Sun City

The next day after Clifford used the ill-fortuned gangsters as dummies, he prepared what he would need in Sun City. The day passed by quickly and he spent his last night in Avalon city.

The next day, he got up early, freshened up and got ready to leave Avalon City. He stopped by the mirror to have a look at himself. He realized he would attract a lot of attention with his handsome appearance and well defined features. Attracting people to himself is the last thing he wanted, he doesn't want to get distracted by anybody. He suppressed his rank completely to that of a mage apprentice and his face was restored to it's formal state. He now looked ordinary, he wouldn't attract any attention with that ordinary look.

After bidding an emotional farewell to his Mother, Lyla and John, he sets for Sun City. After about half a day's ride in the bus, he finally got to Sun City. It was already getting dark when he got there, the lights from the modern high-rise buildings and the street lights illuminated the streets, the buildings were densely built and the roads were wide and neatly tarred. There were lot of vehicles on the streets which resulted in to loud horns and loud engines revving here and there. A lot of people walking the streets, everything seemed strange to Clifford, he was used to the quiet streets of Avalon city.

He stood still for about five minutes taking in the surroundings of the city. He had to lodge at a hotel for the night, the next day he would register for the competition. He stopped a taxi and asked the driver to take him to the nearest hotel. It doesn't take long to get to a nearby hotel, he dropped from the taxi and stood by the hotel's entrance. He entered and stopped by the receptionist section, he met two young women there, both around the age of twenty, they were dressed smartly in red and black.

"Hello! Good evening Miss." He greeted one of them.

"Good evening, how may I be of help?" She replied in a disdainful tone. She looked at Clifford's ordinary look and the way he dressed. Clifford was wearing a normal black jean and a cheap white shirt carrying his black backpack on his back. He doesn't look rich or influential at all. He was giving off the aura of a mage apprentice and this made the two women to look at him disdainfully.

Clifford noticed the disdainful look on their faces but he didn't care about that, he just wanted to book a room to stay for some days.

"I'd like to book a single room for three days." Clifford said.

The two women bursted into laughter, they found it funny that a mage apprentice would come to a hotel to try and book a room. They would not even dare to book a room with their meagre salary, where would a poor mage apprentice get money to do so?

"This hotel is a five star one and we wouldn't soil our reputation by giving a pathetic person like you a room." The second woman said with a mocking look.

Clifford found the reactions of this women irritable. The fact that he doesn't dress well or had the rank of a mage apprentice doesn't mean he should be disrespected.

"So this is how the weak and poor are being treated in high tier cities." He thought to himself.

"You heard the boy. Book him a room." A female but firm voice interrupted the two women laughing. They looked towards the direction of the voice and were shocked to see the woman. They quickly stopped laughing, they knew they had made a fool of themselves in the presence of the woman.

The woman was wearing an armless silver gown that exposed her back, silver high heel shoes and she also had silver hair to match with it, her silver hair draping over her shoulders. She had a very beautiful face and petite body, her curves were just of the right sizes, Clifford was a head taller than her. She was known as the Silver queen of Sun City, her appearance alone is enough to show she is of high class in Sun City. Even Clifford was stunned by the beauty of this woman, she was also around the same age of Clifford.

"Yes ma'am!" The two receptionists said fearfully and respectfully, they could lose their jobs if the Silver woman found them displeasing to her eyes.

"Give him a master suite, and don't charge him, let him stay as long as he could, have the waiters serve him every time he's around." The Silver woman said.

"A master suite? Free of charge!" Clifford was stunned, he didn't expect to get this kind of exquisite treatment from this unknown woman. He knew he had to be wary of her, they haven't met anywhere and he doesn't seem to have any special thing on him that could made him to receive such treatment. "If she's doing this expecting something in return from me, then she'll be disappointed I have nothing to offer." Clifford thought.

"You can call on any of the staffs here to take you to me if you need my help for anything." The Silver woman said while she turned away to leave.

"Thanks miss." Clifford said. She only replied with a nod.

"What's your name miss? Clifford asked. The Silver woman was surprised at Clifford's question, she was popular in Sun City and yet here's someone that doesn't know her name. She kept walking towards the exit of the hotel without answering Clifford's question, she was even amused at Clifford's confidence, she was used to people being intimidated by her presence because of her high class in Sun City, but Clifford doesn't seemed intimidated by her presence.

When she was about to exit the hotel, she answered Clifford's question. "Dora Patterson." She replied and left. She was the only daughter of George and Heather Patterson. Her father was the leader of the Patterson family, the Patterson family was one of the major family force in Sun City and they happened to be the owners of the hotel Clifford was currently in.

"Dora Patterson." Clifford repeated softly with a nod.

He was then led to the suite he was given. It had two rooms, the bedroom and a living room, a small kitchen, a bathroom and toilet and a small dining area. The suite was well furnished, Clifford had never being in a place as comfortable and well furnished like this suite.

The suite had a very good view of the city as it was on the twentieth floor of the hotel building.

After having a good look at the suite, Clifford locked the door, took a chair and sat by the window to have a good look at the city, although it's nightfall, the city remained very bright and this made it more beautiful than it was during the day.

He sat there for about an hour thinking about the reason Dora was being excessively nice to him. "Who would do these things for a stranger." He thought to himself. "Maybe she knew me from somewhere, or she knows that the orb is with me." Clifford thought of every reason but still he couldn't wrap his head around it.

He decided to go to sleep, tomorrow he would register for the tournament. He laid down on the bed and slept shortly after.