A black-robed man chattered beside Shinji's ear. "Look, that's Heimdall! There's something new there every day. I'll show you around."
Shinji looked up. At the edge of his vision stood a vast, multicolored city.
It was multicolored because dazzling neon lights and projections filled the spaces between the towering buildings, making it hard to take it all in.
Seeing that Shinji was still silent, the black-robed man patted him on the back. "Don't worry. You can find anything you want here—as long as you can afford it!"
"Let's hope so!"
Shinji replied casually.
The black-robed man traveling with Shinji was called Heiguang. Shinji didn't know his real name; all he knew was that Heiguang was also a Lantern Bearer.
They had met in a Space Rift.
Since they were both Lantern Bearers, they had tried striking up a conversation. Heiguang turned out to be very talkative, and Shinji happened to lack knowledge about Lantern Bearers. They hit it off, and together they came to Heimdall, which Heiguang claimed could do anything.
In the local language, Heimdall meant "miracle," so the city before them could also be called the City of Miracles!
Soon, their mechanical shuttle entered the city and stopped at a narrow landing pad.
"This way!"
Heiguang called to Shinji, then climbed out of the shuttle and led the way.
Shinji got out and followed Heiguang through the city, taking in everything around him.
Once they were inside, an oppressive sense of overcrowding washed over him.
The city's interior was nowhere near as glamorous as it looked from the outside. Its narrow, disorderly streets, cheap and garish neon lights, and the hurried, numb-faced citizens weaving through them made it look more like one enormous slum.
Unlike an ordinary slum, however, even the street vendors hawking strange drugs had an