For Ren, ignoring them was easy- the people screaming and going after each other's necks. He didn't believe it concerned him- the alliance between his home Kingdom of Zinah and the war-waging Kingdom of Gaia. All he wanted was to continue his carefr...
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"Hey, wake up!" a girl shouted. "Hey, Ren! Wake up!"
Ren opened his eyes. The first thing he saw was a girl wearing a pink sleeveless blouse and a dark blue miniskirt- it was his little sister, Garnet, and she wasn't looking very happy. He was just sleeping under the oak tree near their house, the one by the small hill slope. "What?" he drowsily asked and sat up.
"If mom catches you sleeping here again, she'll kick you out of the house!" Garnet shouted as Ren yawned, which annoyed her even more. "Are you even listening?!"
"Of course!" Ren insisted as he stood up with a smirk. "I'm listening! I'm listening..." He took a quick stretch and went out of the tree's shade. He walked down the small hill slope where a small freshwater canal was. "I barely had any sleep last night with all the noise!" Crouching, he cupped some water into his hands and washed his face. "You know what day it is, right?"
"Mom also said to not do that anymore! You don't know where that water's been." Her knee-length chestnut hair swayed with the wind. "You really want to get kicked out, don't ya?!"
"Whatever you say..." Ren washed his face again. The morning sun reflecting on Garnet's orange eyes made her look extra angry, whereas it made his brown eyes look all the more lazy. It made him scratch his thick and messy brown hair in annoyance.
"Sooner or later, a bird's gonna think that's a nest and make a home out of it!" And when Ren continued to wash his face, Garnet started losing her patience. "I bet Gem won't even recognize you looking like that! I mean, really? A white vest over a white tank top? And gray pants and boots? Even those Gaians look better than you!"
Ren felt like Garnet's been holding onto that opinion for a while. And as she continued to complain about his appearance, he chuckled and tuned out her voice. He looked away to the concrete bridge above the canal, then to the Great Zinahn Wall at the distance- towering over everyone at forty meters tall and surrounding the entirety of the City of Xerik, the Capital of the Kingdom of Zinah.
As Ren mentally traced the outline of the Wall, the tall glass buildings and skyscrapers from beyond the canal came into view. He thought it to be a nice contrast- the new and modern buildings towering over the nine-hundred year old wall in the background. It was why he loved being in this spot so much. Looking at the wall and buildings from that angle, it was easy to think why other Kingdoms regarded Zinah as the most advanced Kingdom in the world, despite it being in the middle of the desert.
He kept tracing the outline of the buildings until his gaze turned to the large and cylindrical structure made of dark metal. As it reached up to the clouds, each of its cylindrical layers got smaller and thinner until it was merely an antenna on top. It was the Shard Reactor- the machine that provided power, electricity, and temperature control to the City. And even from here- a few blocks and a canal away from it, he could hear the people chanting and shouting.
