Monarchs of Above and Below (On Hiatus)

Chapter VII: The Penthouse

"Your hand ok?" Matthew asked Luke as they say in the back of the car.

Luke still rubbed his red palm with his other hand. "Eh, it'll be fine. Just a minor burn. Guess the receiver just overheated." He glanced at Matthew. "What about your hand?"

Matthew knit his brow and looked at his hands. "Mine are fine."

It was now Luke's turn to knit his brow. "It didn't get burned?" He asked, leaning over to get a better look at Matthew's hand.

Matthew turned his hand so his palm faced Luke. Sure enough, his hand looked completely fine.

Luke cracked a light smirk as he sat back down. "Guess what just means I have more mana than you. Mine overheated and yours just became a light show." He joked, chuckling half-heartedly.

After a moment he produced his new hunting license from his wallet, looking at the amber letter 'E' on its front. He clicked his tongue as if expecting it to have changed in the time it had been since they left the evaluation building.

"Hey Mat," Luke said, facing his card to his friend. "Are the rank letters normally this... shiny?"

Matthew pulled out his hunting license and held it next to Luke's. The two shining 'E's sparked with the light coming through the car windows as they went.

Luke's still shown a brilliant orange-amber while Matthew's glistened like diamonds.

"Normally they are bronze. I'm not sure why the material changed." Matthew replied, pocketing his license. "It's also strange they are personalized to some degree.... they take after our System screens." He mumbled under his breath, just loud enough for Luke to hear. "Was your original card ever personalized?" He spoke up, turning to Luke.

He pocketed his license and simply shrugged. "I put a sticker on mine... but that has nothing to do with when I originally got it."

Suddenly, the car came to a halt. "You've arrived at your destination," Victor said from the driver's seat, doing his best impression of the voice of a navigation system.

Both hunters exited the car before walking behind it and beginning to grab their luggage.

Matthew looked at the large building they had parked next to as he hoisted his luggage bag over his shoulder.

Across the sidewalk sat the double doors to a large building at least 30 stories high. The building's exterior was made primarily of carved stone and steel. The automatic sliding doors at the entrance were made of glass so Matthew could see the variety of people wandering through the base floor's lobby.

"Where are we now? This my hotel?" Matthew asked.

Like replied almost immediately. "It's my place."

Matthew looked at Luke wide-eyed.

Luke just chuckled at his friend's expression. "Not the whole damn building," he pointed up to the top of the building. "Just the penthouse up top."

"What about my hotel?"

Luke pointed up to the building again with a light smirk. "This is your hotel."

Suddenly, the window of the car rolled down. "Alright well, that's all for you two. We've got places to go and people to meet. But notify us if any more crazy shit happens." Victor said. "See you around." He ended with a nod before rolling the window up and departing from the parking lane.

***

"So originally I had your room on the 29th floor," Luke began as they stepped onto the elevator at the edge of the lobby. "But due to... recent events," He pressed the button to the 32nd floor, however, a small buzzer sounded. Luke rolled his eyes and produced a golden card from his pocket, scanning the card on a reader near the elevator's buttons; he pressed the button again and the door finally closed as they ascended. "I may have you rest at my place for now."