The moment I stepped off the airplane I was greeted by a massive waterfall pouring seemingly from the ceiling of the airport and into a large basin several floors down. Sunlight filtering through crystal ceiling and shining on the waterfall cast the entire world around me in dazzling color and rainbows.

Jimin grinned at my mesmerized face. "Have you never visited the North City?"

I had to blink several times before I found my voice again. "Er, I visited once when I was young. I don't remember much then."

Last night had been rough and Jimin and I had curled up together on the couch watching late night movies before I'd finally drifted off into a disheartened sleep. I had yet to tell him what had happened at the dinner table, how irrational, and even violent, my parents had become. He didn't push it but made sure I knew he was ready to listen whenever.

That alone had made me feel a little better. We headed to the airport early this morning and I'd fallen into another fitful sleep on the plane. Jimin had woken me up when we'd landed. I'd still been blinking the sleep from my eyes when I'd stepped into the opulent world that seemed like a scene from some fantasy movie. I was wide awake in an instant.

"Let's head to the hotel." Jimin nudged me, bringing me back to reality.

"Hotel?"

Jimin glanced down at his phone, tapping around on what looked like a map. "My dad already paid. It's a pretty lavish hotel too." He grinned suggestively.

I really needed to shave off his eyebrows someday. So much wiggling could not be healthy.

He just laughed and linked our arms together since both of our hands were holding our luggage and bags.

I allowed him lead the way through the airport and then to the transportation where we got into a taxi. I had no clue where we were going and contented myself with marveling at the city outside. And what a city it was.

Compacted buildings of metal and glass rose higher than I thought was possible to the sky. The sidewalks everywhere were packed with more people than I'd ever seen, both Outworlders and humans. The traffic on the street was, if possible, more crowded with cars and buses than pedestrians on the sidewalks.

And then a loud roar erupted in the air. Louder than anything I'd ever heard before, shaking the very air around me.

I yelped and immediately recoiled against Jimin, away from the window, heart racing.

"Easy there partner," Jimin laughed as I squashed him in his seat. "Have you never heard an airship's engine before?"

"Airship?" I peeked up at him where I was clinging tightly to his torso.

He gestured out the window. Cautiously I peeked out the glass and my mouth fell open.

A massive beast of shining metal, blinding in the sun, was slowly but steadily roaring over the city. I swore a single foot lower and the aircraft could take out the top of the highest skyscrapers. An airship.

"That's insane," I breathed. I'd seen old footages of when airships had first touched down on Earth back in 2020, over two decades ago. But looking at airships on screen and seeing one in real life were entirely different experiences.

Now Jimin leaned over, resting his chin on my shoulder as he too gazed out my side of the window. "Welcome to the North City," he purred in my ear.

I made a face at him and batted him away. I felt bad for the taxi cab driver who had to endure our giggling and teasing in the back.

'Lavish', as Jimin had described the hotel, did not do the building justice. It was a pillar of gleaming white concrete and stone. Golden shingles lines the roofs—yes, roofs— of the building. Neat looking doormen took our luggage and escorted us to our rooms after Jimin had checked us in.

The suite rivaled the size of the Sharehouse entire first floor. There were two main connecting rooms: the front room where a luxury sofa faced a wide screen TV hung on the wall, and the bedroom beyond where I glimpsed another large TV on the wall. The floors were covered in thin but foamy carpets that made me immediately kick off my shoes and jump around, relishing the way the carpet had a little spring in it.

"You look like a kid on Christmas morning," Jimin laughed as I hopped around the floor.

"And for my Christmas present I demand you keep your judgement to yourself," I replied, not even pausing my hopping around.

Jimin set the room key down on the large on a tray beside the door and took off his shoes before padding on the carpet. "It does seem kind of fun to jump around in," he allowed.

"Jump with me." I grinned hopping in little circles around him.

"That will be a pass for me," he chuckled. "I'm going to look outside. I think my father said you can see the Infinity Council national headquarters from here."

I stopped hopping around at that and stared at him. "For real?"

"Want to check it out with me?"

I jumped one more time across the squishy carpet before joining him into the bedroom where one wall was pure glass. Our room was on the twelfth floor of the fifteen story hotel and the view of the city from all the way up here was breathtaking.

Aircrafts of all kinds flew above the city and I spied in the distance the renown Northern Airstation— a massive crooked A-shaped structure. Even though it appeared almost on the other side of the city you could easily see it rising above the other skyscrapers from this distance. Planes and aircrafts circled the structure in a way that reminded me of bees on a beehive.

It was all very overwhelming.

"There." Jimin pointed. "That's the Infinity Council's headquarters for this country."

I followed his finger to a tall silver needle-pointed building. The sides of the structure almost appeared sleek and slippery, curving elegantly in ever so slightly. So that was the headquarters where the leaders of the New Order resided and met in this country.

"I could probably just walk there tomorrow," Jimin noted half to himself.

"You're meeting General Konu tomorrow?"

He nodded. "Suppose to spend all day with the old chap."

Despite the light tone in his voice I could see his shoulders were stiff. I reached up and gently massaged a shoulder comfortingly. "It can't be much worse than last night's dinner with my parents," I muttered.

Jimin exhaled. "We can talk about our dear progenitors later. It's too bright outside to have dark feelings and I'm hungry. What say we walk around and find something to eat for lunch?"

I nodded. Food. I liked food.

"And later." A familiar sultry grin crept across his lips. "We should go for a night swim in the hotel's complimentary rooftop pool and hot tub."

"I didn't bring a bathing suit."

The sultry grin turned absolutely feral. "Even better."

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Cover by UrNxghtmare