14-54. The Glory of the Empire
“Was it you?”
“I have no idea what you’re talking about.”
“Oh, it was definitely you,” Elijah continued, referring to the outing he’d shared with Kaela. It had come out of nowhere, and Sara had made her matchmaking intentions absolutely clear. So, it only stood to reason that she was the one behind it. “I know it.”
“Again, I have no idea what you mean. I’m just an innocent and delicate –”
Elijah interrupted Sara, “You’re also a terrible actress.”
Sara gasped, hand to her heart as she said, “Well. I never. I’ll have you know that I am well-regarded as a performer. I’m no Entertainer, but –”
Elijah just laughed as he listened to Sara tout her accomplishments as an actress, singer, and storyteller. If they’d been on Earth, it would’ve been like someone bragging about the time they played Dorothy in a grade school production of The Wizard of Oz. It was saved only by the fact that Sara was obviously unserious, her tone entirely sarcastic.
“I stand corrected,” Elijah said, glancing over the edge of the cloud at the jungle far below. “Is the whole planet like this? You know, heavily forested?”
Sara shook her head. “No, but most of the temperate regions are,” she answered. “There’s a big desert a few thousand miles that way.” She pointed off to the south. “And there are a few frozen tundras. Giant marshes. The ocean. That sort of thing.”
“But no cities?”
She shook her head. “A couple of small settlements, but this planet is meant to remain natural. Ish.”
“Ish?”
“Well, the Druids put their fingers on the scale. Obviously.”
“I don’t understand.”
“You’re a Druid. Shouldn’t you feel it?”
“I’m not really following what you’re saying.”
She narrowed her eyes in confusion. “This is all part of the Fyas Grove.”
“W-what?” Elijah asked, shocked.
“Yeah. You know this whole planet was once just a ball of rock, right? How else were they supposed to terraform it? The Druids came in first, spreading their influence and terraforming everything. Then, mother took possession and wrapped it in her domain,” Sara explained. “I thought you knew this.”
Elijah shook his head.
He’d obviously sensed something, and Tura had implied that the jungle was a grove. He’d felt a subtle sensation he usually interpreted as curation. However, he’d interpreted that as an off-shoot of Kirlissa’s ever-present domain. Her influence hung over everything, and now that he knew the truth, he realized that it masked the true nature of the planet’s wilderness.
In retrospect, he could feel the similarities to his own grove. The realization came with significant discomfort. He’d been trespassing without even knowing it.
“The Fyas Grove. Where is it centered?” he asked.
“A few galaxies away. Founded by Archdruid Hamal,” Sara answered before pointing out that he was another transcendent. “Just a drake, though. Not that it matters.”
But her tone said that even if it didn’t matter to her, it did to some.
The detail did bring up a question that had been on his mind since he’d arrived in the Empire of Scale. Finally, he had an opportunity to ask it. “Are there any dragon Druids?”
Sara shrugged. “Of course. But no transcendents.”
“Why not?”
She shook her head. “I don’t know. I’ve never really thought about it.”
That made sense. To Sara, Druids were just another archetype. Sure, she was constantly surrounded by the fruits of their labor. After all, the planet would’ve been nothing but a lifeless hunk of rock without them. But most people just weren’t interested in the people behind the scenes.
However, her admission that, in the entire Empire of Scale, there were no transcendents among the dragon Druids, was intriguing. Troubling, too, though Elijah wasn’t sure why that would be.
In any case, Elijah didn’t belabor the topic. Instead, he let Sara babble on, excited about the upcoming ceremony. From what he’d been told to expect, it was meant to be something like the opening ceremonies for the Olympics. Most major factions within the Empire of Scale were supposed to attend. Even one of the Emperors was meant to be there. And that wasn’t even considering the countless others who’d watch from afar.
“Are you excited?”
Elijah shrugged. “A little,” he admitted. “More nervous about the fights, to be honest.”
Those would begin directly after the opening ceremonies, but Elijah wasn’t scheduled to fight until the next day. Something to do with his seeding. He’d gone over that list a few times, and he’d discovered two familiar names at the very top.
The narrative has been taken without permission. Report any sightings.
Skahan ak Vael – the white-scaled lackey he’d met in the park – sat in the fourth spot. But more troublingly, Cyran es Caelwyn had taken the place of primacy. He was the number one seed, verifying that he was not to be underestimated.
Was Elijah afraid?
Not really. He was confident enough in his own abilities. But he was wary, and not just because of the physical danger they represented. In addition, their rankings showed that they were known quantities within the Empire of Scale. They had backing. Political allies. They had expectations.
In short, Elijah knew he needed to step carefully around them.
“You’re going to do great!” Sara insisted.
“I hope so.”
A few dozen feet away, Tura and Birk traveled on their own cloud. There were plenty of other such transports around, and that wasn’t even counting the people who’d resorted to their dragon forms. Most of them flew thousands of feet overhead, largely so that their massive forms wouldn’t crowd out the rest of the travelers.
It brought to mind something Elijah had always known but hadn’t really internalized. His dragon form was huge. Hundreds of feet long and about half as heavy as a blue whale. Yet, compared to other dragons, he was quite small. A true runt, as Tura put it.
While the cloud artifacts seemed to be the preferred method of transportation, there were plenty of other, much more eclectic vehicles. Elijah saw people riding winged beasts, in floating carriages, and even one woman who flew upon a massive, golden leaf.
No one traveled on the ground, though. Even the lower caste individuals could take advantage of the public clouds.
Soon enough, they arrived at their destination and set down in a designated landing zone on the outskirts of the town surrounding the Praesidium. Walking through the town was much like Elijah’s first trip, with the vendors out in full force. Everywhere he looked, he saw happy people, laughing and buying food and souvenirs.
It reminded him of attending football games as a child.
The thought brought with it a note of nostalgia and a twinge of loss. For his parents, who took any chance to create a family memory. His sister, who’d leaped headfirst onto the Seahawks bandwagon. For a simpler time when Elijah didn’t need to worry about cultivation, politics, or the trappings of power.
It was a nice memory, but somewhat bittersweet.
Of course, Sara wanted to see everything. Did it matter that she’d visited the Praesidium a couple of other times? Not really. She looked at everything with fresh and hopeful eyes.
Elijah could only hope she would maintain that innocence for a little longer.
They joined the flow of traffic, and much to Sara’s chagrin, they stopped infrequently. After all, they had a schedule to keep. And Elijah couldn’t afford to be late.
Soon enough, they reached the entrance dedicated to participants. The crowds were only marginally thinner but markedly younger. Everywhere he looked, Elijah saw fresh, eager faces. He saw nerves, too. Fidgeting fingers. Anxious glances. Weighing stares. They were all participants.
More than a million of them. Young dragons, drakes, and serpentors. They were the best of the best among the youngest generation of demi-gods, and they represented the future of the empire.
And somehow, Elijah was one of them.
After bidding farewell to Sara, Tura, and Birk, Elijah joined the crowd and slowly shuffled inside. For a while, he wondered just how the stadium was meant to accommodate them all, but those concerns were quickly put to rest when he found himself in a massive chamber.
It looked a bit like a ballroom. The décor followed the normal draconic style, which towed the line of ostentatiousness but never quite crossed over into garishness. Would Elijah have made similar choices? Never in a million years. But he could appreciate the willingness to approach but never cross the limits of good taste.
The participants had arranged themselves in small clumps. Friends or allies, Elijah suspected. There were so many that he didn’t even bother looking for people he knew. That would have taken too long. Instead, he just found a pillar, upon which he leaned. As he did so, he summoned a cup of coffee from his Arcane Loop.
Such was the nature of the storage space that the liquid remained just as hot and fresh as it had been when it was brewed. He took a sip, then let out a sigh of contentment.
Tura really did know how to roast those beans.
The result was far better than he could have achieved alone. That wasn’t particularly surprising, considering her class’s focus on alchemy. Perhaps Biggle would one day be offered a class like the Wyrmroot Sage.
Still, Elijah couldn’t help but feel impressed. And grateful. Maybe he needed to get a gift for the old drake. Maybe a potted plant. That was the kind of thing old women liked, wasn’t it? And she was a Druid, too, which meant that planets were always a good idea.
Elijah considered appropriate gifts as he scanned the room, mostly looking for Kaela. But finding one person in a million was no small feat, so he wasn’t successful. It did give him an opportunity to study his potential opponents. That occupied him until a large serpentor announced that it was time.
For the occasion, Elijah had chosen to wear the same suit he’d worn to the banquet on the moon. It made him feel a little out of place, considering that no one else wore anything similar. But that was more than okay with him.
Thus clad, Elijah joined the flow of demi-gods out of the room and to the arena floor.
Immediately, he knew some things had changed, and drastically. The arena floor stretched on for miles in every direction, with the seating looming over everything. It was like he’d found himself in the world’s largest crater, only the sides were made up of screaming fans.
That stood in stark contrast to his impression from when he’d watched the qualifiers. Back then, the arena floor was large. Maybe a mile wide at most. But it was far smaller than what he saw before him.
The explanation was obvious.
Magic.
And it made sense. If they had access to a Chronomancer who could rewind death, then a space mage who could manipulate the size of the arena floor was probably child’s play.
Still, it took Elijah by surprise, and in stunned silence, he followed the crowd of other demi-gods. They parted into separate flows before lining the edges of the arena floor. Elijah ended up near the center, so he had a perfect view when a dragon descended from the sky.
He looked mostly human, though his skin was blue. White scales swirled around his naked torso, glittering like diamonds. He wore nothing but a long, white skirt that descended nearly a hundred feet below the rest of his body. Like a flowing tail of cloth.
His wings stretched out, sending a prism of refracted light to dance along the arena floor. Where those rays of light touched, people gasped.
Elijah was one of them. It felt like god’s very own spotlight being directed at him. Right now, it filled him with awe. But Elijah maintained his wits such that he could easily imagine it being weaponized.
The entire crowd went quiet.
And then, the dragon began to sing.
Elijah couldn’t understand the words, but that didn’t detract from the emotions racing through his mind. His soul shook with every tone. His mental protections counted for nothing. Nor did he want to block those vibrant emotions.
In the space of a single song, Elijah felt sadness and grief, happiness and contentment. And a host of other emotions that he couldn’t identify. They all mingled together, following the ebb and flow of the song until, at last, it ended.
Elijah reached up to feel the tears flowing down his cheeks.
He wasn’t the only one. Many of the demi-gods near him had fallen to their knees. Others just stared at the singer as if they’d seen the face of god and could not look away.
And Elijah knew that he’d just seen a transcendent Entertainer in all his glory.
Beautiful and terrifying, in equal measure.