Dalamas, royal capital city of Pivuseon. Phyrn’s chosen had not fully taken in its sheer scale during their tiresome approach, but now that they were within, they found their breath taken away— not by exhaustion, but now by sheer beauty. It was vast, with broad streets of paved stone bustling with people dressed in flowing, airy clothes. The architecture was built into the city’s very foundations, sturdier, squat, stone buildings near the bottom, and upper levels constructed of more elaborate, more artisan designs and materials. Viaducts connected the upper level islands of buildings and districts, all suspended with huge structures of glowing crystal embedded beneath them, not only offering spots of protection from the sun for the lower levels, but also illuminating them with their soft radiance, providing a constant cosy light even at night.

“Some claim it was the draken who first mastered the crystallisation of pure mana in Berodyl,” Krey said, “but it was actually the humans of Pivuseon who first tamed the substancia of spells in these lands. The draken were first to weaponise it, of course… but we were the first to build with it.” He raised his arms up, gesturing emphatically with his hands at everything in front of them. “This is what we’re capable of; this is the prosperity that all Berodyl will, hopefully, someday, benefit from.” He sighed. “Were it so easy.”

Emilie looked up with him, careful not to let her hood drop. Before entering the city, she’d insisted on using a glamour to give herself a mundane appearance, not wanting a repeat of Calastre, especially not in the even bigger and more grandiose atmosphere of a royal capital. “Though it has been many years, my memory of this place, though my previous visits were only brief as I passed through, never left me. When I look around, I see a glimpse into the future the gods no-doubt wished for us. I can see these levitating structures spanning the breadth of Berodyl, the peoples of the land using their wisdom and knowledge to take to the sky. We’ve already set down that road with things like airships… but you’re right, Krey; this is what awaits us… should Berodyl survive this severance.”

“I have no doubt that it will,” Krey said. “We will see to it personally if we must.”

Emilie looked around, first whimsically… then more frantically. “Where did they go? Livia and Pippy— they’re gone!”

“Not gone, milady,” Krey smiled. He pointed down the street, and they both just managed to spot the two as they skipped around the corner. “Just getting swept away, as I predicted they would.”

“Ah…” Emilie smiled too. “I see.”

Livia and Pippy went hand-in-hand, side-by-side, pulled by the electric rush that ran through the streets with them. They weaved through crowds of moving people, paddling through currents and rivers of foot traffic, gawking and oohing and awing at every marvellous sight they came across, stopping to glance at every shop and stall and street performer. They found one of the ascension towers that lead to the upper levels, and simply couldn’t resist ascending it. When they reached the top, they stopped a moment to catch their breath, leaning on the chest-high stone walls that guarded the sides of the magically suspended walkway. They looked down, and though they were only on the first ascension, the ground seemed so far away.

“Fantastic…” Livia breathed. “Just… fantastic. Say, Pippy, this must’ve been what it was like in the magic capital, huh?”

Pippy grinned and shook her head. “Nope! Oh it was big, yeah, and lots of tall, very tall buildings, definitely! But floating ascensions? I know some people were experimenting with the idea, but we could never get permission to start construction.”

Livia rested her head on her hands. “That’s… mundanely bureaucratic.”

“I know!” Pippy pouted. “So much for being the magic capital! Now this place…” she shivered with delight, emitting a high-pitched squeaking noise that almost hurt Livia’s ears. “This is what we should’ve been doing! It’s not just a magical marvel, it’s a cultural epicentre! So many people, so many walks of life… and it’s just so beautiful.” She turned to look at Livia with an unusually hard gaze. “I want to live here, Livia. After we’re done with this whole god-hunting thing… I want to come back here and set up a workshop, put all my studies to some use that doesn’t involve life-and-death struggles. I want us to get a house on the ground level so we can wake up to the sounds of busy streets every morning and doze in the glow of the crystals every night, make the ascensions every day wearing nothing but airy, bright clothes that feel like we’re wearing nothing at all!”

“Jeez, Pippy,” Livia chuckled, “you make ‘this whole god-hunting thing’ sound like such a picnic.” She stepped closer, and took both of Pippy’s hands in her own. “You also make living here sound like a dream. Something to look forward to for when this madness is over. I just hope both of us - and Berodyl itself, for that matter - survive to see it through.”

Pippy slid her hands from Livia’s, up her arms, and around her body, drawing her into an embrace. “We will. It will. We didn’t survive Aubade just to botch it up here.”

Livia couldn’t help but smile, and hugged her back. “Yeah… you’re right.”

Pippy spun them both around and hopped away, holding Livia’s hand again. “Now, come on! It looks like we have two more ascensions to climb! I bet the view is dizzying from the very top!”

And once again, off they ran.