It was still dark in the Lower Districts when Min finished grooming himself, but he didn't need much light as he headed to his small closet and opened it. The contents were nothing more than a few sets of white and black undershirts, a beige winter jacket, a set of well worn brown working pants and several sets of academy uniforms consisting of a navy blue blazer and pants. Min had simple taste in clothing to put it positively, preferring a minimalist approach, at most he would self justify with a joking reversal of a famous quote "The man makes the clothes". Picking out a uniform and a shirt absentmindedly, he pulled them on with a haphazard familiarity as his thoughts drifted toward the drop simulation he would participate in later that day.
Drop simulations were closely related to the Afterworld, they were a small taste of what could potentially befall a person who entered the multidimensional realm that seemed to change and shift with every moment. The Drop, as it was called, was invented in the later mid imperial age by a high tier Space Awakener who borrowed the power of the Artificial God in an attempt to acclimate promising young Awakeners and reduce their casualty rate in the Afterworld. Using his power and all the Aether he had at his disposal he forcibly calculated and locked the spatial positioning of thousands of lesser planes in the Afterworld. His idea was to pin down a dimension and keep it from drifting into uncharted territory, and to that end he created the multidimensional immovable linchpin known as Anchors. Min recalled a history lesson he had taken years ago that mentioned the early imperial age before the creation of Anchors, countless corpses of Awakeners had left a lesson written in rivers of spilled blood to never underestimate any area of the Afterworld, even those that had been explored and mapped countless times before. He didn't think there was a high probability of planar drift happening to him, the lesser planes that were anchored had hardly shifted in thousands of years, but it never hurt to prepare for the worst. In order to participate in a Drop, one had to apply to the local district government for a time limited permit and one had to be a registered imperial subject. On top of that were various other requirements for performance and character. Min had obtained his through the connection of his history teacher Ben Zafta, who he liked to call Old Ben in private.
Min paused for a moment after straightening out his cuffs and collar in the mirror before turning around and walking back to his bed. He knelt on one knee as he reached under it with one hand until he felt a faint indent in the wood panels, hardly noticeable at all for most but he knew it like the back of his hand. An index finger pushed in and pulled back and up in one smooth and practiced motion releasing the panel from the floor without a sound. He laid it down gently and reached inside a small space under the board until he felt the cold and hard touch of metal. Min pulled the object out slowly, before turning it over and rubbing its crystalline face with the edge of his cuff. It was an antique pocket watch of exquisite construction, with a body crafted from a silver metal upon which was engraved a scale-like pattern that glimmered faintly in the dim light filtering in through the window. Its face was covered with clear crystal and housed a old fashioned mechanical clockface with an ebony black hour hand and an ivory white minute hand pointing towards stylized golden numerals that ticked gently with the passage of time. Curiously, there were no screws or panels holding the watch together, it appeared to be a seamless whole of metal and crystal, and there was only one dial on top of the body that couldn't be turned no matter how he tried. Mins inner engineer was curious about how the internals were maintained without any way to access them from the naked eye. Well, Old Ben does love this watch, I should probably let him see it again today, perhaps he will forgive the last time I forgot to show up for his Ancient Peoples of the Pre Imperial Age class. Palming the watch and slipping it into a deep pocket on the inner lining of his blazer he stood up and walked to the door, where he picked a pair of black boots off a small plastic rack and wore them. He then twisted the door handle and pulled, a protesting creak coming from the cheap door as it opened into the corridor of the building that was a shared living space with all the other Wards. Click Beep the door automatically shut behind him as he walked out. He wouldn't be able to get back in without his Ward identity card. The passageway was dimly lit, as usual, and none of his neighbors appeared to be around so he jauntily headed toward the nearest elevator.
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Upon arriving at the elevator, which was of a transparent construction, he pulled his card and pressed it into a small metal compartment on the left side of the doors, waiting until it turned green and pushed his card back out with a soft click before stepping into elevator which closed behind him as he pressed the button for the train station. The elevator dropped instantly as if weightless without a single jostle, courtesy of its magnetic propulsion system. Upon reaching the station the doors opened and Min stepped out into a colossal and brightly lit underground cavern.
"Citizen 00302011 please follow the blinking red tracks to the police station"
"Boarders of Sky Train heading for the Lower District Academy will need to be at Terminal 8 before 4:30"
"Damn, where did I leave my card? I swear I had it before I got here"
Even at this early hour the train station was chaotically busy, full of lights, sounds and the occasional humanoid assistant robot directing masses of people to their destinations with pleasant if somewhat uncanny voices or catching troublemakers. There were people of all shapes and sizes, walking leisurely to their destinations or running at a controlled pace to avoid being stopped by a traffic robot. Min noticed police droids, round balls of unassuming black metal and rubber that rolled about silently, weaving in between commuters and other robots in a way that seemed cute and almost comical. He knew better however, the two hundred kilogram machines housed advanced internal detection systems second only to their military grade brethren, and carried enough weaponry to stop anything short of a full on squad of elite soldiers or a combat type Awakener. Furthermore because of their shape and rubberized exterior it was very difficult to damage them with a conventional melee weapon. Thanks to droids like it deployed all over the city there was very little truly violent crime.
Min jogged at a light pace toward a terminal in the distance, dodging robots and commuters with agility. The sky train heading to the academy came by once an hour and as long as he wasn't too late it was relatively easy to find a good seat. As he neared the magnetic tracks he saw a ruby red head bobbing excitedly just ahead of him, sticking out conspicuously from the crowd. Oh no, not this early in the morning. She hasn't noticed me yet, maybe- He slowed down, attempting to blend into the crowd that was waiting for the train. Almost, Almost there just a bit more- Min tread lightly as he slid skillfully behind the frame of a hulking beast of a man, or was he the same age? After all the people waiting here were mostly students, but looking at his nearly three meter frame, shoulders broader than a doorway, and features carved from a crag it was rather hard to believe. Probably some kind of demi-human from the grayish color of his skin. His thoughts drifted as he relaxed from a mission well accomplished. Or so he thought. A light and small but hot hand landed on his shoulder and squeezed. Min had a sudden illusion that he was standing directly in front of one of the burning furnaces from the Ward foundry. He didn't bother turning around, it was all he could do to avoid slumping over in defeat, which would not be very elegant of him. He hated losing face. "Rhea? Yeah you win again, what do you want?"
