Yawning, Alius stretched his legs out from under his sheets. Opening a bleary eye, he tumbled over the side of the bed into the pile of clothes he had arranged yesterday. Still face-down, Alius poked around the pile with an arm and found a comfortable shirt and shorts. Tugging them on, he checked around the room for a bathroom, but there was none. Looking outside, there were no other buildings around. Shrugging, Alius began to feel the pangs of hunger in his stomach.

And he was in the middle of an inescapable forest. That was bad.

Alius pocketed the dagger, then wandered outside. The sun was already fairly high in the sky. The sun was also just coming out from under the horizon. Squinting, Alius peered towards the higher sun, which was also rapidly becoming bigger in his vision. Alius squeaked and jumped back as Elder Darius materialized in front of him.

“Heya. You know, up until today, I didn’t even know humans could make squeaks.”

Alius rapidly turned red, but his attention was drawn to his increasingly unhappy stomach.

“So, are you here to pick me up or something, Elder?”

Elder Darius brushed the dust off his pants, which didn’t even have dust on them. The rest of his outfit was similarly immaculate, as if he had simply walked to Alius rather than having crashed down from the sky.

“Yup. Something like that. Come over here and I’ll take you to get breakfast back at our sect.”

____

Traveling in the light tunnel never got old, and Alius was just as fascinated as he had been the second time. The first time he was too scared to notice anything.

The light dropped them off in a courtyard. The walls were too high for Alius to see anything outside, so he contented himself with looking around the yard. Elder Darius nodded towards a door in the back and started walking, Alius following him. A very well dressed man led them to a closed off room with a circular table, and before Alius could get a peek out, Elder Darius flashed over to the window and closed the blinds.

The restaurant served a very good breakfast. Alius didn’t know what any of it was, but it was all delicious. Coupled with the peace and silence of the place, it made for an excellent start to the day.

But the peace and the silence was starting to get to Alius. Elder Darius hadn’t said a single word throughout the entire meal, even managing to scarf down four plates of some greenish egg and a steak without Alius ever hearing a single sound.

The well-dressed server showed up multiple times to collect plates, but it too was in complete silence.

Even the hubbub of noise that would be expected from a bustling location such as a massive sect was absent.

“Eld-”

Elder Darius frantically slammed a finger into his lips, his eyes darting around the room. Alius froze. He wiggled his eyebrows and blinked a few times at the elder, who was still carefully checking the room.

Alius turned in his seat, but the instant his back was turned, Elder Darius started laughing. Alius whirled around to see the elder red in the face, gulping down water while taking a break to laugh more.

“You-you-should see the look on your face!”

Elder Darius sputtered while gulping down more water.

Alius turned an even brighter shade of red.

“Did you make it so quiet?”

Elder Darius snapped up in his chair, his face a picture of solemnity.

“Alius, there will come a time when you have great power. And with that power you must…”

Elder Darius doubled over laughing, ducking under the table and suppressing his giggles.

“You must use that power to confuse everyone around you.”

Alius stared at him with an unbelieving face. Elder Darius giggled a little bit more under the table, but snapped up to face Alius again.

“In all seriousness, you should never let any power get to your head. Consider this your first lesson here. Arrogance is the manifestation of someone reaching their extreme limits, ceasing to improve themselves, rather improving their view of themself.”

Alius nodded.

“Mmm. But how did you make it so quiet?”

Elder Darius chucked.

“Well, I consider myself a pretty important person here. In my vast greatness, I bribed all of my members to stay home today. As a favor. You know what they say, never let them know your next move.”

Elder Darius suddenly shot up to his feet.

“Speaking of which, we’re going!”

“Ok, whereeeerrrr!”

Alius’s body bent like a noodle as Elder Darius grabbed him and flashed out of the window, laughing all the way.

____

Once Alius had recovered from their very sudden departure of breakfast, he gasped. On their journey here, he hadn’t had the chance to see anything through the solid light tube. Now, he was able to see an entire city spanning the countryside.

On the very edges of the city and at the limit of what Alius could see, buildings built of a white stone glistened in the sunlight. Without even being able to make out any fine details, the area screamed residential to Alius. Closer in, the buildings turned yellow, and were built much higher than the houses. In their area, the buildings were all made of a dull green, most having several floors. Even further in, the green became more vibrant. But even with the beautifully tall buildings, Alius couldn’t help but feel there was something small about them.

As Elder Darius whizzed above the place, with Alius clinging onto his neck, Alius could begin to see a flashing light near the city. More streaks of green flashed by, and the flash began to condense into a sparkling green building scattering sparks of reflected sunlight into Alius’s eyes.

A cleanly cut emerald stood surrounded by other vibrant green buildings, with those buildings almost seeming to hold the gem in reverence. The emerald was supported on five sides with pillars. At this distance, it was hard for Alius to tell, but the edges of the emerald sparked gold.

“Hey! Elder Darius!” Alius yelled into the elder’s ear.

“Hahaha! I can’t hear you!” Elder Darius yelled over the whistling wind as he continued jumping his way towards the center of the city.

Welp, there’s no getting to him right now.