The Hierarchy

"You know how you go to a restaurant, and you see a table with a card that says 'reserved' on it?" Maya asked. Derek could not exactly relate; it was not like he had been to a lot of restaurants but he nodded either way.

"That place is reserved for the VIPs, whenever the school has an event, the important people. I mean way more important than you can imagine, those are the people that stay in that booth.

Derek could now grasp the situation a little better now, he knew how hierarchy and power worked, you had to be up there in finance or power to get some special benefits.

The transparent glass box was right in the midst of the spectator zone, but it was on the highest floor. One could easily see the entire arena from up there. Seeing all these steeled Derek's resolve to become someone very powerful.

Maya skipped down to the arena, Derek stood behind watching her from close to the entrance. He didn't know how the school rules worked. But he wondered if it was actually within the rules for students to go down there as they pleased.

At this point, Derek had to admit, he was quite impressed by what he was seeing, not like they had these facilities at his school.

"Okay, let's move on" Maya replied as she trotted back up the arena.

"Where to?" was what Derek was going to ask, but he was in the mood to be surprised, instead he kept his mouth shut and waited for Maya.

When she got close, Derek led the way and headed out of the Citadel, he concluded that they were done with the Citadel. Either there was no other interesting place in there or Maya had no access to it.

He guessed that it was the latter, leading the way Derek retraced his steps back to the entrance of the Citadel. Maya followed closely behind, she did not make any attempt to overtake him. Watching him from behind she was impressed.

Not once did she see him look up at the signs above, but he was able to easily make his way back to the entrance. Not a lot of people would be able to find their way back without the signs.

She could tell because she had been in the school even before the signs were put up inside the Citadel.

After Derek had exited the Citadel, he stood at the front of the large building staring at the flying vehicles in the air while waiting for Maya to come up. He could hear her footsteps drawing closer.

Maya yawned and stretched after she came out of the Citadel, Derek turned in surprise at the sound, she looked like a feline that had just woken from a long slumber. Derek could not help but admire her clear skin and delicate limbs.

He averted his eyes immediately as she opened hers, he couldn't have her think he was staring.

"Let's go" Maya declared. Derek paused and waited for her to stretch her hand out once again and call for one of the flying vehicles. But she had already began walking away from the Citadel.

Derek turned and followed behind without any complaint "The next place we'll be going is not too far from here, so we are going to walk" Maya explained

Derek didn't mind, he had agreed to see around the school. "So, who are these important people that are going to be in the glass compartment during the competition tomorrow?" he asked

"Hmm, more questions" Maya smiled "Well, there is the City's Mayor, the General Commander of the region's forces"

"The General commander of the region's forces?" Derek repeated almost silently

"Yes, the Commander" Maya confirmed "I guess you don't know much about the military. I will explain all that later, but the Commander is the head of all the military in the four regions. Everyone in the military answers to him" Derek nodded.

"Then there's the Head of the school"

"Like the headmaster?" Derek asked

"Yes, the headmaster" Maya replied "and lastly, the big five" Maya concluded while staring at her fingers. "If you don't know the Commander, I doubt you even know what the big five is either, so I'll explain"

"Astor, DuPont, Hermes, Rockefellers and Rothschild. These five families are the most powerful and influential families. They are like a world power but in the shadows, a lot of people recognize and respect them but they do not know the extent of their influence"

"Before a law is passed, the families must hold a seating to agree on it. I'm trying to say that they are even more powerful than the government"

"And how do you even know all these?" Derek asked

"Let's just say, I know things" Maya spun around and flashed Derek a smile

"What makes these families so powerful?" Derek asked again

"They are all rich, but that's not where all their influence comes from. As I said earlier, they are the most powerful. These families each have the strongest people in the world. They established their name during the first war."

"The head of each family are currently the strongest set of people currently. They are currently in a power tussle, each family wants to be stronger than the other. They train their eldest child to be even stronger than them, they aim at every little chance they have to be stronger than the others."

Derek was still trying to digest all the news he had just heard. He wondered if these families were as powerful as Maya had just made them seem, it seemed almost too unreal. But he looked forward to the competition.

If these families were this powerful, they would surely attend and participate in this competition. They would definitely try to gauge each other's strength and then he would see for himself.

These thoughts made him all the more excited about the competition.

"Now, here are the hostels" Maya announced as she had come to a stop at the front of a tall double building