Galaxy of Hyperion: Mystic Heir

Chapter Four: Sixteen

"We're here to speak with your leader," Jay responded firmly. "We believe that Antallumaur may be able to aid us with a task in the future."

The second of the two people looked to the first, and they both shook their heads. "We cannot allow you entrance," the second person told them simply. "We only accept visitors into the City of Steel by invitation, and Antallumaur has no meetings scheduled for today. If you truly wish to speak with her, I would suggest that you do a bit of research first."

Arian fumbled for words to get them to open up, but he wasn't fast enough. The two metal-bound people disappeared around a corner before traveling deeper into the city, and he let out a sigh as soon as they vanished from sight. "This sucks," he murmured with a shake of his head. "What are we supposed to be doing now?"

"We have to find a way to get an audience with her," Jay shrugged. "There won't be a way for us to sneak in. Look at the ground of the city." She pointed to the space within the glass dome, and Arian followed her gaze. Metal lined the bottom of the area, blocking out the desert sand from outside the glass. 

"I'm willing to bet that Antallumaur is a Metal mage, so chances are that sort of metal is reinforced with really strong magic," Arian muttered, frowning deeply. "She would have to have Metal magic if she was able to pull off all this. She's praised like a goddess around here as far as I can tell."

"She's certainly thorough," Jay frowned. "She has protocol to allow people within the City of Steel, knows how to keep people out, and planned all of this seemingly on her own. Then again, if she's really been around since the days of Lyloc, she's certainly had the time to figure all of that out."

"We can figure out how to get in after we leave," Arian suggested. "I somehow doubt that we're going to get anything by just standing here. There's got to be somewhere we can gather this sort of information. Now that we know what we're looking for, it should be a lot easier to find out more information."

Jay nodded. "Chances are you're right," she agreed. "I'm not sure where we should go to look around... Do you have any ideas? We could go back to the library if need be. Now that we know the name Antallumaur is what we need to be looking for, we should be able to break through any barriers that were in our way before we came here."

"Alright," Arian said. He shot a brief glance towards the entrance of the city before walking away. "I don't think we should stand around here any longer than we already have. People are going to start getting suspicious if we loiter for too long."

As much as Jay hated to admit it, he had a point. She followed him, leaving the City of Steel behind her. She had been hoping that reaching out to Antallumaur would be a simple operation, but she should have known that nothing in life is that easy. Even if she and Arian were being forced to go back to the drawing board, at least they had some semblance of a plan for what to do next. 

~~~~~

"There's a castle in the capital city of Skylia," Zephyr began. The Clan Leaders were watching them with curious eyes as they rose to their feet and started to pace around the area. "The castle was once used as the hub area for the Skylox Heroes, the strongest force of fighters in the entire Galaxy of Hyperion."

"The Skylox Heroes fell due to the Tablet of Sapphin being destroyed," Valdez chimed in. "Their spirits were all tied to the tablet so that their lifespans would be greatly increased. No matter how many years they had lived, they would continue to survive as long as the Tablet of Sapphin remained intact."

"The Battle of Nadia was where all of that began to fall apart. It was a massacre, and Zelda Artem of the Fearbringers snuck into the castle the Skylox Heroes used as a base before destroying Sapphin. All of the Skylox Heroes died as soon as the tablet was destroyed, and the castle has gone abandoned since then," Tuila went on. "The Skylox Heroes acted as powerful mercenaries of sorts for many years, and they had the sheer numbers to oppose even the Fearbringers. That was why Mersall got rid of them. They were the only force that could topple his empire on Daragon."