The fated day had arrived, and Ares waited impatiently at the boarding station, peering through the glass pane encased in a golden substance, watching as giant blimps hovered around in the sky.

Ares was anxious as he tapped his foot on the ground, increasing in rhythm every time he thought about his new life at Stelmaugh. How would Strata city be? Would it be safe? Would he be happy after all of this? Questions bounced across his brain to a point where all of this introspective questioning seemed pointless in the end, it didn’t matter what he thought now, what mattered is that the course of his life would change in a few hours. His nerves still got the better of him though, and even though he was confident with his decision, he couldn’t shake the feeling off the ominous words Ersa had said to him.

Those words held a cadence in his brain as he held them to back of his mind, pondering what they could possibly mean - but even after all of his thinking, no possible conclusion came to mind on what the words could mean for him, or how Ersa's existence would make the experience work. He sighed out loud, stretching his body and letting out a huge yawn.

He looked upon his satchel to see what he had pocketed for his immigration to Strata City. Pretty standard stuff such as an additional set of clothes, his necromancy items, the Portable Transmitter and some sentimental items to remind himself of his family. These sentimental items consisted of a cute stuff bear Alan traded for when they were younger, a small piece of pie Eléa had baked the day before to wish Ares good luck, and a picture of the four people of his family all smiling together - along with their parents holding onto the back. He looked at the photo one last time before storing it away and placing it back safely in his satchel.

Ares picked up the satchel and headed to the washroom to rinse his face off. Attempting to calm a bit of his nerves, he looked in the mirror and saw large eyebags fill the crevice's of his face - which was a bit upsetting to see as he attempted to sleep early. However, due to the natural complexion of his skin - and also him tossing and turning while trying to sleep, it couldn't be helped. After scrubbing his face repeatedly, he finally conceded the battle and headed towards back to the seat after a loud strike of a bell rang ten times.

His family and Ersa had met him for one last time earlier today. This would be the last time they saw one other for maybe a year, which was clearly not the best feeling in the world for Ares, but he was growing up - and this entire adventure was a coming of age narrative for him. A chance to meet new people, hone his skills, and, most importantly, embark on an adventure. He would no longer be a puny necromancer, but a powerful virtuoso of black magic. Before leaving his family, they all came together to give each other a group hug for one last time they could all be secure, that feeling was one of warm and tender nature that would stay in Ares' brain for a while.

Finally, Ares had found himself near the boarding zone of the Upper Nimbia port. As he stayed queue in line, he realised how out of place he was with all of the people riding the upper class of the blimp. The other people in the line gave him shifting eyes based upon his disheveled look, but Ares just tried to brush it off and not let these people ruin his moment. He saw that, despite the fact that this aircraft blimp would be returning to a location where magic may be more prevalent, none of the passengers on board appeared to have any resemblance of a magical aura, which Ares welcomed with a tremendous scowl of disappointment.

As he made his way to the ticket checker, the attendee greeted him with a smile, but her eyes showed a sense of suspicion as she looked carefully at Ares. Ares, of course, could feel her looking and knew exactly what she was thinking, but decided it wasn’t worth getting pissed off about. She might be the type to get her brain twisted for no reason, or she might have a better understanding of her job and know she should be wary around strangers. Either way, Ares had to be understanding.

Eventually, after more glaring looks from the attendee, switching back and forth between the ticket, and his face - she let him pass through to enter the blimp, the first class seat awaited Ares and a new sense of adventure befell on him.

The interior of the airship was decked out with a sprawling carpet that consumed the attention of any eye who came in contract with it. People waltzed across the open area to chat amongst each other initially, as they slowly trickled either into the rooms or to sit down and have a hearty lunch. Their was huge gear mechanism dispersing food straight down, it almost felt like he was watching a dance based on how coordinated everyone was moving.

He had a tense and thrilled bounce to each of his steps as he strolled through the blimp. Ares took several steps until a huge fabric on the ground made touch with his right foot, sending him forward like a domino until he collided face first into the ground.

"Oh, sorry!" the man exclaimed, concerned yet diplomatically making sure to not overexert his voice. When Ares looked up, he noticed a man who appeared to be shining from his aura. Their hair was long and flowing, wrapped in a long bun that flowed straight, and his apparel was flowy robe-like fabric in sheer white, which flowed out back and forth as he spoke. Two men seemed to be accompanying that man - carrying his belongings. "I apologize for me compromising a large amount of space with my garment, I assure you that this is not how I usually am!"

Ares was pretty mad that he fell but it really wasn't the other person's fault in the slightest. Due to his overall shining aura - and the fact that he just wanted to continue on his day as quickly as possible, Ares said "Ah no, it's alright!" in a booming voice. The man seemed like he wanted to compensate Ares, but before he could say a word, Ares turned around and just walked away to the other side of the blimp.

The walls were decked in a golden material, with a large pane on the right window to catch a glimpse of the outside. He could see Upper Nimbia for one final time through the windows, and as the blimp soared higher and higher, the small island of gears he lived on gradually faded out of view....

Ares was escorted to his cabin by two blimp attendants shortly after the airship started to be far away from Upper Nimbia. The room had many luxuries, including a large sprawling bed that was clearly not made for a single person to use... and primarily was used to not sleep in. A spacious bathroom with a wide open transparent shower, and finally a large desk with various cupboards for individuals to put their belongings; Ares just dropped his bag on the desk and lay down on the bed.

The whole thing was rather silly; Ares had some concept of what the whole thing of this room would be when he got the ticket from Ersa, but he just did not anticipate for the whole room to be, for lack of a better word, avant-garde. The journey to Strata city would take about a day and a half, but it felt far too much even for the length of the trip.

He was thankful to Ersa for getting him somewhere like this, but it merely led to another thought in Ares' mind: how was Ersa able to buy this - just for someone she had just met? She said it was just a vibe, but maybe she took advantage of how he was naïve in those thoughts.

When Ersa went to Upper NImbia, where was she staying the whole time? Ares felt stupid for not bothering to think hard about these concerns, but in the end, the only thing he could do was cling on to the faith he had. He had spoken with Alan earlier regarding the legitimacy of Stelmaugh and the necklace, and everything looked to be in order. So, for the time being, he only had to keep his mind under control; he was eager to travel to Stelmaugh and perform his black magic.

More ideas entered his mind as he sat in his own suite for an extended period of time. Ideas of self-doubt... he despised the fact that all of these thoughts of thinking had decided to appear and enter his head. He simply wanted to be a cool necromancer, someone others admired, and to have a purpose in his life. But while he sat in the room, he honestly questioned what he wanted; he looked across to see his small dinky necromancing equipment and realised that everyone else there would probably have better materials then him... more experience... more of an adventurous childhood than he ever had. Alan believed in him, his family believed in him, Ersa believed in him - but it didn't matter if he didn't believe in himself

These thoughts... they weren't good for him to think, but he didn't know how to stop them, so Ares decided to lie down and relax, thinking that a deep nap would be the best way to clear his head.

So he laid down, onto the bed and his mind stopped wandering consciously and drifted away to a dream...