Jay's jaw dropped as soon as she caught sight of the City of Steel. One could have easily called it impressive, but that would have been a severe understatement as far as Jay was concerned. All she could do was stare at the endless metal stretching out before her.
There were too many buildings to be counted, all of them tall enough to pierce the sky. The city was mapped out in a perfect grid system, not a single hair out of place. The people navigating the space all had some sort of robotic enhancement, and they carried themselves with a sense of confidence that Jay hadn't seen in a long time. The sky glimmered orange around the tallest building in the City of Steel.
Said building was a skyscraper with a notable spire that rested among the sky easily. A gentle orange light glimmered at its apex, flashing every few seconds. The air had the appearance of twilight despite it being close to the middle of the day, and a glass dome kept the city contained. The rest of the surrounding area was made of hot, scorching desert, but Jay didn't even feel the heat as she stared at the city. It was more than amazing enough to pull her attention away from the sweat starting to bead on the back of her neck.
Arian was the first to move after the city came into view. "Damn," he murmured, breathing the word before taking a small step towards the glass dome ahead. The top of the glass disappeared in the sky along with the tops of the taller buildings, and it was difficult to say for sure how tall the space was. The City of Steel had been crafted meticulously by someone who knew exactly what they were doing, some genius who had far too much time on their hands.
Jay followed Arian closer to the door of the glass dome. It blended in with the rest of the transparent material, and she could barely see the outline of the entrance among the glass. Once she was close enough, Jay pressed her hand against the surface, closing her eyes to take in the atmosphere. She realized that there wasn't a knob, and despite her pushing against the door, it wasn't opening.
"We probably have to contact one of the people inside to get in," Arian whispered to her. He glanced around with a frown before taking another step to the right. His foot collided with a small patch of silver among the desert sand, and an orange button rested atop the metal. It was a control panel of some sort, but it was hard to say exactly what it did.
Arian hesitated before leaning down and pressing his palm onto the button, needing to use a surprising amount of force to keep the button down long enough for the push to register. Once he was sure that such had been done, he moved back to Jay's side and started rocking back and forth between his toes and heels to pass the time. Sand kicked up around his shoes.
A pair of figures appeared soon afterwards, and Jay watched them with curious eyes. She could see that one of them was wearing a helmet made of silver metal that seemed to attach to their skull somehow. The other had a right arm made completely of steel. They both wear clothing of white, gray, and orange, fitting in with the color scheme of the city seamlessly. The pair stopped on the other side of the dome, and one pressed their hand against the glass.
A speaker rose out from the sand below immediately, and Arian stumbled backwards from surprise. Jay threw her arm out at the last second to keep him from completely falling over in his shock. Arian righted himself soon afterwards with an awkward smile plastered haphazardly on his lips, and he stared at the speaker the same way that Jay did.
"State your intentions," the first of the two new arrivals said bluntly. Their voice lacked any sense of emotion, but Jay wasn't about to be deceived by such a display of bluntness. If the city was this advanced, she couldn't imagine that the people weren't capable of feeling something. The entire area had been crafted perfectly, and making people without programming emotions into their heads seemed like a grave oversight. This was likely the typical way to greet strange visitors from outside the city if she had to guess. She couldn't imagine that the City of Steel saw many newcomers.
"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."
"You're saying that we should take over the castle and give it a home," Lex concluded. "I guess that would make sense... If it housed so many Skylox Heroes for years, then it would certainly act as a good base if we were to try and reach out to other Hanilia factions."
"Exactly," Zephyr grinned. "It only makes sense that we would use such a space as long as it's there. Nobody's dared to go inside since the Skylox Heroes fell. The government on Skylia was heavily tied to the Skylox Heroes looking over the area, you see. When they all perished in the Battle of Nadia, the government sort of crumbled."
"That's one way of saying it, anyways," Liathine frowned. "You see, Daragon might have a monarchy, but under most circumstances, the Meltua family doesn't exactly rule over the entire planet unchecked. There's normally a voting system to keep them from exercising too much power, you see, but that all fell apart when the war started."
"Skylia has a direct democracy, and all the people vote through a magical system for the sake of passing laws. Lyloc was the one to preside over all of that along with the rest of the Skylox Heroes, and when they perished... Let's just say that things started getting rough. Without a central form of government, the people just kept on as they were, trying to pretend the problem didn't exist. Crime began to rose, but as long as they weren't directly impacted, nobody really gave it a second thought," Diamond continued.
"If you ask me, they were being foolish," Valdez muttered. "There's nothing we can do to change it now though, so we're simply going to move onto Skylia and establish the castle for the Hanilia to stay in. We can use it as a base in case we wind up needing something like that in the future. That would give us a perfect chance to reach out to the rest of the Hanilia across the Galaxy of Hyperion as well, and it would all fall in our favor."
"That's exactly why we're going for the castle," Zephyr declared. "We want you all to help us establish the castle as a place for all of us to stay. On top of that, we're going to need you to go out and try to form ties with other Hanilia. Not all of them are as organized as you six are."
"The Skylox Heroes were always the most organized of the Hanilia factions," Cordell remarked. "Of course, we can't exactly ask for their advice given that they're not around anymore. That just means that we're going to have to establish our own system of reaching out to the rest of the Hanilia that we haven't come across yet."
"In general, Hanilia don't stick together all the time," Tuila told the Clan Leaders. "You six are naturally close friends as far as I can tell, so there's a reason for you to stay together away from the battlefield. The Draconic Superiors have that to a lessened degree, but it's still not that much. The rest of the Hanilia groups are even less organized, and that means we're going to have to actively try to pull all of them together if this plan is truly going to work out in our favor."
"I think that's a perfect thing for us to do," Ocean smiled. "We could certainly use the chance to become more acquainted with the rest of the planets given that we've only really spent a lot of time on Daragon. Plus, it could be fun to clean up the castle and turn it into a home for people like us."
"There shouldn't be any issues with us going into the castle and taking it over. It's not like anybody's going to stop us given the recent collapse of a central government on Skylia," Zephyr shrugged. "Some people might be upset, but I feel like that's a small price to pay given what we're going to be getting out of the castle space."
"The plan was to update you on the situation today and prepare for you to potentially come here tomorrow to start working on the castle," Tuila commented. "It'll be best for us to get an earlier start on moving into the palace, after all."
"The planets aren't exactly aligned in terms of days," Liathine remarked. "It's afternoon here on Daragon just like it is on Earth, but it's closer to midday on Skylia. I personally believe it would be best for us to wait until tomorrow when you know what you're walking into. Plus, it'll be morning tomorrow when you arrive, which is even better."
"It's like the planets have timezones," Luke said with a nod. "I suppose that makes sense, but I never quite considered that as a possibility... A-Anyways, we're more than happy to take care of all that."
"What do you two say?" Jayler questioned, turning his attention to Xia and Gemini. They hadn't said anything since the conversation about moving onto Skylia had begun, and he was certainly curious about if they had any feedback.
"I think it sounds fine," Gemini shrugged. "We're going to have to do a lot of cleaning if we want to get that place back into working order as far as I can tell, but I believe we can handle it."
"After killing Mersall, the idea of cleaning up a castle sounds refreshingly easy," Xia snorted, but a goodnatured smile was on her face. "I guess that means we're all in agreement on the matter."
"Perfect," Jayler grinned, clapping his hands together before letting them fall onto the table. "Tomorrow, we're going to get started on looking into changing the castle into a home for all Hanilia. I would say that our first day back in the Galaxy of Hyperion has already provided some fruits regarding our productivity."
"The rest of the Draconic Superiors should be arriving back here soon," Tuila declared. "We can give you all the chance to see them once again, and then we can move on with planning our next move for the move over to the castle on Skylia."
Jayler smiled as he got to his feet and followed after Tuila. It had only been a day since he arrived back in the Galaxy of Hyperion, and he was already enjoying himself. Things were bound to get better from there, and he couldn't wait to see what the future had in store.
~~~~~
Jay and Arian had been searching for a few hours when the latter started to get hungry. He suggested that he and Jay go to find food somewhere, and she reluctantly agreed. They left the library behind to start moving towards a small cafe within the capital. The space was rather busy, and people were talking constantly. The buzz kept anyone from eavesdropping on their conversation, but just to be sure, Jay elected to sit in a booth near the back of the building with Arian. Jay stirred at her tea mindlessly as Arian took a swig from his water. Neither one of them spoke at first, unsure of what would be best to say first.
"We're getting closer to being able to make an appointment Lana Tarulum," Arian offered with a small smile. "That should make it easier for us to ask her if she knows anything about the Skylian Mages. If she has information for us, then maybe we'll be able to press on and learn more in the future about them."
"We'll figure something out," Jay shrugged. "We don't even know how many of them there are going to be. Hanilia factions cover each element out of the twenty-five, but we can't say for sure how the elements are going to be broken up."
"Then how about we start by asking what elements the other has?" Arian suggested. "I mean, I feel like Lyloc reached out to us because we're involved in all of this somehow, and that's got to be a good place to begin, right?"
Jay hesitated before shrugging once again. "Yeah, sure," she murmured. She fell silent as a waiter came by to set down bowls of soup before both her and Arian. The two mages offered their thanks as the newcomer disappeared before turning their attention towards their food.
"You already heard what I've got at my fingertips," Arian commented. "I mentioned earlier that I'm a Mystic mage. I don't know what you can do though. You're able to move through the Portal, but that's not exactly indicative of what element you have."
Jay was silent at first, focusing on spooning soup into her mouth rather than on what Arian was saying. He knew that she had heard him, so he didn't press her further. Jay let out a sigh before taking a drink of her tea. "Mystic," she muttered. "I don't use magic much though. I prefer to fight with my sword."
"That's rather unusual," Arian remarked. "Most of the time, people prefer to use their magic rather than weapons. Only Blade mages really use a blend of both."
"I'm different," Jay said bluntly. "I learned how to fight with a sword first rather than with magic, so I'm far more comfortable with it. If I have no other choice, I'll use my powers, but I would prefer to avoid it for a variety of reasons."
"Such as...?" Arian prompted. "You have to give me at least some ideas here, right? Please don't just leave me hanging like that, Jay. We're supposed to be working together on this mess."
"It's a long story, and I would rather not get into it," Jay explained. "If I feel like it's important to discuss in the future, then I'll tell you about it, but for right now, I would like to keep this a secret."
Arian sighed. "I understand..." he whispered. There was something oddly tense about his posture, and he was clearly desperate to say something else, but he was silent anyways. He focused entirely on his food in the seconds that followed, figuring out that pushing Jay any further wouldn't have a point.
Jay didn't press for conversation either. She had gotten used to working alone, and even when she did collaborate with others, she tended to prioritize actions above anything that could come out of her mouth. She was quiet throughout the rest of lunch, and Arian followed suit. The only speaking that was done was directed at their waiter.
After the meal was finished, Jay dropped the appropriate amount of money onto the table and finished off her drink. She pushed her chair away from the table and started walking towards the door. Arian watched her in stunned silence at first before following suit, and the two were back out on the street less than half a minute later. Jay was already walking in the direction of the library once again.
"We really need to work out a way to communicate with each other, you know," Arian suddenly said, and Jay stopped walking to turn and face him with curiosity glittering in her brown eyes. "If we're going to be working together for a while, we have to know how to talk to one another. I know that there are some things you aren't ready to explain to me, and I'm more than happy to respect that, but I still want to try and at least get to know you before we jump into this mess headfirst, you know?"
Jay shook her head. "We're working purely for business reasons. We need to find the Skylian Mages, and I see no reason for small talk right now. We have to press on with our mission and figure out more about the people who Lyloc has sent us to search after. I do hope that you understand," she explained. She started walking again a few seconds later, leaving Arian to scurry after her. His steps weren't large enough to keep up with hers, so he wound up having to practically throw himself forward every once in a while to ensure he didn't fall behind.
The rest of the walk to the library passed in silence, and Jay opened the door before holding it for Arian. He nodded to her in thanks, and they moved towards the same seats they had been using before their break for lunch. Once again, they fell back into their routine of silent research, and Arian wound up spending far longer than expected stealing glances over in Jay's direction, trying to figure out what was in her head.
Jay didn't let him poke too deeply, keeping her expression passive and inscrutable as she continued trying to learn more about Lana Tarulum. She noticed that Arian was looking at her, but she didn't bother trying to force him to look away. She knew that such wouldn't have had much of a point, and it wasn't doing any harm. As unsettling as it was, Jay didn't care in the long run, and she knew that he would have to grow out of it eventually. Their mission counted on him being able to move on like an adult.
An adult.
Jay couldn't help but frown as she realized that she hadn't learned all that much about Arian. She knew his name and magic, but his age was completely out of her grasp. She paused in her searching and looked over to him. "Arian... How old are you?" she questioned, surprising even herself with the bluntness of her inquiry.
Arian's searching immediately came to a stop, and he looked over to Jay with a light tilt of his head as he registered her question. As soon as he had figured out what she meant, his expression lit up. "Sixteen," he replied.
Jay couldn't help but frown at his response. "I see," she murmured. She would have expected most sixteen-year-olds to be with their families while training to use their powers. For the most part, people lived with their parents until they were eighteen to twenty, so to hear that Arian was wandering around Skylia on his own at such a young age unsettled her in ways she hadn't expected.
Then again, it wasn't as if she really had a right to comment on that. She was the same age that he was, and she was doing the same thing. Jay didn't know where Arian had come from, but perhaps they were similar in the category of family. She didn't have anything to go back to, and she was starting to wonder if Arian was any different.
"You're shocked," Arian frowned, his eyes narrowing. "I get that it's a bit weird. I mean, most people my age are supposed to be in school still, but... Listen, things happened, and that's no longer possible for me. You can have secrets, but that just means that I can do the same, alright?"
"There's a reason that you're on your own," Jay muttered, more to herself than anyone else. "I see."
"I mean... Yeah," Arian admitted. "It's not like there's anywhere else for me to go, so I've taken to wandering around Skylia on my own, doing whatever needs to be done. It's not a job you'd expect from someone like me, but it's what I've got. That's all that I can count on, and I'm not about to let it go."
"This mission from Lyloc is giving you a sense of purpose after all your wandering then," Jay commented. She didn't meet his gaze, instead choosing to stare intensely at the back of her hand. Maybe she had more in common with Arian than she had thought originally.
"You could say that," Arian said softly. "But that's not important right now. We have to try and find out more about Lana Tarulum. Lyloc is still counting on us, and I'm not about to let her down after all that we've already done, you know?"
Jay nodded her understanding before looking back to her computer. She was oddly restless as she continued her search, and she couldn't help but wonder what Arian had been involved with in the past. She understood his desire to keep the events of the past a secret; she was much the same way. Still, she wondered if she would ever figure out what had taken place involving him for him to be exploring Skylia without any strings attached.
It was hard to say if Arian shared her curiosities. He seemed to be an open book at first glance due to his laidback and relaxed nature, but Jay was quickly learning that was not the case. If anything, this was just a way for him to persuade everyone that nothing was bothering him regardless of what he was actually thinking. He was an actor beneath all of the snarky comments and bright smiles. He seemed to have an earnest and honest heart, but she couldn't say for sure. She needed to spend more time with him to truly figure out what his motivation was for all of this.
As good of a motivator as Lyloc was, Jay couldn't help but feel as if there was something more to it. Why had he been called upon by Lyloc? The Skylian Mages were an odd bunch as far as she could tell, and she couldn't even begin to fathom why Lyloc would have wanted to get someone like him involved. It didn't make sense to her in the slightest. However, she wasn't able to figure out what the truth was no matter how long she stared at him. The roles had reversed, and soon enough, she was the one offering sideways glances his direction. If he noticed, he took special care to not return the action or meet her eyes. Jay frowned solemnly at the observation.
"Aha! Here we go!"
Arian's sudden cry cut through Jay's thoughts like a knife, and her daze was brought to a sudden and brutal halt. She looked over to see what was going on with Arian, and she noticed that he was grinning like a fool. "I think I've figured out our answer here," he explained. "According to this site, Lana is pretty picky about who she lets speak to her. She's had to deal with a lot of frustrating figures in the past, so she has a strict system regarding who is allowed within the walls of the City of Steel."
"What do we have to do to get in then?" Jay asked, raising an eyebrow in curiosity.
"We have to prove ourselves worthy of her attention, but I don't know what that means," Arian sighed. "Maybe it's something about showing that you're a righteous and good person. I can't say for sure, but I don't think that it's going to be something that comes easily to us."
"Let's try and keep digging then," Jay sighed with a shake of her head. "I don't know how she would know that we're doing anything good though. I somehow doubt that she'd be able to have eyes on us at all times, and watching everyone in the world... I think that's a bit farfetched."
"We'll figure it out," Arian assured her. "We just have to keep looking, and I'm sure the answer will come our way soon enough."
Jay nodded slowly before returning to her search. She stopped looking over at Arian, practically forcing herself to pay attention to the subject at hand. It still bothered her that somebody sixteen was tied up in dangerous business like this, and she couldn't help but wonder what the hell Arian had gotten himself into.
~~~~~
Inside a building tall enough to touch the sky, a woman sat on an ornate throne made purely of orange metal. Her head was tilted gently to the side as she stared at a crystal ball on a podium before her. In truth, the crystal sphere was not made of crystal at all, instead being comprised of a transparent metal that swirled and rotated with each passing second.
The woman pressed her fingers against the surface of the sphere, pinpointing a single spot on the image she was staring at. Jay and Arian were sitting together in the library of Skylia's capital city, and the woman's finger hovered over the tattoo inscribed into Jay's cheek. A smile crept upon her lips.
"Finally," the woman breathed. "It appears that I'm being called into action once again."
The woman banished the image before rising to her feet and sliding the podium away. She couldn't stop grinning as she made her way towards the door of the room. It had been far too long since she was able to fight, but it seemed as if she would finally be able to prove her battlefield prowess once again. It had been far too long, but she was ready.
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Arian is interesting huh
-Digital