After Keal talked him out of his state of rage, he escorted him towards the mall before leaving saying he got something important to do.
Zephyr walked into the mall barely acknowledging the entrance, upon arrival it was like he stepped into the future, with a single word twirling in his mind.
'For the last time, why can't this world be normal'. The sight of the mall knocked him out of his aggrivated state.
The mall stretched out before him like a living city, suspended beneath a glass dome that shimmered with enchanted light. Spiral walkways weaved through towering structures of crystal and stone, where streams of shimmering energy moved through the glass like a race of light, cascading like waterfalls into reservoirs below. Booths—dozens, perhaps hundreds of them—lined the pathways, each veiled entirely in shimmering silver metal. They pulsed gently with light from the glass roof.
Student both new and old moved between the booths in hushed whispers, slipping into the covered spaces before vanishing entirely from view. The Veil Booths were autonomous, managed entirely by the Academy's system. No merchants stood outside; no salesmen called for attention. It was commerce driven purely by magic and technology, seamless and almost eerie in its precision.
"Wow millions of booths inside the mall. What's next a river". Zephyr muttered under his breath sarcasticly. From where he stood he could see another platform, a marble bridge to be moved specific. He traced the bridge down and then he saw it.
The marble bridge arched over a slow-moving river of liquid that rippled with hues of violet from the exposed sky. Strange fish-like creatures swam within it, occasionally breaching the surface in silent splashes before diving back under.
"_"
Zephyr was speechless at the scene. 'did they really put a poud in the mall'. He shook his head as he focused on his environment.
Above him, enchanted screens displayed various items up for sale, scrolling endlessly with descriptions and holographic projections. Swords with their price tags, cloaks with their price tags, potions brewed from beasts he couldn't and didn't try to pronounce—everything was categorized with prices marked in credits.
Zephyr's eyes drifted to one of the Veil Booths, curiosity finally breaking through his daze. The shimmering black fabric seemed to call to him, symbols rippling like whispers across its surface. He took a step forward, hand brushing against the dark veil. He touched it and disappointedly it didn't open, then he tried to push it gradually and begun to add more force but it refused to budge.
With a sigh he removed his hand from the booth and as he was about to walk away, his eyes caught sight of a little rectangular shape on the booth, it was glowing a soft red with words boldly written on it.
Occupied
Zephyr moved away from the booth— embarrassed. He navigated his way around the numerous booth, looking for an unoccupied one with no results so far.
After some time he finally saw the one with a green light, he practically rushed towards it, planting his hand on it, the black cloth parted like water and he stumbled into it with the booth closing behind him soundlessly.
Zephyr breath was caught in his throat as he stared at the familiar scene, the booth was empty save for a single chair and a dest. On the dest was something he was all too familiar with— a computer sat on the dest with a mouse sitted behind it. He shakily walked towards it. As soon as his hand touched it, it lit up in a blue screen showing four icons with words written under it.
Uniform. Weapons. Potion. Issued card/ Note pad.
He sat down on the chair, his hand stroked the mouse for a while before he clicked on the uniform icon.
An array of uniforms was deplayed on the screen from the four district. He clicked on the Phoenix icon and then began to look through the options, he eventually settled for a pure white shirt, with dark leather pants, black boots, a large trench coat that easily reached to his calves, and a large black hat to complete it.
As soon as he clicked purchase, the uniform slithered out of a opening, touching it he could still feel the heat as if it was just newly ironed.
"Cool". Zephyr was amazed at the advanced technology. Then he clicked on the Issued card/ Note pad icon and then from the same hole a card along with a phone slithered out. He immediately advanced towards the phone, picking it up he examined it, then the screen lit up asking him to place his hand on the screen finger password. After registrating his finger password he explored the phone, the phone only had three icons.
One that looked eerily similar to what's app, the other two were maps and call logs respectively.
"I just like a normal phone". He quickly lost interest in the phone then he turned to the card. The card was black with silver lining, with only the word 'Titanium' written in it and three digits under it, the digits read 100.
"Seems like the school currency". Zephyr turned to the weapons icon eager to purchase a weapon. As he entered he was greeted with the site of all types of weapons. He quickly navigated to the Scythe session.
"I am the academy's number one villain, best to stick with what I am most familiar with". Like that he ditched his dream of wielding a sword— temporarily.
As soon as he typed on the scythe icon he was greeted with a row of words.
'All weapons prices start from the lowest to the highest'.
With the help of the mouse he swiped the words away only for him to freeze. He quickly stood up, picked up the already packaged goods and ran out of the booth with speed.
As the booth closed behind his departure the screen flicked off, with a row of scythe and their respective price dying on the screen. On the top of the list, the supposed cheapest digits were displayed, digits that made Zephyr ran away with his tail behind his legs.
'wooden Scythe - 5,000'