Chapter 25: Skyglass Heights II
Chapter 25: Skyglass Heights II
Damian and Anastasia rode in the Lower Compartments of the Skyrail of Glass, but further ahead, there were the elite Glass Compartments, made specifically for Glassbloods who lived in Skyglass Heights.Those carriages had holo-benches that molded to body types, bio-authenticated lockers, and even optional neural-link interfaces for pre-commute productivity or for accessing illegal black-market entertainment streams.
Damian didn’t even want to think about the Skyglass Priority Car reserved for Interstellar Beast Masters who preferred traveling in luxury rather than shooting through the skies in their personal Aether Skimrunners.
He’d seen pictures online of pure white interiors, glass floors with starlight ambient lighting, climate-controlled aromatics, and AI-hosted security protocols with smile-locked turrets.
That level of pristine perfection... was exactly what Damian felt like he was looking at when he saw the massive building that was ZENTHRA Corporation.
"Can you hear me clearly?"
Anastasia’s voice crackled in his earpiece.
Damian, blending into a crowd of hundreds, gave a low affirmative.
Around the entrance to the ZENTHRA Beast Corporation, people were gathered in rows, waving banners and cheering joyfully.
Each banner read something different:
[Thank you, Sir Dragon Knight, for saving my school!]
[You are the best, Guardian Dread!]
Damian scanned the scene of Guardian Fanatics out in full force, celebrating and showing appreciation to the Interstellar Beast Masters who patrolled and protected Ebonreach Metropolis.
Then he saw it- a sign that made his blood turn to ice.
[Guardian Vex Talon, where would we be without you?]
...!
A man and woman in pristine white clothes held the banner, faces lit with admiration.
Where would they be without Vex Talon?
Such words caused the fire within Damian to be turned up an octave higher!
’Well, for starters, my wife wouldn’t be dead.’
Rage prickled behind his eyes as he clenched his jaw and forced his breath to slow, following close behind Anastasia.
The fanatics remained off to the sides while ZENTHRA employees moved through a barricaded central lane, scanning badges to gain access.
The entire facility was surrounded by drone patrol loops, glass-walled diplomatic embassies, and according to Anastasia, this was one of the few buildings in Skyglass Heights with its own Gravitational Field Stabilizer, allowing it to distort the weather around it for aesthetic control.
ZENTHRA’s tower had 207 floors rising above the cloudline, and another 23 sub-floors dug into the crust of the earth- none of which were accessible to the public.
Its design was unlike any other in the city with two obsidian-black towers spiraling upward in a double-helix around a glowing central energy core- a structure that mirrored the DNA of the very Interstellar Beasts they manipulated.
Damian observed the surrounding defenses of floating pylons, Holo-Hound sentinels, and Enforcer drones scanning for abnormalities.
"Security is fucking ridiculous..."
He muttered under his breath.
The entrance they approached was a massive living wall etched with the image of ZENTHRA’s first captured Interstellar Beast. Its actual bones- encased behind translucent cryo-glass, were visible within and as people passed, the bones gave off a low, haunting growl.
Beyond the wall, the lobby opened into a breathtaking sight of a ceiling of shifting starlight that resembled a contained universe trapped inside the building.
Anastasia approached the gate and scanned her badge. It flashed green, and she slipped through without issue.
Damian waited for the next employee to scan their badge, then moved behind them, timing it perfectly so he passed through undetected.
Just in case.
Kitsuul cloaked him completely, hiding not only his presence but even his heat signature. Even powerful Interstellar Beast Masters shouldn’t be able to sense him.
No beast can sniff them out while they were cloaked. Kitsuul reminded him again through their link—proud, confident.
And then...
WHOOSH!
Damian passed through the vibrant gateway, unseen.
"Hoo..."
He exhaled softly. He’d made it into ZENTHRA Headquarters.
The tension didn’t ease as if anything, it tightened- as Anastasia’s voice whispered in his earpiece.
"Follow me. I can only get you up to the 25th floor with my access. Stay in the elevator until someone with high enough clearance selects a destination between floors 90 and 110. Any of those mainframes will be enough to plug in the Cypher Root Core Key. Got it?"
She’d told him this before, but repeated it anyway as she moved swiftly across the sleek glass-blue flooring.
Robotic attendants, wearing eerily human organic synth-skin, moved alongside ZENTHRA staff.
And then...
"Woah!"
"Holy shit, is that...?"
Whispers spread through the building like wildfire.
Damian turned in time to see a procession enter the lobby- three men and three women, all relatively young.
But that wasn’t what caught everyone’s attention.
Trailing behind and around them were Interstellar Beasts.
All six wore white Beast Master suits inscribed with the ZENTHRA sigil. One man and one woman rode identical Winged Peacock Lions, their tails dazzling with multicolored feathers and radiant manes of spectral light.
"The Trial Guardians about to undergo the ZENTHRA Guardian Beast Master Training!"
...!
Damian’s heart pounded.
These six radiated status and power. Just the Beasts they rode made him question whether they were born from Entropic Rifts... or engineered in ZENTHRA’s dark labs.
Then he saw her.
Behind the others, an extraordinarily beautiful young woman walked with glacial grace.
Wrapped around her arm and shoulders was a sleek black serpent, shimmering with dangerous light, crowned by a flickering black flame atop its head.
"Oh shit, that’s Serena! The Trial Guardian who saved hundreds during the Mechanical Plant failure last month! The Serpent Queen!"
The lobby buzzed like a fan convention.
Employees murmured excitedly and pointed as the six Trial Guardians strode toward the elevators.
Damian scanned his surroundings. His heart pounded. And then...
He made a choice.
He would follow them.
It was risky and possibly stupid, but if Kitsuul’s veil truly worked, this would be the ultimate test. And instead of waiting to get lucky with employees in a random elevator with a high enough authority, why not Beast Masters who had truly high authorities?!
He could get to a higher floor and observe the elite Beast Masters firsthand.
He tapped his earpiece, signaling Anastasia.
She paused in her steps, her hand trembling slightly before stepping into a different elevator, heading toward her assigned workstation.
And Damian?
He slipped behind the Trial Guardians, toward the elevator of the elites!