It was 9:37 when Zero arrived at his last stop for the morning. The last part of the final exam would begin at ten o'clock. Zero's trip to the outskirts of the city took longer than he had expected. Fortunately, the part of town he was currently in was very close to the Academy and could be reached on foot in a few minutes.
The part of the city he was in was the Mytic Sector.
The Mytics, like the Spirits, were beings that until a few decades ago had been considered legends, such as angels and demons. But with the return of magic and magical knowledge, so did the Mytics and the Spirits. At first they appeared only vaguely, and stories of ghosts and monsters circulated in the early years. But soon humans became aware of their existence, and Mytics, like elves and other alien races, became a common, if still rare, sight.
Because of their natural affinity for magic, the Mytics were very powerful, even more powerful than the elves, who already had a high affinity for magic. Many wanted to secure their support, but relations between humans, Mytics and other races were difficult. Cultural, physical and political differences had to be overcome.
Relationships within the Mytics themselves were complicated, making it difficult to build relationships.
One measure of the Alliance was that Mytics had special rights in Alliance-controlled sectors and were under the protection of the government, whether they were officially part of the Alliance or not. The special Mytic sectors under guard were another measure. They also served to protect the Mytics from prying eyes and to provide them with a place to rest, since unlike ghosts, they did not usually just disappear.
The sector in Halsion, however, was very small. It consisted of a few houses surrounded by a simple wall with one or two soldiers standing at the entrances. Zero simply walked through the gate and greeted the soldiers, who also wished him good morning. It was one of the easier jobs for the soldiers in Halsion. Zero walked to one of the buildings and stepped through the gate into the front yard.
The front lawn was being mowed by drones as he reached the front door.
Zero stretched his PDI against the holographic display and the sliding glass door pulled aside with a welcome message. It was a modern six-story building. There was a lift, but as a trained paramedic, Zero usually took the stairs. When he reached the third floor, he walked down the corridor. Most of the holographic door signs he passed were blank, as were the apartments behind the doors.
The reason the Mytic sector was so small was not that they'd economized on size, but that there weren't that many Mytics in Halsion, which also explains the many empty dwellings. In general, the number of Mytics was negligible compared to the other races. The number of Mytics living in Alliance sectors was even smaller, as they tended to live in remote areas or on other levels.
Nevertheless, the chances of meeting a Mytic on Nykara were much higher than on other planets. The reason seemed to be a higher density of magic.
The fact that Halsion was a fringe sector of the Alliance did the rest. There were less than 30 Mytics in and around Halsion. Yet the building Zero was in was suspiciously empty, almost orphaned. The corridors were sparkling clean, and the lack of decoration made it look like a new building, as if the new inhabitants were about to arrive with their belongings. But it was quiet.
Zero stopped in front of one of the doors, looking at the empty doorplate of the apartment next door. What is Aki doing now? He thought to himself as he touched the holographic doorbell that appeared when he approached the door hanger with his finger.
"Oh no!" a voice drowned out the sound of the doorbell that spread through the apartment and echoed through the door.
"Clink," was the sound of breaking glass. Zero ducked his head and screwed up his left eye in pain.
"Ouch, are you OK in there?" he asked.
With the faint sound of hydraulics in the background, the door slid open and a horned girl greeted Zero nervously: "Good morning Zero!"
Her name was Asagi, her two black horns that started above her ears and grew up over her forehead indicated that she was a demon, representing one of the four major groups of the Mytics.
Her violet-blue hair was held back by a barrette on one side, leaving all the hair down to her shoulder blades on her left side. Two long strands hung in front of her ears. They were much longer than the rest of her hair and ended in a kind of triangular shape. In contrast, her eyes were a light red with a hint of pink.
Apart from her horns, there was nothing physically different about her.
"Are you all right?" Zero asked her, looking down at the floor of the corridor behind her.
"Yes, everything is fine!" She replied, wringing her hands in panic, trying to draw Zero's attention away from the floor. The corridor behind her was littered with broken glass and flowers lying in a puddle of water.
"And what about...?" asked Zero, keeping his attention on the puddle.
"Let's go, Zero." She pushed Zero away from the door and down the hall. Zero, however, only began to move sparingly:
"But shouldn't we...?" objected Zero.
"Otherwise, we'll be too late!" Asagi confirmed her statement when the electric door closed behind them.
"But the ..."
When Asagi and Zero left the Mytic-Sector, the street was already busy. Many more people had made their way to the Academy. Many evaluators had gone to Halsion to watch the final exam, businessmen as well as military personnel or representatives of organizations. The final exams of the United Academies were like tournaments, at the end of which the participants expected one or two offers. Some were looking for bodyguards or wanted to increase their own security staff. Of all the patrons, the Alliance military was the most heavily represented. They were always looking for people, especially to add to their own mage forces, as the mages of the Mage Council stayed out of all political and military matters. Most would join the military after graduating from the academy, but the presence of a high ranking military official had something personal about it and might persuade one or two to join the military instead of joining the adventurers or following the path of the mage.
Despite the crowd of people on their way to the academy, they seemed to stay a few meters away from Zero and Asagi. Some girls whispered to each other, while some strangers who had come to the city for the exam were a bit scared.
"Is Carol in the hospital again?" Asagi asked, tightening his grip on the flap of the bag.
"Yes, we'll meet her later," he smiled.
"She will be sad that she can't watch the final competition with us."
"True, she was a bit depressed. But well, her health is more important and she can watch the tournament on the live stream."
"You take care of Carol like a big brother Zero!" she laughed.
"Maybe I'm a little overprotective," he replied with a laugh. "But while we're on the subject, what about you? Have you dropped another vase?" he continued, smiling.
"Um ... yes ..." she finally admitted with a flushed face.
"Your flat is just too small for your wings and tail".
"That's OK, I like being in the flat," she replied with a somewhat forced smile. "I'm just sorry about the flowers," she tried to change the subject.
Zero was not fooled and continued: "You could also move in with Ben and me. Like I told you many times before. It's really lonely without Aki, isn't it? "
"That's nice, Zero, but it's okay. I don't want to be a burden for you ..."
"You wouldn't," Zero smiled at the depressed looking Asagi.
"Thank you," she replied with a small smile on her face.
Zero knew what Asagi meant, Mytics had a hard enough time getting a foothold in society. Humanity hadn't changed over the centuries. It took time for them to get used to the new and unknown and to accept it. But even time couldn't change some things. Like the fear of demons like Asagi.
But not only humans, even some Mytics were afraid or despised because of their origin.
"There's Zero." "Hey, Zero!", it echoed when the two arrived at the forecourt of the academy.
A group of girls had immediately gathered around Zero. Many crowded around him, while the shyer ones watched from a distance. Attracted by the shouting of the girls in the courtyard, some of the girls who were already in their classrooms looked out of the windows and waved at Zero. The male classmates, on the other hand, stared disapprovingly at Zero.
"Good morning," Zero greeted the crowd that had gathered around him like vultures. "How are you?"
The girls responded happily, sometimes interrupting each other to get Zero's attention.
The reason for Zero's popularity was that, thanks to his paramedic training, he often took part in training sessions and looked after the injured. He was always friendly and even carried the wounded to the infirmary when they could no longer walk, giving him the image of a gentleman.
It got to the point where the girls would deliberately injure themselves or act like they were injured just to be treated by Zero. Also, many of the girls would come to Bar Thirteen just to see Zero. This came in handy for Ben as they were an extra clientele and he laughingly asked Zero if he could get more 'paying customers'.
Zane, on the other hand, was annoyed that Zero was much more popular with the girls than he was, and so it happened that he scared off the girls who were flirting with Zero, which hurt his popularity instead of helping it.
Zero, on the other hand, was resigned to it and did not care about his popularity. This inadvertently made him even more popular, as it gave him something unattainable that made the girls want him even more. Zero, however, did not understand most of this. Meanwhile, Carol and Asagi were envied by the other girls for the position they held.
In contrast to Zane, Asagi didn't mind Zero's popularity. She was even a bit happy about it. As long as Zero was around, she wasn't the center of attention. But despite all the hustle and bustle around Zero, she felt the people's eyes and heard their whispers and held her bag even tighter.
"Are you going to take the final exam Zero?"
"I'm sure you would win Zero!"
"Of course, Zero would win!" the next one interjected.
"Thanks," Zero laughed. "But no, I'm just a medic. But now we should all go inside. The exam is about to start and some of you are going to take part, right? "
"Are you cheering for us Zero?" One of the girls asked shyly.
"Of course, I'm cheering for all of you!" A happy murmur went through the group. "Are you coming, Asagi?" The crowd started to disperse and everyone hurried towards the main entrance.
The academy itself was housed in a six-story building. Despite its size, the design was kept light and the entrance area was completely made of glass. The dimensions were comparable to those of a school, with most of the training facilities either underground or in the large open-air training area further to the west.
"Sorry Asagi ..." Zero said so that only she could hear as they approached the entrance area.
"It's ok Zero, you can't help it."
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