only need to have your card scanned at the scanner beside the console, that will serve as the verification and ignition.”

“Do I need to pay Vils?” I ask.

“Yes.”

The Etravean currency, Vils, does not have a material equivalent; rather, exchange is done through citizen cards where the transaction of Vils is done. Fortunately, it seems like my citizen card contains a sufficient amount as I navigate through the holographic screen-- MAD tells me the Casimiro device enables one vision to detect the holographic screen on the citizens card, but with an encryption to prevent others from seeing the content of the screen, though they’ll see users using their cards.

Astounding, really.

I thank the guard, and walk straight towards the fly-craft, barely containing my excitement-- or I can say, that inhibitor containing my excitement. Though as I inspected the elongated pentagon with curved tip vehicle, I can’t help but wonder at the widespread use of organic augmenting accessories but why not citizens card. Even the MAD shows no sign of answering.

When my eyes arrive at the console, I slip the citizen card in a slit, reminding me of an ATM card, and the vehicle-- with a silent swoosh-- slowly levitates. The card did not slide back out, maybe it’s needed for the vehicle to stay on.

A split-second after, a holographic screen pops up showing the parts of the Etravean map that is accessible by a level 3 citizen.

Swiping floor maps aside, I stop until I can see the Library of Re-Val, Section 1. On the 11th floor, there’s the Bogumil Library-- not what I’m looking for, so I move on.

After a number of swipes, it finally appears. But heck it was just two floors under. Why did I have to start from floor 1? And it is only accessible by level 2 citizens and higher, which makes me ponder about the difference between these two libraries.

I figure out these flying vehicles can be driven in auto and manual mode. I choose the auto mode; flying manually along that thick traffic as a beginner will definitely cause me some trouble. I’ll practice manually driving some other time-- for emergency purposes. If it will happen.

The vehicle sidles out the line and speeds towards the edge of the platform. I glance at the guard, my face flushing with embarrassment and fear, but the guards pay me not an ounce of attention. Their gazes, fixed towards a designated position, incurring a thought that perhaps they are robots.

I heave a sigh, admonishing my foolishness, and turn my gaze towards the line of different species on their vehicles not far from my sight.

Not shortly after, I found myself in the parade.