The Transgracian Academy for the Magical Arts. Dragon’s Heart Tower, Level 23, Residence 30. Emma and Thacea’s Dorm. Local Time: 1920 Hours.
Thacea
When the Vunerian first revealed to me that Emma was in possession of platinum, a reflexive part of my psyche was put into shock.
However, it would only take a scant few moments before that shock quickly transitioned into tentative understanding, before evolving further into an outright realization of the truth.
The truth that there was without a shadow of a doubt, parity, as it pertained to the material abundance of both realms.
Memories from that first day of our private interactions were brought forth, and it was in those memories that I recalled my first glimpses into the earthrealmer’s manaless world.
I recalled the images of Earthrealm’s forges, advancing through the ages, developing without the aid of mana, yet increasing in size, scale, and intricacy with each passing era.
I recalled the images of iron seas and lakes of steel, flowing from crucibles spanning the height and width of entire smithies.
I recalled the scale of the foundries in which these crucibles were housed, buildings and structures of titanic proportions, of which only those like the crownlands could rival.
I recalled how scale and intricacy culminated in the armor that defied all reason, cladding a woman whose personality and spirit further defied that reason with each and every passing breath.
And it was with these recollections that I realized… that the forging and procurement of platinum wasn’t ever a question of possibility for earthrealm, nor was it indicative of their capabilities… but rather, the question was just how much they could procure.
So while Ilunor and Thalmin continued to be enraptured by the physical proof of earthrealm’s advanced metallurgical prowess, my suspicions continued to diverge into other aspects of Emma’s claims.
Ilunor was right in ascertaining that material abundance and the state of earthen post-shackling from the value of precious metals could only be derived by one of two means — pinnacle transmutation, and brute force procurement.
So given the self-admitted impossibility of the former by Emma, this left only the latter as the sole viable option.
This, however, was where my point of contention began.
As despite the physical proof of the wall of platinum clearly hinting at abundance, this form of abundance… was fleeting.
A realm was, after all, finite in nature. Which meant that after all the mines had been dug up, and after the world itself had become hollowed out, what remains is a barrier of scarcity which no civilization can ever truly cross.
There was only one exception to this functional limit on growth, and that was with the development of pinnacle transmutation, and the Nexus’ infinitely expanding farlands.
This meant that Emma’s claims of parity could be cast into doubt.
At least, it would have been for both Thalmin and Ilunor, if I were to have brought it up outright.
Because unlike the pair, I was privy to the sky-shattering realizations that had first been presented within the library, and a second time in Emma’s private sight-seer viewing.
These insights into what is for all intents and purposes, ostensibly a manaless Nexus.
My mind thus wandered towards the tail-end of Emma and Ilunor’s back and forths, as my imagination took a firm hold, and my thoughts were left to wander the ramifications of all of this information.
Perhaps the truth of abundance lies somewhere amidst the oceans of stars.
Perhaps the key to material abundance without the aid of pinnacle transmutation, was in breaching the skies to reach the void.
Perhaps our ancestors’ efforts should have been invested in that which was just in reach, and not in the path that led us towards the regrettable state of affairs we now found ourselves in.
Perhaps… a private conversation was needed, to put to rest this question of material parity once and for all.
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The Transgracian Academy for the Magical Arts. Dragon’s Heart Tower, Level 23, Residence 30. Emma and Thacea’s Dorm. Local Time: 1920 Hours.
Emma
Ilunor’s passed-out body was quickly lifted into the arms of the princely wolf, whose reactions to the whole affair was self-explanatory.
“Huh.” The wolf prince emoted with a cock of his head. “For how much he eats, he weighs less than a heavy claymore.” Thalmin jabbed with a cackle of facetious intent. “In any case, Emma, I believe it would be prudent if you caught up on some rest. I’ll see to the Vunerian myself, you’ve been through enough today as is. A day of victory is to be enjoyed, not to be bothered by the burden of others, not especially a troublesome associate.”
“Thanks Thalmin.” I nodded gratefully.
“The pleasure is all mine, Emma.” He nodded back, as he effortlessly began walking towards the door with Ilunor in tow, leaving with a final few words. “See you tomorrow then. Hopefully the trip to Elaseer should prove to be uneventful.”
A swift wave marked the end of that little episode with the Vunerian, and following a light slam of the door, I allowed myself a loud, tired sigh.
I instinctively followed the commands of my exhausted body, moving over towards the reinforced couch like a zombie, before plopping down with the force of a train wreck. I promptly just laid there, sprawling out in the process.
Throughout all of this however, Thacea had remained… surprisingly silent.
Though that silence wouldn’t remain for long, as the princess approached the couch, and sat opposite of me with courtly tact.
“Emma.” She began, her tone of voice once more locking in to that ‘serious talk’ vibe. “I have some further questions I’d like to ask, if I may?”
“Is this about the resource parity situation?”
“Yes.” She nodded. “Unless, of course, you wish to rest first and—”
“Nono! I’m fine. Please, fire away!” I quickly interjected, encouraging the avinor to continue.
“As you wish.” She dipped her head before continuing. “Whilst the other two are very much still in shock as a result of the reveal of your… treasury… a thought has occurred to me which I believe is best addressed in private.” The princess began, her vagueness piquing my interest.
“I can’t imagine anything about the whole situation that might require a private discussion.” I blurted out without much thought, eliciting a look that I could only describe as ‘are you serious?’ from the likes of Thacea.
“I had purposefully refrained from broaching this topic, out of respect for your narrative, as I assumed you had intentionally withheld addressing the matter of exactly what and from where your post-shackling abundance is derived from.” Thacea responded politely, though that politeness hid a level of blunt incredulity that even I could detect. “At least, I assume this to be a matter of purposeful omission on your part.”
That reveal blindsided me, as I was hit face-first with Thacea’s astuteness in the face of what was effectively a paradigm altering series of revelations. The princess’ calm collectedness had already impressed me by this point, but it was these little moments that just really sealed my respect for her capabilities.
I could only hope to match it.
“Oh! That topic. Yeah erm… you’re right on the money with that one, Thacea.” I admitted with a respectful dip of my head. “I appreciate the thoughtfulness there.”
“The pleasure is all mine, Emma. This isn’t the first time I’ve offered conversational courtesy via absentia. And given the subject being broached, I understand the… hesitancy in addressing such matters.” The princess returned the nod. “Though I admit, I was only able to reach the conclusion that I did by combining the pieces of a grander puzzle.” That vague statement elicited yet another cock of my head, which only prompted Thacea to continue further.
“The question of platinum as an indicator for your realm’s advancement was never a matter of concern to me. Our discussions on the topic of metallurgy, stemming from the very first glimpses you provided me of your realm, was proof enough of your people’s competency within the realm of metallurgy. Moreover, it is the matter of brute-force procurement that lies at the heart of my issues with your claims, Emma. The fact of the matter is, even with your advanced processing capabilities, you remain shackled by the very limitation that all realms face. A limitation that pinnacle transmutation addresses — the functional limit of a realm’s material resources.” The princess surmised, her eyes never once wavering, her piercing gaze locking on to my own with a mix of disbelief and burning curiosity.
“Yeah, that’s… actually a point that I was expecting one of you to bring up eventually.” I admitted, reaching for the back of my head, but once again, only bonking it in the process.
“It is, in fact, a rather large point of contention once the shock of your treasury wears off.” The princess acknowledged. “But in any case, my point of contention lies with this functional impasse, Emma. Logically speaking, post-shackling is a state which can only exist if and when the precious metal in question is truly abundant. By that definition, a single realm can never truly reach post-shackling, given the aforementioned constraints of a limited, finite pool of metals capable of being harvested from the earth. However—” The princess paused, a glint in her eyes indicating that she was reaching the climax of this confrontation.
“—I am assuming that this functional limitation does not apply to your realm.” Thacea spoke with a sense of finality and conviction, one that reached its precipice with a parroting and paraphrasing of a line that I distinctly recall from a week ago. “After all, it is by your admission that your kind has already crossed the distance of stars, as if they were the distance of oceans.”
My heart skipped a beat as I heard those words repackaged and repeated outside of its original context. Moreover, I could palpably feel the undercurrents of Thacea’s thirst for the truth, stemming from not only the avinor’s gaze, but in the inflections in each and every one of her words.
“Your logic is sound, Thacea.” I began with a firm nod, quickly readjusting my sprawled out form, into something that was more presentable to the astute and observant royal. “You’re correct in assuming that achieving post-shackling of any rare metal would be… difficult so long as you’re confined to a single realm. Transmutation is clearly a cheat code out of this trap, but otherwise, if you’re mana-less or lack this whole pinnacle transmutation thing… you’ll run into that wall eventually. There’s really no getting around that.” I admitted with a shrug.
“We knew, ever since the first machines of the industrial era were fired up, that we’d run out of resources eventually. We understood well that while sustainability was a possibility within a single world, that our desire for advancement through mutual and collective betterment would reach a functional impasse if we were to remain stuck in our cradle.” I took a moment to pause, as I attempted to recall Thacea’s own comments during our private sight-seer adventure. “Your people were right when you yearned for the void beyond the sky, Thacea. For despite its inhospitality, its cold and dead nature, its resistance to exploration without the input of great and considerable effort… and the difficulties in even breaching it in the first place… the rewards if you reach it are immense.”
Thacea’s eyes at this point had remained open throughout all of this, her gaze unwavering, as her feathers were stuck taut to her form, as if bracing for an impact.
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“In exploring the void, in crossing the distance between stars, we encountered only barren and desolate lands. Some were realms of red dirt with no air, no water, and not a hint of life save for traces of what was perhaps once life within the microverse. Others were realms of unending storms, torrential downpours of acid instead of rain, with temperatures so immense that even metals would melt beneath its sweltering atmosphere. Others still, were realms of icy tombs, harboring dead oceans and an unending dark abyss which for eons has never seen the light of day. Yet it was the first of these dead worlds where we began our tentative forays into material post-shackling. A world which our ancestors had been infatuated with from the very onset of our species…” I paused, grabbing my tablet as I set it down on the table, accessing an image of a night sky, before pointing towards a lone white circle hovering overhead.
“Your moon?” Thacea questioned.
“Yes. I… am not sure just how much the Nexus has damaged your kind’s advancements in the field of astronomy, but the moon is—”
“A realm unto its own, yes.” Thacea interjected. “That’s what the empiricalists believed after close scrutiny using early forms of manaless far-seer devices. Though many, even at the height of empiricalism, chose to believe otherwise.”
“Right.” I nodded. “Well, your astronomers were right, Thacea. The moon is a realm unto its own. A smaller realm, sure, but a realm all the same. While some celestial bodies — er, ‘realms’, may differ with regards to the material composition of their crusts, the fact of the matter is, once you have the capability to reach these ‘realms’, you effectively—”
“Have a near limitless number of realms to extract resources from…” Thacea muttered out under a bated breath, her eyes completely locked to the now-floating hologram of a pre-settled Luna. An alien sight even for me, as Luna without its signature rings, or its seemingly endless seas of crater-cities, felt… off.
“This renders the former option, the brute-force extraction of metals from the earth, as a valid solution to rival pinnacle transmutation.” The princess surmised, before her eyes finally disengaged from its vice grip of the hologram, and once more entered a state of deep thought. “But the scale at which you would need to extract such metals to render them functionally worthless would be…”
“Astronomical.” I finished Thacea’s sentence for her.
“Yes.” She nodded in response, raising a brow at my choice of words.
“Yeah. It is. In fact, traditional resource extraction, whilst scalable, can’t really compare to the new form of extraction that’s only possible due to the nature of the void.” I clarified, igniting a new phase in the princess’ fiery curiosity.
“Do tell.” She urged.
“Right, so, you understand that aside from the moon that hovers above your realm, that there exists other ‘realms’, other… planets, which are effectively ‘neighbors’ to your own, correct?”
“That was another theory, and it only makes sense that if a realm can hover above ours, that others similar to it may exist just out of sight, yes.” Thacea acknowledged with a nod.
“Alright, well, the void between those realms, similar to the void which separates your realm from your moon, isn’t truly vast nor empty.” I began. “There exists… smaller, miniature realms as it were. Some barely the size of this castle, whilst others the size of entire continents. All of them, however, share a similar characteristic — they’re all just solid chunks of rock and ice floating through the void.”
Thacea’s eyes ‘shifted’ once again, her head twitching in the way that only an avian could, as it was clear she was taking her time to process all of this. “Islands then.” She spoke suddenly. “If the void is to a realm, what oceans are to continents, then these miniature realms of rock could be compared to islands dotting an ocean.” Thacea surmised, her eyes betraying the intelligent clockwork running behind them.
“Yeah! That's actually very apt.” I acknowledged with a nod before continuing. “However, unlike islands, these miniature realms, asteroids as we call them, are quite literally just chunks of rock just floating in a void of near-nothingness. Some of these rocks are, of course, worthless. But many, many of them, contain valuable metals, in such high concentrations that they rival traditional forms of metal extraction from ‘realms’. Thus, as our abilities to traverse the void grew, so too did our abilities to find, isolate, and capture these asteroids grow with it.” I paused, considering what I was about to say next with great caution. “We’ve reached a point now where we can process any one of these asteroids with ease. We have… ships, what we refer to as extra-atmospheric vessels, or EAVs, which are purpose-designed with the intent of consuming these asteroids either by piecemeal, or whole.”
Thacea closed her eyes at the tail end of that explanation, moving her hands to rest her forehead, as she let out a high-pitched breath almost similar to a cross between a boiling kettle and a bird call.
“These… asteroids… range from the size of castles to entire continents, yes?” Thacea inquired.
“Yeah. Usually somewhere in between. It’s a huge spectrum really, but—”
“And you are claiming that not only do you have ships which traverse the void, but are instead also capable of consuming these… miniature realms, whole?” Thacea uttered out with a palpable tone of dread coloring her voice.
“Well, to be clear, that’s only for smaller asteroids. Usually the procedure is to process it piecemeal using multiple ships and an insane number of drones, before hauling those chunks back to er… void-based refineries that then process the ores we collect into the metals which you see here.” I gestured back towards the wealth cube.
Thacea took another moment to catch her breath, before revealing a pair of tired and drained eyes which looked as if they were on the verge of disbelief.
“I’m sorry if this sounds a bit too far-fetched, but it is the truth, Thacea.” I offered out in reassurance.
“I know.” The princess admitted. “That’s what makes this all so… jarring.” She acknowledged. “The validation of my empiricalist ancestors’ theories, whilst satisfying, brings into focus an existential dread the likes of which I can only imagine to be reality-shattering for those otherwise used to the inter-realm paradigm set forth by the Nexus. Moreover, whilst your explanations do satisfy my primary concern with your claims… it opens up so many more questions which I find… difficult to appropriately address.”
The princess paused, once more sinking her face into her hands. “Your decision to abstain from divulging this vital piece of the story, is most certainly a prudent one, Emma.” She concluded with a sharp exhale.
“I appreciate that, Thacea.” I responded politely, prompting the princess to nod once in response.
“However, when the time comes, when the shock of your treasury wanes; this matter must be broached and addressed in a manner that is… coherent and digestible by the rest of our peers.”
“And I’m assuming this might prove to be a bit easier said than done, as not everyone has the same degree of prerequisite knowledge you have, Thacea.”
“Some might.” The princess corrected. “However, as it pertains to the likes of Thalmin and Ilunor, I believe that a more… illustrative approach should be pursued.” Thacea quickly gestured towards the tarped-over ZNK-19 holoprojector. “I believe that when the time comes to broach this, it might be best to start from the beginning. The beginning of… however it was you managed to breach the barrier between the skies and the void in the first place.”
I nodded in agreement, as I reached for the tablet once more.
“That was what I was planning, yeah.” I acknowledged. “Similar to how my first demonstration went, I was hoping to gradually ease everyone into the notion of void travel, by starting from our first tentative steps, to where we are now today.” I reasoned, before taking a moment to let out a huge breath. “Regardless, I am… glad that we had this conversation, Thacea.”
“The pleasure is all mine, Emma.” Thacea dipped her head once more, as she slowly, but surely attempted to get back into the swing of things. “With that being said, I do have one final question.”
“Sure thing. I’m all ears.”
“You have hinted before, as you have hinted now, that the realms you’ve encountered floating within the void, are varying sorts of barren and desolate wastelands. Have you not once discovered a realm bearing life?”
“No.” I answered simply. “Best we’ve found was er, microverse-scale life. Other than that, all we’ve inherited from the stars are barren rocks. Though from those barren rocks, we’ve managed to carve and construct pockets of our home, instances of habitable oases built to not only allow permanent habitation — but as works of living and evolving marvels of our defiance against the inhospitable reality of the void.”
Thacea took a moment to ponder that, to really consider that, before simply nodding. “I recall seeing one already. That band of sky, which you claim to have built and inhabited.”
“That is one such example of it, albeit much closer to home than most.”
“I see.”
Silence eventually descended on us, but it was clear that even in this seemingly peaceful state, the princess was now wracked with busying internal thoughts. Her features, whilst back to its resting congenial expression, betrayed a busy mind locked in what I could only imagine to be intense introspection.
“It must be quite a stroke of ironic frustration then, that the first life-harboring place you’ve discovered, is one so hostile to your very being.” The princess acknowledged.
“The thought does hit me sometimes. Especially when I’m faced with Nexian-grade shenanigans. But it’s moments like these that truly make the mission worth it.” I offered with a smile beneath my helmet.
To which the princess reciprocated.
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The Transgracian Academy for the Magical Arts. Grand Concourse Terminal. Local Time: 0610 Hours.
Emma
That was the longest bout of sleep I’ve had yet.
A grand total of nearly nine hours, on top of the three hour nap earlier in the day, was definitely enough to catch up on my sleep debt.
However, no amount of sleep could prepare me for what awaited us at this section of the castle I hadn’t yet seen.
The Main Concourse Terminal was, once again, another architectural masterpiece. With intricately carved stone and ornamented railings that was just short of cluttered, but sorta worked considering how large and expansive the whole place was.
It reminded me of a local transport hub, especially with the two platforms that dominated the otherwise empty space.
However, before we could proceed to the platform, or even examine it close-up, we were hit with a burst of mana radiation, coinciding with the appearance of a ticketing booth, and a familiar apprentice whose voice soon filled the otherwise serene and silent surroundings.
“WHY HELLO HELLO THERE! WHAT’S ALL THIS THEN?!” He practically yelled out. “Some bumbling band deciding to take a trip to town, unsupervised, without any tickets?!”
It was at this point however, that Ilunor started showing his true disgruntled colors, as he approached the ticketing booth, and demanded that I raise him up to face the apprentice.
I did so silently, lifting up the little grumpy noble, and bringing him up to eye level with the apprentice; prompting some sort of a stare-off. “We are first years, you bumbling idiot. Now check your schedule, and check your daily orders.”
A small grumble soon emerged from within the ticketing booth, as the apprentice narrowed his eyes on a cartoonishly long scroll of paper, before nodding in agreement. “Hmm… well how was I supposed to know? In all my time at the academy, first years have never arrived this early for the town trip. Even I never arrive this early for ticketing duties.”
“Well then why are you here now?”
“Because you tripped my alarm, you knobheads! Ruining my beauty sleep and for what? Just to tell me that you’re being oh so responsible by going to the town early?!”
This back and forth continued for way too long, until finally, he let us through with four stamped tickets and a series of frustrated breaths.
“Well off you go then! And don’t let me catch you causing trouble!”
We moved forwards, each of us assigned tickets by the apprentice, just as the doors to the platforms soon opened up; revealing a sheer cliff face and a view of the town below.
The terminal, with its doors now open, reminded me of one of those high-altitude ski resorts in Switzerland and Olympus Mons.
This proved doubly-true as a glowing cable violently arrived from down below, connecting itself to two beams that jutted out of the recesses of the platform.
From there, what I could only describe as egregiously decorated cable cars ascended upwards, through a layer of fog, before settling next to the platforms we currently stood at.
“Huh.” I acknowledged with a cock of my head. “Well I guess that’s honestly one effective means of transport.” I shrugged.
A part of me was waiting for Ilunor to lambast me with inane comments about how cable cars were simply beyond Earth’s technical capacity.
However, such a claim wasn’t voiced.
Which meant that thankfully, his understanding of Earthrealm was finally sinking in.
Despite that though, the Vunerian still managed to find a way to undermine my expectations, as he simply walked right past the cable cars, and towards a set of unassuming doors twenty or so feet down the platform.
“I told you to use the bathroom before we left for the trip, Ilunor.” I sighed.
“You embarrass yourself by making such sarcastic jabs, earthrealmer.” The Vunerian hissed. “These aren’t the doors to the powder room, as much as your backwards sensibilities would lead you to believe, but rather these doors are the most convenient means of traveling to and from the town barring point-to-point teleportation.” He announced, before opening the door wide for the rest of us to see.
Beyond the door… was what I could only describe as an extension of the room we were currently in. The architecture, design language, and even the layout of everything was just a natural extension of the concourse. However, just fifty or so feet from the door was where the differences truly began. Because instead of more castle walls, doors, or even hallways, there was, in fact, a road.
A paved road, with carriages and carts, moving to and fro.
Moreover, as I took a look around, it was clear that the door was positioned in such a way that there was no way there was a room behind it.
If traditional physics was in play, then it should’ve just led to a cliff on the other side of that wall.
“As I said, Elaseer is only a step away, earthrealmer.” The Vunerian chuckled.