Back on Agleon, a day had passed and Ieros had reached the middle of the sea, the great sky turtle landing on the water by the Loquimi’s command. Ieros stood for a moment on the shell of the turtle, thinking about how he should create Otium. As he stood there, Sino appeared, asking,

“Will you recreate the magnificent cities of your people’s past?”

Ieros shook his head, “That would attract too much attention. I also do not wish to make a city, merely a place where people can rest and trade. The only one to live here will be me and my creations.”

Sino said, “Wouldn’t a city be more profitable and of more use? With it you can build a new empire.”

Ieros once more said, “I do not need such useless things as money or profit. As for usefulness, a city will provide more trouble to take care of than what I plan to create. Now please be silent, I must think.”

Sino acquiesced and Ieros once more paid his attention to the space of ocean before him, finally deciding it was time. He then outstretched his arm and pointed to the ocean, an outline of a circle four miles in diameter appearing. Holding this with one hand, he then grabbed empty air with his other and pulled down. If one were to look closely, one could see something descend from the circle’s outline, making it a cylinder. Satisfied, Ieros momentarily rested his arms, the hollow cylinder remaining.

The others were watching curiously, they were expecting something magnificent to happen and they would not be disappointed. Ieros then held out his right hand, the palm facing the cylinder. He then made a fist and raised it upward, the water within the cylinder mimicking his movement. The water began to move, a cylinder of water that was four miles in diameter and three miles in height, rising upward. It floated high in the air, seeming to be a cylinder of glass, the only indication that it was water being the fish that swam within. The onlookers were shocked, especially Teramon and the human ambassadors, they had always known that Ieros was powerful but they did not know how powerful.

Ieros had deceived them well, making them think that he was just like any other powerful mage when in reality, he had surpassed them long ago. Looking at the powers that Ieros wielded casually, Teramon guessed that even if all of Athera’s Archmages were to band against him, Ieros would win ten times out of ten. Ieros moved the water outside the cylindrical barrier that he had made and then lowered it into the sea. Gently, of course, to splash water around everywhere was not Ieros’s intention.

Once that was disposed of, Ieros focused on the cylindrical hole in the ocean, wondering just what he was going to do. Finally, he decided to create a gigantic pillar of adamant within that space, this way it would last for forever against the crashing waves of the sea. Well, nothing lasts forever but this would last until Agleon itself was destroyed, which may be less than two years from now. But no matter, it will serve its purpose whether or not Agleon is destroyed.

While he thought this, his audience were watching in awe as the hollow cylinder was filled with pure adamant, not the translucent silver that humans used, they couldn’t handle pure adamant and thus diluted it with mithril. The resulting alloy was strong but not as strong as adamant, the far superior material. White mithril wasn’t far from it, in fact it was the preferred material because of its lightness and strength but adamant was by far the superior of the two in terms of strength. But the material they saw before them was pure adamant, a translucent black crystal whose appearance was not unlike that of obsidian.

At the sight of so much pure adamant, Teramon was shocked, if Ieros had only revealed his ability earlier, he could have provided the entire Atheran Army with armor and weapons of adamant. He lost his composure for a moment, lost in his imagination, if Ieros could do so Athera would be able to rule all of Occasus! Becoming aware of the strange looks his ambassadors were giving him, he recovered his composure, watching impassively. It was now that he truly began to regret letting Ieros go, even though he knew that he could do nothing.

Meanwhile, Ieros then covered this base of adamant in a foot-thick layer of stone on which he began to build. First came walls, perfectly circular with sixty towers interspersed equally on its length. There was approximately eleven hundred feet of distance between each tower, each topped with clear crystals that were dimmed now, although Sino could imagine the power that they held from the tale the surviving Loquimi had told after she had been let go by Ieros. But he soon ignored such thoughts as he continued to watch Ieros work his magic, creating a raised platform just a mile in diameter at the very center of the circle. This too was made from adamant but this was not covered with stone. Instead Ieros continued to build with adamant, creating a secondary wall, this time with twelve towers, each of these obviously of greater quality than the ones on the outer wall.

With the defenses complete, Ieros focused on building his new mage tower, a octagonal-based pyramid which was topped off with a giant crystal, this one glowing with the light of the stars. It was obvious to anyone that this was, other than some unknown defensive purpose, was supposed to be a lighthouse. It wouldn’t just be any lighthouse either but the largest and most powerful lighthouse in all of existence, they couldn’t bear to look directly at it, it was just like the sun. The foundation had been finished and Ieros turned his attention to the outer layer, building a series of docks for ships of all sizes and nations to land.

He also made simple apartments for those who would wish to rest here, although the maximum amount they could stay was a month, having to wait a week before they could stay in the apartments again. In addition to these apartments, he also made public restaurants and healing centers, all free of course. With his great power, he would be able to convert the copious amounts of sea water into the greatest of healing potions. Of course, there was the condition that one would not be able to take said potions off the island or any of its products. This would be easily enforced because his Custodians would have semi-omniscient abilities, they would be able to peer within the minds of others as well as possess the ability to see through solid objects. This way, they would find all the smugglers and exact punishment. Of course, their punishment would not be jail or some other similar slap on the wrist, the punishment must ensure that they would never steal or smuggle again, permanently.

Essentially, what he intended to create was a place where people only had to worry about how much profit they could make, nothing else. They would not need to worry about being murdered or assaulted, about starving in some ditch or catching some incurable disease. Food, rooms, medical care and other essentials for living would all be free, provided that they do not take anything but food away from the island. This island would be a merchant’s heaven, where profit would be the only thing in mind. Of course, this wouldn’t attract only merchants, the free services this island would provide would make a great vacation spot with free room, food and protection, making this the perfect environment for those who wished to relax.

There would have to be an area dedicated to this however, one’s vacation would be ruined by the fierce arguments that would ensue between merchants bartering for items. This side of the island would perhaps sport a beach for these vacationers as well as bars and other entertainment facilities, all free of course. This would be extremely beneficial to the Surveyor as it would allow it to observe many specimens without having to personally look for them. It would also be in this way that it would be able to the necessary dark energy required to defeat End, for the shadows of these merchants and vacationers possessed a tiny amount of dark energy. It was really quite small, inconsequential really, but with the expected numbers that the Surveyor predicted would arrive here, it would provide a stable source of dark energy for the remaining two years.

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And although having the leisure to stay still and wait for specimens to come to it was nice, it was this energy that the Surveyor was after. In its current state, it wouldn’t be able to even touch End much less seal her. After all, her power was one of the Absolutes, it will destroy everything. Well, almost everything. There were things that End and even Darkness could not destroy, another one of the Absolutes. In truth, Ieros’s Absolute Barrier was not really absolute at all, it could still be overcome if one were to use enough energy to overwhelm the rate at which the barrier devours. An example would be the elven warrior’s strike, it was enough to shudder the barrier, the barrier had indeed devoured much of the strike’s energy but there was still enough left over to shake the barrier.

Although, if it was Darkness, such a barrier could be Absolute although the power of End wasn’t necessarily energy. It was obviously some sort of energy but it was one that the Surveyor had never encountered and could not find much data on within Darkness’s memories. It also didn’t know if Darkness knew and chose to hide if from it or if even Darkness truly didn’t know. But of course, that was the true End, the fragment of End that was sent here would most likely possess a weaker version of this ability, meaning that it did not necessarily have to use an Absolute to defeat her.

Rather, it would be able to defeat her with something lesser, widening its options by quite a bit. But there was no guarantee that such things would work so it would have to prepare an Absolute Seal just in case, in case if it were to fail. After all, its purpose was not to destroy End but to learn, it couldn’t learn if it was forced to remain dormant for a few centuries. That was a big if too, for using this Absolute Seal would require it to have all of its power, none could be spared to hide away a piece of itself. Instead it would have to slumber like Darkness, slowly regaining enough dark energy to become functional.

But the Surveyor began to focus on what was more imminent, it would have time to worry and to plan later. Right now it had to settle down and get rid of these mortals. They were useful but as of now, they only served to be a distraction. The basic foundation of Otium had been completed, it would work on the finer details later. So it left Ieros to his devices, Ieros lowering his hands as he was finished.

He then turned to Emperor Teramon VII, bowing deeply, “It has been a pleasure to serve you, your majesty.”

He then held out his hand, a simple amulet of black steel appearing in his hand.

He then handed it to the Emperor and said, “This amulet will allow you to speak with me, through this you may request whatever it is you need help with. But this amulet can only be used five times so only use it when absolutely necessary.”

Teramon VII accepted this and with genuine gratitude, he then bowed, “Thank you Archmage Ieros, as long as I am Emperor I will ensure that Athera will lend all of its power to aid you whenever you see fit.”

Ieros nodded and then turned to Sino and bowed, although not as deeply, speaking in the First Language, “When the time comes, I trust your people will lend me your aid and in turn, I will lend mine to you.”

Sino nodded, “When the time comes, I will do all that I can to convince the Council to aid you.”

Ieros nodded and then opened a gate, stepping through. He reappeared within the depths of the great pyramid he had made, using magic to watch the great sky turtle head to Athera to drop off Teramon. Some days later, Ieros saw it fly once more over his island, returning to Auster. But he soon ignored it, instead preparing to accept the fleet of merchants that were heading his way. Of course, Teramon VII had advertised the Island of Otium, similarly, Sino had done with his own people, thus awakening the people’s curiosity. Of course, many were skeptical so only a small number of two thousand were actually making the journey, most of them being nobles who could afford the cost of said journey with great ease.

Merchants also joined in on this, for if the words of both Emperors were true, then this would be a merchant’s paradise. It was just too good of a chance to give up so the most daring planned to stake out their territory if Otium truly was what the Emperors had said it was. And they were not disappointed, they were amazed at the facilities and services that Otium supplied, all free of course. Some of the more despicable merchants even tried to steal the high quality potions that were given out for free but they soon realized that the protection services of Otium were not to be underestimated.

They had been warned by strange black-robed men but they paid no heed to the rules, instead blinded by the profit they could make. It was these same merchants that were made an example of by the Custodians as these robed men were called. They were not killed, that was too merciful. Instead, these men had their hands chopped off and were banished from Otium forever. Should they ever have the gall to return, they were to be immediately killed on sight. But the more cunning of these despicable merchants followed the rules, as by the laws of Otium, they would not be able to interfere with their business as long as it did not harm anyone.

So slave traders soon flocked to Otium as well, although if any were to beat their slaves they too would be banished from Otium. The threat of death upon return was not taken seriously by some and they too were made an example of, the great defense systems of Otium flaring to life and incinerating these ships with a beam of death and heat. Not only that but their trade empires were dismantled by the Custodians, their black-robed silhouettes becoming a feared sight among those who dared to breach the Laws of Otium.

Needless to say, crime reached 0% upon the Island of Otium despite the fact that it was filled with incredibly diverse groups of people, some of which who were great enemies. But after being shown the power of the Custodians, none dared to challenge them and Otium became as Ieros had first predicted, a merchant’s heaven. And more than that, it had also become a vacationer’s heaven for there was another section of Otium specifically for vacationers. It was filled with beautiful beaches, bars with the most delicious alcohol, restaurants that produced exotic delicacies of the most delectable taste as well as excellent apartments with beds and blankets as soft as silk.

It was described by many in the coming months as a Slice of Heaven, becoming one of the most popular destinations of sea travel. Not wanting to miss out on this, ferrying services began to look to the sea, competing with one another for customers. But this was entirely unnecessary, the amount of people who wanted to go to Otium was so much that all ferrying companies received similar amounts of profit when compared with one another. But Otium was not of infinite size and the massive amounts of people wanting in could not all get in. So Ieros created a great ring around Otium, giving it apartments, restaurants and medical centers on a more mediocre level, this serving as a place for people to “wait in line” until a space opened up for them to enter Otium.

It was on this ring that merchants were moved to while the entirety of Otium itself was turned into a vacation center. But even this ring was soon filled so an additional ring was made and that was it, the outermost ring was for merchants and the innermost ring was for vacationers waiting in line to enter Otium. Custodians, seemingly infinite in number, presided over all areas related to Otium so crime was almost zero. But, nothing is perfect, the Outer Ring was a place where merchants and pirates intermingled, it was to be expected that brawls would break out. So to solve this problem, Ieros once more created a third ring, the outermost one being a place where the less moral characters could stay, the innermost ring being where merchants traded and the innermost being the “waiting room.”

Of course, pirates were welcome on Otium but if they broke the rules, the Custodians gave no mercy, killing them on the spot. So peace was brought upon the Outer Ring for pirates, as much as they loved a good brawl, still wanted to keep their lives. They enjoyed the simple pleasures of a bar although they lamented the lack of brothels. Ieros had no intention of making any brothels but if a brothel were to extend its business here, Ieros would have no problem with them doing so. Already, rich brothel owners were looking to extend their business to Otium, it would be insane of them not to. After all, the amount of profit that could be gained was no joke, with just a month’s revenue a man would be set for life according to their calculations.

But the increasingly larger and larger amounts of people that flooded into Otium with every passing day was, of course, a great problem. This was solved by Ieros sending Custodians to the ports of both nations where they approved any ship that wanted access. Merchant ships were usually always permitted, they never stayed on Otium for too long, but ships that ferried vacationers needed to be admitted by a Custodian. There was some discontent among would-be-vacationers but after a display of the Custodians’ power, they were meek and obeyed the decisions of the Custodians. The Custodians were the embodiment of the Law, servants of the Creator of Otium, none dared to argue with these emotionless beings who wielded the power of both the judge and the executioner.

Meanwhile, the Surveyor was satisfied with what it had created and rested within its pyramid, now one of its many vessels. In fact, all of Otium could be described as its body and as such, the Surveyor could observe all that entered Otium and record what new knowledge these diverse specimens would bring.