Kairos- The Hidden City

“No,” replied the younger woman. Her answer was resolute, as always. “Sometimes, I really wish you hadn't been as stubborn as my dearest sister.” Said the older woman and sighed.

“Well, I am her daughter, aren’t I,” said the younger woman, sarcastically, while the elder one sighed once more.

“It had taken me a long time to convince the council to seal the other half of your magic, not to remove it entirely. You should accept it; it is the best offer you are going to get,” she said, turning to the younger woman.

Her crystalline eyes, to be exact.

One is green, like the most verdant forest; the very life is emitting from it. She had inherited it from her father; the man she once adored.

Her other eye is darker than the night. It opposes life itself.

The death element. Cause of her nearly century of captivity.

She had not inherited the magic from her mother, but she inherited her nature and that same headstrongness.

“I will not accept it. Death magic is magic and practicing it, I didn’t break any law,” replied the younger woman.

She hadn't broken any law, but the practice of death element is a complicated subject.

Especially given her mastery of it. The last person who had gained such mastery of the death element had caused irreversible damage to them, and the younger woman was the one who suffered the most.

Her house is destroyed. She is the last member of it.

“Fine, do as you always do, but remember, the council wouldn’t let you out until you seal it,” said the older woman.

“Thanks, aunty,” said the younger woman, while the older woman just rolled her eyes.

There was a silence of nearly half an hour before the older woman opened her mouth.

“I heard you are doing some business with a legacy in the wasteland?” asked the older woman. They may have held the younger woman captive, but they didn’t stop her from doing business or her research.

They couldn’t stop her, even if they wanted to.

Behind her is the tower, the magic tower of the high house. Grand enough to make even the archmage envious. It is one of the oldest towers on the continent. Even the Council didn’t dare to bring her out of its domain by force.

They don’t need to; her captivity is symbolic. It will stop others from doing what she has done.

Everyone needs her help; the high houses, the council, and powerhouses from the other states. As long as she remained in her estates and tower, they wouldn’t do anything to her.

“Yes. It is interesting,” she replied, and a surprise appeared on her face.

“I didn’t think, you would find anything interesting in the Grade 1 legacy, dear niece,” said the older woman.

The younger one smiled and handed the emotion slat to the older woman. The same one Silver had given to the sister.

“Tell me what you notice about it?” asked the younger woman. The older woman looked at the slate.

“Aside from a large collection of emotions, I am not seeing anything special in it,” replied the older woman.

She had already got information about it. Including the emotions present in it. Which has one of the greatest numbers of emotions she has seen. More emotions mean, the host could harvest more emotions essence.

Still, it is not surprising for her. To others, it may be, but not to her. She had seen a few in her long lifetime.

“Look deeply, dear aunt,” said the younger woman and older one, looking at her for a second, before turning back to the slate, and a moment later a huge purple magical circle enveloped them.

A few seconds after that, another bigger one appeared and another one after that.

If anyone were to see this; they would be shocked out of their lives. It would make even the Grand Mage shudder in fear and excitement.

The older woman is the leader of the high house and a member of the council that rules the hidden city. She is one of the most powerful people in the merchant state and the entire continent.

“Witchcraft!” said the older woman after over an hour, before looking at her niece, who was smiling at her, which dimmed her smile.

“You still missed one thing, aunty,” said the younger woman. “No, I did not,” replied the older woman.

The younger woman didn’t say anything. Instead waved her hand, and the slate floated in the air, before a large green circle, with a layer of black runes, enveloped it.

The expressions of the older woman changed a little after seeing the black runes, but she focused on the thousands of specks of emotions, that flying out of the slate.

A minute later, those specks fall down back into slate, but not all. There are three specks remained and, seeing them, a surprise appeared in the eyes of the older woman.

“Grade II,” she said.

“The legacy is less than six months old, and it has already, reached Grade II. There had been very few legacies that were able to achieve this feat,”

“It’s interesting, isn’t it,” said the young woman. “The legacies are always dear,” replied the older woman with a smile.

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There was a silence for a few minutes before the older woman got up.

“Please, think about the council's offer,” said the older woman one last time. “You already know my answer, aunty,” the younger woman replied.

The older woman just shook her head and hugged the younger woman. “Sometimes, it is just too painful with you. You remind me too much of your mother,” said the older woman before letting go and walking away.

The younger woman watched till the older woman disappeared, before turning back toward the tower.

…

Carla

“I have received a message; we have a meeting in three hours,” informed Miss Ulaxasys suddenly with a big smile.

I turned my eyes away from the dress and turned to them. “It had taken them quite a while to respond,” I said.

Saying I am angry would be an understatement.

We had been to Yaris for three days and there was no reply. My time isn’t useless and while the city is beautiful; I would like to return home, there are hundreds of things I have to do.

I also miss the children a lot. In just two months, they have become a large part of my life.

“It was worth it. We are not meeting the representative they have in the Yaris, but the person from the hidden city,” replied Miss Ulaxasys, surprising me once again.

“Is the person going to be?” I asked, feeling a little nervous and excited. It is the elder, I am talking about.

“Don’t know, and I didn’t ask. Our purpose is the deal; it didn’t matter to us, who is making it and what race they belong to,” said Lady Blackwell.

I nodded, but still couldn’t help, but feel excited about it. I have never seen the elder, I had seen the elder-blood, but Stone is giant-blood. The elders of the hidden city belong to a different race.

We finished our shopping at the boutique quickly and went to our hotel room. There, I went over the preparations.

Soon, we reached the place.

“It would be my first time entering a mage tower,” I saw as I came out of the carriage.

The name of the tower is Galegem Tower. It is very tall; ninety-two floors tall, to be exact, and covered an enormous area. It looked like it was made of lustrous white tiles.

It may look like a tile, but not a tile. It is a magical paint, that looked like tile.

This is the third biggest mage tower in the city. The tallest one goes beyond the hundred floors.

As I got close to it, I felt all the hair on my body stood up and I felt like I was entering the jaws of the behemoth. The mage towers are dangerous, many cities want them, but not every city afford them.

They are damn expensive to build and maintain.

Soon, we reached the door and entered inside. Into the massive lobby, which is a work of art.

I mean, it is really huge, and there are people everywhere belonging to all races. Including those that are not native to the continent.

I have been in the empire and hadn't seen an elf or orc before I came to the Greltheaven and began to travel. Still, even after a year, I am surprised to see different types and races of people.

We walked into the elevator and Miss Ulaxasys touched the floor number.

The elevator moved, and it was very fast, but also smooth. Far smoother and faster than the elevator we had at the circle.

Ting!

We reached our floor and stepped out, before walking into a large hallway.

A minute later, we stopped at the room with the glass door. Miss Ulaxasys showed a small scroll and the guard standing by it opened the door.

There was already a person sitting there, a handsome half-elf man with dark green hair.

It is a lavishly decorated conference; our conference rooms pale compared to these. They are not just look good, but they are also magical, if what Lady Blackwell said is right.

“Lady Blackwell, Miss Ulaxasys, Miss Carla. I am Daxyl Carl. I am the tower aid,” he introduced and informed us of a few things.

He is a clerk plus a technician. He has the job of activating the tool and acting as the helper.

Hun!

“It is time,” said Daxyl a few minutes later and pressed her palm on the table.

Immediately, lightning the whole room. The runes become visible, and they are everywhere from the walls to the table, even the chairs we are sitting on are covered by them.

They shone for several seconds before they dimmed and when it was, I saw a masked woman, appear in the room.

She seemed tall with green hair and green eyes. That is the only thing I think is visible with the plain ivory mask.

“I am Janice Emerald, I will be negotiating the deal,” she introduced and looked at Daxyl, who immediately put the three stacks of papers in front of us.

It surprised me, but I had opened the file.

“The deal is simple. I will provide you with plants without a charge, but in exchange. You will give me half of the harvest for the decade,” she said, stopping me in my tracks; the sisters were surprised too.

There was nothing about the percentage in our correspondence.

We had come with the intention of buying the plants with the money, not giving them a percentage of the harvest.

“My apologies, Lady Emerald, but we can’t accept that,” I replied immediately. We are not going to accept it; I didn’t even have to ask Remus to reject the deal.

The woman said nothing to that and turned to Daxyl. He brought out the white crystal bar and tapped on it, immediately, it glowed, and a projection appeared over it.

“The bar contains the list of plants; all the plants here are beautiful as you require, but also expensive. Each one of them is in high demand from the alchemists and will sell at a high price,” she informed as if she hadn't heard the rejection.

We might have accepted the percentage. If it had been 5% to 10%, but she was demanding 50%, which we could never agree.

Hun!

I once again opened my mouth to reject the deal but felt a gentle hand on my shoulder.

“It would be impolite to reject the deal before we fully look into it,” said Lady Blackwell gently.

I nodded gratefully at her. If it had any other merchant, I have dealt with it; it wouldn’t have any problem, but the person in front of me from the hidden city. The most powerful place in the merchant state and it isn’t wise to reject the deal they are offering, without looking into it.

The sisters turned to the crystal bar and began to operate it and within a few seconds, a surprise appeared in their eyes.

That surprise becomes bigger till they see the vine, which turns into a shock.

As the mask women had said, all the plants are beautiful. The magical plants are beautiful, but the beauty of these plants is on a different level.

There are also a lot of texts around them; some, I understand, but much of what was written, I had gone over my head.

There are names of plants, many of which are the old language that I couldn’t pronounce properly. There is also efficacy value, which I know, but don’t understand.

It is things alchemists looked at when looking at resources.

There are also many other things, which sisters are looking for. Seeing that, I decided to turn to the contract. It is what the masked woman had said but in much larger details.

“These plants are really good. I think you should inform Lord Silver about it,” said Lady Blackwell.

I nodded and turned back.

“Lord Silver said that he will need some time to think about it,” said Aaron behind me.

“Lady Emerald, we will need some time to think about it, before we negotiate,” I said to the masked woman.

“There will be no negotiations. There is only, a yes or no to the deal. You have till six to answer,” replied the woman, and the projection disappeared.

I felt irritated at her curtness but refrained from saying anything. Instead, walked out of the conference room.

Half an hour later, we were in my suite discussing things with Remus, who was in contact with the alchemist. These plants aren’t only for the show; Remus also wants to sell them.

The resources produced from emotions essence are expensive, but they also provide strategic value.

Remus wants to make the city strategically important enough, that others would be more inclined to help us, in these troublesome times.

It is a double-edged sword. Seeing enemies would want to conquer us more, but Remus thinks the trade would be worth it. Seeing it will help the city prosper, which in turn will give us the ability to support a bigger army.

At six, we returned to the tower and signed the contract.

Remus had contacted many alchemists, and all of them were in favor. Those plants are extremely rare, and some even suggested, that we should agree, even if they demand 75% of the harvest.

They have even offered us a massive amount of money, in exchange for resources, that hadn't even been planted yet.

Of course, we didn’t accept.

They are precious, which makes it even more important that we don’t make any deal until we actually have those resources in our hands. It will give us a far greater leverage.