“Do you even understand the structure of this city?” Karina quizzes,

“Surely Pinoki, you could have at least told him that much,”

“I’ve piecing together a rough idea,” I answer,

“From what I learned, we are under the city but not underground, a seal of sorts, correct?”

“Let me stop you there,” Karina interjects,

“You are correct but, I don’t think you understand the full scope of this,

Besides me only the queen knows exactly,”

“Knows what?” Apollo inquires

Karina turns to him,

“You know where all our magic stones come from right?”

“Of course, from the mines under the city,

We can’t access the mine though, since the entrance is outside the walls,

That’s why you go around stealing them from the people above,” Apollo concludes

“Right, but inside the mine there is….,”

Karina stops,

“There is what?” I press, curiously

“Ughh, I can’t explain it with words alone,

Come, we must go visit the queen,” she says getting up

“Her magic can display images, you will understand what I mean, from her,”

~~~

“Who is she?” someone whispers, as we pass through the rubble of the club,

“Is she the leader, or their ally?”

Curious eyes lay on Karina as she walks mask-less with us,

“You know, no one has ever seen me here without my mask, as far as who the person ‘Karina’ is, she has never left the orphanage of the queen for years.”

“Lucky you,” Lyra sarcastically remarks,

“Maybe it is time I let all this go,” Karina ignores Lyra, sighing at the remains of her club,

“You know why I stared charging people fees to be here,

It wasn’t for money or anything like that,

Its because people won’t get hooked,

They won’t believe in anything you give them for free,

Artificial value creates a false sense of happiness when obtained,

But it is happiness non-the-less,

So why not we enjoy it?

Bare this in mind Kage,

I am not helping you because I believe in anything your doing,

I am only following my desire.”

…. Pinoki raises his eyebrows looking at me

…. I shrug back,

(Aren’t we all following our desires in some way.)

***

The queen sits quietly her pipe in one hand and a book another, the cover reads:

Art of D –

“Patricia!” Her door swings open, as five people enter,

“Karina?” The queen looks up surprised, putting down her book, and you’re with others?

It has been a while since I last saw you lot together like this,”

“Well enjoy these eight seconds,” Pinoki says walking out,

“I’ll be downstairs if anyone needs me,”

“He never really did like me,” the queen sighs,

“Chh!” Apollo snorts leaving as well,

(Weird)

The tension increases now that I stand here alone with the queen, Karina and Lyra,

Lyra steps her feet impatiently by the door,

Karina’s usual stoic composure now gone, as she acts flustered,

(Really weird)

“Um, Patricia-” Karina starts,

“-I am assuming you came to ask something of me?” The queen guesses,

“Yes, I need you to explain the structure of our ‘city’ to Kage,”

“Is there any reason in particular for it?”

“I saw the king recently,” I state flatly

“Kage! You can’t just go blurting things out like that!” Lyra harshens,

“In the cathedral,” I continue disregarding Lyra’s statement,

“He was talking to someone, who I believe is the priest you described to me as the one responsible for all of this,

He said that he was leaving soon, but before he does there will be an ‘enlightenment’ of sorts,

I don’t know what it means but I can only assume its not something good.”

The queen looks taken aback at the sudden influx of information,

“What do you want, me to do about?

Or rather what can we do?” she asks regaining her composure,

“I don’t think we can,” I say grimly,

“We fought, the priest,

Only manged to escape him by a hair.”

“Is he stronger than Darius?” Queen Patricia turns to Karina

“He may be, I haven’t seen Darius fight in quite some time,”

“Is he the strongest person down here?” I ask

“In terms of strength, he is, but, the queen, in sheer amount of magic power would be stronger,

If it wasn’t for him constantly using his magic to grow crops, old man Herb would be ahead of them both.” Karina explains

“Didn’t we come here for something?” Lyra says impatiently by the door

“Ah yes, you wanted to know about this ‘city’s structure’,” the queen remembers,

“I can show you, but you will have to tell me what you’re planning to do with that information after,”

“I promise,” Karina assures.

~~

The room envelops in a light dreamy fog, colors swirl around,

“This, is the city of Soterra,” the queen waves one of her hands and the lights form into a small model of the city,

“Under the city, are the mines, here, is where we maintain our supply of magic stones,”

The lights change forming a crater of sorts, with a path that spirals downward, in the center sits massive glowing crystal-like shape,

“In the mine,” the queen continues, “you can find magic stones, crystal and the rarest ones, diamonds,

Before I continue, I will have to explain the three,

Magic stones which I assume you’re familiar with, contain limited amounts of magic power of a specific attribute,

The amount depends in the quality of the stone, this also applies to all three,

Crystals can contain a combination of elements, they hold more magic than stones, and are mostly used as power supplies or for various utilities,

Diamonds can do everything crystals can with the exception that they can absorb and release large amounts of magic,

Compared to the crystals and stones which can only output magic, and when that magic is used up, they become obsolete,

Diamonds are forever.”

The image of the mines expands, focusing only on the crystal-like shape in the center,

“This, is a massive diamond,” the queen gestures, “it powers the entire kingdom,

And is also, where we reside.”

“Wait?” I stop her questioningly,

“We are inside a diamond?”

“Mhm, every time you travel in and out of here, you get temporarily converted into magic,

You see that void,” Queen Patricia points outside her window to the dim void overhead,

“Whenever magic is used here it gets absorbed into that,”

“How is that plan of yours coming along again?” Karina says provokingly

“What would happen if you were to release all the magic from the diamond?” I ponder outward

“If it were possible, what purpose would that achieve?” The queen probes

“I want to bring the people of this ‘city back into the sunlight, even if they die, get dedicated or whatever it is,

At least they’d have on last time under a real sky to decide what they really want,”

“I’m not with this silly plan, just so you know,” Karina adds,

“Then go away please!” Lyra, who had been silent the whole-time, snaps,

Karina does not respond, not in mood for a confrontation with the boisterous girl,

“The only way you can try to release a large amount of magic from the diamond, would be at the point where its magic connects to the city above,” Queen Patricia continues,

“I do not know where that point is, even if I did, I am not sure how one could release everything stored within the diamond at once,”

“I think you have helped me enough as it is,” I say thanking her

“I have something in mind already,”

Lyra and Karina eye me quizzingly,

I gesture for us to leave,

(I need to think about this some more before I tell anyone.)

“Wait Kage,” the queen stops me before I leave her room,

“My request, surely you have not forgotten that you promised?”

“Of course not,” I lie,

“You can tell me now, I will do it at once,”

“No, I was I reminding you,” she smiles gratefully,

“Now isn’t yet the time, I fear,”

“Oh, well I will look forward to helping you with whatever it may be.”

…….

Kage exits the room, leaving Queen Patricia once again alone in her room,

She relights her pipe and picks up her book, casually skimming through the pages,

On the cover it reads:

The Art of Deception.