*Beep* *Beep* *Beep*
A hand slammed down on the drawer before it headed straight to the source of the beeping. Once it found it, it hit the snooze, ending the tyrannical sound.
Unfortunately, the owner of said hand woke up. Fortunately, he needed to wake up early.
"Uuugghh," stretching his arms, Elias blinked rapidly, removing the blurriness in his vision. Rubbing his eyes for good measure, the blue-haired young adult sat on his bed.
"Welp, time to go to work," he muttered to himself. Heading straight to his shower, Elias prepared for another routine day, if not boring day.
-x-
"Jackson, get to stocks and fill the shelves." Mr. Morn, the owner of the small grocery store in the area, and his boss, ordered.
"Got it, bossman," giving him a mocking salute, Elias ducked as the man in his forties threw a loaf of bread at him.
Laughing slightly, Elias went to the back of the store and picked up the boxes of the lorry. Unseen behind him, the man nodded at his diligence before resuming his own work.
The hours tick by as Elias continues doing his jobs; from shelving items to mopping the floor. As the grocery store's main muscles, it was mostly on him to do the menial but more labor intensive work.
When his shift ended, Elias headed to the backroom, to change out of his uniform before Mr. Morn gets in front of him.
"Jackson, do you plan on working tomorrow?" Mr. Morn asked.
"No boss. I want to relax tomorrow, and see if InterCorp will do anything for their century anniversary," Elias replied.
"I see, make sense," the man did not seem upset; probably expecting it. Then again, anything related to InterCorp is usually groundbreaking, not to mention it is the anniversary of the main company.
After all, InterCorp's many branches are hegemon in their respective sectors. From industries, to agriculture, even housing and city building, the monolithic corporation had its fingers on everything.
"Then I won't hold you back." With one last word from Mr Morn for the day, Elias jogged to his apartment, though not before making a slight detour.
-x-
"No matter how many times I see this, the view is always impressive." Elias let out a shaky breath, his hand on the railing. His current location; inside the wall of the city he was living in.
His eyes on the grand blue that is the ocean, which stretched for miles. Not just from this part of the wall, but around the entire city, for the city of Uruk is located in the Pacific Ocean. Not on an island, but a literal floating city; an engineering ingenuity of InterCorp. Which was also their answer to the population boom.
For Uruk is just one of the hundreds, if not thousand floating cities, and that's just in the Pacific. The Atlantic and Indian Ocean also had some, if not smaller in number compared to the largest Ocean.
As for why he was here and not back at home, Elias wanted to see one of the greatest views from the city. Patiently waiting as the sun took a dip into the ocean, he watched as the blue hues of the ocean transformed into glimmering orange, a sight he could never be bored of.
Letting out a content sigh, Elias made his way back to his home, to refresh and had a small dinner before ending his day.
-x-
Brushing his teeth, Elias headed straight to his living room. Normally, a university student would have trouble staying in a single apartment by themselves, mostly for something called rent.
Fortunately, Mr. Morn paid handsomely, enough for rent and living expenses, plus some extra, most finding its way to pay his student fees.
Taking out his phone, Elias connected it to his small TV. Picking up InterTube, he searched for InterCorp's main channel on the platform, waiting for the livestream of the century. It was not just him. Everybody on the planet is likely waiting for the same thing, all wondering what InterCorp will do for its hundredth anniversary.
"Three, two, one." Elias exhaled, watching as the stream started. As per usual in their anniversary, the location is something akin to a talkshow, with leather couches and table in the set.
Elias easily spotted the two main figures of nearly all the InterCorp's anniversary he could ever remember; Jaquan Robert, a dark-skinned man in his thirties, wearing a white shirt and black slack with a black blazer on the former, and Lian Jian, a fair-skinned woman in her late twenties, wearing almost the same get-up with the sole difference being the black skirt she wore down the belt.
However, the third person's presence was the one that shocked him, and probably every other person on the planet.
As everyone all over the world looked at their screens; monitors, television, phones, Paige Hunter, current President of InterCorp for the past 5 years stared back at the camera, her impassive phase only having the smallest of smile.