Flying on an airplane was quite an unusual experience, even if I wasn’t a stranger to being high up in the air or moving at high speeds. I was once even able to see the curvatures of my world while fighting Salrak, but I found it annoying to be up there, since the air seemed to thin a lot, to the point where I had to sustain myself with air magic.
But in an airplane, none of those things were an issue. The sound of the air passing next to my head was non-existent, there was no resistance from the movement, and I didn’t have to worry about thin air at all. Flying inside one of these artifacts was quite pleasing when compared to flying with my own powers.
I could understand now why Asteora would choose to fly like this instead, even if someone like her could move much faster than the artifact could.
The view of the window was also quite pleasing. Seeing the landscape of the place I was currently living in gave me a better understanding of it. It was mountainous, with a lot of clouds in certain places, and full of greenery under the ones that weren't covered by them. That only lasted for a while, until we reached another city that was quite similar to the one that I was living in, only that this one had a few taller buildings, was close to the sea—something I hadn’t seen in a while—and was much hotter, reminding me of summer times.
We didn’t spend much time there, as after a short wait, we were moved to a much bigger airplane; one that made me wonder if it could even lift from the ground at all, since it was like looking at a building with a pair of wings attached to it. But despite my doubts, nobody seemed concerned about it, so I followed everyone and got on the next one. It was much more comfortable, and things were being given to me as if I was a noble, where people would come every once in a while to deliver food and drinks.
This trip, however, wasn’t quite as interesting as the last one. After a short while, the only thing that could be seen from the window of the plane was nothing but water and clouds that stretched in every direction.
The Empire was quite far away from me it seemed… This kind of trip would’ve taken months on a boat back in Arretia if one didn’t use magic. And surprisingly enough, the airplane artifact didn’t use a single magical artifact or even mage to fly. No matter how much I stretched my senses to know how it was working, I couldn’t sense anything that used magic in this large thing.
But… just like in Arretia, such a long trip while flying over large stretches of water would eventually turn monotonous. So I looked away from it and turned my attention to the movies they offered.
Some hours later, the person commanding this artifact called to our attention the fact that we were flying over land once more, so I turned to look down again. But I really couldn’t tell exactly where we were… since despite there being less greenery and forests than there were near the city I was living in, none of it was something I could recognize.
It didn’t take long after that before the plane started its descent to ground. I could hardly see where it was going to land, and it was still going pretty fast, but if it was anything like how it had been so far, it was likely going to be just as pleasant as the rest of the trip.
As it was reaching the ground, I took notice of the place that it was landing close to. There was a city, not too far away from where we were, with tile roofs, and small houses, all of it reminiscent of the cities of my world. The one thing that caught my attention the most, were the couple of buildings that stood out in the horizon, just as tall as some of the buildings in the city I was coming from, and in the middle of it all, a palace—not unlike the original imperial palace of the empire—was standing tall on top of a hill, surrounded by the city in every direction.
After a few moments of contemplating the city, with a soft touch, the plane landed, and went to a stop. I didn’t know where we were, but according to what Asteora said, the Holy Empire of Leyfall lay somewhere between a couple of other nations: Germany and Austria.
As we were walking out of the plane, I felt the almost forgotten summer heat that I hadn’t felt in months hit my face with much more strength than ever before.
While I was trying to get used to the feeling, I wondered how it was that the Empire managed to get any territory in a world already dominated by other countries, so I walked closer to Asteora.
“How did the Empire get any territory at all? Did they claim it by force?” I asked as we were walking by a few people in the airport; Nicole and James walking behind us.
“They could’ve, but the toll on the army would’ve been just as hard as in the Final War, and without you or the most powerful fighters in the Empire, they would’ve had no chance against the armies of this world,” Asteora replied, “No. The old emperor—someone you were very well acquainted with—simply presented an offer to the people of this world. They’ll teach the country that offers a space for them all the secrets and everything that they know about magic. It wasn’t long before a few countries took their offers, with varying sizes of land, but in the end, the emperor chose the place that most resembled home.”
“Huh… things went much smoother than I expected,” I replied, looking around the new place that we were.
“It really wasn't that smooth, but the old Emperor was a vigorous man. He didn’t waste any time establishing the new piece of land, and building it to be what the Lefallan capital was, clearly displaying the worth of magic to the people of this world. Though, I wouldn’t call what they have an empire anymore, since it’s nothing more than a large city,” Asteora said, making her way to a desk. "Some people even called it a refugee zone for a while."
As she was approaching, the woman behind the desk looked at Asteora with surprise and then with a wide smile. “Welcome back, Lady Asteora.”
Asteora nodded, and handed over a small card. The woman took it and after a few seconds of doing something behind a computer, she returned it. “It’s good to see that you’re back.” She then turned her attention to me, and Nicole. “And I can see that you’ve brought your new disciples? Wasn’t it just one?”
This content has been misappropriated from Royal Road; report any instances of this story if found elsewhere.
“Yes, only one of them is training under me,” Asteora replied without turning to look at us. “Can we go into the Empire already?”
The woman quickly returned to her task, and after working a little bit more on the computer, she turned to look at us. “Yes! We just need your documentation, please!”
Me and Nicole scrambled to look for those cards that were handed to us by Oliver, who had returned to this place a few days earlier. We quickly passed them over to the woman, and like with Asteora, she did something behind her computer for a minute or so, before passing everything back to us.
“And that’s that. Welcome to the Holy Empire of Leyfall! Please, enjoy your stay!” she said with an elegant smile.
We walked for a while inside the airport, until eventually we found the exit. Once we were there, James went to a car, and as he was doing that, Nicole stopped him. “You’re leaving already?”
“Yeah. I just happened to be on the same flight as you, but I came here to do other things, so I’ll be going my way from here,” he said, quickly getting in the car, which left without waiting for any of us to say anything to him.
“What about us?” I asked, as I watched the car leaving.
Asteora had her focus on her phone as she answered, “We’ll be meeting with the emperor tomorrow. You can take your time doing whatever you want today, but you better be ready when we come fetch you.”
“Very well,” I said, looking around the cars and reaching my hand out to stop one.
“What are you doing? I had Oliver prepare everything for you,” Asteora said, pulling my hand down, and gesturing to the car that I stopped to move on.
“Oh I see… then…?” I replied with my eyes on the other cars.
A black car with an elegant glossy exterior stopped in front of us. From it, Oliver walked out, wearing an elegant black suit and a bright smile that didn’t quite fit the serious atmosphere that such an artifact gave.
“Ah! It’s good to see you here! Welcome to the Empire!—or rather, should I say… welcome back?” he said, turning to look up with a thoughtful expression.
“The old Empire, like our world, is no more,” I said, as I looked to the road and the few buildings that could be seen from where I was.
“Eh… I guess…” Oliver said while scratching the back of his head. “Always so serious…”
“Take them to the place they’ll be staying. I’ll be getting things ready on my side,” Asteora said, not paying attention to what Oliver said, before lifting off the ground, and flying in the direction of the city.
We looked at her leave for a moment, but Oliver turned to look at us, gesturing with his hand to the opened door of the car. “Well, let’s get going.”
* * *
As we were passing by the greenery of the areas around the airport, and we were getting closer to the supposed Capital of Leyfall, I took notice of the things around it. People were dressed in similar outfits to the kind that I would find in the commoners of my world. A few of them still dressed just like every other person in this world did, but for the most part, people looked like how I remembered seeing them.
The houses were small, with people working on a field, although it was somewhat strange seeing them use car-like artifacts while dressed in the same clothes from a country peasant like I was in my world.
“What are you looking at so intently?” Nicole asked, leaning over me to look out the window. “Is it the fields?”
“The people… they remind me of home…” I said in a low tone.
“Eh… is that so? Did they have trucks to work on the field too?” she pointed out.
“Obviously no. But the houses… and the way that they work… It reminds me of the past.”
“Hm… well I did see that people looked kinda medieval in some of the pictures that I saw online, but I thought that it was just for show,” Nicole said, settling back on the car, only to lean over to be next to Oliver. “You’ve lived here for a while, right? What do you think?”
“Me? Hm…” Oliver replied, turning to look out the window as well. “I think that it’s a mix of both worlds in a way. It used to be much more ‘medieval’—as you call it—when people from the other world first got here, but the current Emperor pushed for a better integration of technology with magic; even if there’s still resistance for it.”
“People are resistant to this world’s technology?” Nicole asked, but I could already guess why they wouldn’t like them.
“Yes… Some of these magical technologies are created in conjunction with the people of Tenebreius, so for people who used to firmly believe in the Holy Gods, just knowing that dark beings created an artifact is enough for them to set them on fire,” Oliver explained.
I knew that it could be the case, since some of the artifacts I’ve seen on this world reminded me of the demonic artifacts that I would destroy in Arretia. I’ve recently learned as well that a lot of those artifacts are the creation of Ogres in particular. They were beings that spoke in a very… ‘simple’ way, but whose minds were far beyond the average person. There were still ones whose thoughts were just as simple as their way of speaking, but most of them prided themselves in being ‘smarter than everyone else’.
Nicole urgently turned to look at me. “Wait, so if they set things that were created by dark beings on fire… does that mean that they’re going to set you on fire?!”
“It’s a possibility, yes,” I said, and looked down at my hands. “But I’m not going to let myself be set on fire, and I don’t think Asteora will allow it either.”
“Right,” Oliver followed up, half-turning to look at me. “Just in case, please don’t use your Darkness and Hellfire Power while inside the city, and especially if you see a Holy Knight. They might… react on instinct.”
I shook my head. “Don’t worry. I can handle myself even without using those powers.”
My mastery over elemental magic was still the same as always—even if not as powerful as when I fought Salrak—so I should be able to get around with just that. But the same couldn’t be said about Nicole.
“You should also heed those words. Deviants weren’t liked in my world either, and I don’t know how people are going to react to you,” I said to her.
She widened her eyes slightly and raised her eyebrows. “Oh right! You guys did mention something about that… But I think that fire shouldn’t be a problem, right, Oliver?”
“E-eh… well… Do try not to set things on fire,” he said, turning again to face forward with a wry smile. “We should be entering the city soon.”
I leaned to the side to look at the front of the car, and there I saw tall walls made of stone that rose into the sky. They were similar to the white walls of the Capital, but these looked to be much more sturdy than the kind that the old capital used to have. Close to them, and outside of the walled city, were neighborhoods of wooden houses, and people that were coming and going.
The car slowed down when it reached the edges of the city, with the driver sighing as he did. The man hadn’t introduced himself, and Oliver hadn’t done so either, so I figured he was just like any other person that drove cars in a city.
Oliver laughed, giving the man a couple of taps on the shoulder. “Come on Theo, you should be used to the packed and small roads of the Leyfallan capital by now.”
“I know, I know. It’s just that after getting to drive one of these artifacts, I cannot help but want to move as fast as the laws would allow me,” he said with a shake of his head as he carefully maneuvered around the peasant-looking people.
“I can’t say that I don’t like the feeling as well,” Oliver said, turning to look back at both me and Nicole. “But this is it. Welcome to the Capital of Leyfall.”