Who am I kidding? There’s no time to search for ol’ Matty when the menace of that Marquis is still looming.
I sailed through the air as fast as my pigeon body could propel me, before subtly using a restrained hurricane to hasten things further once I was out of range of the city.
Conveniently, Palaeshek’s domain was right next to Dresdeth’s. I had directions to both now, but it was a relief that I wouldn’t have to look very far from one to find the other. To that end, I headed North, but instead of leaning West as Calden directed, I veered a touch East.
Though now that I know their proximity, it makes more sense why Dresdeth is being targeted. If their favor and fortune have dropped, and Palaeshek is half as ambitious as I suspect, then he would never leave a weakened neighbor alone. Heck! If he’s even a quarter as ambitious as I expect then he’s a good part of the reason everything went wrong in the first place!
Simple plains with long stretches of dirt roads that winded and cut through waves of greener grass extended out beneath me, so I flew higher to get a better view of the world. Granted I needed to shift into an eagle to get that altitude, but boy was it worth it!
From on high, higher even than the few clouds that dotted the sky, my eyesight could extend out all but unimpeded. I spied the tangle of thorns that Silvia brought me to, along with the aluminum mountains, and the poisonous pink tree. Those however, sat off to the West, and at least from what I could tell, were part of a more wild frontier, uninhabited by people. Furthermore, I started to suspect that most of the empire’s borders were blocked by natural boundaries, as the far, far, East looked like a coast.
So with the mountains I crossed to the South, and this long aluminum range to the West, and the water to the East, this empire really only has to worry about protecting the North, so the people here are probably more used to internal strife over external threats… Not that dealing with either is a good way to live, but I’d really hate it if such a seemingly safe place is rotting from within.
I tried to ignore the obvious, that the Ascendant Church and Marquis Palaeshek were both clear signs of the very societal decay I was dreading, but I guess I’m still hoping that they’re the exception and not the rule.
It was fun to watch the land change beneath me. Unlike the old earth, mana flow and density was a huge deciding factor on what an area looked like, and my straight path took me over flower strewn hills, deep festering swamps and bogs, a huge craggy valley, and even a small desert that appeared to be filled with some kind of cactus creatures!
There were numerous settlements too, and more of those royal rest thingies, but they were all surprisingly uniform with the places I’d already visited in spite of the differences in landscape and weather.
This doesn’t sit right with me. People adapt to their surroundings, or change those surroundings to fit their needs, but I don’t see any of that. Is magic protecting everything? Because if it’s not, then now I’m afraid that the emperor is some kinda idiotic tyrant restricting diversity as some sorta pathetic power play.
A bit later, Uriel buzzed, and I turned my attention to the East.
A huge city, at least three times the size of Kalsyntholme sat by the sea in a frankly breathtaking cove of crystalline water dyed orange as the sun started to set.
I thought the Count’s castle was big, but the palace here was on an entirely different level. If my eyes weren’t deceiving me, that humongous structure took up enough space to fill Kalsyntholme’s entire inner district, along with around half of the middle one too!
The point of that top spire is even high enough to brush low hanging clouds! I don’t even want to know how long something like that takes to build!
I shook my head, and returned my attention to more important things. Honestly, I’d lost all sense of time as I enjoyed my travels on such a beautiful day. Which, in hindsight, is confusing. Weather is supposedly impacted by mana too so surely I should have encountered some changes as I flew.
Uriel, what gives?
Uriel buzzed a second later.
I narrowed my eyes. So anyone who has any interest in watching the weather would’ve noticed my passing?
Uriel buzzed again.
I opened my beak to sigh, but soon found that I couldn’t. Great… So much for me trying to be more subtle.
Swallowing my regrets, I ceased my spell, and tried to gauge the distance left from here. I knew it was further North, but to be honest I didn’t know if it’d be a few minutes, hours, or days, especially with nothing but my wings to get me there.
With no clear answer in sight, I pressed on through the night by the lonely light of the pale moon. A nice, fat, river accompanied me for a time, meandering and branching every which way as I enjoyed the cooler air, and the spectral quality the light gave to the earth below.
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At long last I spotted wildlife, and I ignored the nagging notion that all critters up to this point were scared away by my mana usage while I enjoyed observing them. No small amount were more or less ordinary animals, albeit with unusual colorations or with a variety of mismatched parts–like birds with forked tongues, or lizards with chitin instead of scales. I recognized them from my dream, like all the animals I’d seen so far, they were from when I was dolling out new creatures like there was no tomorrow, but they weren’t the only ones.
Monsters roamed too, and unlike their natural counterparts, it didn’t look like they needed to sleep until injured or after eating too much. There were six legged wolves with fiery eyes, spiders with wings, and even a few elk that had gigantic yet spindly claws in place of their antlers. Surprisingly, they didn’t bother hunting animals too much, instead targeting other monster types, or people, if any were around.
I helped out the unlucky few being hounded by the terrors of the night, applying barrier overtop armor or shields or strength release during especially desperate swings to downplay my involvement. Thankfully, no one died, though a couple of them looked suspiciously at their gear.
Uriel? Why do monsters not target animals?
The system answered instead.
My eyes widened. Do monsters have the ability to eat souls?
Of course not. However, the blight within them consumes part of the spirit of those the fell, which has notably caused the gradual transfer of intelligence and greater magical power.
Ohhhh… I blinked a few times. Doesn’t that mean Silvia ate people?
I got no response.
A blanket of clouds eventually parted me from the scenery, so I swooped a bit lower to let the tips of my wings brush the wispy surface to distract myself from that thought. The feathers kicked up little tendrils of phantasmal white to mark my passing, and I marveled at the sight.
This is all so surreal. I’ve done a lot since waking up, transformed several times, and done plenty of more spectacular things, but when was the last time I was able to step back and revel in it? Constant conflict and growth really have a way of drowning out the pleasant parts of life. Nobody likes being overwhelmed with problems and information after all.
As if to mock that very thought, I sensed a flock of some form of bat drawing near.
That’s probably not friendly behavior. Barrier.
Just after my blue bubble formed they burst up from below and bombarded me with hypersonic screeching. My ears, or whatever an eagle’s equivalent would be, thanked me for sparing them from the assault, and then two of the bats launched themselves at me, claws and fangs poised to rip me to pieces.
Ugg. Spark shower.
Interestingly, since I was above the clouds, the spell didn’t work like normal.
It was better.
Instantly, all the bats were engulfed by a blindingly bright flash, and then they were gone!
I sensed them falling down through the cloud, and lost track of them shortly after.
Uhhh, Uriel? How the heck did they get so close before I noticed? And why did they attack me? Can’t they sense I’m dangerous?
Uriel buzzed a second later.
I flew a bit higher, and dropped my barrier bubble. Huh. And here I thought nothing could escape my sensory array, especially not with you around.
Uriel buzzed in reply.
I click-clacked my beak in place of my tongue, and rolled my eyes. Sure, sure, whatever you say. It’s all my fault anyway.
The system whispered.
I frowned as best I could. And what’s that supposed to mean?
No response came, so I sulked, kept an eye out for any other monsters that might jump out at me, and crossed back under the cumulus canopy.
It didn’t look like the cloud cover was going to end any time soon so I had no choice but to go down in order to keep track of the ground and make sure I didn’t miss my stop.
And boy, did I almost.
Turns out the city I was looking for was now behind me, and what was beneath me was an artificially rugged landscape.
Dry and barren, the earth had seen better days. Craters of varying sizes pocked the lifeless surface, and the lingering scent of char and blood remained in the air from a battle fought possibly around twilight.
My senses revealed many traces of death but no bodies. There were countless broken and scattered weapons strewn all over the place, yet in the deep darkness beneath the clouds the only thing moving was me.
I shuddered.
This doesn’t bode well.
I turned around and flew back toward the city. High stone walls so much thicker than any I’d seen to date divided the battlefield from the people on the other side. Heavily armed soldiers patrolled past the parapets, torches in hands, keeping vigil against the dark.
And beyond that, instead of the home of a tyrant, I found a surprisingly beautiful, well put together, and prosperous looking place. Sure, the whitewashed and fortified mansion was a bit gaudy, but I never expected someone who would send assassins after a kid capable of ruling a territory like this.
I did a lap of the city, and my suspicion only grew. Nobody is malnourished, there apparently aren’t any orphans or vagrants, and everyone, and I do mean everyone, is sleeping soundly. Not a single citizen is doing any fretting, or carousing, or conversing at this hour. No drunks, no thieves, no schemers, nothing.
Okay, what the heck is this? Paradise on one side and purgatory on the other? I’m not buying it. So where do I start looking? Among the nobles? The common folk? The soldiers? Or do I just dive into that increasingly ominous castle, to see what I can see?