More and more stuff coming up, always. I just sighed and kept at what I needed to keep at.
There was the constant littoral fighting, somewhere. If people wanted to fight, there were places to fight, and I could Portal them there. Coralost Communities facing problems could get a ton of defenders with amazing speed, the fact of which was changing the dynamics of the struggle.
Random Aquatic Tribes attacking random Human holdings and shorelines were often throwing themselves into a blender now, as the forces that came to their relief were far stronger than what any of the attackers would logically expect to be facing.
This was helped immeasurably by the barracks, training areas, and armories in the Broom Closet being the very first things to go up, and the Redshore Marines moving inside, with their families and support teams setting up around them. Full-out construction teams started working on projects one after another, in many cases straight-out disassembling facilities inside the Coralost Compound and moving them into the Broom Closet.
The Mick, Driver Sam, Big John, and Tox could all open Portals to the various Communities by now, and a dozen others could if we put a receiving Archway down at the other end. That effectively made each Community we were responsible for right next door, turning us into a nation united by the Portal network... and that nation was protected by a Sage, and an ever-increasing number of Archmages!
It was all very exciting stuff, which thankfully I didn’t need to be working on directly. All the Earth-users in the entire Allegiance (which meant all the Typeless, too) now had a new goal to work toward: being able to make the Blocks for one of my Pyramids! That little twenty-stepper there needed to ultimately be a hundred, maybe two hundred steps high to be appropriate.
The plans were already drawn up for it...
--------
The Archway was massive, three hundred feet in radius, large enough to admit just about any Emperor, including Leviathan Himself. It was called the Imperial Gate, and intended as the entrance for most Emperors to come through.
The Ocean Gate opposite over there had an open Portal to the Mississippi, spewing out water from a fifty-foot circle constantly in an arcing waterfall. Only pure water was allowed through, not random dirt, silt, or organic material of any kind. It was specifically meant for Leviathan, who could ‘port Himself from water to water seamlessly, although we could definitely put in shipping traffic if we so desired.
A counter-Gate would be put in eventually, establishing a constant inflow and outflow of water. But for now, a twelve-mile-long channel a mile wide and deep had to be filled with hydrous oxide, something that was not going to take a short amount of time.
I had just opened a Portal in the Archway, and had the being on the other side examine the Archway down to the molecular level before it closed. Now a great Will reached out through the Void, touched the Runes, and lit them up, one by one, from Beyond.
I wasn’t going to Summon Him up and bring Him here. That would be totally inappropriate to my station. No, I merely showed Him how to get here, and He would bring Himself here!
The massive Portal snapped open, crystal-clear and strong, and a great silver-furred form, nine Tails waving and betraying the excitement behind His aloof face, stepped through of His own power, the skein of planar blockage parting before Him.
For the first time in possibly forever, a High Emperor of the Beast Realm set foot outside His home realm.
He had instantly scanned the entire place with His Awareness before, so nothing was a surprise to Him. Still, there is a great difference between looking about a new world, even a tiny one, through a lens, and doing so when standing upon it.
He looked down at the Paving Stones beneath His paws, feeling the Void Magic keeping away the dimensional pressures that flowed across the limits of this Space, testing and studying them in appreciation for what they were and what they did.
“Flowing Silver High Emperor has entered His Broom Closet!”
My Voice filled the space entirely, and without Him having to send out His Presence, every single Human and Beast in the place turned unerringly towards Him and knelt.
His face and eyes stayed serene, but His Tails twitched in hard-to-conceal delight. His Broom Closet. His tongue came out and lolled to the side in glee automatically.
-As You Were.-
It was very gentle, but more than a few of the beings here fell right down on their faces as it wafted across them. A High Emperor with the Psychic Element was far, far beyond anything they’d ever felt in their lives.
I was deposited atop His head as one might stick a feather behind their ear.
“IT IS RATHER SMALL,” He conceded to me, looking about, Voice more thought than sound, but I could understand Him either way, it was just that Pspeech conveyed so many more things.
The tale has been illicitly lifted; should you spot it on Amazon, report the violation.
“If Your Imperial Majesty will focus upon the Pyramid at the center, Your Majesty will discern why this is so.”
“MMM.” I could feel His Awareness sweeping over everything with great interest as He trotted forwards, space flowing with a fluidity around us I still couldn’t match. It took less than a minute to cover the four miles to the Pyramid, crossing the half-mile-wide nearly-empty channel around it effortlessly, and only took us that long because He wanted to inspect all the Paving Stones for flaws along the way.
He arrived at the Pyramid and sat down there, Tails on display and waving as He inspected the whole thing from foundation to crown, comparing it to what I’d done with the previous one in the Beast Realm, and how very, very different it was while also acknowledging the similarities.
The Imperial Fire and Ice Roses bowed once to Him in acknowledgement, but remained coiled about the Pyramid. Nearby, the Nest of the Phoenixes, woven from the cast-off fragrant branches of a thousand Plants eager to honor the pair, waited for them to return.
“THIS SEEMS... INCOMPLETE?” Flowing Silver Emperor asked, tilting His head slightly. I wouldn’t fall off Him if He was upside down, so the motion didn’t alarm me.
I waved Noble, and set up the Holoscreen on an overlay.
Even a High Emperor had to tilt His muzzle up at the display in front of Him. Sky-blue eyes seemed to become as deep as the heavens as He contemplated a two-hundred-step Pyramid rising to four thousand feet in height and eight thousand feet wide, complete with viewing platforms for Emperors to lounge on.
Every Block carved to the limit needed to make this one.
“OH, THIS LOOKS MOST APPROPRIATE!” He agreed, doubtless running His own calculations. “WHAT WOULD FORMING SUCH A HILL DO?”
“It would expand the area of the sphere here to one hundred miles in radius, if it can be sufficiently empowered, Your Imperial Majesty.”
“ONE HUNDRED MILES.” He could pluck the measure from my words and understanding of it, and He looked about slowly as the Holo faded from in front of us. “THAT WOULD BE MORE OF A PROPER BROOM CLOSET?” He grinned mischievously.
“Or an absolute minimum Demesne for an Emperor,” I agreed. “At least, large enough so an Emperor would not feel uncomfortable if they were to stay here, Your Imperial Majesty.”
“DOING THAT WOULD TAKE... A GREAT AMOUNT OF POWER, HEALER FAE,” He deduced.
“Yes. And the Paving Stones beneath us, although not necessary, are extremely advisable. In much the same way that if one were to enter a duel with a Tiger, one would be advised to be careful, but it is not necessary...”
He yipped a short laughing bark. “YES, ADVISABLE,” He agreed. “THIS IS A... PROJECT THAT WILL TAKE SOME TIME TO UNDERTAKE, YES?”
“The amount of earth and stone alone that has to be moved into here is immense, Your Imperial Majesty. In truth, we do not yet know where to take it all from. Just to put solid earth beneath Your feet, we would require the mass of a great mountain, and then Shape it to the sphere as the additional Paving Stones are made to secure the Veil here. Just making the Paving Stones to line the Water Channel for Leviathan Emperor took this one a week to Shape up, even though the Crafting demands for them were not high. Such a Pyramid as to make this a proper minor territory for an Emperor is much harder, and would normally be a labor of at least decades to truly accomplish.”
He eyed the Pyramid top to bottom again, calculating, and slowly shaking His muzzle. “MY DESCENDANTS CANNOT CARVE THE STONE AS YOU HAVE HERE, HEALER FAE. EVEN THE MASTERS OF EARTH COME OFTEN TO YOUR SEALING PYRAMID TO GAZE UPON IT AND WHAT YOU HAVE DONE WITH THE STONE THERE. THEY COULD PERHAPS TEMPER THE STONE AS YOU DID, BUT TO CARVE IT WITH SUCH DETAIL AND PRECISION, AND AS PART OF A GREATER WHOLE THAT CHANGES WITH EVERY BLOCK...
“NOT EVEN THE EMPERORS WHO HAVE GAZED UPON IT HAVE ATTEMPTED TO TRY SOMETHING SIMILAR.”
“It was this one’s pleasure to be of aid to the Beast Realm. If there is need to build another, this one would have to prevail upon the Lord of Beasts to allow this one in to do so. Or, perhaps, it might be built here, and moved into the Beast Realm...”
His ear flicked me lightly, and I laughed. “YOU HAVE PLANNED FOR SUCH AN EVENTUALITY...” He teased me.
“It seemed the most judicious way of approaching the problem without having to force Him to rescind His ban, for however short a period, Your Imperial Majesty.”
“YOU WILL REQUIRE HELP, THEN, TO MAKE THIS IN A TIMELY MANNER, AND TO READY THIS SPACE TO BE SUITABLE FOR THE TREAD OF EMPERORS, AND NOT SO TINY.”
“This one regrets to say that is truth, Your Imperial Majesty. Your Majesty knows the degree to which the Human Tribe is enmeshed in conflicts with the Sea Tribes upon our world. Perhaps when the conflict settles there will be more time and energy we can devote to this, but there are many demands upon our power. Rush-rush-rush, cast-cast-cast, busy-busy-busy. It is something of a hectic time.”
“LITTLE DIFFERENT FROM WHEN THE NETHERWORLD INTRUDED UPON US, AND ULTIMATELY SPRINGING FROM THE SAME SOURCE.
“THE STONES BENEATH US ARE NOT BEYOND THE SKILLS OF MY DESCENDANTS TO CARVE. IF THE STONE AND EARTH CAN BE BROUGHT HERE FROM THE BEAST REALM, WOULD THAT BE OF USE, HEALER FAE?”
It was a rhetorical question. “Of course it would, Your Imperial Majesty. This one is hoping that within two years, there might be more of the Human Tribe who rise to skill enough to be able to carve the Blocks, and we can make slow and steady efforts to expand this place.
“In the meantime, if there are things Flowing Silver High Emperor would wish to see here that we might start on, this one would wish to hear them.”
“HMMM.” He gazed about the place, His eyes eventually coming back to rest on the Pyramid. “YOUR TRIBE HAS BEGUN BUILDING THEIR STRANGE NESTS ALREADY, BUT THIS EMPEROR THINKS THAT THE SPACE OF THE SPHERE AS IT IS NOW WOULD OPTIMALLY BE MADE AS NATURAL AS POSSIBLE ABOUT THIS PYRAMID, THAT WE MAY MEET HERE IN COMFORT AND WITHOUT DISTRACTION.”
“That is also our hope, Your Imperial Majesty. Convenience says that our numbers would remain close to the walls and the Arches in place upon it. As the Closet expands, it should push our habitats further and further from the center, which we can leave to the comfort of the Emperors. If we can raise the Pyramid to its proper height, a ten-mile radius would be most ideal.”
“MMM!” Flowing Silver Emperor agreed. “HOW, THEN, TO EMPOWER YOUR PYRAMID TO DO SO? I CAN FEEL A VAST AMOUNT OF... PURIFIED SOUL ENERGY EMANATING FROM IT AND INTO YOUR PAVING STONES.”