In the central part of the city, at the bottom of the spiraling avenue, buildings, shops, and homes were arranged in a tight, walkable grid. Trees made of ice grew at regular intervals, and there were also gardens interspersed with the buildings, filled with frosted greenery and varieties of flowers that sparkled with magic, thriving in the cold.

They hustled through the streets as Klein and Milo led the way toward the Training Grounds, reaching the back wall and entering one of a few caves. The Night Watch members in their group waved to other members of their force patrolling among the cave entrances as they passed through.

Edgar glanced at Shy. “So this is the cave network below the city? Where rifts usually break?”

She winked. “Yes, but you’re traveling with a whole squad of Night Watch. There’s nothing to worry about.”

They walked deeper in, entering a network of caves and tunnels, some natural and others not, weaving through the ice. Magic crystals in the walls illuminated the passage, sending shadows and light refracting through the ice. Every so often, there would be junctions where caves would join and split again, marked with carvings on the floor pointing the way. This gave Edgar a halfway decent feeling about finding his way back. However, he made sure not to let Klein get too far ahead.

Eventually, they reached the Training Grounds, and the tunnel opened up on a full-size stadium with multiple zones for fights, surrounded by spectator seating. Edgar gaped at the place, taking it all in. It reminded him of a Roman Colosseum with less room for seating and more for fighting. A large crystal in the ceiling illuminated the space and Edgar could feel an aura of magic pervading the space.

Members of the Night Watch were everywhere; some were lounging in the stands, others patrolling, and even more practicing skills or sparring in the arena. However, at a whistle and wave from Milo, two of the zones cleared up.

Klein glanced back at them, enjoying Edgar and Mirai’s bewildered looks. “Pretty cool, eh? The Great Halls are amazing.”

“I had heard about it before from my mom, but…” Mirai said. “I thought it was a story. I guess I never believed how advanced places this far out could be.”

Jim laughed. “Klein brought us through on the way to Black Mountain, so this isn’t the first time we’ve seen it, but even on a second glance, it is impressive.”

“The siblings should be down soon enough. Why don’t you all warm up in that zone?” Milo said, pointing at one of the two open ones, and turning to elbow Klein. “But they’ve finally finished the secret project. I can’t wait to show you.”

“They have?”

“They have!” Milo said, leaping over the railing and down into the stadium.

“They’ve been working on it for years! What is it?” Klein asked, eyes went wide as he scrambled to follow.

The rest of their party jumped down after them, with Jim, Nat, Nate, and Priz splitting into teams for paired sparring on one of the open zones, while Edgar and Mirai followed Klein and Milo towards the center of the stadium, where Klein was listening to Milo with furrowed brows.

“…so with all that said, to actually use it, all you have to do is call out—Summon Menu!—and it begins!” Milo said, gesturing as a large system screen appeared in front of him that they all could see.

Milo swiped his hand on the screen and a list of monsters labeled with pictures, names, and levels scrolled by.

Klein’s eyes went wide. Mirai’s too, as Edgar glanced back and forth.

He nudged her. “Is that some sort of summoning menu for practice fights? Couldn’t that be abused like… hardcore?”

“If by ‘abused’, you mean get filthy rich, then yeah. I’d say it could be abused.”

Milo was talking more as he gestured at the menu. “…Yeah, exactly. When we’re on patrol now, we try to bring back the bodies of whatever monsters we can to add them to the library. For now, the city has a bounty on adding new ones. It’s pretty hefty, but it will probably go down in time, although it scales with level.”

“What if somebody summons too many? Or if the monsters try to escape into the city?” Klein asked. “Couldn’t this go wrong in so many ways?”

Milo smiled, shaking his head. “My understanding is the security features are why it took so long. If you’re in trouble, shout ‘Die, Summons,’ and they die. They aren’t made of flesh and blood like real monsters, just magic vapor, although they are pretty damn convincing. Also, for now, the Summon Menu only lets you summon so many monsters per adventurer standing in the central area, here, and it won’t let you summon any others until all the ones you already have are dead.”

He pointed at a large, open archway at the rear of the arena that had been carved into a full entrance and shimmered with a magic barrier. The ancient language of this place was scrawled along the rim of this door too, which Edgar read as ‘The Cold Depths.’

Did you know this story is from Royal Road? Read the official version for free and support the author.

“They appear in the doorway there, as if they’re coming up out of the depths from a rift break.”

Klein nodded, scratching his chin. “So it’s good practice in multiple ways…”

“I must be missing something. If that’s where most of the rift breaks are, why don’t you seal it off?” Edgar asked. “Why don’t you just cave it in and block it off permanently?”

Milo turned to him. “The entrance is protected with a one-way barrier, so things can pass through heading down into the caves, but nothing comes back through unless we lower the barrier—or if they break through. We can’t just seal it off because the rifts are important to the city. Adventurers head down there and bring back their earnings to spend and live in the city.

“Also, the ancient wisdom is that it’s easier to funnel the monsters through a single entrance than guard against them potentially breaking through randomly.”

Edgar nodded. “I see.”

Mirai’s eyes were still glued to the Summon Menu. “H-How?! Was Thoth involved?”

Milo nodded. “The god of knowledge was here personally and his scribes were heavily involved, but I have to say that most of the work was done by the mages and scholars of our city! It is a huge accomplishment and a source of pride for us all.”

Klein elbowed his way excitedly past Milo so he could scroll the menu himself. “Well, that’s quite enough teasing. Let’s give it a go.”

Klein selected a level eight monster called a [Frosty Ape], summoning a single one. “There! What happens if the monster is bigger than the doorway?”

Milo laughed. “I haven’t tried one that’s bigger than the door before; they’re still working out the kinks. But, if you don’t mind, I’ll lend you a hand against the ape. We’re the ones who added it to the library and it took our whole squad to bring it down.”

Klein glanced at Milo, smiling fiercely. “Sounds like fun. I love this thing already.”

The magical barrier in the archway began to coalesce, becoming more tangible like a surface of water turned sideways. A faint ripple appeared, then a second, and a third—each larger than the last. Suddenly, a blue-tinted arm burst forth, grabbing at the ground to pull itself through the opening, but failed. The arm retreated, then hands appeared, fingers curling around the archway, followed by an angry face.

The Night Watch throughout the stadium roared, seeing the massive foe. The ape roared in response, cracks appearing in the ancient ice-work and spidering up the wall. Edgar blinked as the cracks spread further and further up the wall… Was there about to be a cave in?

Suddenly, Edgar felt a weight pressing down on him as a massive presence appeared beside him. It was a slim, delicate-looking woman with a large blue feather protruding from a headdress. She wore a flowing shawl and almost nothing else, looking dignified and graceful, although thoroughly unprepared for this ice-world. If the weight of her presence wasn’t so overpowering, he might wonder how she wasn’t freezing to death—especially her feet, as she was standing barefoot on the ice.

When she spoke, she used the words of an ancient, magical language, and Edgar could feel that her commands were to be obeyed, no matter who—or what—she spoke to. It was as if the ice itself would melt and reform if she asked it to.

She gestured casually with one hand. “Come. Rise. Turn.”

The magic portal jerked forward, causing the ape to fall backward, its face and limbs disappearing back inside the portal. Then it rose above the arena and turned horizontally.

“Grow.”

The placid surface stretched wider and wider until it tripled in size. After a moment, the ape’s fingers reappeared along the edges and its toes at the bottom. It would fit through now. Klein and Milo drew their weapons, hooting excitedly.

Edgar looked from the portal hanging overhead to Mirai, realizing then that this was probably the worst place they could be standing. A sense of heaviness pressed down on him as the woman turned her attention to the two of them. She smiled, gesturing at the stands.

“We should probably… Go.”

Compared to his teleportation magic, which was like a shortcut between two places, the woman’s command was brute force—his body moved from here to there in the blink of an eye. As he arrived in the stands, lowered down onto his feet, he could feel his insides shuffling around and doubled over.

Mirai appeared just as undone by the woman’s magic, falling to her knees, but managed to look up at her in awe.

“M-Madame Feather, thank you.” She sputtered and bowed. “I should have expected someone like you would be watching over this.”

Edgar quickly scrambled to follow her lead, turning his stomach-clutching lean into a bow.

The woman smiled and gently bowed in return. “Indeed. Maat’s Feathers grace this hall, although my purpose here is to ensure their little experiment doesn’t end in tragedy.”

Mirai seemed to breathe a bit easier at that, which calmed Edgar, although he didn’t understand why. He raised his head to get a proper look at her and her details popped up without an introduction.

Lizbet

* Race: Human (Feather of Maat)

* Level: ??

Question marks? It’s just like Mammon. Just how strong is this lady?

“T-Thank you, Liz—err—Madame Feather. That would have been a messy way to go, squashed by an ape,” Edgar said.

“Voss.” She whispered, eyes fixing on him and seeing through him. She sniffed the air. “You smell familiar, why?”

“I… what?”

Her eyes widened with realization, then she smirked. “Ah, of course. You are a friend of Maat’s father. Don’t worry, if you are a friend of his, you are also a friend of ours as well…”

Her hand twitched, reaching out involuntarily to ruffle his hair. “You’re a fuzzy one, aren’t you?”

A roar sounded from the arena as the ape prepared to launch itself through the portal at Klein and Milo. The full contingent of Night Watch in the arena roared back. Lizbet’s eyes snapped back to the fight, her hand retreating. Beside him, Mirai took the chance to edge herself between them as the fight began in earnest.

~~~~~

Stats page for this chapter available here.