I stopped chewing the hamburger in my mouth as I yawned for a bit. I went back to my hamburger. It was warmth and felt good in the cold morning. The food also helped my drowsiness.

I hadn’t had a place to sleep so I had stayed up the whole night practicing my double wielding at some Jr. Grupins.

“Look at the ragged boy. Is he a runaway?” People whispered behind me. I had decided to eat in the restaurant since it was cold outside, but I found it was a big mistake. Man I need some new clothes soon.

I lost my appetite as the comments of the people around me grew harsher. I drank the rest of my orange juice and paid the bill.

As I was rummaging in my pocket for the money I found I was low. I handed the last of my Mesos to the cashier and left. I dug around in my pockets for any spare Mesos I might have as I passed a clothing store.

My hand brushed against a small, cold, metal object in my hand. I pulled it out and saw it the key to Dad’s storage. I stared at the small brass key and decided to see if there was anything in Dad’s storage I could use or would need.

I searched around for a few minutes before I found a storage place. It was a small tent with a guy in there dressed in expensive-looking clothes. Behind him was a rather large, wooden chest. There was a giant keyhole in it.

“Would you like to withdraw or deposit anything?” the storage person asked in a cheerful voice.

“Um….What do I do?” I asked confused at the single chest.

“Do you have a key?” he asked trying to help me out.

“Yeah. Right here.” I said pulling out the key.

“Here. Give it here.” He said extending a hand. I dropped it into his hand. He placed the whole key into the keyhole. I was amazed it fit. The keyhole suddenly lighted up in a glimmering blue.

“Name please.” Dad’s voice stated out form the keyhole. I was shocked by this.

“To open a person’s account you need a key and when they make an account they can ask for a bit of personal information so they know the right people are getting into their accounts.” The storage guy explained after looking at my shocked look.

“Um……Crow.” I said in an uneasy voice. Nothing happened. I had thought since this was the account Dad kept all his treasures from his lootings he would use his looting name.

“You’re allowed three tries for the personal information part.” The storage guy said after seeing my worried look. I felt relief I sill had two more chances. I confidently tried Dad’s real name, but it failed, too. I was really worried now. I had one more try.

I thought about what Dad would choose as the correct answer. Mom’s name would be a little too easy. And since he gave the key to the account to Tech to give to me it must be a name I know. Think. What is a name I have and always will know?

After thinking about it, it hit me. I took a breath.

“Ken.” I answered. I waited for a few seconds. I was about to sigh when the chest slowly opened up.

“Wow. Lucky you guessed right on the third try.” The storage guy chuckled.

I peered inside the chest. I was immediately stunned. It was a vast room full of giant bags of Mesos everywhere among a bunch of rare and expensive items. I looked around to see if there was anything I needed.

“How do I get things out?” I asked turning to the storage guy who had backed away. “Why are you so far away?”

“It’s to ensure the customer has total privacy. What they have in their accounts is their business. And to get items you can just go into the chest if they’re too far away. If you need to come out just say ‘exit’.” The storage guy explained.

“Thanks.” I replied jumping into the chest. I landed on a pile of Mesos with made my fall hurt more. I decided to look around for a bit.

“By the way.” I heard the storage guy’s voice coming into the room in the chest. “You have a time limit of fifteen minutes. I’ll call for you to come back a minutes before the time limit.”

“Okay.” I called back.

I decided to look around. There were things everywhere, but I decided to only take what I needed. I first found a small, manageable bag. It had one strap. I put it around my neck and on my right shoulder. I went over to the nearest pile of Mesos and grabbed a bag. I opened it and looked inside. I roughly estimated there was around twenty million Mesos in it. I decided it was a little more than I needed, but a little extra wouldn’t hurt.

I placed it in my bag and continued to look for things I would need. I found a Blue Orientican set. It looked like it would fit so I placed it in my bag. I also found a Blue Bandana that I also placed in my bag. I also placed a pair of White Halfgloves and Red Snowshoes in my bag. I felt I wouldn’t need a cape so ignored a pile of them.

I found a Grey T-Shirt and Blue Jean Shorts for when I didn’t have to fight and a Blue Sauna robe for when I slept.

I wondered if there was anything else I would need. I spotted a small dagger on the floor a few feet away. I walked toward sit and picked it up. Out of curiosity I pulled it out. It was a shining Serpent’s Coil. I sheathed it and threw it in my bag.I’ll need it at times I don’t have my Twin Shadows.Twin Shadows had been the name I had given to my two black blades.

“Hey you. Times up. Come out.” The storage guy’s voice projected into the giant room. I made sure I made everything I would need before saying “exit” and floating out of the chest.

After I was back out the chest closed itself and spat my key back out. I was about to leave when the storage person grabbed my arm.

“I charge a fee of five-thousand Mesos for each transaction.” He explained. It was a ridiculous fee, but I decided to pay it. After the storage guy had a little extra jingle in his Meso sack I left the tent.

I hurriedly ran to the nearest store and asked to use the bathroom. They pointed at the far back and I went inside. I got into a stall and changed into my Grey T-Shirt and Blue Jean Shorts. I also placed my sheathed Serpent’s Coil under my shirt tied to my pants. I threw out my old ragged clothes and walked out of the bathroom and the store.

I felt refreshed in my new clothes. I dug into my pockets and pulled out the pamphlet for Hidden Street. It was a good thing I had remembered to empty my pockets before throwing away my old clothes. I re-read it to make sure the information was right. I had read it the night before, but it I was tired and had not grasped all of it.

“ ‘Please come to Sleepywood located at the heart of Victoria Island at 10:00 A.M. on the twenty-first of August. Anyone who is late will be immediately expelled from Hidden Street’.” I read out loud. Wow pretty strict. Wait….. ‘Twenty-first of August? That’s two days from now! I have to hurry up and get to Victoria Island.

I quickly stuffed the pamphlet into my pocket. I took out the bag of Mesos from my bag and put it into my pocket. I ran towards the Orbis port to Victoria Island. I quickly bought a ticket the moment I reached there.

I saw the ship ready to leave. If I don’t catch this ship I won’t make it to Sleepywood in time! The ship was steadily leaving the port, gaining speed. Without thinking I jumped off the edge of the port. I felt myself slowly falling downwards. I tried to grab something. Anything. But there wasn’t anything near enough.

I plunged through the air downwards. I screamed out. Suddenly a winged beast came swooping down and gripped my arm. It stung, but I knew it was helping me. It brought me up to about the same level as the ship, but suddenly faded away.

I fell through the air again, but before I was too far away a hand grabbed mine. It reeled me onto the ship. I fell on my knees on the deck, breathing hard.

“Quite an event for you.” A familiar voice said behind me. “I see you’ve got a change of clothes and weapons, too.” I turned to see Chris standing there smiling. He held out a hand to help me up. I took it.

“Chris! What are you doing here?” I asked as I tried to catch my breath.

“Here drink some of this. You’ll feel better.” Chris suggested handing me a bottle of Pure Water. I took it and drank it all in seconds. It was like a jet of fresh air sliding down my throat. I sighed.

“Thanks. So what about my question?” I asked again curiously.

“I have to make it back to Hidden Street before the opening ceremony for new students.” He explained leaning against the guardrail. “By the way. Sorry. Because I couldn’t fully control my Silver Hawk you almost died.” His expression looked a bit gloomy.

“It’s not your fault. I was being an idiot for jumping off the port. It isn’t your fault.” I assured him. We both stood there silently.

The ship started to pick up speed as we grew farther and farther from Orbis. Thunder boomed in the distance as a dark, rain cloud appeared over head.

“We should go inside.” Chris suggested. I agreed. We both headed inside and found a cabin to stay in. It was a small room with a long, cushiony seat on each side with a window at the back. We both sat at opposite sides. We both remained silent.

“Selling food, drinks and sweats!” a shrill voice called out. Suddenly both of your stomachs growled. We both laughed and got some food from a lady pushing a food cart down the hallway. We each bought a giant pile of good.

We both started to dig in eating like starved dogs, which I was except for the dog part. We both finished fairly fast. I felt stuffed. We both felt a little more cheerful.

“So what’s Hidden Street like?” I asked as I took my bag off and laid it next to me on the seat.

“It’s great. It’s a small island suspended above Sleepywood using the same kind of crystal as the one Grendel has that lets him levitate, but is much bigger. You know how Grendel and the other three job instructors long died. That’s kind of why schools like Hidden Street were built. So people could still learn and perfect the skills of their jobs. Anyway back to Hidden Street. It has four different classes. You will mostly have lessons with your class and sleep with them since they have different buildings for each class. They are White, Yellow, Red, and Blue. White is the lowest, then Yellow, then Red, and Blue is the highest.” Chris explained.

“What class are you in?” I asked curiously.

“I’m in Red.” Chris stated. He dug through his bag and pulled out a bandana. It was all red with a white mark the shape of a maple leaf.

“Each class has its own bandana with its own color, but Red and Blue have white maple leafs while Yellow and White have red ones. You have to wear your bandana at all times, but only has to be visible on your body.” Chris said placing his bandana back into his bag.

“What class do you think I’ll get into?” I asked nervously. I was hoping to be with Chris. He was the only person I would know at Hidden Street.

“Before I answer our question, let me ask my own. Are you planning to dual wield?” Chris asked eyeing my Twin Shadows.

“I’ll probably dual wield.” I replied.

“Are you better at your dual wielding than using one sword?” Chris asked.

“Probably not.” I answered. Chris sighed.

“With the skills you posses at using only one blade you could probably barely get into Red, but if you’re dual wielding is worse than your Red you’ll get into Yellow.” Chris explained. I was lost in confusion.

“What does it matter if I’m better at dual wielding or using only a single blade?” I asked in a confused tone. Chris sighed.

“When you officially register for Hidden Street you have to show a panel of judges what you can do. During this they record what kind of weapons you use. You can’t just switch between weapons when you want to because you’ll fight people around your level with the weapon you registered for.” Chris explained. This would be a problem. If I register as a single blade user that’s all I can use, but if I register for dual wielding I can’t be with Chris.

I weighed out both options. I had already decided to become a dual wielder, but I wanted to be with Chris. This was difficult.

I closed my eyes and thought about what I should do.

“If you decide to do something always follow through with it.”

I opened my eyes. I recognized the words as Dad’s.

“If you decide to do something always follow through with it….” I whispered to myself.

“Huh? Did you decide?” Chris asked leaning closer.

“Sorry Chris. Its not I want to be with you, but thinking back to my late dad he would want me to continue with my dual welding.” I stated.

“Sorry about your dad. You would’ve gotten far with your single blade skills, but who knows? Maybe you will, too with your dual wielding skills.” Chris sighed.

I looked outside and saw it was night already. We both decided to go to sleep. I laid down on my seat and closed my eyes. It was quiet except for Chris’s and my breathing. It would be about a day before we reached Victoria Island. I slowly drifted to sleep dreaming about Hidden Street.

I felt someone shaking my body. I sleepily opened my eyes. Chris was in front of me with a look of urgency on his face.

“Come on! We got to go now! We’re in Victoria Island! The ship is about to go back to Orbis!” Chris exclaimed. I was wide awake now. I quickly got up off the seat and grabbed my bag. Good thing I had already changed into my Blue Orientican set and Blue Bandana because I would have no time to change into my fighting clothes before getting to Hidden Street.

We quickly ran off the ship as the ship started to leave. We barely managed to reach the port. We both gasped for air as the ship disappeared out of view.

“Come on. We’ll be late. We got to get to Sleepywood.” Chris said helping me up. We found a taxi to take us to Sleepywood. We both took a drink out of a water bottle in the taxi.

I could see Sleepywood coming into view as the taxi sped faster with the extra tip we gave the driver. The taxi skidded to a halt in front of a giant tower in the middle of Sleepywood. I could see light pulsing out of the tower and straight up into a crowd of clouds.

“Come on! We got to catch the elevator up!” Chris shouted as he ran towards the tower. He showed the tower guard he was a student at Hidden Street by pulling out his Red Maple Bandana and said I just got in. He let us in. I saw a circle in the middle of the tower. It was drawn on a clear floor. Under the clear floor was a gigantic, multi-colored crystal. We stepped into the circle and suddenly a pulse shot up from the crystal and pushed us upwards.

There was a ring of light around us.

“Chris. How do you go down?” I asked curiously looking up.

“Outside of this circle there is a constant stream of gentle pulses that shoot upwards. There’s enough room for people to go in that space and sort of float back to the ground.” Chris explained.

I wondered what would happen if I stuck my hand out of the ring. I tried it. My hand immediately went downwards while the rest of my body went up. Chris quickly helped me out and we got my hand back into the circle.

Note to self. Don’t ever do that again.

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Hope you guys liked this chapter. Sorry if there are some mistakes.

-That Asian Kid,