Sunny remained silent for a few moments, then scowled.
"What do you mean, good luck? Aren't you going to be there to mediate the negotiations?"
Master Jet took a sip of her coffee, then shook her head.
"No. While the government often serves as a neutral party and the connective tissue between the Great Clans, this is not one of those cases. Besides… I simply can't. I am being transferred out of the city. This is my last day here, for a while."
He stared at her, dumbfounded.
Master Jet… was not going to be around anymore? Sunny suddenly felt a pang of discomfort. He had grown accustomed to her being present out there somewhere... not exactly close to him, but at the same time within reach.
Noticing the expression on his face, she sighed.
"Actually, that is the second thing I wanted to talk to you about. The bad news."
Soul Reaper casually looked around, then summoned a Memory that looked like a music box. Immediately, a dome of silence appeared around them, cutting off all outside noises. Sunny frowned, confused by the need for secrecy.
She had seemed to be perfectly fine discussing private matters of a great clan in the public. What could have been more sensitive than that?
Master Jet lingered for a moment, then said:
"To be honest, Sunny, I was not going to have this conversation with you… at least not yet. But since the situation changed, and the things we are going to talk about can affect the decisions you will make tomorrow, I decided that there is no point in postponing it."
He shifted uncomfortably.
"That is… very suspenseful. What is the matter?"
She smiled, then activated her communicator and summoned a projection. It showed a map of something that looked like a big chunk of the Dream Realm. Sunny saw a lot of water and several large landmasses, each no smaller than the Forgotten Shore by the looks of it. However, no matter how he looked, he could not find the familiar landmarks — the Hollow Mountains, Bastion, Ravenheart… either he was not as proficient at reading maps as he had thought, or he had never seen this land.
confused, he glanced at Master Jet and
previously unexplored region of the
looked at him with a
That is planet Earth,
embarrassment, then looked at
right. I am
Soul Reaper grinned.
one of those Awakened that know more about the Dream Realm than about
He cleared his throat.
not like I spent a
grin dimmed a
young you are… it took me a while to cover the basics after
then pointed
A few centuries ago, it looked very different… there were around twelve billion people living across it. A few million even found their way to
She sighed, then added:
only populate four of the seven continents. Do you know which continent we are
looked at her with a
the city is
She rolled her eyes.
We are indeed in Asia, which is one of the four populated continents and one that shelters the most people. The city we live in is the largest and most populous city left on Earth. It is also the industrial, military, and administrative heart of humanity. Around one-tenth of all humans live here… that is why while it is technically called
Jet hesitated for a moment, then said with a hint of
is either uninhabitable or overrun by Nightmare Creatures, so megacities are the most convenient way to sustain a large population. However… even with spelltech and modern science, they are not capable of sustaining everyone. Hence the
sighed, and then pointed to
of desolation used to be known as Europe. It was turned completely unsuited
across a large body
it not long before you were born, when a Category Five Gate opened there. That was… a big disaster. Because of its proximity to the Gate, South
and then gestured
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