Ch-7 Vestalis

Normally , in airports the airplane slowly lands on the ground and that is after traveling for a few meter in the airport.

However here, the aircraft's were taking a turn downwards and then entering a hole in the ground. What happened after that was not visible to Jasper, but he could imagine the aircrafts breaking down inside the hole.

But then he comes to the sudden realization that he was entering a Magical World, so most of the things that would happen to him might be outside the common sense considered in the Blue World.

Shocked to the core by this scene he asks Jennifer," So, uhm what exactly are those aircrafts doing and where is this Vestalis you were talking about?"

Jennifer answers Jasper just as she slows down the aircrafts and turns downward, aiming for one of the holes present on the ground," Those aircrafts are entering the traveling pods that will take us directly to Vestalis. Do not worry, you will be experiencing it in a few minutes"

Jasper asks again , a little stunned, " So where is Vestalis? Down , underground!"

Jennifer had just entered the hole in the ground she had been aiming for some time and after the aircraft entered the hole completely, it was as if it had been lodged into a platform that had shape of a hemisphere. Then another hemisphere came from above and locked with the hemisphere below. Trapping the aircraft between them .It seemed that the aircraft had been caged.

Jasper sitting inside the aircraft looked closely at the surroundings of the two hemisphere that had joined to form a sphere around him. They seemed to have a few gadgets attached to them which might have some unknown function.

One of the gadgets (which Jasper dubs Gadget1) above the aircraft lights up and after a few seconds shuts of. Jasper was baffled by the gadgets behaviour and turns around to ask Jennifer when he hears a booming voice in his ears saying," Please verify your ID proof to enter." The same phase kept repeating itself while another gadget (Gadget2)started moving closer to the pilot window of the aircraft.

Jennifer shifts through her pockets to take out a purple card from it and places it on the window. After reaching close to the window Gadget 2 lights up and then again shuts down.

After a minute or so the booming voice returns saying," Thank you for your patience. We welcome 'Parallel Harmony' to Vestalis."

The sphere was before filled with holes in a particular pattern however just after the voice ended these holes were covered by a sheet of metal from above . Thus, covering the whole sphere with these sheets.

The sphere then starts moving downward with some velocity and Jasper finally asks Jennifer," What is happening right now?"

Jennifer replies," We are sitting in an Automated Spherical Vehicle(ASV) that will take us directly to Vestalis ."

Jasper was getting annoyed by repeating the same question but still asks, " So where is Vestalis?"

Jennifer picks up the annoyed tone in Jasper's voice and turns towards him. It did not matter anymore if she was looking forward or any other direction since the rest of the journey to Vestalis would be controlled by the ASV.

"Look Jasper ,Vestalis is a city situated underground and is connected to the Arcane World. The security to reach and inside Vestalis is very tight . To reach Vestalis you would have to use either a ASV or some other means of transportation available. If you want to really understand what or where Vestalis is , then be patient because you will now them in a few minutes."

Jasper could understand that there would be some security but he was really shocked by the intense security here. He had thought that a Magic World would definitely disdain or not care about what happened a normal World like the Blue World. Now it seemed that his assumption was wrong. He definitely needed to get his assumption about a Magic World out of his mind or he may have to regret it later.

Jasper remember something and asks Jennifer," Why were those gadgets switching on and off?"

Jennifer cocks her head in a certain manner and Jasper was forced to realize that his sister had become the most beautiful person he had ever seen in his life. Her skin seemed to look purer and her facial features were also heavenly coupled with her body shape. It seemed that mana had the additional property to make the skin purer and improve a persons complexion.

Jennifer had a look of realization after she understood what Jasper was talking about ," Oh, that was because the gadget were using mana waves to scan the aircraft and its contents. "

Jasper had never heard the term mana waves which was understandable since it was related to Arcane World but non the less he wanted to know more about it," Mana Waves? What is that ?"

Jennifer turns towards Jasper since it did not matter anymore whether she was looking forward or any other direction for that matter as the rest of the journey to Vestalis would be piloted by the ASV.

"Mana Waves are a type of waves that work on the principle of electromagnetic wave only that it has mana added to it that gives it a few additional different properties."

Jennifer does not explain it in detail because Jasper was going to learn about it once he started going to the academy ,so she decided to give him a brief introduction about it.

Jasper understood what Jennifer meant because he could tell from his own experience of attending school that it was better to learn things with a good foundation than directly jumping to an advanced class . This might cause some big problems to him in the future and also confuse him.

He suddenly remembers something he heard the loud voice from before say

" So, the aircrafts name is 'Parallel Harmony'! Why did you give such a name ?"

The ASV meanwhile had reached a lobby where many of the aircrafts were parked similar to a parking lot, but instead of stopping there it continued forward and reached one of the private garages near the lobby . Once inside, the ASV slowly started arranging in a different shape. The clicking noises made during this process reminded Jasper of continuous whirling of cogs and machinery. After some time the ASV finished its arrangement to form a runway for the Parallel Harmony to leave the ASV.

The moment Parallel Harmony moves away from the ASV it turns around and leaves the private garage and going to an unknown place.

Jasper had become distracted due to the changes that occurred on the ASV and stopped paying attention to Jennifer after asking her the question but was able to hear her reply.

"That' a secret for the time being. I will tell you when the time is right."

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After parking Parallel Harmony they walked until reaching a pair of elevators and climbed on one of them and started going up. On the elevator keypad Jasper discovers that there was one button with the words Vestalis written on it and subconsciously pressed it. Jasper panicked a little because even if Vestalis was written on it ,their destination might be different and started searching for the stop button that most of the elevators had to clear his selection.

Jennifer notices Jaspers actions and taps the elevator lightly to make a low echoing sound helping her gain Jaspers attention.

" Calm down, you pressed the right button. No need to get too exited and instead try to enjoy your trip in Vestalis because the next chance you get to enjoy might be after a long time."

The elevator opens and Jasper enter the city known as Vestalis .

Jasper and Jennifer arrive at the center of Vestalis ending up on one of the lobby inside the Vestalis Lounge. Actually anyone who came from the underground floors had to go through the lounge if they wanted to go to Vestalis since it was the only entrance known to common people. The charges for parking a vehicle underground or any other expenses related to the underground floor and their facilities had to be paid in the lounge..

After coming out of the elevator they walk to an empty queue where Jennifer again removes the suspicious purple card from before and hands it to the receptionist.

Seeing the purple card ,the receptionist paled visibly and prevented herself from saying anything. She was about to scold the siblings for coming to this empty queue but after seeing the card she realized that they were bigshots for whom this queue was made for. She was glad that she had not opened her big mouth before lest the bigshot get irritated and fire her.

In her shock she just nodded her head and scanned the card before returning it back. While the siblings were leaving she even said something to them but didn't realize it. She was just glad that she could keep her job.

"Please enjoy your stay in Vestals." Jasper heard the the shaking voice of the receptionist and from the way she had been acting while scanning their card he understood that she was deeply scared because of the purple card . But what he did not understand was why was she so scarred of it . He had observed the other queues and realized that everyone had to pay a small fee for entering Vestalis but they had been exempted from paying anything.

"What is that purple card you just used supposed to be?"

"Its something given to me by someone and has a very high clearance which can easily bypass these small toll collection. "

"Ha, that's why the receptionist had an expression that screamed big shot." Jennifer was amused by Jaspers remark and gave a light chuckle. Jasper realized that it had been years since he heard Jennifer chuckle which was only right since these last 9 years they had never been able to spend time together like they were today or used to in their childhood. Before Jasper could have had anymore depressing thoughts he was attracted by a store selling maps. He had also thought of buying a map of Vestalis before.

"Sis, I want to have a look at the maps in that store."

"Fine. I have to also call someone so be back in 15 minutes." Jennifer opened her magic bag and took out a 100 Arcadian note handing it to Jasper.

"Okay,Sis"