"Isn't he just the cutest?"
Holding onto her newborn cousin carefully, she couldn't help but be entranced by his soft round features. Not to mention his bright eyes, a bright set of amber, inherited from his dad.
"Haha, you'd be right about that!" Her older brother and his fiance watched along, with smiles and giggles on their faces.
Bearing witness to her fondness for the child, his fiance put together her hands gently, asking. "You should come by more often when you're free from work and look after him with us!"
"Maybe so! I was thinking of settling down here soon." Rocking him back and forth gently, the baby slept comfortably, making subtle noises once in a while.
"Great! I think he'd really enjoy your company and of course, having a helping hand is always good!" Together, they all bore innocent smiles, enjoying the joyous occasion till dawn.
"Mhfmm.. Mom, Dad..?"
My eyes awoke, laying on the same bed. The one I have stopped by for 2 years of my life now.
"Was it a long dream?" I felt like someone was talking to sis again.. Their faces weren't recognisable, but it felt oddly familiar.. His mustache began turning gray, her black hair tied up with a golden pin.
Looking over my right shoulder, the clock displayed 19:23.
"What?" Have I been asleep that long?" The nap lasted way longer than I thought. While I laid on the bed lazily following my lava lamp, whose lights reflected onto the ceiling, my stomach began growling.
At first it was only a relatively short grumble, then it became slightly longer and louder, until it finally dawned upon me.
"Ah." Right.. My stomach. I've barely eaten lunch since the food at school was kind of meh today. I'll just go to the same nearby convenience store I suppose.
Sis doesn't seem to be home right now. Must be another long overtime again. She should know to better take care of her health.
Making my way out of bed whilst scurrying for clothes, it was kind of difficult to see due to the darkness. Eventually, I turned the lights on which instantly provided results.
"There they are." The lights revealed my matte grey walls around the room alongside the pile of clothes laying crinkly in the corner.
Putting on a pair of black shorts coupled with a white striped similarly coloured hoodie, I finished the hastily put together outfit with a pair of rose red shoes and headed out.
Walking outside I could see the bright neon lights encompassing the inner city towards the distance. The hustle and bustle could even be heard from here. Enchanting for many. But for me?
I'd say it's blinding. The deafening sounds of young Stabilizers here tire me out. Not to mention their dazzling firework shows they seem to enjoy putting together once every few years.
The most recent one was right when I arrived. Back then I was too tired, so I didn't really bother going. I remember my sister got pretty mad at me, she gave me an earful and instead went out with friends.
That's right, I still can't get used to this oversized island. It's nothing like anywhere else. Although to be fair, I moved here when I turned 9.
Pan-Pacific.
That's the name of this continent. Situated in the north pacific ocean. From what my sis briefly taught me on the plane here, this continent arose during some period called "The Era of Calamity" or something.
"Pfft."
I scoffed at the idea. Pretty bold of humanity to build and focus on specialized education on this continent with such an egregious history. It's almost as if we're trying fate itself.
On this continent, there's three major regions/substates uniting the continent.
First Anamori-Inari which is located to the west of the continent. A region heavily influenced by east-asian heritage and architecture. The west region's various archipelagos helped bridge the Pacific oceans vastness.
To the far east of Anamori-Inari, Olympus's state lies. A highly mountainous region with elevation peaking at almost 3000 metres above sea-level. I once read that its capital sits at a 2000 metres elevation which surrounds a giant dormant volcano.
Who'd want to live near a giant volcano..?
When I first began watching TV on this continent, I noticed that the majority of our sports athletes hailed from the Olympus region.
Lastly, in the continent's center lies Rubycon. The state with the highest concentration of those twerps wielding elemental powers on this large continent. Housing the most prestigious schools and academies, it almost feels like a grand opera living here everyday.
Not to mention that every person living in this region always seems to take a sort of grand pride in calling themselves a "Rubiconian".
Yeah.
They even have their own name..
Personally, I haven't been to any other region except where I'm living right now despite sis always urging us on whenever she finally gets time off. Although I've heard that the architecture tends to vary differently between the big three.
Anamori-Inari's compact traditional wooden housing making use of unique layering, Olympus's white/beige square concrete houses blending seamlessly by the mountains and volcanos and Rubycons more modern european architecture alongside high rising buildings.
…
Pavement, pavement and more boring pavement. Every hundred metres or so I'll walk by young and aspiring Stabilizer's in this neighbourhood.
"Take this! Waterstream!" Waterstream? It almost resembles water from a toy gun.
"Rise through the ground and onto the sky, stone wall!" He looks slightly more experienced. The wall is close to tipping the guard fences. But to be honest..
..Ughh. It's so lame. They're either showing off to one another or saying idiotic one-liners. Like seriously? Who screams what they're about to do..
If I could be honest, they're at least doing something, compared to me. From smoothly flowing water to scorching hot flames and breezy winds, it's somewhat commendable working this late.
"But can't you just keep working on your craft inside a facility instead?" I told myself silently while walking by.
Either way it's really not anything that particularly interests me. Though, I'll give the sound cancelling technology its merits. It allows me to sleep better all while not getting disturbed by the sound of roaring attributes outside.
And lastly, I can't blame sis too much. We're clearly short on money more often than we'd like. Due to this reason, we live outside the city near the barren border and coincidentally, that's where a lot of young Stabilizers come out to train on evenings and nights.
I remember the one and only time I asked sis about Stabilizers and why they tend to train outside compared to indoors. Her response? Something along the lines of, "It helps them absorb the natural energy outside better while releasing and connecting to their valves!".
Jeez, it all sounded like a bunch of word-vomit. Nonetheless, I didn't bother pressing any further. In retrospect, maybe I should've considering the absolute torture i went through.
My first year here was the worst. I couldn't sleep at all due to the constant noise outside. Luckily, it eventually subsided due to the introduction of new tech.
I even have them on right now, a pair of earphones shaped like a strawberry hanging off each end of my ear. Pretty neat huh?
It makes me wonder though, during my stay here so far.. What is their power really for even?