I suppose to some, it might be considered appealing… sort of. Others, perhaps some would say, those with better taste would call it tacky! Overdone! Gaudy, even!

Then again… no, no, I will not admit it! There’s no tunnels! How can any place be considered the best without nice, wide tunnels? It can’t, end of discussion. The roads do seem nice and spacious, though.

Bah! Who would ever want to dwell in a house covered in metal? Nobody! Even if that metal was… so soothing, and emitting such a glorious, ephemeral light….

DAMMIT!

I connect a mind bridge to Eran Thouris who is leaning against the railing next to me, looking smug.

[Well?] she asks.

[It’s nice.]

[Nice?] she asks, raising one scaled brow.

[Very nice.]

That’s all she’s gonna get out of me.

Mount Atreum, heart of the Atreum empire that bears its name, rises tall and imposing from the shimmering waters of the Lake before us. From the waterline up, the great and glorious Silver City covers the slopes. And I do mean covers. There isn’t a single square inch that hasn’t been developed, all enfolded within six rings of mighty walls. That’s not to say there aren’t any green spaces, oh no, there are frustratingly luscious and attractive-looking parks all over the damn place! The rest of it is large, well organised buildings connected by clean, wide streets. All of it, ALL of it (not the trees, obviously) is covered in what I’m told is Soul Silver.

And it is absolutely stunning.

Stupid city with its stupid shininess. Thinks it’s all that! Well, it's not!

[Oh look. I think the clouds are going to part. We should get a good look at it now,] Eran says, enthused.

[Good look at what?] I grumble.

[They don’t call them the Twin Cities for nothing. There! Look!]

The upper reaches of the mountain have been shrouded by cloud and mist, but, for a moment, I catch a glimpse of something golden breaking through, a beam of light that stabs me right in the eye. Then, like magic, the clouds part, the mist fades, and I slump to the floor, defeated.

There’s a whole other city up the top? And it’s covered in GOLD?! Not just any gold, but gold that seems to radiate the warmth of the summer sun?!

Who would even do that?! That metal must be worth a damned fortune, and you decided to coat your damned outhouse in it? Make it make sense!

Stolen from its original source, this story is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings.

Regal palaces, imposing castles, a tower that rises like a mighty tree to pierce the heavens, easily several kilometres high. Each is a work of art, as if someone let Michaelangelant off the chain for a thousand years. Beautiful in design, delicate in construction, each line is aesthetically pleasing in context with those around it. Whoever made this city was determined to make it so damn pretty that nothing would ever come close, and they didn’t give a damn what it cost.

[The Golden City,] Eran tells me. [Not that we are going to be welcome up there. That’s for citizens only. Wealthy citizens at that. You’re looking at the most expensive real estate in the world.]

[If I built a hut in the sixth, wouldn’t that be worth more? Since it’d be more rare?]

[Who could go there to enjoy it? In terms of comfortable living, this is the place to be. I’ll take my life under the waters any day of the week, but it’s not like I don’t understand the appeal,] she sighs. [We brathians love to collect and display our wealth, but building something this expensive would give us a fit.]

[The Colony would never do it either,] I admit. [Spending such an absurd amount of resources just to make things look nice? Impossible. It’s too inefficient and doesn’t provide any material benefit to the family.]

[As you can imagine, the ka’armodo love this place, but for the most part, it's filled with the people of Atreum. Humans, by and large.]

Huh, finally, we find the place where all the humans are. No giant magic lizard-wizards, no second-skin rock people, just humans. I mean, humans are scary enough by themselves, but at least I understand them a little better.

We sail towards the Silver City, which only grows more beautiful the closer we get, stupid city, with the Legion continuing to shadow us on the way. The outer wall looms large as we draw closer, and I mean, really large. These people clearly don’t muck around when it comes to walls.

And naturally, they have imprinted unspeakably, eye-meltingly attractive artworks into the wall. Because of course they did. If Michaelangelant is in this fleet, she is frothing at the mouth right now.

[Do we expect much trouble here?] I ask, a little reluctantly.

[Not unless your people have been waging a secret war against the Atreum that I haven’t heard about,] she replies.

[If we have, it's just as much a surprise to me as it is to you.]

[We should be fine. The Atreum can be a little bureaucratic, but they are a well-run and organised sort of place. We have all our documents sorted well in advance. We’re the kind of merchants who are especially welcome here.]

Such optimistic words, of course, doom us before we even arrive.

After Eran and the high-ranking brathians go ashore to finalise arrangements, we quickly find out things have gone awry.

[They want further guarantees of safety after what happened at Greystone,] Olivis tells me, after communicating with the shore party.

[Like what sort of guarantees? They want me to grind the edges off my mandibles or something?]

[Financial compensation,] Olivis says. [If any damage is caused to the city by the Colony, they are demanding the Brathian Island Conglomerate agree to pay damages.]

[Well… that doesn’t seem unreasonable.]

[We already agreed to such terms, they are now inflating the price.]

Oof.

[How… how much?]

[If you repeat your actions at Greystone, the entire conglomerate will be bankrupt.]

Double oof.

[I’ll be careful.]

[You’d better be….]