“Myron, are you sure it’s safe with us out, next to all these people?” Dakini asked after a while of being in line and waiting for their turn to pay the small tax to enter. They had the money, but it would cost less and cause less looks to fall upon them should Myron pull the team into his soul.

“The laws of the Land are upheld in Great Oak, no one will attack us.” Syl said seriously. “But they will charge us more.” She glanced at Myron sidelong.

“And I said I don’t care. Calm down you two, be more like Mery.” He pointed to the Pygmaleon, who was craning her neck up and up to stare at the rustling leaves as big as roofs. Then back at the waterfalls and then back up into the sky and the slight drizzle that fell as moisture in the air was constantly grew heavy on the leaves and dropped down, dispersing into droplets as it descended and finally falling upon the mortals below in a soft drizzle.

The road they stood on, was a root, carved into a road, laid with a material like cobble of a deep blue. Below them, a moat-river flowed ravenously around the walls. They stepped through the gate after paying one red crystal and all the lungs they had gathered since it didn’t mean too much to them but it was thought to be healthy food for growing children. The Guard accepted the bribe and let them through. No ID’s where checked. His name was put down on a ledger and Myron received a little wooden slip as proof that he had entered legally.

They passed through the massive fortifications which glowed with power in a rhythm of their own. The City then spread before them, rising up a slope up to the bark of the tree, with houses climbing up and around the sturdy oak, stairs circled and spiraled down, while massive roped connected those really high up to the city below. The main road of the city was filled with stalls and activity, two massive lanes for traffic to filter down on either side, and a grand water way, a canal stuffed full of boats of all sizes, moving goods and people up and down; and around; the city. Bridges of hard black wood stood out, jumping across the canal every five or so blocks of homes and other shops that were more established and not part of the Bazar. These saw even more traffic, higher clientele, comprised of richly dressed commoners, armored Trainers, carriages drawn by a specific species of Aimon, Curippos. Horse like Plant Type Aimon with a body comprised of gradient white-red flower petals, red and black stack of pollen for a main, six legs of sturdy green stems, tails that looked like magnificent bouquets that spiraled up and over to the front of the Aimon and settled like a little hat in between their ears and horse like snout, a heavy head that seemed to almost be lifted by the tail-hat which acted as support.

They where strong, and tall, and elegant. Carriages with them moved about the city in specified lanes meant for their use right behind the stalls set up in the grand Bazaar highway.

Traders were shouting, customers where getting ripped off, wares were being exchanged and every other person with a bit of spare change had opened up a place to sell spiced up meat with big cuts of fat falling onto braziers made of dark-brown metal.

Syl led Myron and the rest through the bustling Market, with Mery hard to keep close, while Dakini gripped onto Myron and didn’t let go. Reaching and end to the straight line, they came to a whirlpool of water. A waterfall cascaded into it on the other end of the whirling pool of water, and through the power of that dynamic movement of the water, fountains and water spouts spurted water in three plazas built on a triangle around the water formation.

Here Syl took a right and begun to circle around the trunk following another canal into a much calmer neighborhood. Here there where restaurants and cafe’s and places to relax and enjoy a juice or a drink, or a good pastry. There each and every shop had a tent of interwoven fiber that looked like canvas made from the gigantic leaves of the tree above, green and dark blue, yellow and even red, striped all the way across. Looking like a fairyland of candy canes and other sweets if one squinted a bit.

‘Oh! And the Architecture!’ Myron had been so caught up that he missed the fact that other than the more blocky store fronts meant to take us much space as possible. Roofs made of enormous acorn caps with jutting little branches painted different colors, many storied homes and places of business that were dug into the ground, grown with little balconies all over, empty husks of acorn as if they had fallen straight from the tree and into the ground and opened up their insides to be made into homes. Some where tall, others laid on their side, Others where joined together to form mega structures and big living complexes, where shard space and garden existed atop cured Oak leaves stretched from end to end.

There were even homes that stood on foundations of Acorn Jelly concrete. The complete opposite of the slightly flavorless delicacy. Earthquake resistant, water impermeable, steady and sturdy. Those looked the funniest to Myron’s sensibilities.

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Myron actually stopped to look at a confectionary shop and he found himself staring at a wall of acorn milk flowing down behind the register, an entire column, ten meters across, of all kinds of delicacies made from acorn flour, milk, fats and all other way they could use it. A marmalade crafted of its leaves and raw acorn flesh, or one with toasted flesh bits inside.

He bought a little bag and shared with the rest, smacking his feet on the road in happiness, marching down the avenue. His smile as wide as it could get.

The road was made out of large wooden blocks with an ashen white finish that made them look like cobble, save for the knots and dots and year marks that trees usually carried. It all flowed up the road in a soft ascent.

“This is exactly what I hoped for in my furthest of dreams when I came to this world. Trusted companions by my side, a path to power and progress where I dictate where I go and what I do, and fantastical, so outside the ordinary that I could say it makes me ecstatic. Mind-bending, law-breaking, kid enchanting and kidnapping levels of wonder.” He mused aloud, so taken in by all the new things and smells, and tastes that he felt as if he were walking on clouds.

Syl led them on from one root to another. They moved over a flowing torrent of frothing water on a bridge that swung heavily side to side. A grand canyon in between too massive roots, where the clinging of picks inside dirty mine shafts rose up with the rumble of the water.

They stepped onto finely decorated roads, where each block was an art piece, where crystal shimmered below the surface depicting scenes of battle and glory. The city got quieter as they progressed, the buildings more elaborate, the roads smaller but the properties bigger. Fences rose at ground level, to block the occupants from view, as they took a set of hundreds of stairs to steeply rise up the hill. Below the city sprawled in all its magnificent and tidy glory.

That is how they came to an open square without a single adornment. The floor was made out of stone, not carved wood. At the other end, forming out of the tree, built both inside and outside of its bark, a Building, tall and proud, and old stood the test of time.

The roof was a curving pyramid made out of dark gray, nearly black tiles of unknown material. At its front stood windows as tall as the building itself that used deep sanguine stained glass. That is all there was. No people, no statues, no adornments.

“It looks…well kept; clean; like the rest of the city, at least.” Myron reviewed upon closer inspection.

“All thanks to Aimon and their amazing capabilities.” Syl said. “This is the Place of Mysteries.”

“The place of Mysteries?”

“To me its a Temple to th Pantheon. To them, this desecrated building where all signs of the Gods have been scraped off is the place where the most important Gift of the System is granted. Those that Worship the System consider this a sacred place. They have named it, the place of Mysteries.”

“Why of Mysteries.. And Also, did this exist before Great Oak was founded? Who built it? Are we standing on the ruins of some ancient world spanning empire?”

“I don’t know about a world spanning empire, Not at all. What I do know is that these things simply appear, from the stone to the buildings, in this set-up, whenever a big aggregation of Humans happens. Or at least, it used to happen when the Humans had more Aether to spare… That is what I think is going on.”

“Okay… and It’s here that I get my Class?” He asked and Syl nodded. The four of the walked through the plaza. The sun was very low on the horizon. Any minute now and it would go out. He wondered if the people of this technological level had found a way to light up the night. The Tree Fortress up in the Northern Border certainly didn’t.

“How does it work?” Myron stepped into the building. Six rows of double columns supported the roof. For half of those rows the Material used was an ashen white tone, and the rest it was light colored wood.

“Step up onto the Altar and place your hand there. You’ll find out.” Syl guided and remained standing below the first step, Dakini and Mery as well.

He placed his hand on the black stone carved into an anvil-like shape, and saw his reflection in its glossy texture. A crack of thunder passed through him. He jolted and tried to bolt but his hand remained stuck on the Altar.

From this magical piece of stone smoke billowed out, Dakini and Mery tried to rush forth but Syl stopped them. “Wait.” She said and the two barely listened.

A sweet aroma flooded the Forgotten Temple, the room darkened, stars popped up in his vision and the dark sky turned into space, black and vast dotted with a billion cosmos.

Dakini stopped in her tracks, her nose twitching, familiarity spread through her Bond to Myron, a sense of peace and home. Mery on the other hand flailed as if she was falling with the floor that was gone, but that was a mere illusion. “It’s okay Mery. We’re still on the ground, Calm down.” He said without turning back and squeezed her hand metaphorically for comfort.

“You’re an interesting one. You didn’t even falter.”

“I braced myself.” Myron said, thanking in his mind, his lucky stars for having such amazing Passive skills that helped in all ways, related and unrelated to Aimon.

The great voice coming from the smoke laughed, it was a mature voice that spoke but a beastly laugh that followed. Wild. It cut short, clearly because Myron hadn’t said anything worth laughing about.

From the smoke came form. A Vulpine snout with a large grin, that split her lips and reached deep into her elongated face. She stared at Myron hungrily with dark yellow eyes and slits for cores. The color of her Fur was sheer white and her body was hidden behind a curtain of thick tails. A myriad tails each one spawning from within the next, always moving and undulating like waves on the beach, coming forth and receding.

“Nice to meet you, Human. I am Kumara, the Favored Patron of the Kitsune, and their Origin.”