The changes in this city... were so fast they made one dizzy.
Melita Pernia stepped out of the temporary lodging she had borrowed, and the bustling, prosperous Pioneer Avenue came rushing toward her like a dazzling, fantastical play.
Respectable Cecil citizens and merchants traveling from north to south moved along this broad street, wide enough for twelve carriages to travel abreast. Employees stood before the shops lining the road, calling out to attract customers. Music drifted in from somewhere unknown, mingling with countless voices, the crisp ringing of two-wheeled vehicle bells, and every other sort of sound. Behind the large display windows, brightly lit, all manner of this year's fashionable goods stood coldly arranged on shelves like witnesses to this prosperous new world, watching the thriving human realm.
It was nearly dusk. The setting sun cast its light from the western mountains and forests, spreading a faint golden glow across the city.
Once, dusk had marked the point when cities in the human world gradually grew quiet. But here, everything had long been completely different—this was when workers who had toiled all day took shifts to rest, when students left school, when night-market shops opened in preparation, and when citizens entered the most leisurely hours of their day. Only at this time did comprehensive commercial streets like Pioneer Avenue truly come alive.
"Who knows what it is this time..." Melita stretched gracefully beneath the sunset, muttering softly to herself. "Hopefully this consultation won't be too harmful to my health..."
She started toward the city center, threading her way through the prosperity of the human world.
Several young people traveling together approached from the opposite direction. They wore clothing that clearly marked them as foreigners, chatting and laughing as they walked. Yet when they passed Melita, they all slowed down in