The next day and a half passed with a flurry of activity and no small amount of tension in the air. Things were just wrapping up, with everyone having stuffed into the city walls, when the remarkable happened. A giant milky white wall surrounded the entire city at the outer edges of the wall, and a voice spoke, coming from everywhere and nowhere. "Congratulations, people of Lodras! You have been chosen to Join the Plane, where your accomplishments are the only limit to your power! Will you spread your culture and way of life, or will you succumb to the pressures of the new world and fall? Will you come together as a people, or will you splinter and dissolve? Will you rise to the challenge, or will you flee? Everyone will learn the answers to these questions and more, as from this moment, your fate is truly your own!" The white walls that had surrounded the city grew inward, slowly blocking the city's view of the sky. Once the bubble completed itself, the whole city suddenly gained a weight. During discussions in the future, Every single citizen would describe the phenomenon as "everything gained A weight", like there wasn't something before, and then their was. A few elaborated by saying that everything seemed to be more real than before, but even that was subject to personal belief, as some thought that a good thing, and others found it a dangerous thing. Once this existential weight had settled, the voice spoke again. "From this moment, you have Five years' protection from competing citizens of the Plane, and a slightly increased ability to learn skills which utilize mana. Do not waste this time, and establish yourself as strongly as you can!" Before panic could even finish setting in at whatever madness had infected them, the citizens of Lodras watched as the bubble seemed to tremble, then burst all at once and revealed that the whole city had indeed been relocated.gone was the home and terrain they were used to, instead, the few militia standing on the wall itself saw that the city had come to rest in a large plain, with mountains wrapping the south and the west some distance away, while the north showed signs of a thick forest. In the center of the city, the lord was altogether less panicked than his citizens. "Ring the meeting bell and send runners, I want a meeting of state to begin immediately! Also, send reassurance throughout the city; We will prevail this strange event that has occurred. so do not lose hope or panic!" Lord Cillas received many views of admiration, and a sort of tense calmness, like the moment before fight or flight, quickly spread throughout the small city. Less than ten minutes later, the various heads of city - or state, now that they were separated from their mother country, supposed the lord- had gathered for the emergency meeting. "Senators, I feel that this is our opportunity. whatever power it was that moved our city here is, they spoke of both difficulty and power. Of effort and will. I know my people, and I know that we are a people who would not shirk responsibility, or run from the things which need doing!" "Now, there are several things that must be addressed quickly. First, we need to calm the citizenry, and to assess the damage that was caused by the panic. Once this is done, I want good men sent out in groups of five to scout our surroundings for notable landmarks and useful resources. It won't be long before our internal resources press in once again. Luckily, we were already preparing for a siege, so we have more time than we otherwise might. Lastly, I feel that this new presence that pervades everything will be the key to our success, so I want every resource we can spare to study it, even if it lowers the efficiency of our city's bureaucracy. Does anyone have any other considerations?" It was at this point that the scholar stepped forward. "Milord, I already did some rudimentary tests with this new 'mana', that was spoken of, as I believe that is what this new weight is. I suggest that we find a way to get everyone to experiment, since as far as I can tell, it worked exactly the way I hypothesized, but It's such a personal experience that I suspect each citizen will have their own, method." "Hrm", the lord considered," let it be known that we avoid things which might endanger others; We should first practice control over this new tool before we try to use it and further destabalize our situation. Any who injure themselves or others when testing this 'mana' will be considered as having deprived or damaged state assets, unless they are experimenting at the direction of the scholars. Punishment to be decided later. Our situation is simply to precarious to waste any resource, even ourselves." "It will be done, Milord!" chorused the senators, who then filed out of the room and began the work of the state. The lord himself decided it was time for his first attempts at handling mana, and so he left the newly designated throne room, speaking to the guard at the door, "I shall retire to my chambers, avoid disturbance unless it's something of import." Walking through a few hallways, Lord Cillas reached his rooms. Looking about, he reevaluated the current state of his rooms. To his left, a bed with simple, understated silks and two pillows, one as yet unused. a small drawer at the end of the bed, for out of season clothes. reaching the far left corner of the room, there was a reading nook with comfortable chair, and it was positioned perfectly so he could look out the nearby window at an angle. The window itself was large and open, rarely being shuttered outside of storms and the cold season. moving towards his right, there was two rooms; the bathing room, all tile and tub, was against the outside wall, while the closer room was one he'd never quite decided what to do with, often training or exercising there simply to avoid the trek to the grounds. 'looks like I'll have more use for this room in the future, if mana is as versatile as I suspect.' Grabbing a thick woolen cloak out of his drawer, he sat on it in the middle of the room in a position he had heard of during his travels as an heir, the lotus meditation position. He was skeptical of it's more supernatural benefits, but he found that it helped him center himself and, well, meditate. Quickly, Lord Cillas' meditation deepened and he reached a familiar state of trance, where the petty distinctions and labels and separations of mankind fell away, and there was only what information his senses gave him. It was at this point that something interesting happened.