Injellar was, in a word, beautiful. The streets were clean, made of some dark stone while the buildings were all several stories tall and no one less impressive than any other. Beautiful wood homes paired with towering stone buildings with gargoyles and other decorative structures hanging from the windows and pillars.

Mana raced through the city streets, flooding into the buildings and the many lights that lined the streets. Dozens if not hundreds of people walked along the street Zoe was let out onto, many on horse drawn carriages that seemed to almost glide along the road without even the faintest hint of friction.

In the distance, down over a kilometer away at the end of the street was the massive castle that sat in the middle of the city. It almost looked like a lighthouse to Zoe’s vision as an enormous amount of mana seemed at rest within the castle walls, even from so far away.

Zoe chuckled to herself. The odd story she’d heard of the city did it no justice, in her opinion. There were no words to describe how the sight made her feel, no description adequate enough to truly describe what a powerful statement the capital was. The Injellar kingdom’s capital was filled with more mana, people and beauty than any other she’d seen. It almost felt as though she’d entered a dungeon with how dense and directed the mana was.

She tilted her head. Had she entered a dungeon? Was the capital just a massive, custom made dungeon? The royals clearly knew how to make dungeons. They’d probably made many dungeons — some public, and even more likely hidden away somewhere secret for their royal guards to use for more efficient looping. Why wouldn’t their capital be a dungeon?

If Zoe wanted to, she could have all of the normal creatures of her dungeon hidden away somewhere — perhaps in a castle inaccessible to the common people, and then have people come live in it. She would have the power to build infrastructure and walls in the blink of an eye, and with so many people living in it she’d even be able to potentially harvest an enormous amount of mana to defend her dungeon with.

So then why wouldn’t the royal family of the Injellar kingdom do the same thing, if they knew how? Why would they willingly give up the power owning a dungeon gave them?

Zoe shook her head. They wouldn’t. Of course they wouldn’t. They’d be at a massive disadvantage if they did that. Perhaps the city itself wasn’t a part of the dungeon, or perhaps the city was many dungeons all connected together. But the castle in the middle?

There was no doubt that it was a dungeon, and if she had to guess, it was the highest level dungeon she’d ever seen. Though she’d never see the benefits of it either, she imagined. There was just no reason for the royals to invite people in to raid the dungeon they lived in.

She wandered down the street, along the designated sidewalk at the side as she looked at all the buildings she passed. Every building she passed seemed to be a home, though. Were there different districts, with zoning laws in the city?

For that matter, where had Gorlon even gotten off to? At some point as Zoe read through all the papers Kendrick had given her, she watched as Gorlon was let through and rode off down the road with his guards and wife. But he was soon too far for her to watch, and Zoe had no idea where he got to after that.

Down one of the many side streets that branched off the main road? Perhaps further in, near the castle? She didn’t plan on sticking around with them for very long after they got to the city, but she would have at least liked to have visited the shop. Maybe bought something from the store, or gotten some advice on places to stay.

Zoe spent the rest of the day wandering through the streets — but even after several hours felt as though she’d barely seen even a tiny fraction of what the city had to offer. It was just so much more massive than she’d thought it would be, even after she’d been let in.

From her first exploration, it seemed the city was divided up into much smaller segments that seemed like caricatures of cities themselves. Each segment seemed to be given a number of homes, a variety of shops for basic needs and a couple more for the more common luxuries. The layouts were different, but it was clear where the segments started and ended as she crossed a street and went from beautiful wooden buildings to ornate stone buildings, then a bit further to more fantastical crystal buildings.

But the part that interested Zoe the most were the bits that were different about each segment — district, Zoe wondered?. While they had the same base that they worked with, it seemed that each grouping also had a specific amount of land that they could do whatever they wanted with.

Some chose sports arenas, others focused on alchemy or enchanting, some had massive forges and smelteries. It was almost a cultural overload to wander through the capital, crossing through entire communities in moments only to be thrown into another community that was entirely different, with different passions and interests, different fashions and buildings.

Zoe settled down in an inn she found as the sun began to set, in a district full of smoke and forges. The inn was raucous and rowdy, filled with jaunty music. Many folk danced on the floor with the tables pushed off to the side, while others sat at the walls watching the excitement with their drinks.

A set of metal stairs led both up and down near the back of the room, with a long metal bar along one side of the tavern. Three workers stood behind, leaning on the bar as they chatted with several of the patrons sitting on the other side. Zoe walked up and sat on one of the metal stools, and the woman closest to her looked over and nodded at her.

“Hey there gorgeous, what can we do for you?” The woman slid her arms across the bar, stopping in front of Zoe.

“Drink? Anything non alcoholic? Something fruity, maybe?” Zoe asked.

“’Course, darling.” The woman smiled and stood up. She pulled out several bottles of colourful liquid from underneath the bar, along with a tall metal cup and carefully poured a small amount from each. The woman smirked at Zoe as she grabbed a thumb sized purple fruit — similar to a blueberry, though with the texture of a peach, and dropped it into the cup. “Here you go. How will you be paying tonight?"

“What are the options? Sorry I’m new here.” Zoe asked as she grabbed the drink. The aroma was delightful and inviting, floral with a hint of sour undertones.

“Well love, you either pay now or we can add it to your bill.” The woman said.

“Oh. Add it to my bill then, sure. Why not. Do you have a room, by the way? I’m wanting to stay here for a while and check out the city.” Zoe asked, sipping from the drink, puckering at the intense sourness that made her mouth feel drier than any of the deserts she’d visited.

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The woman laughed. “You get used to it.”

“Wow. I wasn’t expecting that at all.” Zoe smacked her lips and took another sip, better prepared for the sourness. It wasn’t as bad the second time, but it still felt as though she were drinking a very sweet drink that somebody dumped a package of citric acid into. The sourness cut through the intense sweetness and almost drowned out the subtle floral notes that flooded her nose as she brought the drink up to her lips.

The woman smiled and watched Zoe sip from her drink, chuckling at Zoe’s reactions. “We do have a room, how long will you be staying?"

“Oh I don’t know. A month? Maybe I should just buy a place. How much does it cost here, do you know?" Zoe asked.

“You’ve really never been here before, huh?” The woman spread her elbows out on the bar and leaned her chin on her hands.

“I haven’t, no. It’s very exciting though.” Zoe said.

“Well.” The woman stood up and brushed off her dark brown apron, patting out the creases and flicking bits of dust and debris off to the ground. “You should go visit one of the royal offices if you want to buy a place, but it takes some time if you’re new here. I think most people get all that sorted out before they arrive so they’re not stuck in some inn for a few months while things get sorted out.” She laughed.

“Right. Is there a royal office around here, do you know?” Zoe asked.

“Should be. Never been myself though.” She turned and looked over at one of the other men sitting at the bar a few stools away. “Hey George, you know where the royal office is?”

The man looked over. “Huh? Yeah, ‘course I do. Why?”

“The pretty girl here’s interested in buying a home. Think you could tell her how to get there?" The woman asked.

“Sure, yeah. Why not.” George moved over to the seat next to Zoe. “You new here then?"

The woman smiled at Zoe and George then walked away to chat up another patron who came up to the bar.

“I am, yeah.” Zoe answered.

“Wanting to move to the capital? Where you live before?" George asked.

“Foizo? You heard of it?” Zoe asked.

“I think you’re outside of where Flester used to be right? It’s a dungeon now, isn’t it?" George asked.

“It is, yeah. I live in a cave there.” Zoe said.

“Huh. Oh! You’re the cave dweller?” George asked, his eyes lighting up as he grinned.

“The cave dweller?” Zoe asked.

“Yeah, yeah. We hear stories about it now and then. Some woman who shows up and dumps these weird green creatures around the town. You’re a legend!" George laughed.

“Huh. Okay. That’s a little weird, but alright.” Zoe said. A legend? She didn’t know how to feel about that, really.

George chuckled. “Don’t worry ‘bout it. People like their stories. So you’re moving to Injellar now, are you?”

“Well, I only intended to come and visit. Explore a little, see what it was all about and then move on to whatever else interested me. But it’s so big! I can’t get over how massive this place is. It’ll take forever to actually explore it. I’d rather not be stuck in an inn that whole time, and it seems leaving the city is an ordeal on its own so I thought I might buy a place of my own.” Zoe explained.

George nodded. “Right, right. You thought about renting?”

“I didn’t. That might make more sense, though since I probably won’t stay forever. Just a few years at most.” Zoe answered.

“Depending on how long you stay, might end up being more expensive.” He chuckled. “Or what your tastes are. But either way you’re gonna need to get to the royal office. They’re down the road, take a left at Forge lane and keep going till you see the pink library.”

“The pink library?" Zoe interrupted.

George chuckled. “Yup. The pink library. Anyway, take a right down that road and keep going for a bit. You’ll pass two districts and then the office will be on your right.”

“Alright. So down, left at Forge, right at the pink library and the office is on my right. Easy enough. Thanks.” Zoe said.

“You got it.” George nodded. “And welcome to Injellar. Hope you enjoy it.”

Zoe waved down the woman who was helping her, who came back when she finished up with the customer she’d moved over to.

“What’s up hon?" The woman asked.

“If it’ll take a while for me to get a place anyway, then I think I’ll get a room here. Start with two weeks? How much will that be?" Zoe asked.

“Five silver for two weeks. Add it to your bill?” The woman asked.

“No I’ll just pay for that now.” Zoe said, summoning a silver coin marked with a star and handing it to the woman.

The woman took the coin and summoned a key with a little paper hanging from the end of it marked with a blue 4. “Here you go. Room 4. Down the stairs, on your left.”

“Thanks.” Zoe took the key and finished off the rest of her drink. The blue fruit that sank to the bottom was soft and burst with juice as she bit into it, with a delicate seed in the middle that crumbled as her teeth bit down on it into a sour powder. A citric acid fruit, she wondered?

Zoe walked over to the stairs at the back of the room and down to room 4 in the middle of the dark, metal lined hallway. Inside, the room was well lit by magical lanterns that hung from each of the walls with a metal dresser near the door and a metal bed frame holding up a comfortable looking mattress in the centre of the room.

A painting on the opposite wall from where Zoe entered depicted a bustling street, with carriages and people rushing from one end to the other. The colours popped, and the setting orange sun in the painting almost seemed to cast a glow through her room and heavy black curtains framed either side of it.

Zoe hopped on the bed and laid down. The mattress was firm but giving, while the heavy blanket felt warm and somehow safe, in her mind. Soon after, she found herself drifting off to sleep. She had quite an odd dream that jumped from place to place, one moment she was in school trying to find where room eight was. The next she was off in a haunted mansion, fighting for her life against the other students. The next, she was waking up in her room back in Foizo and trying to jump out of her window as per her normal morning routine, only to find that she was three stories high.

She woke up in the morning, with the morning sun shining in through her window, casting a warm light on her pale skin.

Window? Zoe shot up and looked around. The painting had changed, no longer casting its orange glow across her room but a bright yellow light as the sun’s rays shone through the thick paint to illuminate her bed. She chuckled and laid back down.