Amun.

***

“Well. I guess this is it.”

“For now.” I turned to Silas with a nod and had to fight against making a face at the somber expression he was wearing. “Four years isn’t that long.”

He made a curious face like my words had just confirmed something for him but did nothing but watch as the party pulled away from the residents to gather around me.

It wasn’t the first time they’d seen it, but the citizens looked with sheer amazement as we settled into our flying aids and took to the air. Like Toril in his chair, Jaimess was sending a series of powerful gusts over those standing below him as his paper bird flapped its wings to keep him afloat. Yet they still stared like he was a Pegasus descending from the clouds. Ed had made a capsule for himself that appeared much like Roheisa’s magic chariot. Only, his was shielded by a glass dome and propelled by his Force Magic.

Most majestically of all was Lucia. Flapping fluorescent white wings protruding from her back like your stereotypical angel. Even I was forced to admire how majestic she looked as she flew in a figure-eight above her Princess.

“Toril and I will take point,” I said after the moment had passed. “Silas, everyone.” I nodded to them. “See you later.”

With that, I strengthened my Artificial Well, ripping me from my place above the Outer Yard and sending me on a near-suborbital trajectory due south.

Toril and the others caught up not much longer. And within only a minute, the gathering of wood, stone, and bodies at the base of the mountain was reduced to a nigh-indistinguishable speck on the rolling terrain.

With nothing but flying ahead of us for the next several hours, I did as the others were doing behind us and spent the time conversing with Toril. A decision that proved to be quite worthwhile.

Evidently, he’d asked Rodin about Classes. And, quite interestingly, Rodin told him that it’s considered taboo to discuss how to obtain Classes at length with the ‘unevolved.’ In the end, he only said two things. That the only way to ‘evolve’ would be to join a guild or military in possession of a Divine Tree. And that everyone can obtain a class. Some even obtain them at a young age, even if they don’t know it. Naturally, however, society has managed to gather an understanding of what the different classes were over the centuries. If only the common ones.

The rarest of them were Sorcerers. Those like me, with unique affinities, passed down through the generations. Like a royal child inheriting an empire, being able to use Void, Dead, and Shadow magic was my birthright. And more so, my sorcery meant I didn't need mana to cast with those energies so long as they were around me. That said, the House of Cole wasn't the only Sorcerers in existence. And nor was the Lux.

According to Rodin, the Silva Clans of Phaegrath were Sorcerers, as were both the House of Deapou and the Epethian royal family- made so by elven influence. But none were as famous as the sovereigns of light and darkness.

The most common of the Classes was, surprisingly, the Witch and Wizard. The latter wasn't privy to those with affinity cores, implying magic went far deeper than I realized. On the other hand, the former described those who used magic for healing rather than fighting. Or in other words, a magical doctor. Beyond that were Fighters like Rodin. Rogues like Liam, surprisingly. As well as Paladins and Clerics. As Toril surmised, Paladins were knights who gained power from a self-inflicted curse. An oath. Whereas Clerics were given higher powers through faith and prayer. Or in rare cases divine intervention. Which explained my relationship with Telin down to a T.

While there were a few more Classes Toril told me of, I hardly listened to most of them, as they were more or less things I already heard. Bards, Druids, Monks, Barbarians. Thus instead I allowed his words to stream into my Eternal Eye while I pondered what Classes I’d take in the future.

If my guess was correct, I was a Cleric on top of being a Sorcerer. And I knew for a fact that I wanted to go down the Artificer route. Assuming I could even take on an additional class, that left me with choosing something that would make up for the material shown to me by the Association. Neg Stone. With the exception of perhaps my sorcery, my power meant nothing in the face of it. Yet, some of the spells I designed to affect my physical body remained intact. Usurped Life and Strength.

If Toril’s list was all there was, I was left with one potential class to take. And it was most likely one I already had. Thus I made a mental note of it and tossed all my thoughts from my mind to skim my eyes across the canopy in blissful silence.

The forest was by no means as domineering as the forests back home in Odissi. The trees weren’t nearly as tall, but they were far wider and more densely packed than what was found overseas. That, however, began to change with the passing of a few hours. The rolling alpine forest transitioned into clearing after broken clearing at first. Then, with the passing of Crag Lake, the trees disappeared entirely and became acres upon acres of farmland and rural housing. Followed then by several communities isolated by swathes of savannas before what appeared to be a middle-class city loomed into view.

Wide cobblestone roads formed a grid of densely packed streets lined on either side by an uninterrupted row of towering buildings. Forming a sort of highway for the flock of ants moving around in the distance, all encircled by a low stone wall that radiated magic. A dome of it. Starting from the low wall and ending above the lake hundreds of kilometers away. Seeing it for what it was, I ensured my hair covered my ears and motioned to the rest of the group to come down for a landing around a hundred meters away from the barrier.

Immediately, we were met with a range of curious gazes and disapproving scowls from those passing by. Like Silas and the residents, they were a wide range of skin tones, heights, and hair textures. But they were all dressed in shorts and button-up shirts bedazzled with pins and bobs and jewels that shined spotlights on their sneers and stares.

As we approached the gate. A pair of guards wearing white and lime green-plated armor readjusted their posture and scanned the lot of us before shouting over the crowd.“Are you adventurers?” and “You have passes?”

While Toril, Ed, and I fought back our laughter, the guards exchanged a look and a sigh with each other before turning back to us.

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“Yes.” I nodded. “We’re adventurers.”

“Then I assume it is your first time,” He said. “If you don’t have a pass, the cost to enter is one gold. Unless you are looking for a request. In that case, you will find the quest board in that building.” He pointed to what looked like a cathedral built next to the wall on our end. “Be aware that the harm of another person's property or any unruly behavior will result in your immediate arrest.”

“Understood.” I flicked him the coin. Then waited for the rest of the party to follow suit.

‘Ridiculous.’ I scoffed to myself. ‘No identification, no queries as to one’s business. Just fork over some gold and you can enter freely? Laughable.’

With no words or expressions, he deposited the coin into a pot and waved us through. Then returned to scanning the crowd as if we were now invisible to him.

‘What, are you a robot?’ I sneered at him in passing. Then turned my sneer to the many scowls and stares aimed at us from the locals. Everywhere I looked, they were people judging us off our appearance; our clothes alone. We weren’t unkempt, dirty, or even smelly. Yet, their actions would make it seem like we reeked of something putrid.

Following Roheisa’s suggestion, we decided to check out the quest board and went inside the building to find that it was surprisingly empty. Only a few slips of paper were found on the board, each with written instructions on where to find the request giver and all for mundane jobs or tasks I’d personally refuse to do. Deliver packages. Escort caravans. Track down runaways.

Finding nothing of interest, we left to wander further into the city. Where we received more unsavory gazes and looked around in disgust at the culture thriving around us. From what I saw, the primary method of transportation was hand-carted wagons. Rickshaw wagons. Only, instead of being pulled around by willing and energetic adults, they were being carted by young boys and girls dressed in rags and chains. They were starved, clearly stressed beyond belief, and blatantly abused for all to see.

It made me sick. It made all of us sick. But I understood the implications of acting out on it now, so I smothered my anger and continued to wander further through the city.

It took us around three hours to arrive at the southern coast. In that time, we’d passed through two more barriers and paid increasingly higher fees. Giving us entry to habitats full of an ever more pompous and pampered culture. Our walks brought us past all sorts of ‘establishments’ that had no business existing at all, much less in the daytime. Human auction houses. Guilds that specialized in kidnapping and slave capturing. Bondage halls- and not the good kind. The worst things one could imagine were just out in the open for all to see. Even here. Where the cliffs stood kilometers above the churning waters of a vast lake. Giving an unobstructed view of a cluster of towering columns sitting in the distance.

Of course, it had a wall around it. And thus another barrier. And judging from the stone constructions protruding over the water, the bridge was made of similar magic as well.

In short, the Epethian Capital was what I expected to see after learning I was to live in this universe. Class-based segregation, injustice, inequality, slavery, trafficking- the human condition; but not the one of wonderous curiosity beset upon them by nature. The avaricious one they claimed for themselves. The culture. Growing up in Odissi, where such a culture didn’t exist and was frowned upon only made seeing it now feel worse.

Much worse.

Having seen nearly all we needed to, we turned back to leave at a brisk pace and stopped an hour in when we saw a large crowd gathering into a huge tent.

By all rights, it appeared to be a circus of some sort. And though I didn’t want to see slaves doing dangerous bouts at another's command, I was curious to see what kind of animals they may have had, so I walked towards the entrance with the others behind me.

“No badge, no entry.” The woman spat as she pointed to a sign. “Or are you another mud baby?”

“The fuck did you just call me?” I blinked rapidly.

“You heard me.” She snarled. "Knife-ear."

“Let’s go.” The princess grabbed my arm before I could reply to that stupid-ass excuse of an insult.

I sneered at the lady before turning to free myself from her grasp.

“You all continue ahead,” I told them after breaking the line of sight from the tent. “I’m going to take a quick look-see inside.”

“Don’t do anything stupid.” Roheisa wagged her finger in my face.

“I’d never.” I scoffed. Then turned into a nearby restroom to step into a stall and dive into the Realm of Shadows.

In an instant, the environment was transformed into an inverted and dilapidated version of what existed in reality. What was shrouded in darkness in the physical plane was bathed in patches of gray noticeably lighter than the little pockets of darkness persisting around the lampposts and streetlights. The restroom I was in was nothing more than a pile of rubble stacked on top of a stone foundation. Writhing grasses and spore-producing weeds stretched along roads, pocked with tar-like liquids and straddled with decayed buildings. The tent was nothing more than ripped canvas and rotten poles that stuck out from the ground at odd angles. But even then, the crowd of Epethians was present. Walking, sitting, and chatting away in their ghostly forms.

I flew above the crowd back to the ticket booth and descended to the stand to phase through the lady's mirror and turned back to observe her reaction. She soon grew pale and became doused in a cold sweat. Her voice and, soon after, her hands began shaking uncontrollably while she interacted with the customers until she eventually called someone forth to take her place. Then she hurried around the corner to squat under a light post and hug her shuddering body still.

Satisfied with the result, I moved inside the circus proper to take a look around.

While there were indeed slaves performing acrobatics, much to the exaggerated glee of the viewers, there was also an elephant getting whipped by a man at the center. Causing it to trumpet loudly before attempting to balance on a single leg. Prompting a wave of cheers to rise from the crowd. After its display, the elephant was soon pulled behind the curtains by an assistant of some sort. And, curious, I trailed after them to a backroom containing a massive cage and went to orbit the creature as it was prodded inside.

It was a male. A young one. Both fresh and old scars ran the length of his body. Judging from his state, I assumed he’d recently been captured and was refusing to be tamed. Assumptions that caused my blood to further boil.

Curiously, however, it appeared to sense my presence and began trumpeting loudly. Thrashing its trunk dangerously close to the handler.

‘No moment like the present.’ I shrugged. And stuck my hands through the shade of some supports to flick a barrage of Shadow Bullets at the handler and another standing nearby. They immediately dropped low and started spinning about in place. One of them even started to spread fire about them in an attempt to see which only further distressed the elephant. With another flick of the hand, I sent of mass of mana into the elephant’s shadow. Blooming a flower of Shade Tendrils to wrap around its body like the Kraken dragging a ship to the ocean depths.

I sent out another barrage of Shadow Bullets. This time at the elephant to flood it with my mana, facilitating its passage into my pocket of darkness. Still, however, it trumpeted louder and louder throughout the entire process. I had to hit the handlers with a few more bullets until the elephant eventually disappeared into the pool of darkness.

With my bounty now secured, I floated back a little to watch the handlers regain their vision and fall to their knees at the cage standing before them. Locked and empty. I could only laugh after imagining the performer’s reaction after finding out an adult elephant had simply vanished into thin air.

‘Oh, how I would pay to see that.’ I laughed. But more than that, I wanted to leave this place once and for all. So I swam through the Shadow Realm until I rendezvoused with the rest of the group and fell into a lazy orbit around them until I found a chance to emerge without being seen.