Chapter 8 - The City of the Sun

After the four teleported under Alice's command, Dahlia could immediately smell the sea air hit her in the face. The sound of boats, horns and chatter on the streets as Dahlia regains focus and opens her eyes to see herself in a dusty alleyway. Tsumi takes a deep drink of the salty air and looks out of the same alleyway to a busy seaside port, huge metal ships rolling in, some built with glistening white metal while others are more industrial in style.

Lemon walks up to the exit of the alley to the street, people walking to and from parked cruises to a checkpoint leading away from the seashore to the main island city.

"Alright! Everything you need in terms of weaponry is in this box. The checkpoint shouldn't be able to see through it, Tsumi are you fine to carry it?" Alice said enthusiastically.

The man took a look at the box and shook his head, "No, but I can see a trolley to push it around on, I'll go grab it." Tsumi walks out into the streets while Dahlia looks out to the ocean, not stepping out from the shaded alley but gazing past the people walking and seeing the emerald water beside them.

"Never seen the ocean?" Lemon asks as she puts on sunglasses, the sun above shining brightly with an intense heat beaming with it.

"No… I heard of it and seen illustrations but.. to see it in person is truly breathtaking." the girl said exasperated and amazed.

"Well get used to it. We'll be seeing it everyday for the next month or two." Lemon walked out into the street and went after Tsumi, many eyes watching her some charmed by her effortless beauty.

Tsumi returns with the trolley and he and Lemon (mostly Tsumi) hoist the box onto the trolley. Meanwhile Alice stands beside Dahlia and looks out as well.

"There are many sights like this. Some even more enchanting, some that are enchanted." Alice's voice was, for once, less loud and more calm than her normal excited self.

"Will I see more?" inquired Dahlia, not pulling her eyes away.

"Of course. But right now what you see is in danger, the Orange Earth wants to take it all and convert it into itself. Every drop of water, blood. Every grain of sand, skin. Every lifeform from the seagulls to the fish and coral, it wants it all to become it." Alice sounded somber and mournful.

"Did you lose a world to them?" the girl turned to look at Alice, her face slightly obscured by the shadows of the alley.

Alice's face creased at the forehead, "Yes. It was when it was just myself, Gregortz and Lemon. We weren't as experienced or capable and that led to a world covered in water, with a rich ecosystem and advanced civilisations being wiped out."

Alice clenched her hand, "I will not let it happen again."

"I will do my best Ms. Karnac." the girl vowed.

Alice's intensity dropped as she turned to Alice, her face easing, "Thank you Dahlia."

Tsumi and Lemon finished the loading and were calling to Dahlia but before she left, Alice says one last thing to Dahlia.

"Tsumi and Lemon already know but if you require backup, the rock in your head will alert me and we will try to hop to your location."

"Thank you Ms. Karnac, I will keep this in mind." 

"Great! Stay safe!" Salirelonge

Alice vanished, a brief vacuum in her place causing the dust to pick up. Dahlia turned and stepped out to the street with Lemon and Tsumi and proceeded to the checkpoint.

- - -

Walking towards the city, the amount of people was immense. Dahlia has seen this amount of people before, during a parade dedicated to the betrothal of Pilin, her home kingdom's prince. It was never this packed though and it felt suffocating to the girl who was just a modicum smaller than most girls her age.

Lemon groaned, "Why did we come here now? Couldn't we have waited until, like when there were less people around?"

Tsumi, pushing the trolley, said, "Be easier for infiltration. More people, more processing, more chances for security to not look too closely at our documents."

After waiting in line for an hour, they reached the desk where Tsumi did most of the talking. He presented the paperwork, and the man through the glass looked over Lemon and Dahlia. Meanwhile the girl looked from her space around the checkpoint. It was heavily reinforced and had tall concrete walls with barbed wire. 

Guards wearing heavy armour, wielding heavy weapons as well as what Dahlia was taught by Rika as being automatic turrets watched the crowds. The scene would be intimidating if it wasn't for the bright noon sun, the colourful clothes being worn and people relaxed, chatting away. As Tsumi talks, Lemon pushes the trolley before a guard wearing a slightly different uniform.

Some wore a black police uniforms with a shielded helmet and red and green stripes on their chest but this guard wore green and blue stripes on his chest. He looked at Lemon as she dropped the box in front of him, his eyes glowing through the helmet's plastic shield. 

"It's clear." he says as he moves on to a different desk in the checkpoint, looking intently at other luggage and bags. 

Tsumi finished chatting with the checkpoint guard and the three walked through a metal ring that checked them for any contraband on them. They were met with another line, to Lemon's clear annoyance.

Dahlia looked around from their spot before politely tapping Tsumi's arm, who turned to her, "Mr Hato, why is there so much security? Even the McDernon castle was not this reinforced."

Tsumi crunched his knees a little so he could whisper better into Dahlia's ears amongst the loud chatting and sounds of machines around them. "I imagine it's because of the fact that there is a minority of the population that can kill a room of people with a thought, and they're concentrated here on this island."

Tsumi pushed their trolley further up the line, "Also, remember kid, we're meant to be father and daughter. Don't relax unless you see me relax, that way if you mess up it's my fault." he whispered with a slight grin.

Dahlia nodded along, following after him. Another twenty minutes passed by before they reached the second checkpoint, the same as before but slightly more relaxed than the first. Despite how long they waited, they were only a couple dozen steps from the last checkpoint.

The guard behind a glass window with a hole at the bottom greets them, noticing Dahlia in tow.

"You are here for the academy?" the guard says.

Tsumi kept a clear professional voice, "Yes. My daughter here is attending briefly as a student while I am here for work, my wife is also here to live with us."

The guard lifts a stamp and marks the papers, "Good to hear. Polaris is a fantastic place. Really beautiful. Your daughter will love the academy."

"I do hope so." Tsumi nods.

"Though it may be difficult for her to fit in, especially during the Polaratus." the guard noted.

As Dahlia overhears this she walks up to Lemon and asks, "What is the Polaratus?"

"It's a tournament if I remember right. You'll probably not be attending though. I doubt they'd let a new student just join when she's only in for… a… month…"

Lemon's words slowed down as she looked past Dahlia. An argument was occurring behind them where the green and blue guard was looking at their luggage.

"Sir." the blue and green guard said, "Please open your bags and allow us to search it."

"There's nothing in there." the man who was being accused shouted out. He was a middle aged man with red tracksuit bottoms. He held his luggage tightly.

"Sir please release your bag to us." some guards began to approach the man, holding their rifles out. 

The pressured man looks around as he begins to be surrounded by police, "Fine!"

He opens his bag and sets it down on the ground. The blue and green guard steps forwards and picks it up, looks inside to see and immediately reaches for a metal flask. He opens it and pours out water until it empties, next the guard reached his finger in and a small click was heard. 

He pours it again and now a green liquid seeps out and the guard ceases pouring. 

"That isn't mine!" the man shouts, frantically looking around.

"Arrest him" the green and blue guard ordered.

As two of the policemen walk towards the man he looks around panicked before he breathes in a massive breath. When he does, the green and blue guard shouts out to the others, "Open fire!"

All of the guards and police raise their weapons and begin to fire but before the first few bullets could leave their rifles the man let out a powerful scream that launched them all back. Glass shattered under his yell that shook the air and caused Dahlia to clutch her ears as she was pushed back a few feet along with Lemon and Tsumi. 

While Dahlia was shaking on her feet, she felt an arm slink around her neck and pull her into a headlock. Once she opened her eyes, the middle aged man was behind her, holding her tightly and having his mouth right next to her ear. Several of the officers pointed at them with their rifles.

"All of you back away and let me through or this girl's head explodes!"

The police held their aim but didn't fire. Lemon and Tsumi were keeping a distance away so as not to provoke the man. Dahlia in the man's grasp began to contemplate how to free herself, they were positioned in a way that the man was behind her, his arm around her neck while his head besides hers. 

If I use my dark gift I can shove him away from me and run for the others, but I don't know if I can control my strength yet.

Dahlia knows that she needs to remain low profile and killing someone before you even enter the island you are infiltrating isn't a good prospect but Dahlia didn't need to make a decision before a boisterous voice rings out.

"I see villains have become more reckless these days!"

His voice reverberated and everyone turned to see a man clad in a white bodysuit with gold stripes at the joints, a sparkling cape with white jewels on his shoulders. His boots were black but had a sheen that made them shine in the daylight and wore a large mask, in the shape of a sun. It covered most of his head except for his mouth which showed dark skin and a smile that sparkled.

He was very fit and his muscles bulged through the bodysuit. His shoulders were broad and in all he looked like an action figure right out of the box.

"Now then villain! Surrender yourself or face the light of justice!" he was standing on a lightpost, his arms folded and his back straight.

The middle aged man furrowed as he inhaled and was about to scream into Dahlia's ear but once he exhaled, there was no sound. Dahlia turned to him to find a hole in his neck that sizzled as if it was burned through. No blood seeped out, the wound was instantly cauterized but the shock was enough to freak out and release Dahlia to reach for his throat.

When Dahlia was released she fell to the floor and she looked back up to see what was happening. As the man stumbled he held his neck and began to breathe, holding the hole closed. He turned to direct his voice towards the hero but before he could the masked man, in a literal flash of light flys towards the villain behind him.

"A villain like you attacking innocent young ladies deserves nothing but a proper wallop!"

The hero fist shined as he punched the man in the chest, sending him back before he let out a scream that doesn't seem to phase the gold clad hero. The man gets back up only for the hero to grab him by his neck and hoist him up as they both float up a few feet. 

"If you were any kind of smart you would know to never commit crime on Polaris, for this island is the island where heroes are born and I their teacher."

The man struggles under the hero's grasp before he is punched in the face and dropped to the floor unconscious and bloodied.

"I am Daybreak! Light of Polaris! And the number one hero of the world!"