The lands after the Eon forest were sparse in comparison, but teeming with life. Everywhere they walked there were intersecting food chains and wild expressions of existence that were thousands of times louder than the entire forest they had just been through. It was an unsettling difference, but a welcome one.
Eventually the pointer rings that Laurence and Peter still used lined up with an overgrown path that slowly became more trodden the further they walked down it. The entire world they were in was developed, but it was an archaic development, that of a kingdom long fallen. As they walked down the path they passed tumble-down, ramshackle buildings that had been long abandoned. The roofs had caved in and were mostly uninhabitable, but every-so-often they came across an inhabitable building and would rest in the unkempt house for the night, only continuing to travel at the break of dawn. Like this, the small group made their way through the world for the following weeks. Day in day out they would travel through the fallen realm, occasionally passing through checkpoints set up by the Army of the Thousand Sects.
Peter would make short work of the checkpoints, leaving the land more desolate than it was before. Fortunately, it would only serve to help Yun and the rest of the Hephaistians in shoring up their home. As the clan was given more time, and with the protective device that removed the sword of Damocles that hung over their collective heads, the Book of Creation, any extra help given would only cement their future dominance quicker. Laurence still refused to kill, despite his breaking of his pact to save the clan, but that did not stop him from trapping and ransacking the outposts with things only a Hephaistian would know of.
Like this, their journey continued through the increasingly desolate landscape that morphed slowly from abandoned farmsteads, to villages, empty towns and then finally, after about two months, the skeleton of a city that had long become devoid of life. The city was torn apart, with the towering buildings knocked into their stone companions. The concrete and stone foundations had been torn up by some kind of cataclysm that originated at the heart of the city. It was like a war had gone on with terrible consequences, an entire civilisation had disappeared, perhaps not overnight, but thanks to a series of bad decisions made by those in power there was simply no life there anymore.
They walked through the deserted streets, rife with plantlife and cracked stone, worn away by years of neglect and weathering. As they got closer to the centre of the metropolis, the buildings and plants became more sparse, until the space had completely cleared out and all that was left was a flat dusty plain and a single black door in the middle of it all. It was less shocking than when they first saw it, but the desolation was still profound.
Beside the stone stele was a simple cushioned plinth, upon which sat a man of an indeterminate age. In his hands was a pouch and a long-necked pipe, which he was packing with the contents of the pouch. He lit the pipe and frowned as Laurence and his companions walked up to the stele.
“You weren’t with the army,” he said, taking a long draw from his now lit pipe.
“Were you?” Laurence asked, his voice harder than steel.
“Why does it matter to you?” The mana surrounding the pipe-smoking man began to churn. As the mana warped and twisted to his will it became obvious that he was an Immortal. Perhaps he was not as powerful as Laurence or Peter, but it was close nonetheless.
“Because of you were, I’d have a message for you to pass on”. Both men stared at each other for almost a minute, the frosty smile on Laurence’s face not slipping for a moment. Finally the pipe smoking man nodded. “Okay, so remember this. Your army is dead. They have been wiped out to the man by a new device that will destroy any army that comes to their halls. The names of those sects that participated have been noted, and they are barred from all future trade with the Hephaistia clan until they can provide reparations that satisfy the current leader of the clan. This includes the Drake clan, who had an Immortal that almost caused irreparable harm to the homes of the people of Misty Peaks”.
The seated man blew a massive ball of smoke out of his mouth as Laurence finished talking. His eyes went white and as the smoke ball expanded the siege of the clan of Creation was reenacted in the curlicues. The events in the smoke happened at almost two thousand times the speed they had in reality, only slowing down as the Eon Cannon fired its shot, blowing the smoke ball apart in the process. As the colour returned to the eyes of the smoking man, he could not help but look on at Laurence in fear. He could see that the War Immortal truly lived up to his epitaph.
“You got all that?” Laurence asked, before giving the man a cold smile.
“Yessir, I’ll pass the word along”.
“Oh, one more thing. This realm is the property of the Hephaista clan now, and they will be setting up shop here soon enough. In essence, don’t come back”.
With that, Laurence walked up to the stele and passed through, with Peter, Rose and Fen in tow. They spent a small amount of time speaking to the floor adjudicator before finally taking their first steps into the second great city realm of Babel.
The buildings were shorter than those in the world they had just left, but their design was infinitely more intimate. Each facade had a life of its own, a signature style from the designer and just a dash of the essence of the owner. All of this culminated in no two houses looking the same, and the houses changing their shape as they aged, or as their owners changed hands. The city was living, vibrant and full of expression that was visible in everyone as they walked through it. Colours were rich and varied as they spread through the city, only to be broken up by the white statues at the end of each crossroad that denoted the section of the city one was in, as well as the five and a half towers that dominated the skyline.
As they all took in the sights and sounds of the bustling city, the stark difference to the world they had just exited, Laurence smiled and turned to Peter. “Welcome to the city of Heaven, Thought”.
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