[Keeno POV]

Three weeks have passed since leaving the last city. Fia, after spending another obviously passionate night with Mostima went back to the Divine Domain. What she failed to realize is that she could never escape the teasing. It was just a matter of who got to see the reaction. That aside, she was also preparing for her next job which would take her to the other continent.  I also contacted Eblana who, after giving her own updates, I asked if she could possibly set up a meeting between us, Aslan, and the Knight envoy from Lokir. She was curious about the reason, but I told her that it would have to wait until we met in person, though I did let slip they’d be a potential ally.

 

For her part she had finally stumbled upon a roadblock in her search for secrets. In a part of the castle even she didn’t know existed she found a single corridor.  It was heavily guarded with magic. She would have sent some of her undead to brute force any traps, but she didn’t seeing as if she did, she would no doubtedly be found out, so getting to whatever was beyond there was put on hold.  We also set up a meeting point at a large abandoned temple that not many people ever visited.

 

Now, at the present day, we were standing on a hill near the capital city, Pram, Freya, and I completely flabbergasted at the immense size of the place. When Mostima said it would take us a week to get anywhere important, I thought she was exaggerating, but seeing the city with my own eyes made me reconsider that.

 

“…” (Pram)

 

“I…” (Freya)

 

“How does a city this big even exist?  Even from what I can remember of my past life no city was ever THIS big!” (Keeno)

 

“I think it’s the biggest city in the world. Not sure though since it’s been a while since I’ve been on the other continent.” (Mostima)

 

{It is by a very big margin.}

 

“I mean, from here it feels like it could be a whole country itself.” (Keeno)

 

“I honestly wonder how people manage to live there. I mean, what if you need something urgently, but you can only find it on the complete other side of the city?” (Pram)

 

“Being honest, they have a lot of problems like that.   There are a lot of places for things like medicine or healing readily available in most parts of the city, but if you need something specific that can’t be found near you, then you take a multiple day journey to get it. It’s very inconvenient for most citizens, though when I was here last, I heard some rumors that something was in development that would help make this a nonissue.” (Mostima)

 

“How credible were those rumors?” (Freya)

 

“As credible as a few drunk metalworkers can be. It’s a good thing none of you need metal for anything, it’s been getting bought up by the crown by the minefull nearly.” (Mostima)

 

“You need to teach us how to collect information like this. I can always rely on Huginn and Muninn and their growing number of subordinates, and what they say can be…unreliable.” (Keeno)

 

“Well, they are birds.  They can’t all be as smart as those two.” (Pram)

 

“True. Huginn and Muninn aren’t the best with discipline. At least not yet.” (Keeno)

 

The two in question squawked in complaint from my tails. They had indeed returned after a week before resting a day then going back out. This was their second rest day before they started working on converting the ravens in this city.

 

“Well, standing on a hill overlooking the city isn’t going to get us anywhere.” (Keeno)

 

“Come to think of it, why do so many cities we’ve been to have hills like this?  I mean, it’s not even that steep of a hill and we have a view of the city like we’re standing on a mountain.” (Freya)

 

{Something I call perspective magic. It’s a little something I cast on the world a long time ago when I was obsessed with that one civilization. They always had interesting art and, to get more of it myself, I made a magic that made painting scenes like this easier. I just never got around to removing said spell because other things kept cropping up, and now it’s basically a part of life.}

 

“…How do I respond to that?” (Freya)

 

“You don’t. You just accept it and move on.” (Pram)

 

{Pram gets it.}

 

“As someone whose seen many things related to gods in the past, this is rather tame.  When you see an angry earth god create a volcano just to eradicate a Fiend nest the size of a small village, then you can talk.” (Mostima)

 

{Ugh.  That guy. I’m glad he’s gone.  He was always so arrogant and heavy handed.  But enough about all this, get going or you’ll miss the gate.}

 

We set off toward the city only for all of us minus Mostima to realize that the walls were much taller than we thought.  They were so tall that I could have sworn only a giant of, well, giant proportions could build.

 

“There are no giants in this world, right?” (Keeno)

 

{No.  At least not in the way you’ve described them to me before. Depending on the subspecies there can be some extremely tall beastkin or demons, but none at the size you are thinking of.}

 

“I think they built these walls by turning the bricks into golems and having them move themselves. Old building technique, but useful in a pinch. Used it a few times myself, not that I’m particularly good at the puppeteering part of the process.” (Mostima)

 

{It was a truly ingenious idea. Too bad it’s fallen out of use for a lot of stuff thanks to mortals getting lazy.}

 

“You’d think they’d use it more if they were that lazy.” (Keeno)

 

“Thing about golem building is that, depending on how strong you want them to be, some of the materials make it more expensive to build that way than just doing it by hand.  Not all of us are insanely rich, have enough mana to provide direction without aid of a tool or focus, or a goddess that can snap her fingers and any kind of magic can happen perfectly.” (Mostima)

 

{It takes a lot more work than you think to get to that point, even for me. If I told you how long it took me to fine tune things so that you mortals could use magic without causing all of you to self annihilate yourselves, you’d go insane.}

 

“I’m grateful for all the work you do, Ama.” (Keeno)

 

{At least someone is.}

 

After entering into the line at the gate, we found that a very strict screening process was going on for everyone trying to enter the city.

 

“That wasn’t happening last time.” (Mostima)

 

Merchants were having their wares scrutinized thoroughly and adventurers were being interrogated like they were criminals. Getting closer to the guards performing the searches, I saw their souls were on the brink of becoming pitch black.  Others frisking the merchants were already well past that point.

 

“I don’t see this ending in any way other than a fight.” (Keeno)

 

“Hey, how about you try that one Rune you showed me?  Didn’t you say you were going to try and start using more of those?  Isn’t this a perfect chance?” (Mostima)

 

What she said made sense. I motioned for all of us to move to an out of sight spot.  I took out a scale and quickly carved a Rune into it. After charging it with a small amount of Divinity, it glowed softly. I handed it to Pram before making three more.

 

‘These should hide our presence and make us unseen for as long as the Rune holds. Just don’t make too much noise or we will be found out.  I know we don’t have anything to hide yet, but if searches like this are happening, then someone important enough to order them is clearly looking for something or someone.’ (Keeno)

 

I got telepathic signals of approval, and we approached the gate a second time, being as quiet as we possibly could be.  Thankfully the Runes held long enough and the guards physically in the gate were more negligent than their friends outside it.  We made it inside without too much trouble.  After getting far enough away from the gate the Runes burnt through the scales, turning them to ash on the wind.  It was then that I felt something.

 

“…” (Keeno)

 

{What’s wrong?}

 

I couldn’t answer. My head was swimming and it felt like I was about to lose everything I ate today.  I stumbled over to a wall and held myself up with one hand.  I only started to feel better after a few minutes of waiting and Pram’s magic.  I turned my back to the wall and slowly slid down until I was sitting.  The other three were standing over me with looks of concern.

 

“Something is wrong with this city.  I don’t know what or who, but if I can feel it, then it’s…indescribably bad.” (Keeno)

 

I looked up, peeking through my fingers only to see some shadows moving in an unnatural manner.  They seemed to want to come closer but were keeping a respectful distance.

 

“Death Spirits.” (Keeno)

 

The shadows seemed to stand at attention.

 

“Go contact the dragon. Tell her we have arrived and to go to the specified destination.” (Keeno)

 

The shadows instantly vanished.

 

“Was it the Death Spirits making you feel bad for some reason?” (Pram)

 

“No…it’s something else. Those two were just here to greet us.” (Keeno)

 

I slowly stood up from where I was sitting.

 

“We need to move. I’ll feel better if I just get used to being here, so we need to get to the meetup spot.  It should still be manageable to get to today, I hope. Eblana did say it was near the entrance we’d be coming through.” (Keeno)

 

I took a step and stumbled a bit before being caught by Freya and Mostima.

 

{Pram, use you magic on her at full strength. Try some that calms the mind before trying the usual small cures.}

 

Pram nodded and put a hand on my head. For a minute all I could see was the slightly greenish-white light of the magic before the bad feeling diminished enough for me to walk normally.

 

{Hmm. It has to do with your Authority of Death.  That’s what’s going on.}

 

“I figured as much.” (Keeno)

 

“Do you still want us to hold you up?” (Mostima)

 

“I should be good for a while, but if I nearly fall again, then I’ll gladly accept. Now, let’s get moving. Huginn, Muninn, look for the abandoned temple we’re looking for. Should have one of those big bell towers with a blue bell the same color as my fire.” (Keeno)

 

The two flew out of my tail and started circling above us in big circles, looking for what I was talking about before spotting our destination and started flying that way. We followed under them, only to realize that getting there would not be as simple as going in a straight line. By the time we finally made it to the temple, it was nearing midnight.

 

The temple grounds were, for lack of a better word, decrepit. It was in the middle of a small grassy spot, though most of the plants were weeds. The doors to the nearly crumbling stone building were rotted wood one touch away from disintegrating. The one beautiful stained-glass windows were covered in mold, moss, and several were shattered. The only thing that seemed in a relative state of upkeep was the bell tower. It was made of a pristine white stone that reflected the moonlight.

 

“I don’t care how bad it is, we sleep here for the night.” (Keeno)

 

I made my way over to a dead tree and slumped down next to it. The others followed suit shortly after and most of us fell asleep immediately while having Huginn and Muninn keeping watch over us.

 

Chaos Realm:

Tamamo: Things are getting interesting again.

Luna: Finally. Though I’m also impressed about the size of that city.

Want some fun info about that city?

Atmos: Oh?  What’s the scoop!?

They are trying to develop a train.

Atmos: A what?

Luna: Oh!…What are you planning, mister Fate-Weaver?

Nothing you need to worry about. It doesn’t concern you.

Atmos: …Hehehehehehehehe.

Tamamo: *Bonk*

Atmos: OW!!!!!

Tamamo: Don’t get any funny ideas, Atmos.

Atmos: Fine.