Helios woke up sweating, that "dream" he had just experienced filled him with a great sense of dread. Helios wasn't even sure if it truly was just a nightmare or maybe even something more sinister. The end especially worried him.
'Found you!'
If this was actually more than a simple nightmare, then the source of the voice could spell some serious problems for Helios down the line.
Having just went through a terrible experience, Helios couldn't find it in him to fall asleep again. So instead he chose to stay awake. He wasn't exactly sure what the current time was, since surprisingly clocks were few and far between in this mansion.
Helios instead tried to guess the time, of course he had no real ways of determining it, since the city of Rem was one that was under the spell of eternal night.
But he still felt like guessing, and his guess was, five in the morning. Not an especially late morning time, but also not one where the daybreak would still be long away. This time was the perfect guess for him at this time, it helped him calm down knowning that daytime would come soon anyways, so he didn't need to go back to sleep.
Of course this was all simply in his head, but for that moment it helped him collect himself. Still he felt like he had to do something with his time, he shouldn't just waste it.
Then came the idea, he would write his dream down. While he was really scared of his dream, that in and of itself was a good reason to do it, he shouldn't forget about it.
Luckily for him the desk in this greatly equipped guest room already had everything he needed to accomplish his goal. A pen, some paper and even lighting. He was able to write.
With that he got up from his bed and quickly turned to lights on, determined to write every detail of his strange "dream" down.
With time quickly passing, he soon noticed that he wrote everything he wanted down. He quickly folded the paper into a form fit for his pocket and put it away.
Now with nothing else to do Helios headed for the outside, to find out what the time truly was.
He opened his door and walked down the long corridors of the mansion.
When he arrived at the hall where he had last seen a working clock, he was shocked to learn what was displayed.
'eight in the morning'
The time was even further ahead than he had guessed, which was good for him. He was able to wake up on time, and he also didn't need to sleep more, win-win.
Knowing it was already morning, he thought he would check on his "friend" Jack, but there was one problem. While he had been to some places inside the Phoenix house, Jack's room was not one of them. Simply put he had no clue where to go.
Not sure of what to do he chose to simply go back to his room and wait for Jack there.
But luckily for him on his way there he was able to run into Jack, just as he was seemingly heading to pick him up.
With Jack not looking his way Helios thought it would be best to sneak up on him and give him a scare.
Slowly..one step...another three steps and finally he was right behind him.
"BOOO!"
But something strange happened, since in the next moment Helios found him a good few steps from where he had been standing, his body aching all over.
Indeed, Jack had sent him flying, with no mercy at all.
'Note to self: Don't mess with people much stronger than you.'
"Helios you really scared me you shouldn't do that."
"Sorry, I couldn't resist."
Helios wasn't truly sorry, if he was sorry for someone it would be himself.
"Were you coming to get me?"
"Yeah, let's have breakfast."
Helios, had noticed something, while Jack was still somewhat mischievous, it has been severly toned down since they arrived at the Phoenix house.
'Don't tell me....is he holding back? Or maybe he's always been like this, he has just gotten used to me. I don't know.'
Now together, they headed towards the hall where they had dinner last night, but to Helios's shock at one point their destination changed, and Jack started heading towards the mansion's exit.
"Aren't we going to have breakfast?"
"Yes, but we don't usually eat breakfast together, since everyone wakes up at different times."
'Makes...sense.'
As they got to the exit, suddenly a maid servant came to the two, and quickly handed them a small letter.
It read as follows:
Jack, please help Helios decide on his weapon of choice, since I'll be training him starting tomorrow it would be best, if he was able to figure it out by tonight.
Your father, Gideon Phoenix
The letter was to the point and not very subtle. While the contents were simple there was also one thing that stood out as an obvious underlying message: Helios will accept today's offer.
And actually Gideon was a hundred percent right. Helios had no intention of rejecting the offer. Of course, when in the office he wouldn't simply just accept it, I mean he needed to negotiate atleast a little bit.
Though the letter was interesting, in that moment there was something Helios found even more amusing, and that was Jack. He was clearly jealous of all the attention and special treatment Helios has been getting.
"Don't tell me you're jealous."
"Sh..ut up."
'Haha seriously just when I thought this guy is actually somewhat serious, he pulls this haha.'
With the message received and their banter done, they were ready to head out for breakfast.
The place they were going was on the third level of the city, similiarly to the one restaurant where they went yesterday.
On the way there Helios asked a few questions about the point of the levels and where each thing was.
There he learned, that the city has five levels with the gound level included.
Other than that he learned that the first level was the entrance where people usually came into the city, so it was also the place where most of the city guards were.
The second level was the level where the factories were, this place was close enough to the first floor where it allowed for a direct bridge to be built between them, allowing the supply chain to not be disrupted by the constant usage of the elevator system.
The third floor where they were going was the place where most of the commercial areas could be found, restaurants, malls and many other establishments were present there.
The fourth level was the level where the most housing was present, it was also where buying a place to stay was the cheapest, nearly seventy percent of the population lived on this level.
And finally the fifth floor was where the noble houses and government buildings were.
And to his question about why it was like this he got the following aswer:
"It's just a design choice, there's nothing more to it."
Soon the two arrived at a small a small café called the Rem Roost Café.
The place offered you standard breakfast foods: eggs, pancakes, baked goods, sandwiches and so on and so forth.
What Helios picked was a simple sandwich titled Dawnbreak, it had some ham and whole fried egg in it. It was simple but appealing.
While Jack chose fried eggs coupled with some bacon on the side, and of course with some bread as well.
The two ate and soon as they were done, it was already time for their meeting with the official about Helios's offer.
The two slowly got to the city hall and arrived at the reception desk, where they did just as they did yesterday and asked for a meeting.
As they got to the office, a by now familiar voice sounded from inside.
"Come in."
The two went into the office and were met with the same sight as yesterday.
"Nice to meet you again Official Graham."
"I can say much the same Helios, Jack. So have you decided to accept our offer?"
"I have, but I feel you've left some details out yesterday."
Helios's directness surprised the official, so with a somewhat amused expression he asked Helios:
"And, what would that be?"
"The fact that me warding off some soldiers barely had any part in me getting this offer...it was instead because of my concept."
The official wasn't surprised, he knew that a day would be enough for Helios to figure out his concepts true worth.
"I wasn't trying to keep it a secret Helios, I knew you would figure it out by today, but that still doesn't change anything. Even if it's because you are the sun's Concepter, that changes nothing for you."
While the official's sudden change in tone did surprise Helios it wasn't enough to change his stance. He knew that today he was gonna have his way.
"You say that, but you also wouldn't want to lose a Concepter with such potential"
"So Mr. Graham why don't we negotiate?"