New Apartment

Zeralf and Endra watched as Cyle walked away in the distance, he was scratching his short hazel eyes due to excitement from the profit he made today and his coat flapped along the fairly strong wind.

It was night already and the rain had long stopped although the weather was still cool and anyone who was still outside could feel the familiar scent of petrichor in the atmosphere.

Cyle did his work swiftly and diligently, he was able to find a residence which coincidentally enough was in Nerili city. Zeralf had shown some disapproval but Cyle seemed to also live in Nerili city and he knew this place better leaving Zeralf with no choice. He was not that worried though, Nerili city occupied thousands of kilometers so the chance of him meeting Endra again was low.

Moreover, he knew he was just being too cynical as sooner or later, he would meet Endra again during the EDF exam which was his next goal after his Dharma awakening.

The building was a block of flat that towered into the sky built from grey bricks, the two moons shone brightly as usual and the runic lamps fixed at strategic places illuminated the street more, people, in different items of clothing most of them holding umbrellas returned to their respective apartments while some still lurked around for heaven knows what reasons.

Endra's apartment was on the 75th floor but there was a mini portal station that could take the residents to their apartments instantaneously for free so going up and down the floors was not cumbersome.

'' Let's go check my apartment hehe. '' Endra pulled Zeralf's right arm.

Zeralf flinched when he felt his arm pulled and he slightly jerked it backward releasing himself from Endra's grip, his face didn't say anything but he decided to follow Endra something he decided against minutes earlier. Endra looked at him a bit confused but decided to not say too much.

Surprisingly to Zeralf, Endra actually knew how portals operated which added more air of mystery around him. One moment he would be acting crudely and the other moment he would be acting quite civilized and learned.

The apartment consisted of three large rooms each with a king size brown bed, The living room had one black couch, at the center of the white tiled floor was a black round carpet, and the large window had white blinds that blended with the white wall and runic lamps filled every spot that brightened the room as day.

The kitchen was next to the dining room which looked similar to the living room apart from the black dining chairs and tables and also a silver runic cold storage where mostly food items that were not durable were kept.

Zeralf sat quietly on one of the chairs in the dining room and he watched Endra enter the kitchen.

'' What is he up to? '' Zeralf wondered but he got his answers a couple of minutes later when a pleasant aroma reached him. His stomach rumbled reminding him that he had only eaten some junk in the afternoon during their search for an appointment and the sight of good food enlivened his hunger.

'' Here. '' Endra chuckled serving Zeralf first before serving himself. It was a bowl of spaghetti with grilled lamb mixed with some veggies that Zeralf failed in identifying.

Zeralf dug into his food and started eating slowly and elegantly.

'' Well, I thought you'd reject the food afraid that I might poison you. '' Endra slurped while looking at Zeralf with a mischievous smile.

Zeralf's lip arched but he didn't say anything and just continued enjoying the delicacy. If he would be sincere, the food was on par with those high class restaurants he usually ordered food and that just made him even more curious about Endra's background.

'' Sometimes one would think you have a speech disability. '' Endra complained with food dropping back to his bowl making Zeralf send him a gaze of disapproval.

'' I'm immune to poison, at least that's what I was told moreover harming me will not benefit you. '' Zeralf muttered inwardly.

When they were done, Zeralf helped out with the dishes amazing Endra even more and he left without a bye making Endra pout but grin at the same time.

'' Interesting! he's one of them, boy. ''

'' Shut up you damn fucker. '' Endra dropped on the soft bed and drifted off to sleep.

******

Zeralf was itching to reach his place and get some good sleep, today was too eventful and tiresome, first waking up in a strange place, fighting a random boy he was getting to know, searching for a residence, and now he could finally go back and rest.

He got to a dimly lit alley a street away from Endra's and there he saw some usual scenes of the night. A group of thugs which after looking at them with disinterest, he found them to be mortals were harassing a girl, it wasn't his damn business though so he was just going to walk beside them quietly.

'' splash ''

One of them swung his bottle of alcohol and the content came crashing on Zeralf's light boot. He paused surprised at the sudden action of one of these idiots but he was too uninterested to speak so he just let it off and took a step forward and continue with his walk.

'' Haha, what do we have here, a spoiled dimwit. '' The one that swung the bottle laughed as he blocked Zeralf's path. He was burly looking with messy brown hair and ragged clothes that choked Zeralf's breathing.

Zeralf took two steps to his left avoiding the troublemaker's obstruction with a deep frown, he planned to continue walking but the guy would not let him go, even though Zeralf was still in the clothes that Endra gave him, he still carried the air of coldness and elegance so the thug already had thought of robbing hum.

'' Hey fuck your mother who do you think....''

The burly man suddenly stopped mid sentence with an aghast expression.

Zeralf appeared beside him while floating in the air for a brief moment and whispered.

'' You might not be that lucky next time. '' His voice was very cold and cadaveric.

'' Arghh '' The man screamed as his right arm dropped heavily to the ground.

'' De..de..devaaaa. '' The remaining four thugs who were still harassing the lady in a short black skirt and a white top stuttered amidst screams of horror and they took to their heels.

The lady that was being harassed fell on her knees and started throwing up, that scene was too much for her system to handle and her shoulder length hair covered her pale face.

Zeralf didn't even spare them a look as he continued walking to the next portal station, this time around, he was going to use the personal portal in his place as the destination.

He seldom used it because he loved taking small walks outside but he seemed to have run out of luck today, he just wanted the night to finish already.

The rest of the trip to his place was uneventful and he felt the familiar aura of space as he appeared in the portal room of this giant building.

'' Finally back huh? '' He sank into his bed immediately after he got to his room, he was too tired to even clean or change cloths

The next morning, Zeralf planned to try something with his Ki. That taste of being almost killed by red rhinos remained fresh in his head, he knew he wasn't overconfident by fighting the whole herd, he just didn't calculate that an unknown person would interfere with his battle.

'' Humans are worst than vermins. '' He sighed. '' They will stab you from the back when you thought they have your back covered. ''

He kept reminding himself that humans could not be trusted, even Endra if he had the opportunity to take advantage of him, he was sure he would without giving it a thought despite his innocent and warm atmosphere. Because of that, he must come up with something to increase his battle prowess a bit before he officially underwent his Dharma awakening.