I didn’t know what to expect when I stepped through the gateway behind Alred’s three apprentices, but we entered into a long hall inside a building made entirely of quartz. Around the walls, I could see other portals, larger than the one I crossed opening and closing as they allowed all sorts of people and animals to cross. Most were coming through, bringing people and goods who formed into a herd that headed out in one direction—an empty space that appeared as though an entire wall had been removed. The bustle of noise from talking, children crying and animals braying was more than unpleasant.

Before me, Alred’s two other apprentices, a pair that I hadn’t met before today, set off in the same direction as the crowd. Those apprentices had arrived at my tower earlier this morning with a large supply of carved quartz and proceeded to construct the gateway. I had watched them for a while, to see how they enchanted the thing, but it wasn’t anything I didn’t recognize. The tome Alred had gifted me on the topic covered more complex spellcrafting pieces.

Behind me, two guards from my tower came through and gawked in wonder at the scene. A quick glance had them discipline their faces and take a position to either side of the gate to my home. My tower might be well-defended, but I hadn’t placed any defensive wards on any of the surrounding towers or village yet beyond fortifying the stone from monster attacks. I had more guards than needed, and few monsters would be able to climb the plateau’s cliffs. That, in combination with my fifth-tier elemental, could hold against an army. They were well enough defended.

With an approving nod to the guards, I turned and followed Skelt against the flow of the crowd until we reached a curving staircase in a back corner. Skelt began speaking as we descended, leaving the crystalline building and walking away, “Lord Froom has designated this building to receive all newcomers.”

I nodded my head. The stairs descended into a tunnel made entirely of quartz with magical lanterns on the walls. The walls to either side weren’t clear, but I could see the foggy outlines of others moving along similar corridors. Sometimes, I could also hear the muffled noises of their conversations, but rarely could I make out a word of what was being said.

Skelt continued speaking, “We are headed towards his tower and then on towards the cabin in which he has been residing.”

“Oh? He allows others access to his tower?” I raised an eyebrow.

Skelt shook his head. “Not anyone. Just his disciples and direct staff. Commoners and others have a petitioners’ hall, though I don’t think he has stepped foot inside. His seneschal, Marrik, has been presiding there since our arrival.”

“Yet you can bring guests into his tower? That is a lot of trust.” I remarked.

Skelt nodded, “It is, and that’s one of the reasons we all follow Baron Froom so diligently. Even if that has been more difficult of late. We carry on the tasks he’s already assigned us: growing the crystal of the plane, bringing those who would come, transporting dirt and plants, but without his leadership, it all falls to me. And I am…” Skelts voice trailed off as he winced and shook his head. He didn’t finish the sentence, but he didn’t need to.

I nodded and gave him a sympathetic look. The man was maybe in his mid-twenties. To task him with the logistics of organizing the exodus of mankind from Sena was a lot to ask. I took a moment to parse my thoughts as we walked in silence before continuing the conversation.

“I take it that all is not well in these taskings?”

He chuckled sardonically. “The mages that grow the plane are too slow and we are crowding. Without the additional lands, we cannot bring more plants. Yet people still arrive daily. We have an entire portal built beneath a lake near Eiston, but nowhere to bring the waters. If the druids weren’t working day and night, we’d have all died from bad air months ago. Every day is another problem, and many problems lay unresolved until they grow from seeds to trees.”

“When you speak of growing the plane, what do you mean?” It was a curious turn of phrase.

“Beneath us is quartz. On much is the loam and sand and dirt we can bring in from Sena, though we can only bring in so much at a time. Druids work to grow plants and rot wastes to make the land. Master Froom gave all of us disciples the spell to grow the crystal, though it is a boring and taxing spellwork. The mages assigned to it tarry often, even knowing what is at stake.”

I tried picturing it in my mind but found it difficult. I put the thought to rest, deciding to revisit it when I could see examples of that which he spoke. Instead, I turned over the problem of lackadaisical mages in my head, considering various punishments and rewards that might motivate dreary work. We fell into a companionable silence as we walked, both lost in our thoughts until we reached the end of the tunnel.

It exited out into a small guardhouse with a warded door. The ward was simple but strong, and, while I would have no problems unraveling it, I didn’t need to. With a single gesture, Skelt disabled the ward long enough for us to pass through the doorway. The guards saluted us as we continued out of the guardhouse and into the plane proper. I stopped on the steps leading down from the guardhouse and gasped in surprise. I wasn’t certain what I had expected the plane to look like, but the view took my breath away.

The skies above us were neither day nor night, and completely unlike any skies I had ever seen. My journey into the Plane of Nature had not prepared me for it, as the plane had multiple layers of canopy that blotted out anything but the barest hint of light from above. Here, I could see the vastness of the void, and the ringed plates that made up the other planes, all circling about the world I was from. A world that looked so tiny from here, I could only make out the lands, clouds, and oceans.

To either side of us, rose walls of quartz several hundred men high. It reminded me of the great canyon the hydra had come from, but the walls were higher still. Buildings of quartz were all around us; many seemed to be as if they were enormous crystals themselves, hollowed out to house those that lived inside. I could see people moving about in each, though they appeared as jagged shadows against the foggy crystalline walls.

Yet, before me was an even greater building than I had ever seen. A tower so beautiful that it made me ashamed of my own. Clear crystal, like perfect ice or fine glass, formed a spiraling structure that stood taller even than the walls of the plane. The outside was patterned in triangles and other geometric shapes so that it reflected the light of the plains in thousands and thousands of tiny, twinkling reflections. Inside was a spiraling staircase that led up and around the building, and I could see Froom’s disciples going up and down the staircase. Behind that staircase was an inner crystal tower, its walls fogged beyond what anyone could see through.

This building was worthy of one of my apprentices. Hundreds of mages must have worked diligently to create it, the craftsmanship alone enough to give wonder to anyone first seeing it. I hadn’t before considered using my grow crystal spell to construct a tower, but couldn’t stop myself from imagining the possibilities now. Diamond or ruby, sapphire or emerald, each one represented a new design that flitted across my mind like I was running through a corridor of paintings.

I kept my composure though and gave my guide a bored expression, “A little gaudy. He always did seek to impress.”

Skelt, wisely, didn’t respond. He continued to lead me the distance around the great tower and down a crystal street towards a massive forest. Above the forest rose a massive tree, standing nearly half the height of the tower we passed. The buildings to either side were rather opulent, though, and I could see the minor nobility had reacted to Froom’s tower as if it were the capital. I could sense first-tier wind elementals moving the air back and forth above us.

There weren’t many people out and moving, but we walked in a near silence that allowed me to hear the words spoken by the few that were present. Women discussing new fashion. Traders and merchants compared the prices of different types of dirt with surprising vehemence. Based on the prices discussed, it appeared that most things were worth less than dirt here.

As we approached the forest, buildings fell away from view to leave a plain of wildflowers and shaped thickets that housed druids. The very last building we reached was a cabin that appeared to be made from living bamboo, each stalk twisted and shaped into the walls of a home.

Skelt stopped nearly an entire field away from the cabin and gestured towards it. “Master Froom is inside, though I don’t know his state. He’s forbidden anyone from nearing it except the servants that bring wine.”

It was clear to me that Skelt wouldn’t be guiding me any closer, and my first thought was to consider this a possible trap. Yet, I could sense Froom’s magic style on the wards of the cabin, and couldn’t picture the man not being present. With a smile of gratitude towards my guide, I began walking closer. It was time to see how my former apprentice was doing.