Having fended off a tainted beast and escaped the grasp of the storm front Atlas was now a mere half mile away from safety. He pushed himself along the last stretch of the Fool’s Road fighting off the bone-deep exhaustion.
He ran using The Steps of Peerless Speed and the residual qi from the fourth and last Spirit Pearl he had consumed miles back. The Steps of Peerless Speed was now stable thanks to the efforts of the past few hours.
It was now late in the afternoon.
The Fool’s Road took him west until he approached the Shield of Tinith, a colossal defense wall that spanned the entirety of the mountain valley and continued deep into the mountains. Built shortly after the Sundering, the Shield of Tinith was the response to the constant onslaught of tainted beasts. The ancient walls of Tinith had made for a poor defense against the beasts and many beasts had simply ignored the city and went past spread out across the undefended underbelly of the neighboring lands. The Shield of Tinith had solved these dangers forming an impassable wall stretching north and south completely halting the westward tainted waves.
Even with the Shield of Tinith’s lauded defensive abilities he could see new temporary defenses in preparations for the incoming tainted wave. The tainted beasts headed to the Shield of Tinith would seek to break through.
Trenches meters wide and deep were dug out of the sand and formed into ramparts creating a doubly high barrier to the incoming tainted wave. The entire east ward face was reinforced with concrete. Every few hundred feet there were staggered in the earthworks, which would funnel any incoming tainted beasts into kill zones. The defensive earthworks were extensive traveling north and south as far as Atlas could see. A raised bridge covered the span of the fortifications allowing for passage above the partially dismantled Fool’s Road which had had sections removed to form the trenches. Within many of the trenches were tar or razor-sharp coils of wire. The tops of the ramparts and some of the openings between ramparts were lined with more razor wire.
As Atlas began to cross the fortifications via temporary bridge, he noticed the Knights and animals among the columns of defensive.
Various types of livestock were chained to steel posts driven deep into the ground and recognized which concrete bases. They were placed throughout the earthworks with most placed within the openings. Seeing animals this far east was very rare. Almost all animals were usually banned from entering Tinith let alone being allowed east of it. They would become infected and turned into tainted beasts in a pentad or so. Though with their role as bait they likely wouldn’t make it that long.
Dispersed behind the temporary defenses were a dozen Knights their eyes locked on the storm and hands on their weapons. These Knight were by far the most heavily armored that Atlas had ever seen. The armor looked to be at least two inches thick and it’s geometric angles were made for defense. Even the pistons between the thigh and calf were covered as opposed with most armors with left them exposed to some degree. Their armaments heavily favored defense consisted of heavy shields, staves, and shield constructs along with some side arms.
Of all the Knights only one was close to the Fool’s Road. The Knight’s armor was a silverly and deep blue that shimmered and shifted like water. The wings were made of a similar material and with the same blue luster as his plate. While unable to grant flight, the wing constructs granted him mobility and provided a great deal of additional defense. The poleaxe’s heads bore an axe head and a spike; with an additional spike projecting from the end of the haft.
Even at a distance Atlas could recognize the iconic armaments of the knight. His name was Laodikos, the lawman, the hangman, eagle eyes, of the Endless Vigil, and a litany of other names. Laodikos was the head of the Tinith Guard which upheld the laws of the city and defended it. To the common folk he represented the two sides of law and order. His exploits were known to all, many a notorious criminal had been taken down by his blade and many a crooked, cruel and craven soul brought to justice under his impartial judgment of the law. But in equal measure many an innocent had been slaughtered to quell the many roots and revolts of the people.
Atlas observed the Knight as he ran him. As Atlas approached the Knight they showed no signs of acknowledging him. The Knight’s helm looked stoically eastward and onto the incoming but yet to be seen tainted wave. Only when Atlas was within twenty meters of the Knight did his helm shift up then at him. Atlas could swear that surprise rippled through the Knight when the Knight saw him.
Atlas held his breath as he passed the now watching Knight.
Then their eyes broke from one another, and he continued to run until he was finally before the Shield of Tinith.
At least four stories high and ten meters thick, the wall was made with reinforced sand hidden behind a retaining wall. A low parapet, a foot and half high lined both sides of a concrete walkway. Siege weapons lined the wall, ranging from kinetics to pyrokinetics to explosives to lightning, these were armed by Squires and specialists. Flags of the Order of the Pillars flew at regular intervals along the wall. Along certain sections of the wall, interspersed among the flags were banners bearing coats of arms of various armigers.
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A central gate house allowed passage through the wall and onto the outskirts of the city. The two portcullises were still open as was the gate.
Atlas took the last few steps through the gatehouse, then he was through, he intended to find a bed. Beyond that he was too exhausted to think it out.
The space behind the Shield of Tinith had greatly transformed, what two pentads ago had been a quiet and mostly empty base was now a fully operational war machine. filled with men-at-arms of all sorts and many more support staff. Beyond the long-standing buildings that made up the base were many more tents, vehicles, and piles of supplies and ammunition. All these were neatly laid out in a grid and organized into sections for medical, munitions, command staff, barracks and so on.
At the moment Atlas wanted nothing more than to run to the first inn and pass out. But slow and steady wins the race. Atlas slowed from a run to a brisk walk and straightened out his hunched exhausted body. Pulled his shoulders back and puffing out his chest Atlas walked not with a swagger but rather calm measured steps. The best way to blend into a crowd was to take on the characteristics of those around. Even with his bloodied and torn clothes few gave him more than a cursory glance.
Once past the military base, the land around the Fool’s Road cleared up. For a mile there was only the occasional building beside the road with most of the surrounding land being flat and heavily packed sand.
Then Atlas beheld Tinith in its full glory. Every time he approached the great city from afar, he remembered his first visit when his heart had been filled with apprehension and excitement facing a new and unknown world. Tinith was built in an age and place with little danger, its architecture reflected as much with an emphasis on grandeur and artistry.
The six pillars of Tinith formed a loose ring from which the inner city was built around. A circular inner wall separated the inner city from the outer city. An outer wall encircled the whole of Tinith beyond which lay ruins of Greater Tinith.
From outside the city Atlas could only see three of the six pillars, the Maan Tree a single tree whose canopy covered a quarter of the city, the Spire whose narrow silvery point peaked out over the top of the Maan Tree, and the Kereta Tinith Library whose black domed shape could be seen beneath the canopy of the Maan Tree.
Beneath the pillars and within the inner walls resided the nobility, merchants and other influential groups. Here villas and parks lay amidst the sprawl of densely packed terrace houses, stores, and public works. The wealthiest regions of the city could be seen by the abundance of visible wood built many stories up. The inner wall that separated the upper and lower cities had perhaps been a formidable defense long ago. Now tens of ceremonial arches riddled the walls, unlike the practical gatehouse on the outer wall or of the Shield of Tinith.
The outer city exchanged the villas and parks for extensive industrial infrastructure. The individual houses were replaced with insulae which housed skilled tradesmen and laboreres. Most of the buildings here were built of adobe and concrete, far more practical and resistant materials. The outer wall of the city was a tiered wall split into two walls and a moat. At the major roads a handful of gatehouses allowed entrance through the outer wall. Beyond the tiered city walls lay the ruins of Greater Tinith.
Atlas joined into the traffic at the entrance of the East Gate, here the Fool’s Road transitioned into the Dusk Road as it passed through the walls of Tinith. He did his best to blend into the crowd. At the gates the were many guards that could stop any suspicious actors and detain them for questioning. His destination was just beyond the walls and Atlas wanted nothing more than to rest, this was the final hurdle.
Fortunately, the guards seemed reluctant to impact the traffic at the gate and only rarely grabbed those near the sides of the entrance. Atlas easily slipped through the center of the gate where the crowd was thickest, his torn and tattered robes blended well with the plebians and the destitute that resided amongst the ruins.
Once within the walls Atlas followed well-worn roads and alleys as he made his way home. For three years now, he had walked the same path every time he returned from his hauls.
His feet took him to the building he lived in, one of the many insula that provided housing for the plebians. The exterior was exposed concrete, identical balconies were spaced out in a grid one for each unit. The insula had six identical floors; two dozen living quarters connected to a central hallway. The living quarters were essentially a single room, with only a small room for a washroom. For the same footprint the insula offered
Insulas, living stacked on top of each other with only the smallest of comforts. Like animals in cages, I would say that there is nothing worse except there is… stackhouses. Even smaller, both in area and even in height, I couldn’t even walk around in those.
Atlas went past the entrance of the insula where a plain copper door was flung wide open. He walked up five flights of stairs until he reached the 6th floor. In this insula there was only a single lift whose use needed to be scheduled. At the door marked 621 he stopped.
The door was a simple copper slab, a large rectangular protrusion at waist level extended an inch beyond the rest of the door. Placing his hand against the protrusion, Atlas went to push some qi into the door. When did I stop cycling my qi? Huhinjected the smallest sliver of qi into the door. With the qi he could feel the mechanism activate.
“Click”
The initial sound indicated he could now input a passcode. He pushed more qi into the door, a sequence of different expressions of qi at varying lengths. These were like a smile or frown; they were an expression of an emotion but could also be expressed without the emotion. After he input the passcode the door unlocked and swung open.
Atlas immediately closed the door behind himself which automatically locked. Then he turned to where his bed would be.
He froze.
There sitting on his bed in a fetal position was a beautiful angelic girl. Flowing long hair cascaded down and around her spreading like a flower in bloom. An over sized under shirt covered her body. She hugged her long smooth and slim legs rocking chair back and forth slowly. Her eyes which usually held an almost childish innocence were puffy and red. Tears streamed down marring her cheeks. Her shoulders shuddered as she sobbed uncontrollably. Suddenly she stilled noticing Atlas in the room, she raised her head.
Then their eyes met.