Being obviously clear that this world wasn't the same as the Earth he had come from, he expected quite the changes, but never could Cad have dreamed something this...monumental.
There were cities, entire cities, floating in the sky, encapsulated by a golden barrier.
As they were high up in the sky, the buildings or their inhabitants could barely be seen, but he did see flying jets going high into the sky, and they moved with such speed that all he saw was a blur and a rippling trail of air.
He turned away from the sky to look before him, and even here was another settlement of its own.
Endless skyscrapers sprawled as far as his eyes could see, but they weren't the extra-long, bland, white skyscrapers of Earth.
These held colors.
Some glowed from the materials they were made from, some were carved completely in runes, ever-changing across their surface, and the sight of them made a throbbing headache form in Cad's head the longer he stared.
And though it all seemed like a magical, fantastical landscape, technology was present.
All around, there were flying jets zooming with insane speed across the skies, flashing off before he could even see them.
At the speed and closeness they moved, he expected a crash, but none of that ever happened.
They all moved as if there were some invisible roads carved out that they all followed.
However, the jets were only one level of transportation, specifically those in the higher part of the sky.
There were people on bike-like jets and cars just beneath the jet layer, and the lowest layer consisted of cars and bikes with designs he had never seen before, which moved on the road with tyres.
What they were crafted from wasn't steel or carbon fiber, but something he knew was more advanced than all of that.
"It's… It's insane."
Cad mused in pure awe, filled with disbelief.
This, according to his memories, was the Aegis Family Domain, and the city in the sky was the Aegis Royalty City, accessible only to the royalties of the Aegis Family.
As for the city below, it also belonged to the Aegis Family, specifically for those not part of royalty, and it housed the Aegis Academy.
That, he could already see, was the extra-huge skyscraper in the distance, painted in a golden color.
He remembered that was the color of the clothes that most people in the stadium were wearing, and he could even see the golden sword symbol, which, according to his memories, represented the academy.
The students lived around there, so that was where he needed to be next.
The only problem was…
It was too far off.
Taking an elevator, Cad was whisked down quickly, and he stepped out onto the large, open street.
To get to the academy quickly, he should have normally taken a road taxi.
But his phone, which he needed to make payments, had been torn apart in the earlier battle.
He would need to get to the academy and have a new one issued to him before he could get some money, meaning he was doomed to walk the entire, probably more than thirty kilometers, all on foot.
Without wasting any more time, he began, and hell, it was a long journey.
It took Cad seven hours of nonstop walking to arrive at the gate of the Academy.
His legs were screaming in pain, though that was diminished as he kept looking at the monumental building before him.
Aegis Academy.
According to his memories, he had been at this academy for a year now, but Cad was still awed.
Stepping in, there were, of course, students everywhere his eyes could see, and easily, Cad was picked out.
Amongst those dressed impeccably, with golden coats slung over their shoulders, he, who was dressed in ordinary blue, was easily identifiable, and the scowls were quick to follow.
"Wait, do you notice that guy doesn't seem to have an aura?"
"Oh, him? Yes, he was the one crippled by Arthur."
"Damn, dude's life's about to come to an end. There's no way he'll survive here."
"The academy will probably throw him out soon."
Cad knew gossiping about people was normal.
Yeah, it happened all the time back on Earth.
But gossiping while standing and looking at someone's back?
That was another level of shamelessness!
But he ignored it all.
After all, it wasn't like they were exactly wrong.
Taking an elevator up, he found himself in a simple place.
The floor was green with grass, and there were five small hut-like buildings built on high-rise stone mountains.
Small stairs were carved directly into these mountains, leading up to the buildings.
The ground still stretched back very far, and he could hear the sound of heavy splashing forming from the distance, meaning there was probably water nearby.
As he looked at the buildings around him, memories of who their owners were quickly appeared in his head.
He walked toward his own building, one at the farthest back from the others, and appeared before his door.
Nothing seemed out of the ordinary, so he opened the knob and stepped in.
But the second he was inside, he froze in shock when he saw something, or rather, someone.
Purple hair splashed over the single sofa in the room, legs crossed over the other, and she quietly lay there, seemingly asleep.
But her eyes opened after his entrance, a purple glint shining across his face.
The memories quickly rushed in, and Cad mused quietly.
"Liora?"