Raindrops were trickling down through the rims of leaves and falling to the ground. It was pouring cats and dogs.

A slender, fair hand stretched out felt the pouring rain. It was the first rain of the season.

Aarav and Kiara were taking shelter under a huge tree. They were only a few miles away from the capital city. Finally, they reached their destination after months of walking.

It was a warm summer season when they first came to the planet. Now it was pouring hard.

They had spent some time with Valenthia. She taught them many things and they left for Caito afterwards. They could visit Valenthia from time to time. She would not leave them like Shula. They had bitter feelings from Shula’s departure but they cannot do anything about him. He had his responsibilities and they too had responsibilities for the rest of the survivors.

“They must be doing fine. I guess,” Kiara spoke with melancholy.

“You mean other survivors. Hmm, they will manage. After the rain stops, we will enter the city. Then we will able to send a message. They might have sent a message for us too.”

After the rain stopped, the duo headed for the city. The city gate appeared in view. Unlike Sanka, Caito was an open city. There was a long queue of people. Inside a pocket dimension, the city was safe from invasion, terrorist attacks or any kind of malicious intent. Overall, it was the safest place in the entire planet. It had only four gates which were guarded 24*7 or in this case 80*7.

Out of 257 habitable planets, only Taiba was the weirdest which had a day of the length of 80 hours. A week was of 7 days, a month of 30 or 31 days and a year of 365 and a half days. Every other inhabitable planet was similar to Earth except for taiba. Researchers of Elysium could never figure out the mystery. Most baffling was the fact one year in Taiba was equal to ten in Elysium or elsewhere. This issue was not even fixable using teleportation. And communication from the outside was impossible. If a person in Taiba sent a message to anywhere else in the galaxy, the receiver would not even be able to listen to the message, as it will be only span few microseconds. On the other hand, the person in Taiba might receive a word per day.

Nobody knows the reason behind the peculiarities except for them. While thinking about all the random kinds of stuff, the duo stood in line to enter the city.

The security check was too strict. A lot of items were prohibited. You needed a license for weapons as well as your vehicles. Vehicles included all the birds and animals, used as rides. It would have been a fun sight on earth if traffic police came up to you and ask for the license of your dog. Every animal needed a license, whether it is a pet or a ride. A person without an ID would naturally be kicked out.

Fortunately for them, they had already issued a temporary ID for themselves. Credit goes to Kiara and her melodramatic acting. She had shed tears in the administration building of the temple town telling them how she lost her everything in the terror accident of the North town three years ago. She had heard the story of the terror incident of the North Town from the pilgrims and used it as their cover.

A lot of people were displaced from North Town. Some did not even have proper clothes when they fled, not to mention their IDs. Now and then, people claiming from North keep coming to the capital. It was not easy for anyone to get IDs that way. It was just that Kiara and Aarav looked harmless to them. Their physique was equivalent to teenagers of the planet.

With ID and pitiful faces they could easily gain entrance to the city, the only issue was a livelihood. Shula before leaving had left them few weapons. They could sell it and buy a house and live a tardy life for a few months. But they did not have licenses for the weapons.

“What to do now?” Aarav asked with furrowed brows.

“How can he leave out such important information?”

“He is dumb. It is proven now,”

Kiara pondered over the issue and suggested.

“We can hide it somewhere and look for info on getting a license,”

“There is a lot in it. We will be screwed if someone takes it away,”

Aarav crouched down and looked at the mass of people around. He particularly eyed at the security check area. Aarav thought for a while and spoke.

“It is inside the ring. Will they suspect anything?”

“There is no way to find out. It does not look like anyone is carrying a storage ring on them,”

“Should we try it. They might not notice it at all. We already look pitiful. Who will suspect we are carrying contraband items?”

“It looks risky,” Not convinced Kiara interjected. But she soon gave up and spoke.

“ We are doomed anyway. Getting caught with it is better than throwing it away,”

“Does not sound convincing. But anyway. Come what may.”

Kiara and Aarav were indeed looking pitiful. They have travelled all over the jungle. Their clothes were in tatters, hair ruffled and there was dirt all over them. Looking like a human was already enough. Who cares about being proper after all that.

Kiara took the ring out from Aarav's finger and strung a thread on it and worn it around her neck. She hid the ring in her bosom. They hoped that the guards would not be rough with women.

And they went in with a breeze. They were looking like beggars. How can they have such expensive storage ring? Only bureaucrats of the city could afford such luxuries.

As they entered, they could see a flourishing city. Bustling streets, towering buildings, vehicles coming and going, there were traffic signals, city guards, almost like Earth. The buildings reflected the renaissance era architecture, white and marvellous, unlike the other city. If the temple town was a busy city like Mumbai, then Caito was probably Paris. Just the architecture resembled Paris and only that. The city was overcrowded and the entire population was not anywhere well off. Just like Earth, the difference between rich and poor was as clear as day and night. There were fancy-looking vehicles resembling chariots to Volkswagen. Chariots were pulled by horses that had horns. Those horses looked pretty even in vivid colours like red and blue. There were animals which resembled closely to those found on Earth. There were cars and public buses as well. Just that they did not run on petrol or diesel. They used magic stones or energy stones.

Entering the city in ragged clothes and messed up hair, our duo did not look out of place. There were many desolate-looking people out on the streets. People with clean clothes were a rare sight. Kiara and Aarav were instructed to go into the Embassy, a lavishly decorated building with many country bumpkins around it. That place was responsible for people like them who neither had homes nor means to survive.

They walked to the Embassy building with an unhurried pace. As usual, there was another long queue which stretched out of the building.

“Great another line. I just want to sleep.” Kiara was dejected. Thinking about all the procedures they have to go through just to live in the city was mind-wobbling. It was important but does that have to be done that soon. Thinking up to this, she was frowning. They were like illegal immigrants. Well, they were illegal immigrants. Good thing, they were allowed in the city.

The queue moved ahead like a snail. When they were hanging at the last thread of patience, their turn finally came.

“Are you together?” a mellow voice with androgynous face across the counter asked them. The person had pointy ears just like elves. Their gender could not be distinguished and they were really beautiful. They had a haggard expression but it was nowhere diminishing their beauty.

Fazed by the beauty of the person, Aarav soon responded.

“Ah yes, Ma_”.

He could not say Madam as he was interrupted by the person.

“Sir. I prefer ‘Sir’ as a term for addressing”. The man responded in a very British like accent. It was weird to hear a British accent in another language. He soon guessed that the person’s mother tongue has to be English. Changing to English Aarav replied to him.

“Yes Sir. We are together.”

The man was surprised and pleased to hear the familiar language.

“Oh, you can speak Anglic language.”

“Yeah, I do.” ‘He must mean the old English language’

“It’s rare to find someone speaking it. Are you also from Crillon”

They knew that there were many languages in Elysium. Many old languages from Earth were used here. Some were modified and sounded similar to existing languages of Earth. Anglic or English could have been the language of someplace, but for now, they were going to stick to the story, they were using for cover.

After telling their sob story, the man named Alize helped them with the procedure. He was very much helpful to them. He also told them the do’s and don’t’s, even the unspoken rules. He was eager to help them if they needed help in the future. That’s how they gained an ally.

Alize helped them get temporary housing. It was a small apartment with a bedroom, kitchen, hall and bathroom facilities attached. It was quite small, however, it was better than the dormitories where ten to twelve people irrespective gender were housed together. It was in a way, a VIP treatment.

“I am going to sleep like a dead log for now,” Aarav announced as his body touched the soft mattress of the bed.

“Eeew. Go clean up first. You are dirtying the bedsheets.”

“Let me be. Please for now. I am dead tired. I will cook you something delicious in exchange.”

“Fine. I will clean up first then”, touching her nose Kiara walked into the bathroom.

The house was clean with bare minimum furniture like sofa, kitchen appliance, a bed, a cupboard and table and chair. The bathroom was clean as well. It was small with just a shower, a commode and a sink. Magic surely was an effective means.

Kiara had OCD. She cannot stand dirtiness on her or around her. Now she can proudly say she no longer has those tendencies. She could not stay in small apartments like these because she felt them too small, cramped and dirty. Now she felt them very clean. This long journey had surely changed her perspective.

As the clean water fell over her head, a sense of bliss appeared on her face.