“Oh, this is undeniably exciting!” Four clapped her hands in anticipation as she leaned against the rails.

Seks, her classmate numbered Six and the sole drakin of her class stood beside her with arms crossed. “Yes, getting to meet your hero must bring a great deal of exhilaration to you.” His wings vibrated from a breeze.

She squealed and gripped his elbow tight, jumping up and down. “Don't remind me about that! I'll faint from heating up!”

“You weren't excited about that in the first place?”

“I am!” she corrected vehemently. “But it's just that I've never taken an elevator before either.” She swung her arm in gesture to the platform around them.

They stood on a giant metal platform set into a dug out dent in a sheer rocky cliff face. Four large sets of iron chains stretched at each of the corners, individually the size of a Titan's finger. The chains rose above them into large pulleys built into the side of the top of the rock formation. Around them, caravans, travellers, horses, carriages, and carts, were all loaded onto the platform.

The giant elevator was found nestled at the south end of Dragon's Tail, the canyon between Spire Ridge and The Tailingway. Dragon's Tail was where the town of Drakin's Pass and Hirule's Holding resided. They were the north and southern towns of the canyon respectively. Each end of the canyon ended at a sheer cliff face, and for cycles, travellers had used steep mountain roads to travel between Aleynonlia, Drakekins Mountains, and Lower Tinderland. Shortly after the Second War, with effort from King Adam and Loch Tehir of the Drakins, the Grand Elevators were constructed to carry travellers up and through the canyon, which also helped bridge divides between nations.

“I wonder how they work...” Four marvelled at the contraption.

As she said that, the chains tensioned loudly, cracking as it pulled. The elevator gave a small jerk and she nearly lost her balance as the platform began to rise. For a moment, the metal plate shook, but quickly it steadied into a rhythmic rise as it slowly ascended.

“Oh Titans!” she exclaimed. “It's moving!”

Slowly, the platform lifted further and further off the ground until they could see their noon shadows looking back up as a speck on the dirt below.

Seks began, “The elevator was designed by Maximilian Moone, a Clover. The canyon is famous for its geysers, so Moone designed the elevator to be powered by the water of the geysers. The geysers around each elevator were partially redirected with construction by earth and metal magic. The water that erupts are funnelled onto a counterweight 'bucket' that lifts the elevator once there's enough weight. The bucket lowers, and the elevator rises. Once we get to the top, the bucket opens up a flood gate at the bottom of it which also locks the elevator in place for a time with the force of the out-flowing water. Once it is emptied, the gate closes, the bucket rise, and the elevator lowers back down.”

Four could see it in her mind's eye. The complex mechanisms all interworking to create The Grand Elevators. Each piece moving in synch and rhythm like an orchestra.

“You sure know a lot about this,” she said.

“I'm from Drakspire,” he explained. “We fly down to Hirule's and the Pass every now and then.”

She turned back to the view from up high. The elevator slowly showed more and more of Aleynonlia's great plains. She could see the road from which they came from stretch to the horizon, and still not see the end of the path. It was the beginning of summer and the grass of the fields were mellowing to wheat. She did not mind the heat. Light was the universe's way of saying they were alive to see the colours of the world.

From the corner of her eyes, she saw a blink of light.

“Did you see that?” she asked Seks.

“See what?” The drakins looked out onto the plains in confusion. “I don't see anything aside summer grass.”

She chalked the visual up to a trick of her eyes. After all, seeing sounds and musics as colours tended to sometimes mess with her actual eyesights.

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They reached the top and workers ushered the passengers off the elevator and towards the station building. Those who were on vehicles were redirected to a road that stretched around the structure. The station itself was a long two stories thatched building made of quarry stones and straws with a grand staircase leading up to the entrance.

The pair bid farewell to the caravan that brought them there and headed into the building with backpacks on their backs. They went through the customs, unrolling their documents and flashing their school badges. After declaring their weapons, they headed out into the main lobby where they were told they would be met by a person of Saix's crew.

“Oh. Titans!” Four exclaimed. “It's him! It's him!”

The one who came to greet them was the musician himself. Saix stood cross-armed against the wall beside the exit. He was a man with rough styled navy blue hair that held a streak of pink. The same pink which Four had dyed her own locks to match. He wore a navy twill weaved vest and white under-shirt. His pants were smoothed brown cargo silk that were tucked into his boots. His looks were otherworldly in the realm, much like Four herself. And while she drew some stares for her gothic dressing, the man was drawing accidents, with people bumping into one another just from staring at him.

He looked up and saw the two Spellblades and waved to them.

“He's waving to me!” Four jumped, yanking on Seks's arms to haul herself higher.

“He's waving to us,” he corrected.

She turned him around and grabbed him by the collar. “If you take this from me, I will shoot you.”

“Hey yoz!” The pair jumped, turning around to find Saix having already closed the gap between them. “Fornelia Chantervalica and Seks, I take it?”

“Yes! And you are Saix! You're you! Saix!” She was jumping.

Seks continued, “We did not know you were coming to get us personally.”

“Well, I did request for the help myself. Besides, I'm not so fame fed that I can't run my own errands.”

She could hear her heart beating. When she could hear it beat, her vision gets blurred with blood red pumps of musical colours, further drowned by the bustling visuals of the station. “I'm a fan. I dare say, the greatest fan! I saw you play during the post war celebration. I became a musician, a bard, a everything! I even learned to play the pan flute!” She swung her pack around onto the floor and fumbled within looking for her instrument.

“Four-Chan, manners,” Seks said.

She jumped to her feet, flute in hand, and pointed the instrument at Seks like a weapon. “It's Fornelia Chantervalica!” her voice boomed and the station froze.

Everyone stared at her for a moment before awkwardly carrying out their day.

Saix laughed. His voice was smooth and deep and she could see a ocean blue mixed with autumn green flowing from his lips. It was no wonder his voice could carry tunes across different types of musics given the range of his voice.

“Four-Chan,” Saix noted. “It's very punk.”

“Punk?” the two students looked at him, confused.

“Oh, punk. You know? Fly. Cool. Rockin'. Sharp.” He took in their exasperated visage for a moment before seemingly collecting himself. “The name's geared steady, girl.”

Her grin must have stretched to the ends of the planet. “Really?” Perhaps her name was not so terrible. If someone like Saix found it pleasing, how bad could it be?

He took them out of the building and to the coach services where a line of coaches and their drivers parked in queue to a long stretch of clean and smooth stone highway. From her knowledge, the roads were flatted over time and maintained by teams of multi-element mages. Light mages measured the flatness of the path while earth mages shaped it. Fire and water mages then heated and cooled the stone at intervals to further contour it, before wind mages smoothed the final product. A road created and maintained by those of all creeds and backgrounds. It was the epitome of harmony in construction between elements.

“There are no horses?” Four noted as they climbed onto the front-most coach. She and Seks placed their belongings in the luggage compartment behind.

Saix paid the valet a decent pence, who then gave the driver a thumbs up. “Don't need them.”

The driver turned to look at her passengers and with a sly smile, pulled and released the brake handle at her side. Behind them, the valet gave a push of the carriage.

They shifted free and the coach lulled forward. Slowly at first, they moved. But the carriage picked up speed, wheels clattering over the smooth stone road. Soon, they were speeding over the highway at a speed faster than the trot of a horse.

“What?” she exclaimed.

They were rolling past long stretches of the canyon road. The driver controlled the speed of the carriage with the brake handle on the left and a till to direct the direction on her right.

Saix explained, “The roads here are built with a very slight slope. They are made at an alternating height which allows for carriages to travel on these highways at speed without the need for horses. Look.”

He gestured off the left side. At the far end of the canyon, another road with other racing carriages lead down to another station on a lower level of the cliff edge. The their distance, they could see the long sloped angle of the path. To the middle of them all, leading from roads that winded out of both stations was the old road where traditional horse drawn carriages travelled to-and-fro. Aside the roads, geysers sprayed misty water into the air, covering the landscape in rainbows and glitters.

Seks further explained that Tinderland, Aleynonlia, and the Drakins worked together to make the project possible. It was the first major infrastructure work following the second war and it was initiated by King Adam as a way to boost the economy and rebuild both Drakspire and Aleynonlia, two countries that were on the forefront of the battle. The project paid itself back within three years of completion. Trade time between countries were drastically shortened and the number of merchants moving through Dragon's Tail increased. The town of Hirule's Holding expanded quickly.

“Hirule's is coming up now,” Saix mentioned as they swung by the last of the large rock formations that blocked their horizon view.

Hirule's Holding was once a small town that serviced the traders that travelled through the rugged landscape. Now, it was a small bustling city. With the highways and elevators, it became a frontier of growth. The town had multiple slope highways for main roads, each with a smaller version of the geyser elevators at the foot end of each path that lead to the peak of another one. Carriages and bicycles raced across the town, with smaller streets interconnected from higher points to lower points.

It was fast paced. It was bustling. Streams of colours exploded from the settlement with sound of life, music, and drunken brawls reaching them even from their distance. Four could not help but smile. Shimona would throw a fit if she knew the sight Four was seeing.

She held up the flute to her lips, leaned her head against the rustling wind, and played a tune of life to the rising mist of the geysers.