The streets through which Reso walked this afternoon where showing signs of decay and neglect by the officials that were supposed to maintain them. But did anyone really expect a corrupt apparatus of uncaring officials repairing the streets in an Elf district?

In hindsight, Reso didn't.

The Lata District was one of the few Elfish ghettos near the centre of the city and it was bathed in complete shadow all day long due to the skyscrapers of the districts around it. According to what Reso had heard, this district was located on the ruins of an ancient Elvish city that had been destroyed during the colonial wars. For the Elves and their archaic pagan customs this place had some sort of special meaning and so every attempt at clearing it and displacing the residents for the purpose of constructing more valuable real estate was met with violent resistance. When looking around himself though, Reso did not see any ancient ruins or blessed land. Just one concrete apartment-block lined up behind the next and every single one of them in dire need of renovation. Perhaps the city management was just waiting for the buildings to become a safety hazard, so they'd have an excuse to use police force in the displacement efforts. Ultimately the holy site that the Elves still defended was destroyed long ago by the humans and the remaining natives merely threw a fit over it. The humans had been stronger and this was the reason why today the Elves lived in these apartment-ruins and worked in sweatshops while the humans resided within the skyscrapers around them. Reso was wearing casual clothing now, which didn't mean cheap. His black shirt and blue jeans where both of luxury brands, costing more then some of the Elves in this district probably earned in an entire year. This paid off as the Elves and homeless junkies in this district didn't recognize him now, but it had not been the reason why he had chosen this attire. A suit or even something that remotely resembled fanciness didn't seem appropriate for the act of rebellion that he planned.

“So, what are we going to do in the Neotonic district?” Acarni asked from his shadow. “From all I heard, its primary ways to spend money are drugs, alcohol, gambling, hookers and tourist traps...”

Reso grinned:” Gambling is the keyword here. And maybe a bit of alcohol too.”

“We don't have any money to spend on gambling, Reso.”, Acarni pointed out with a concerned voice. She did not seem convinced that this was a good idea.

As a response, Reso pulled the backpack from the back and grinned while he opened it.

“I plundered my father’s office safe. We got 50,000 American Dollars.” he said while he reached through the zipper and pulled out a fat bundle of notes.

“Are you crazy?!” Acarni called, grabbing his wrist and pushing his hand back inside. More quietly she leaned over to her charge and hissed: “If you keep behaving like this, you might as well run prime-time advertisements that you want to be robbed.”

Reso rolled his eyes: “No one is going to rob the secretary's son, not with you next to me anyway.” He lifted himself up to his tiptoes and tried to steal a kiss off Acarni’s lips, but she skilfully moved her fingertip in the way saying: “Not in public. Our relationship is still a secret after all.”

A disgruntled noise escaped Reso’s nostrils and he closed the backpack again, throwing it back over his shoulder.

“You're getting carried away.” Acarni warned him. “This is not going to end well for either of us.”

“I know.” Reso said with a confident voice. “So let's enjoy it for as long as it lasts.”

“But...” Acarni tried to hold him back again. “Holy shit, 50,000 Dollars? This isn't something your father is going to simply let slip. That's twelve times my yearly salary as your bodyguard!”

“Really?” Reso responded with genuine surprise to this number. “My father probably won't even notice the difference on his income check.”

As they walked on a few steps, he looked over his shoulder to the young bodyguard again and said: “Okay, listen, with whatever amount of money we will leave the Neotonic district tonight, you'll get it.”

“Ohhh no...” Acarni shook her head quickly. “You father will accuse me of stealing the money and then I'm in real trouble. You should donate the rest to some organisation that helps developing the Elfish ghettos. I would benefit much more from that.”

Reso winkled his forehead and sighed quietly. When she hid her weird racial features, Acarni looked much more like a very sturdy Human than like an Elf, but she had this innately Elfish habit of always thinking in groups. Even when the group in question was in no way related to her personal life, she would always put it before herself. But perhaps this was just a quirk of her and Reso would have to get used to it. He wanted to keep their relationship alive and was willing to look over such flaws, for he depended too much emotionally on his first love.

They finally arrived at the bus stop that Reso had been looking for. Even though Maranurr City had comfortably above five million inhabitants, its public transportation system was a catastrophe. And why should anyone care? The people who actually mattered in this city could afford to drive by car or fly by helicopter.

But the poor?

Who cared about these idiots in the outskirts or the Elves in their ghettos?

Nobody did.

“To the Neotonic district, please. Two people”, he told the driver and paid with fifty Maranurrian Dollars from his pocket.

“Okay... you need to change the bus in six stops then.” the Elfish Bus driver explained in an annoyed voice. “And then you need to switch buses two more times, I think. Anyways get in so I can get going.”

Reso nodded and went into the bus, which felt like entering the inside of a running oven this sunny afternoon. No surprise the driver was annoyed. He would've been the same if he had to stay in such an overheated place with an obviously malfunctioning A/C for the entire day. The bus was almost empty as nearly no one was using this mess of a public transport in this city. It was the exact reason why they had picked this method of moving though. It certainly wasn't the fastest way to get to the Neotonic district; after all they could've just walked the way over the central bridge. On the other hand, when his father noticed his getaway, he would surely not try to find them in a public bus or the bloody Neotonic district.

And so most of the afternoon, the two lovers spent travelling. More than once they took the wrong bus due to outdated or just plain wrong bus plans and at some point, they just went to a local supermarket and bought drinks and ice cream. When Acarni started to pant frantically and had to wipe sweat from her forehead every five seconds, it become more then clear to Reso that he had to provide measures to keep themselves cool and hydrated. The blazing summer heat was reaching it's peak towards the afternoon, as it got perpetually trapped below the smog cloud that formed over the city during the day. In the busses it was even worse as malfunctioning A/Cs seemed to be the norm there rather then the exception

The lovers though didn't mind these inconveniences. They were not out to do a specific thing, they were out to escape the golden cage which was the penthouse apartment in the government district and even burning heat and sticky busses where a positive change. They talked about their lives, about dreams and futures they imagined with each other. More specifically, Reso allowed Acarni to make the talking. She was a more interesting person in so many different ways. A girl that had lost her mother to a gang war, grew up on the streets, joined a street gang and later a dojo for Elfish material arts. From there she went on to become a mercenary and fought in several conflicts against terrorists and Elfish separatists in the east of the country, before she decided she didn't want to kill malnourished children for money anymore and instead applied at a private security service. There her disciple, experience and slight paranoia quickly got her a reputation as top level bodyguard and when the mid 20s hit her, she was moved into the shortlist of protecting high-profile personalities.

Reso's life on the other hand boiled down to a series of holiday trips to America and Japan that they did as a child, disappointments in school and the burning hate against anything politics and family related. He envied Acarni’s exciting, varied life, even though he was aware that she had it harder than him and probably would've rather wanted to life a live like he did.

Rather than running through a jungle with an AK in her hands anyway. It was the part of her life Acarni had the least stories to tell from and she often got pretty sad when she was forced to think about it.

Her life was a series of conflicts, as she expressed it sometimes. But war wasn't just a conflict it organised murdering of innocents. It was the thing that had given her this paranoid side of hers which came in incredibly handy at being a bodyguard.

The sun was already sinking behind the skyline in the background, as they finally entered the Neotonic district in a bus, which was surprisingly extremely full, especially with Chinese looking Humans and western tourists, speaking all kinds of dialects.

Also, this one was the first bus to actually be on time and didn't belong to the city’s public transport system either. It drove from the Hampshire district, where many of the cheaper hotels where, straight into the Neotonic district on a road that looked like it had been licked clean by whoever had the ungrateful task of keeping it unpolluted. The bus driver charged them 80 Maranurrian Dollars for the ride, but in exchange, they got a modern bus with comfortable seats and functioning air conditioning. And then they entered it.

When the city around him had looked worn down, dark and somewhat dirty just seconds ago, suddenly it got bright and glittering with such intensity that it blinded both Reso and Acarni. The buildings around them looked clean and modern and everywhere down the road, neon signs where competing for attention of the visitors. The bus stopped at something that looked like a central place of the district that combined elements from Chinese and Elfish architecture into a somewhat inaccurate half-breed, and let the passengers step out.

The tourists were enthusiastic about the sight that was offered as they left, in the shape of a palace-sized, enlightened casino called High Castle.

Even Reso could not resist but smile at the sight of the countless lights. The town looked more like an amusement park and cars where only rarely seen here. This routed seemed to be exclusive to buses who brought new guests and carried off those who were done for the night. On the left side there was a massive hotel complex called the “King George’s Palace” and on the right side there was a perfectly maintained park called the “Enchanted love forest of Hylaria”. A scurrilous sight of western, far eastern and Elfish culture to just sit next to each other, ready to serve whatever preference the consumer happened to have.

“That park sounds interesting...”, Acarni stated and looked curiously towards the lush forest, that was placed right in the middle of this concrete desert of a city and that was artificially enlightened by small LEDs placed in the trees bark, spreading a mysterious and romantic light.

“Alright...” Reso said, taking Acarni’s hand. “Let's go.”

Together they entered the park though a gate that was formed by two large trees and their crowns and that looked like it was coming straight from a Disney movie. Inside of the park, the noise of the music and the traffic was dampened and small signs in the corners requested the visitors to stay quiet to not disturb the atmosphere. The neon light of the city too was dampened by the leaves of the trees; instead the way was shown to them by the mysterious-looking LEDs embedded in the tree bark around them. Reso was actually surprised to see so many humans walk around with Elfish company, primarily female ones and those he saw where wearing good-looking, slightly revealing, traditional dresses or even clothes made from natural tree fibres, giving them an exotic tribal appear. Body painting and Elfish tattoos suddenly seemed like the norm. Elves seemed to be able to live their traditional lifestyles in this forest much, much more freely then outside the city and suddenly he began to question the stories of “Elf protests” against this districts he had heard of. He enjoyed the soothing walk through the park with the girl he loved. They had talked so much this day that a conversation wasn't really necessary at this point. Both of them just quietly enjoyed the romantic atmosphere. Signs pointed to the “Eshava fountain of youth” and the path deeper into the park. Reso recognised the reference, as he knew at least the pop-culturally relevant parts of the Elfish mythology. The fountain was a place the Elfish emperors of ancient times had bathed in to gain their magical powers and eternal or at least very long lasting youth. Surely this would make for an interesting place to see. He nudged Acarni and together they walked down the path which was laid out in front of them. After walking for about a minute, they could hear a beautiful voice in the distance, singing a song in the Elfish tongue. They kept on walking and suddenly, when they turned left around a corner, formed by bushes, Reso saw probably one of the most beautiful sights he had ever laid his eyes on. His entire field of view was taken in by a huge lake, with water so clean and clear it almost appeared drinkable. The water was illuminated by small white LEDs from its black basin, creating the illusion that he was staring right into the starlit depth of the night sky. A bridge led across the lake, a bridge, so beautifully made that it almost seemed like it was naturally grown from a tree right here. The only sign of civilisation here was a mossy erratic, that looked like the basis for a collapsed column and on top of it, there was an Elf, dressed in leafs and flower petals, singing songs about god knew what exactly. A sign on the boulder read: “Syrea, the singing guardian of the forest lured you here, to the fountain of youth. To thank her for the guidance and to earn a safe passage across the bridge, she asks for a small tribute.”

Reso raised his eyebrow to the slender, beautiful girl above him. He didn't understand that particular reference, that the Elf on the stone seemed to depict, but it was clearly a step up from a usual street artist.