THE CITY(1)

Waking up, Toku rubbed his sleepy eyes as he slowly stood up from the couch on which he was sleeping on. This was the best sleep his had since he could remember, he didn't feel any pain as he woke up, but while at his aunt's place he normally felt numb all over because he slept on the cold hard floor with only a thin blanket under. 

    While still standing, Toku strecthed his body a bit before hearing someone stepping into the sitting room. Looking in the direction of a door which led into a room, he saw Antonio "oooo you already awake, now I wouldn't have to waste my time waking you up. Alright just go straight to the bathroom and clean up you smell like you havn't taken a bath in years, you will see a new toothbrush and a new sponge with a soap and towel on the sink, those are yours " Antonio then walked towards the kitchen after instructing Toku on what to do. After knodding, Toku followed Antonio's instruction and went to the bathroom, the bathroom was a little room with a water closet, a sink and a shower in it, the bathroom look very clean, neat and spotless as though no one has used it before but the bath tub was already wet and there was the smell of an antiseptic soap lingering about. Looking at the sink Toku saw the toothbrush and sponge that Antonio was talking about, he then took them and started freshening up.

       After five to ten minutes, Toku came out of the bathing room and he felt refreshed and clean, he had never felt like this before, when he lived with his aunt Lizzy, although they took baths it wasn't as refreshing as this because in the forsaken realm, there was little to no resource and they had to conserve the little amount of water they had. Walking into the sitting room, Toku's was greeted by a sweet delicious aroma, he looked over at where the smell was coming from and saw Antonio sitting on one of the two couches with a great feast on the center table in front of him "your done....come on lets eat together" Antonio then signaled Toku to join him. Sitting on the opposite couch, Toku looked at the delicacies in front of him and his stomach let out a growl in protest of Toku's behaviour, rather than eating he was just starring at the food his stomach had to remind him that the food was mean't for it and not his eyes. Taking a spoonful of one of the delicacies on the table which looked to be rice with chunks of meat with sauce on top, Toku put it in his mouth and he immediately felt alive. It was as though his taste buds had been asleep for a long time and was now waken up but the soft and gentle kiss of the food he had just eaten. "Delicious" Toku couldn't help but say, he had eaten a lot of food in the forsaken realm but none of those was even half as good as this one, all of them had been tasteless with no form of spice, Toku couldn't help but shake his head as he had been missing out on a lot of things while staying in the forsaken realm.

         " Let finish eating quickly so that we can go to city and get you enrolled in the Integrated Trainig Institute (ITI)" Toku paused and looked at Antonio "how do you know?" Toku asked Antonio, he hadn't told Antonio that he was going to ITI but yet he knew Toku couldn't help but be suspicious. "oooh I had a little chat with captain Lizzy before you got here" Antonio replid casually, "what, really then what was the use of asking me how I knew aunt Lizzy" Toku just had to ask, why would Antonio ask him how he knew aunt Lizzy if she already notified him of his arrival, it seemed like a waste of time to Toku. "You see kid in this world where everyone has power and have the potential to become gods you always have to be alert and vigilant, because you never know when someone will be planning to cheat or kill you. I asked so that I can confirm what captain Lizzy told me" Antonio said as he stopped eating and grabbed a bottle of bear by the side to drink. Toku now understood why Antonio asked him, the world really was a tricky place and he knew this very well because of his experiences in the forsaken realm, he always had to think of different ways to get what he wanted or escape from danger in the forsaken realm or he would have been dead a long time ago.

             After they finished eating, They both left the bungalow, passed through the two residential districts from which soldiers were coming out from and greeting Antonio with respect. "You sure are popular around here" Toku commented as they walked passed the soldiers that greeted Antonio "Hehehe...I guess I am". The two continued walking and they both reached the parking lot where they had passed by yesterday, the two kept on walking, taking some turns before stopping at what looked to be a ware house, entering the warehouse Toku was shocked by what he saw inside. In the warehouse, Toku saw different vehicles with different unique shapes and sizes, some looked like a normal jeeps with four wheels two at the front and two at the back but the only difference was that the materials used in making the car looked too unique and exquisite which gave off the feeling of comfort, there were also convertibles which were so low that it seemed as if they were only inches away from the ground and they had unique streamlined bodies that made one feel they were so fast that they could break the sound barrier in an instant. Apart from these there were also bikes, they looked fancy and very expensive after seeing all this Toku couldn't help but allow his jaw to slack down, the sight in front of him was so amazing that it looked unreal, never in all his years of being alive would he have thought that he could see something like this. Antonio chukled as he saw Toku's reaction, it was so funny that he couldn't help but laugh "this is where the generals at the border keep their vehicles" Antonio said as he helped Toku close his still slacked jaw. 

          Toku was brought back to Earth after fantasing a bit. "Wait general, that means your a general right" Toku asked Antonio as he followed Antonio to stop besides a convertible, the car was painted black with insides of the car grayish white, it was a four seater with two chairs in front and two at the back. It had what looked to be fuzz balls hanging on the rear-view mirror of the car. Antonio opened the car sat in the drivers sit while he signaled Toku to sit on the passengers seat in the front, after sitting " start" Antonio said which made Toku confused because he just said 'start' he wanted to ask why but before he could

      VROOOM

The car was alive, Toku was once again given a pleasant surprise and he marveled at thought of starting the car with his voice.  Antonio placed his hand on the stirring which was in the shape of a game console with different buttons on it. He then reversed and droved the car out of the warehouse and drove in the opposite direction to which Toku had used to come to the border. Stopping at a gate, the gate looked very similar to the one Toku had see  when he was still outside the border. A soldier came out to check for an authorization but upon seeing it was Antonio, the guards just saluted him and opened the gate. Toku was greeted by a plain peice of land with grasses growing on each side of the road they were using, with the sun shining high in the sky. "To answer your question, I am indeed a general at the border" Antonio said as he kept on driving his car towards the city, "really thats great " Toku responded as he kept on staring at the sight in front of him. 

             After driving for what seemed to be a two hours or so, they reached another gate but this one seemed to be a lot more guarded and unique than that of the border, and rather than being made out of the normal iron, this one looked as if a part of the earth have been raised up with no opening on it all, it just looked like a plain wall blocking the road and it also had guards patrolling around it. As they stopped in front of the gate, two men in a black came out of the gate, they wore amour from their head to toes and the armour looked really sturdy as though it would not break even when trampled upon by a stampede. 

          " Antonio nice to see you again" one of the men in a black armour said as he approached the vehicle "the pleasure is mine" Antonio replied to the man's greeting while shaking hands with him. " And who do we have here " the second man said as he scrutinized Toku " he is from the forsaken realm to be enrolled in ITI tomorrow" Antonio replied honestly " ooooh...then can we see some papers" The first guard asked, Antonio took out some papers and showed it to the man who then knodded his head after looking at it for some time " alright it's clean let them through" the man said and the gate which looked like a plain wall with no opening whatsoever trembled a little before a portion of it turned into sand before falling to the ground. Although Toku had seen people manipulate the elements in the forsaken it didn't this level at all, the highest he saw most of them do was just to left large piece of earth high in the air. Antonio drove the car in through the open part of the wall and after some minutes Toku was stunned by what he was seeing "Welcome to the city Toku" Antonio said as they finally entered the city.