Chapter X

Liberated

Zanda woke up; she lay on fresh, recently cut, soft green grass. Above her was the morning sky, surrounded by the tips of incredibly tall pine trees, dancing to the rhythm of the wind passing by. She took a deep breath, relaxed; the air was clean and refreshing. Turning around, she looked at what surrounded her: a vast forest in all directions. Zanda was unsure of her location; her stomach churned at the thought of her kabbalah. The bracelet was gone.

"Gia..."

"Yes?" It responded right away.

The young gevurah rested on the meadow, relieved, collecting her memories after astral projecting to the Gevurium. Abruptly, something broke through the air; her kabbalah flew through the woods at incredible speed, creating a whistle too familiar for her to flinch—a particular noise when it reached a tenth of its total velocity.

A fraction of a second later, it arrived, the physical version of her companion laying suspended above her. It filtered the sun’s light through its translucent body, a dodecahedron made of millions of intelligent quartz crybine nanites vibrating at their frequency. These nanites contained quanta of specific crystals and carbine synthesized at a quark level that allowed them to storage large amounts of data.

Her kabbalah was a biodigital consciousness that had accompanied Zanda for as long as she could remember. It would do anything to protect her. They were linked by a lifelong bond shared for twenty-four years already.

"Gia! Shine away from my face!" The dodecahedron cast out a rainbow reflection that hit Zanda right in the eye, blinding her for a second.

"I had to scan your vitals," it backed up, drifting away.

"Why am I waking up in the middle of this woodland, my friend?"

"It’s called Forest Whitaker, an ecosystem built within one of the Stagnums in Civitas Permacolae. I chose it for you to recover some Vis before your next quest."

Zanda raised herself from the ground, pondering her existence without a merkabah. Both her T.H.I.C. and Armis dissolved into millions of particles and entered her body through her pores, giving her goosebumps all over. A thin, grey layer of silkaphene fabric, created with the synthesis of silk and graphene, covered her skin. She flexed her muscles and absorbed Vis from the surrounding life.

The humid grass tickled the soles of her feet while its scent opened her nasal cavities. Naadi, her biotechnological aura, emanated with a cerulean blue tone.

She remembered her meeting with Refius, Solandre and Aimiko.

"What time is it? How long did I sleep for?"

"Three hours and sixteen minutes..."

Zanda expressed concern.

"I already knew you’d make that face. Refius said he would meet after you’d get some rest. Just notify him when you’re ready."

The young woman greeted her companion by touching it with her palm, feeling the warmth emanating from its quartz crybine. Her mind wandered to Solandre and Aimiko; the honor of having their knowledge was overwhelming. In her mind, she witnessed thousands of different fresh memories that didn’t belong to her, strange, unknown, and mysterious. She had access to their experiences but didn’t know how to navigate them, so she left that part of her neurological storage alone. It would be another topic to question Refius about.

It was nice and warm outside; a pair of rabbits jumped close by, water ran, bees buzzed, the wind blew, birds sang. An idea popped into her head.

"Hey, Gia."

"You want to run?" It read her mind.

"Yes, watch out, would you?" Zanda got ready.

"You should drink H2O before you do. You’re dehydrating."

With that, the kabbalah flew closer to her protegee and shaped itself into a vessel with a crystalline liquid in it, water.

"This is what you were doing? I didn’t realize how thirsty I was, thank you." She drank all of it and smiled while Gia recovered its base form, bouncing around with excitement.

"I saw signs you were waking up and went to get it."

The Gevurah positioned herself, ready to go.

"Good call. Let’s go, three, two, one…" She ran; after a step, her feet were covered by a pair of yellow sneakers made of crystaphene nanites that materialized from her pores. She sprinted through hundreds of trees in seconds, reaching a speed never achieved by her on foot.

Forest Whitaker was vast and grandiose; she kept going for almost a thirty seconds before glancing at the edge. Gia flew close while Zanda ran to the verge, where a blue abyss awaited. She jumped, free-falling. Not a second later, her entire body in unit with the merkabah lifted itself, modulating it’s gravity.

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Her kabbalah shaped back into a bracelet on her wrist. She flew and turned to see the massive structure above.

It was called stagnum, a gigantic piece of land suspended thanks to ingravitas technology, so vast it covered the entirety of her view. She commanded her merkabah to fly further away, up into the sky, where she watched the forests on it from a bird’s-eye perspective. Amalgams of crystals and wood bridges connected the enormous structures to many other stagnums spread across the sky, kilometers above the surface of the coast of Tasmania.

Looking down into the land’s horizon, she appreciated vast fields with various flora and fauna growing under the sun. Unable to contain herself, she flew towards it, wanting to enjoy everything from up close.

"Did Refius say when and where I should meet him?" she asked.

"No, just to let him know when you’re ready," her kabbalah was quick to respond.

"Let’s hold on to that." Zanda was aware she wouldn’t have time to herself for a while. No matter what news her mentor brought, from that day on, she was one of the many pillars that held Malkuth, the Edictum Vitae, and an Aequiteist society together.

Once closer to the lands beneath her, she appreciated them in more detail. Thousands of greenhouses spread out on the field as Tipharet, members of the Sixth Sephirah, worked on them with merkabahs designed for those tasks.

Across Malkuth, locations such as Tasmania boasted one or several Civitas Permacolae. In these places, vast tracts of land were diligently cultivated with the specific aim of nurturing the earth and supplying the communities of Malkuth with food and essentials.

Zanda flew at a reduced speed toward a colossal green and yellow field brimming with various crops. She enhanced her sight, zooming into their textures, observing everything from corn to onions, wheat, tomatoes, carrots, potatoes, avocados, and many other vegetables stretching for hundreds of miles into the distance, all cover by translucent veils of intelligent polyphene.

Turning herself around, with her back brushing the tops of these plants, she felt them caress her merkabah. Amazed by the stability of her bodysuit, Zanda relaxed her muscles and beheld the spectacle above her amber eyes.

From afar, the magnitudes of stagnums floating on the horizon were a sight to behold. She focused on a medium-sized ecosystem directly above her. Her vision zoomed in, stabilizing an image from up close. Numerous waterfalls and trees protruded from the rocks, and a small flock of parrots flew across. Her kabbalah fed the screen with information, identifying elements of that individual atmosphere and displaying the history of that specific stagnum, which dated back a hundred and thirty years.

She explored the interior of that structure with thermal and x-ray imaging. Caves and tunnels connected the surface to an underground lake; her helmet highlighted a cavern at the center of the floating ecosystem. Suspended above water, an ingravitas reactor modulated the gravity of that Stagnum, maintaining balance with natural forces and other titanic structures.

Zanda shifted on her axis and soared above a green sea where hundreds of thousands of nopals and agaves grew next to cotton and hemp. Ascending higher, she found a river nearby; it nourished those crops and many others. The stream originated from a waterfall cascading from another stagnum up in the sky.

Approaching the water, Zanda felt goosebumps. The reflection staring back was everything she could have dreamed of. She could not suppress her happiness, proud of the very first sight of herself with the merkabah. A tear escaped her eye. The emotion was overwhelming.

Deciding on the spot, she opted to change its paint job and test the suit, commanding it to morph from yellow tones to a shade inspired by the colors of her Sephirah, crimson and reds. Instantly, her Armis camouflaged to match that shade. The T.H.I.C. remained the same, translucent, with eighty percent opacity.

She dived into the river, torpedoing in opposition the current, reached the waterfall and swam against it, testing her merkabah after the Ceremonia and the unexpected Kabalatio. The gevurah navigated through the stream of water effortlessly and continued to a Stagnum parallel to the one she had awakened on earlier.

Clouds designed for that climate poured water and thunder onto a simulated ecosystem event.

Zanda flew right above many other Stagnums of varying proportions and environments on the city's outskirts. She had a task to delegate.

"Gia, notify Refius I will be at the Porterum in Tasmania's Civitas Permacolae the moment I get there."

"Will do."

On her T.H.I.C., a yellow line traced a path to follow as she observed a variety of ecosystems near the heart of the ingravitas city.

Neighborhoods coexisted midair, connected by smaller versions of the hanging bridges. Stagnums housed buildings and domiciles that radiated with a vibrant spirit inspired by Tasmania’s culture.

The locals resided in Domus like most Malkuthians, beautiful suspended houses close to their everyday jobs. This proximity allowed them to maintain the production hub of Civitas Permacolae operational. Many of these structures were designed to complement the surrounding environments, constructed from materials derived from wood, plants, metals, stone, and crystals, all fashioned with unique designs.

A few automated vehicles made of polarized glass, known as ‘fishtanks,’ flew between Stagnums, transporting locals from afar. One approached Zanda; she evaded it gracefully and observed the passengers inside. Some were distracted by the view or the music they listened to, others engaged in Virtuālis, the digital reality shared by Malkuthians, while the rest conversed or watched the news displayed on the translucent walls.

In a second fish tank coming from the opposite direction, a little boy sat next to his father, glimpsing Zanda with curiosity as she hovered outside. The child leaped with excitement, trying to draw his father's attention to her. By the time he looked, she was gone as the automated vehicle had continued toward its destination.

That moment stirred nostalgia in the young gevurah. As a child, she had reacted in a similar manner at the sight of a member of the Fifth Sephirah.

In the center of the levitating city stood a Stagnum unlike any other, the Porterum of Civitas Permacolae, a fortress kilometers tall housing a collection of doors, or Porters, that could transport one anywhere in Malkuth and the Colonies. This Porterum, sculpted from crocoite, a deep orange crystal humming with incredible Vis, was open to all. The structure was vital to Malkuth's sustainability, linking it with the central nexus of logistics, distribution, and development in Tasmania.

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That's it for Chapter X!

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Aequitas and much love,

Indigo Sapiens.

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