A new day arrived. The sun had not yet risen but Liam's alarm was already ringing. He stood up, yawned heartily, and left the room. While going through his morning routine, he heard tapping footsteps from behind. Liam turned around and saw his sister coming out of her room, sleepily rubbing her eyes.
"Morning Serena. Why are you up already? You still have some time."
"Morning. Couldn't sleep. Too excited…"
As she said this, Serena couldn't hold back a long yawn, prompting Liam to smile in amusement. The siblings changed their clothes and headed for the guild house's restaurant.
"No one here? It's so quiet…"
Serena's surprised voice echoed in the room as she looked left and right. Usually, Quiana and Adrian were the first to wake up. Those two were real morning people. After them a few of the other guild members would roll in before the Liam, Serena, Silva, and the rest followed.
"Perhaps they are eating in their room.", guessed Liam.
"Makes sense. It's so early, breakfast hasn't even been prepared yet."
"Let me make some. What do you want?"
"I will make some."
The two siblings spoke almost simultaneously. They looked at each other and chuckled. Liam shook his head, saying:
"You still don't trust me around food? It's just breakfast. How much could go wrong?"
"If you do it, surprisingly much!"
"Hey!"
Liam acted indignant, taking a step towards his sister. The little girl giggled brightly and ran towards the kitchen, starting to prepare breakfast. She was somewhat eager. On one hand, Serena was becoming increasingly fond of cooking, and on the other, she found it difficult to get used to having her friends prepare breakfast for her.
Dream Avenue didn't have a chef for breakfast. Usually, they ate nothing special. Cereals, bread, yogurt, perhaps some fruits. Easy to make. Yet their staff, mainly consisting of the community which took care of the siblings when they were at the darkest points in their lives, usually prepared some breakfast, taking the products out of the fridge or cutting some fruit.
Serena always felt strange. In the past they used to share food. But now there was this slight distance. Liam also noticed it. Their relationship became somewhat estranged. With Trey and his mother, it wasn't that bad, but the others started to treat him more like a boss.
Liam didn't enjoy the feeling, but he wasn't sure what to do against it. Luckily there was Serena. The little girl didn't have that many considerations. When she wasn't logged into Fate of Crunaboul, she often sought out the old friends to talk and fool around. Even if they were in the middle of work, the little girl didn't care. She might even lend a hand stocking items or changing water.
Naturally, the old friends were happy to have the little girl around. After taking in the siblings, Serena had always been the little treasure of the community. She was almost treated like everyone's daughter.
Today it was still too early. The staff would only be waking up in an hour or so. Therefore, Serena was quite happy while preparing breakfast. While she was doing so, the rest of the friends arrived one by one and Serena prepared enough for everyone, earning her the appreciation of the group.
"Hey, Quiana! Adrian! What happened for you to be last?! Did you forget to set your alarm?", asked Cyclone jokingly.
"Nope. We woke up early to pack our bags. Just got done with it."
"Why now? Couldn't you have done that yesterday evening?"
"What's the difference?"
Adrian simply shrugged. Yesterday they were watching something and didn't feel like packing. Thus, they woke up early today. The others answered with light smiles. Only Dominic looked at everyone, somewhat bewildered:
"You guys already packed your bags?"
"Sure."
"Don't tell me you aren't done yet?"
"Well, no. I'll do it after breakfast…"
"You know we don't have much time, right?", asked Silva, her brow raised.
"It's alright. How long can it take? I'll stuff some underpants and socks in there. Perhaps a nice shirt for the show and I'm done."
Bloody Edge nodded in agreement. The two former dormmates had similar thinking. Perhaps they learned from each other or from their seniors. But the others looked somewhat strange. Especially the girls couldn't quite gauge whether Dominic was joking or serious.
"Well, you know what you're doing…"
Soon, everyone was eating and the topic diverged. The friends were antsy, talking a lot. Breakfast took longer than usual and suddenly Dominic and Kel were in a hurry to get back to their rooms, their leaving backs chased by amused laughter.
Half an hour later two cars left the guild house. The friends had called for taxis to drive them to the train station. It didn't take long until they found their seats in the armoured train.
Since Star Energy was paying for everything, the friends naturally received the best treatment. Broad, comfortable chairs waited for them. Serena craned her neck to look out of the small window. Having only ever left the city during the Flower Festival she was extremely excited to see more of the world.
The train started rolling and the scene of the city slowly moved. Serena exclaimed happily as they passed the city walls. However, after that it became somewhat boring. It was still dark outside. The hills and fields were asleep. Only the occasional beast could be seen roaming the edges of the forest, but as the train accelerated it only became a blur.
Serena pouted lightly and sat back down, napping off a few minutes later. The train soon reached Mountain Gate City before continuing, finally arriving at the space port about an hour later. The friends stepped out and the spacious, sprawling space port immediately made up for the boring train ride.
The space port was not just a transportation hub. It was also an experience centre with shops, restaurants, a giant fountain, even a pool. Since there was almost no time when the space port wasn't busy, the shops were opened almost around the clock.
"We still have some time. Should we do some window shopping?", suggested Silva. But her statement earned her a strange glance from Mel:
"We don't have that much time, right? I don't know much about space travel, but isn't it said that you have to go through security at least an hour before the flight?"
"Didn't you read the ticket? We start from the VIP terminal. Restrictions are more lax there."
"Really?"
Mel was somewhat embarrassed. Contrary to Silva Colville, who had some experience with the space port and never even considered starting from a common terminal, Mel didn't even know about the VIP terminal. And she was not alone.
"Oh, we're VIPs?"
"Awesome!"
Obviously Mel was not alone. The others tapped on their watches and opened the mails they received from Sun's Knight, or rather Jon, checking the instructions.
"You guys are helpless…", chuckled Silva.
The others didn't care much. They were simply too excited. Soon, the group strolled through the space port while laughing and talking. They attracted some attention, dealing with some fans, but it was not too bad. The space port was basically a military facility with only a part being prepared for the common public. Soldiers could be seen patrolling around. No one wanted to behave too ostentatiously.
After a while the group reached the VIP terminal. Stern gazes followed their every movement, standing in stark contrast to the assistant welcoming them warmly. They had to scan a code from their tickets and were led to the security check.
Even for VIPs security was taken extremely seriously. Although the federation had barely experienced any malicious attacks, there were some tragic accidents. For example, someone smuggled a small, rat-like beast onto their ship.
As soon as the ship started to gather energy, the beast fell into a frenzy, made its way to the engine, and nibbled on some important cables. As a result, the energy was released, causing a massive blast. Not only the ship was destroyed but even a part of the spaceport was razed to the ground. It became an international tragedy with more than forty lives lost.
Almost everyone knew the story. Some of the friends remembered it at this moment and couldn't help but shiver momentarily. They cooperated even better with the security check, making sure that nothing was missed.
"Thank you for your time. Please, follow me!"
The assistant took the lead, guiding the friends to an elevator. They travelled upwards and arrived within a spacious business lounge. Even this early in the morning a few businessmen were already around, discussing matters among themselves. When the group of excitedly chattering young people appeared, they naturally attracted a lot of attention. At first the other guests were irritated but after recognising Hotpot they became enthusiastic.
The first thing Liam and his friends saw after arriving was the glass front which presented a view at the vast space port. They were eager to observe the ships outside but a few of the other guests suddenly came over, striking up conversations. The friends only got rid of them after saving their phone numbers. Afterwards they retreated to a quiet corner, ate some snacks, watched the space port, and waited for their ship.