June – Chapter Five

The Goddess of Destruction was a strong title for a person to have, and I remember thinking how hard it must be to have it with so many people probably being afraid of her. I decided to voice these thoughts as soon as we left the port, saying goodbye to the busy working folk there and seeing immediate signs that pointed to Magnum. They were a bit old looking so I assumed this path was very old as well, and the roughness of it initially was even more confirmation. Beautiful red oaks lined the walkway after a certain point, where an attempt at cobbling the roads was evident as well, and I figured we were far enough out that it wouldn’t be too strange to discuss the Gods in a less than reverent way.

“Say, does the Goddess ever get lonely?” I asked bluntly. “I mean, people probably don’t like destroying things normally so she must not be very popular compared to the Usurper of Creation.” Sir Mirroheart actually laughed at this and patted my back.

“You’re just like your old man, asking the real questions.” he stopped in the path, and we pulled aside to one of the closer trees. “You’re not exactly wrong, but I’d wager that kind of talk will get you some weird looks in class, especially if she’s your professor. Do you plan on learning any form of magic?” he asked, and I shrugged.

“I don’t think I’ve ever even seen a spell cast, so probably not. Maybe just a bit so I know what it does but I doubt it would be my style.” He nodded, and urged me forward. “What about you? Do you use magic?” I asked, to which he nodded, or at least I think he did. “What kind?” I pressed further.

“You’ll see when we get to the city, how about that?” he gave me a thumbs up from his position in the lead, and I began to notice that the trees were becoming thinner around us. The path must have been ending soon, as I knew from back home that smaller, thinner trees usually meant town was nearby. Not bad for someone who never left their home forest, right? And before long, my intuition was rewarded, as I saw ivory walls bigger than I’d ever seen coming into view. I could clearly make out large reptiles pulling people along in carriages, and a clearing that truly encapsulated the size of the place, I felt. I couldn’t see the edge of any of the walls, and the wooden portcullis in front of me looked like it was going to be as big as a house when I got up closer. There were people all along the ridges of the walls, watching as I assumed to defend it from monster and man alike. All my marveling at this one wall, I swallowed hard thinking of how big the interior must be – especially seeing that tower again, but this time knowing for certain it was probably in the center of the city. Sir Mirroheart stopped his advance and turned to me. 

“Like I said, it’s pretty big.” he commented, seeming to know exactly the cause of my nerves. “We’ll get a tour guide to show you around since we’ve made such great time, and I’ll stick around until I’m needed back at my office, sound good?”

“Sure, that sounds fine, but-” he cut me off.

“Don’t worry, I know just about everyone with influence here. I’ll get you set up before we part ways for now.” 

That definitely helped reassure me. This was so far from home, and I think it hadn’t really hit me just how far until I saw this place and realized Sir Mirroheart wouldn’t be there forever. Before too long, I’d be on my own in this vast place, and my adrenaline of leaving home and becoming a life saver finally found its escape, with anxiety taking its place. I nodded, and we continued forward, the closer the gate became increasing how intimidated I was by the moment.The reptiles pulling carriages seemed to be transporting people in fancy clothes like that Arceia woman had before, but all having different crests on their clothes and the wood of the carriage itself. I assumed them to be nobles and didn’t make too much of an effort to gleam their coats of arms just yet, not until I felt I needed to know them anyway. Instead, I noted one of them had two individuals bound and unconscious, one looking like a child fused with a cat and the other being a brutish looking scaled fellow.

“Say, what’s going on there?” I asked, pointing at the carriage. “Are those criminals?”

“Probably.” Sir Mirroheart seemed to turn in the general direction I pointed in. “Actually, definitely. And it looks like whoever dealt with them really did a number to them. It’s a little brutal honestly.”

“So that’s not normal, understood.” I sighed in relief. “I don’t wanna bully people into submission so I’m glad I won’t have to go that far.” He make some sort of confirmation sound as we continue to get closer, and it was at this time I observed a the symbol on the gatehouse; Three circles, connected by curving lines to form a V shape at their tips and curling outward like a moustache at the outer points, with a piece of an alphabet I’d never seen in each of the circles that formed. It was on the wall, so I assumed this was the crest of Magnum itself, and I was told as such by Sir Mirroheart.

“The three circles represent the three dominant members of the Pantheon, that being Creation, Destruction, and Will. The bottom one is Will, and the left is Destruction, meaning Creation is on the right. This symbolizes the cycle of life – before creation, destruction must happen to free up space or break things down to their base forms. Then, will is the guiding force to learning how these things work, until finally creation of new things is possible.”    

I nodded silently, until a thought came to me and I blurted out “Wait, cycle? But they don’t all connect.”

“Good observation. That’s because after the Usurpation of Creation, the cycle was broken. Look closely, you’ll see that the fourth line between the two was filled in with bricks that don’t fully match. We haven’t had anything agreed upon be destroyed since then, and the pantheon doesn’t exactly work together on these decisions anymore. Zephyrus, the Usurper and current Emperor, hasn’t created with what Jamie has destroyed or with what the will of society has studied. He’s only fixing problems that already existed, like curing diseases and conquering land to force peace. It’s not that it’s a bad thing to do, but it doesn’t allow life to grow beyond its current state. The world is in a bit of a dormant state because of that.”

“So… We’re happier and safer, but we’re not growing. Is that it?” I crossed my arms. “I can’t argue that it’s not wrong to help people, but he really should work with Jamie on stuff.”

“He’s afraid.” Sir Mirroheart said in a hushed tone. “Afraid that if they work together and resume the cycle, disasters will ruin people’s lives or diseases will be created from the remnants. He wants that stagnation because it’s comfortable.”

“I get it.” I nodded. “He’s a good guy doing good things because he’s afraid of what will happen if he does things the way nature wants him to. That’s kind of sad.”

Sir Mirroheart urged me to continue forward, and the closer we got to the gate, the more odd looks we were getting. One person even covered their mouth, and I was beginning to wonder if we were somehow unwanted here. Then it hit me; I was technically some commoner walking alongside and idly chatting with a living legend. Those looks were probably directed at me and were likely a mixture of confusion and envy. I was so focused on that thought that I hadn’t even seen the gatehouse dominate the sky, casting quite the ominous shadow  but also a comforting one that wound up snapping me out of my own thoughts. There were a few lines of people moving about, both in and out, with the lines inward looking to take extra time. However, our own area of the gate was much smaller.

“Ah, Sir Mirroheart.” I heard a male voice say, and noticed that someone in a plated chest armor with a sturdy looking domed helmet was speaking. I couldn’t see his eyes or anything, but I assumed he was just a normal guard. “You were gone for a far shorter trip than I thought. Welcome back. Who’s the young lady?”

“This is my new pupil.” he said, showing the guard some kind of paperwork. “She’s going to be here under my supervision and attending classes starting in the new semester.”

“Understood, sir.” the guard gave a strange salute I’d never seen before and motioned for us to go inside. Before we did, Sir Mirroheart stopped.

“Oh, did Lady Aldritch make it here safely?” he asked.

“Oh yeah, she came through a few hours ago. She’s probably still in the city.” he confirmed. Sir Mirroheart and I both shared a confused noise before I tried to speak up and protest, noting that we had seen her in the port very shortly ago, but I was silenced by Sir Mirroheart gesturing to keep it down. I sighed before entering, and the guard bid us a good day and safe stay.

The inner part of the gatehouse was thick, and I still couldn’t quite see the city from it, but in this torch-lit path in, we shared a conversation.

“We just saw Arceia an hour ago.” I said, to which he agreed.

“Last I checked, Lady Aldritch was a skilled mage, but that kind of spell seems out of her league. Duplication, teleportation, whatever it was is extremely difficult. Pantheon members and ancient mages are the only ones I’ve ever heard of who can do it.”

“Maybe she’s secretly super strong?” I suggested, shrugging. He also shrugged.

“I’ll mention it to my office and see what they think. Don’t want to raise alarms without proof, so this should stay between us for now.” he cleared his throat as if to end the conversation and cover any protests I might have made before gesturing forward. “Look, we’re here.” The area I saw was surprising in a lot of ways. Plenty of buildings that looked much fancier than my home – these even had paint – but also market stalls like back at the port, basically as far as I could see – except forward. I noted that very close to us, maybe only the distance of two or three rows of buildings, was another ivory wall. To my sides, there was no end, but directly in front of me was very shallow. Off to the left I saw some people dragging behind them a large arachnid body, probably the size of them combined, on a small cart. Adventurers looking to sell their spoils, I’d wager.

“This is the Market District.” Sir Mirroheart spoke. “Every building here is either a vendor, or the home of one. Sometimes both. But since it’s the first area inside the walls, a lot of shops here get tourists, and the prices are really steep right around the gates.” he pointed down the road. “The further from the gates you get, the more reasonable the pricing, but also the less friendly the vendors on average. It’s a trade off.”

“That’s why we got supplies in the port, right?” I asked, he nodded.

“However, we need a tour guide, so we need to get to the second ring.” he pointed in front of us now, at the wall. “The city is stacked in three rings, each one higher up than the last. You’ll be living on the second ring, which is also where classes are. That’s the University District.”

“Gotcha.” I said, only partially understanding the layering of the city. My bewilderment was a constant and made it a bit more difficult to digest what was being said, but I was at least hearing it all. That was better than I thought I’d do.

“June.” I heard him say, and turned, almost not being able to see him in this crowd. “Come on, we can shop later. You need to know the layout of the University District so you’re not late for classes.”

“Right, sorry. Just taking it all in.” I apologized with a bow as well, which felt odd to do as I’d rarely bowed before. Still, following his instructions, we made our way to the second gatehouse quickly. It was only two rows of buildings before the wall after all, I remember thinking. Against the great walls I noticed two waterfalls coming down and forming a moat around the very edge of the walls, which was probably the only water source I’d seen since the port. This time there were far fewer people at the gate, most of which were entering but nothing took long. I noted that every person entering would display a scroll of sorts, and be granted entry.

“Passports.” Sir Mirroheart said. “You don’t have one, but you’ll get one when we get in.”

As he said this, it was our turn. I saw him produce his own paperwork, which I could now see had the crest of Magnum on it as well as some writing, likely his own data. The guard gestured to me, this one being smaller in stature and a little less talkative.

“She’s a new student, I’m escorting her now.” Sir Mirroheart spoke. The guard gave him a look, and shrugged before allowing us to enter. Beyond his gate was a very tall looking stairwell, but there was enough natural light coming down the shaft of it that it wasn’t lit by torch at all. I thought about how people would move about during the night, and then realized they probably didn’t. A silly thought that came and went, as I was trying to keep my mind of the sheer size of the staircase.

“This had to take a long time to build.” I commented, running a hand along the stone walls and finding them pleasantly chilly.

“About ten years per ring, except the central ring. You’d be surprised what magic and engineering can accomplish together.” he sounded almost proud when he said that, and I had to resist calling him out on it.

“You sound like a patriot, it’s kind of fun to see you relax like this.”

I did not resist it very well.

“Well, this is where I live. Can’t help being a little proud.” he responded, almost as if he didn’t mind the jab. “Plus, history is fascinating stuff. You’ll get more in depth on it in class than you are now. Speaking of.” he stopped just before we reached the exit again, and I was starting to suspect he did these things on purpose to build tension.

“I forgot to mention this before, but it takes a lot of guts to leave home like this. Be sure you didn’t just bring guts, though. You’re my responsibility for the semester, and I expect you to deliver on the skills you demonstrated back home.” he paused. “Oh, and build on the ones you lacked too. Especially your reaction time.”

“I won’t let you down.” I confirmed. “So, what classes am I starting with?”

“Elementary basics.” he continued to walk as we spoke. “You’re a first year, so you need to have a fundamental crash course. Mathematics, vocabulary, and basics on what magic is. Stuff like that. Second years pick a specialty and devote half their year to learning it with the other half being used to refine those basics. Third years fully immerse in their trade, and fourth years study in internships, graded by their employers.”

“So, I won’t get to do much ‘til my second year.” she shrugged. “That’s fine. I’ll be the first to admit a country bumpkin like me knows nothing about the world so the first year is probably going to be the hardest and most important.”

“Good attitude to have.” he gave me another pat on the back. “Come on then, the tour guide is waiting for us.”

“Wait already?” I practically lost a step. “How?” He produced a small stone that was glowing a faint blue light, engraved with some runes but generally in the shape I’d recognized as a heart. I’d seen them before in dead animals and once in a book, so I had a pretty good idea about the shape at least, but the rest was an enigma.

“This is a Sending Heart. If you and another person have one and use it at the same time while concentrating your own magical energy into it, you can talk to them over long distances, just like the Quezariel using the water.” 

Suddenly my dreams came true all at once.

“I need to send one of these home then!” I nearly shouted, almost missing that we were at the surface of the staircase again. Another gate was opened in front of us, with a wall of equal size attached to it, and I began to realize that the height of the wall met the floor level of each ring most likely. There were also two walls per floor, I noted. One for an entry and one for an exit. The walls of the staircase became obvious to me now, as they were tunnels leading from one ring to another with some grassy courtyards below them, the water from earlier running in channels to either side of that tunnel. Logically connecting this water to that fall was fun, but I wasn’t prepared for the water to be integrated into the streets themselves. It seemed as though everywhere I went there were new runes I didn’t recognize, and water flowing between the smallest cracks of the streets all formed these runes.

Up here in the second ring, the buildings looked similar to the ones down below, with the exception that iron bars ran from ground to pitched roof around the buildings, and even outside those there were small yards that had iron fencing around them. 

“Lots of metal.” I said openly.

“S’all for safety.” I heard another voice beyond Sir Mirroheart, and immediately realized I had almost walked into someone.

“Sorry, sorry!” I nervously apologized, bowing again and feeling out of character doing so.

“It’s fine, F’get it.” the woman said again. At this point I got a good look at her, and I saw she was about as tall as me, and also looked mostly human with the exception of her joints. A weird observation to make, but coming up from a bow and only seeing clothing except for hands that resembled porcelain dolls, you tend to notice that first. After that I took more note of the clothes she wore, and they seemed to be what everyone else on this floor was wearing; A white vest that reached as low as a robe with green embroidery, and in her case, a gray tunic and black pants under the vest. I saw others wearing robes under it, and some had it buttoned shut with gray sleeves meeting their elbows, but everyone had this vest.

“June, this is Key. She’s a second year that I recruited, and she’s our tour guide.” Sir Mirroheart broke the moment. Key extended a doll-like hand to shake mine, and I did so, surprised at how warm it was considering its appearance. It was then that I noticed she had marbled eyes as well, very different from what I was used to, so much so that I found myself staring for a while in silence.

“Is she A’ight?” I heard the woman ask, which made me realize my mistake and retract my hand and my gaze with furious embarrassment.

“She’s kind of naive.” Sir Mirroheart threw in. “But she’s got a lot of potential. I’m glad you were willing to meet up with us on such short notice.”

“Yeah, yeah, no problem.” she shrugged. “Ya need a guide right June? I gotchu.”

“T-thanks.” I finally shook off the red in my face. “I, um…”

“Y’know, ya could just ask.” she put her hand to her forehead and shook her head in it, ruffling the dark hair I’d just noticed was shorter than mine. “S’a’ight, I get this lots at first. I’m a Golem, yeah. Man-made body’n all.”

“Sorry, sorry, I’ve just only ever met humans before today and-” she cut me off.

“Ya don’t need no excuse, I getcha. S’fine as long as y’ain’t a punk about it.”

“Never, I think it’s really cool how different people can be!” I was starting to wonder how much deeper I’d dig this grave of mine, but she laughed at this.

“Better’n the flack I get at first, I’ll take it.” she turned to Sir Mirroheart. “So, tour time yeah?”

“Please.” he confirmed, with the two of them starting to walk me toward the left of where we entered.

“Now, ya mentioned the metal, yeah? S’a safety measure. Most’a these’re student houses, n’if a student loses control’a spells or does somethin’ dumb, the metal keeps it locked ta jus’ that house while them guards clean up’n save the dumb kid what caused the issue.”

“Student houses are bigger than my own.” I commented, nervously trying to make conversation.

“S’not all for one kid sometimes. First years room together’n pairs or more, n’after ya decide a trade ya move ta the closest house available to it. That’s ya permanent address after that if ya stay in th’city. If ya move they clean it out’n ready it for the next year.”

“Doesn’t that mean they run out of space if nobody moves?” I asked.

“T’would, but most folks move ta the Market District or go home. Think only a few students stayed on tha ring after they graduated. Plus lotta graduates hook up t’gether and live t’gether.” she shrugged, pointing out one of the homes along the way. “Tha’s mine. Close ta th’ Market ‘cause I’m takin’ classes ‘bout business now.” 

“Lucky spot.” I chimed in, hopefully finally shaking my tension. “Where do the classes for first years take place?”

“O’er th’middle of th’ring. Ya gotta be watched th’most close, make sure ya first year goes a’ight, ‘for ya get trusted ta live far off.”

“How deep is the ring?” 

“Five blocks.” Sir Mirroheart chipped in. “The Market was two blocks, if you need a measuring stick for what that means.”

“Oh, that’s easy to understand then.” I said proudly. “And the professors, where do they live?”

“Tower District, by th’Archives.” Key pointed at the tower, which was even larger at this proximity. I didn’t realize that the top went beyond the clouds until now. 

“I think I get it. So, classrooms are close to the gate to the tower, and housing is the rest of the ring basically?”

“She gets it.” Key laughed. “But gett’n ‘round is the tricky part.”

As we walked, I began to realize what she meant. The entire city was so full of students moving from place to place that it was difficult to really identify what part of the street you needed to be on and where you needed to go.

“Once ya know which build’n ya classes at, ya gotta map a route there ta save time. Er’ybody doin’ that though, so ya gotta make sure ya know the flow’a traffic too. Gen’rally ya walk ta ya left an’ spiral  in.”

“Any reason why it’s left?”

“Dunno. ‘Cause it’s left.” she stopped for a moment and I’d realized we hadn’t been walking for long, but she turned to face me. “Ya goin’ in for combat classes right?”

“Yeah, how did you guess?”

“Same’s me at first. S’why he recruited me too. Ya pro’ly gonna be in th’ northwest el’mentaries build’n where I was. We’re goin’ left, an’ ya came from th’West gate, so s’pretty close ta here.” She turned and we broke off from the pack quickly, crossing the street and almost getting caught in the flow of students going the opposite direction. We passed into one of the side roads where travel was more sparse, and I began to see a pattern.

“So these sections between blocks are less crowded because the blocks themselves are wider, aren’t they?”

“Ya get’n it quick.” she joked. “Yeah, s’quiet between these blocks. Ya gonna find the quiet places an’ use’em often, trust me. Anyway, there’s eight el’mentary build’ns at th’next wall. One f’reach gate. They’re big build’ns so they’re hard t’miss. First year housin’s the next block up an’circles th’class build’ns. Aft’a that, s’all second year classes’n houses.C’mon le’s get ya to th’main office.” I nodded and followed silently. I was at once fascinated by the city layout and intimidated by the sheer size of it, but I knew I’d be okay as long as I could get all the paperwork and other stuff I didn’t understand yet taken care of before I lost Key and Sir Mirroheart and was left on my own – well, minus the room mate I would apparently have.