Van and Kassandra flew over the town. Marveling at the changes that happened during these many months since Van got access to his soul realm. Goblins, troglodytes, kobolds, and a few more of the many species he recruited into his army were walking about doing tasks.
It was still a far cry from having a fully lived-in city, only seeing one or two individuals walking about every few blocks. But a far sight better than the literal ghost town it was before he gained access to his soul realm.
Landing softly in an open area near the castle, Kassandra introduced him to the training ground with a nearby armory. At the moment there were only about two dozen or so people making use of the place. Most of which were untrained newbies that recently joined or were born and weren’t ready for combat yet.
“This is the training ground,” Kassandra explained. “We still don’t have a proper instructor since Isa and Kella are so busy in the real world. But when they do come in, they make sure to set up a few programs that others can follow during their free time.” then going into further depth of the training ground and its uses.
Van arched a brow, he had already heard most of this before, but it seemed that Kassandra was very much enjoying her role as a tour guide, with a slight spring to her step and a somewhat proud look on her face. Which he couldn’t really blame her, she had worked hard alongside Ren to help build this soul realm up in his absence, and it wasn’t like he came to visit often to take full control of his realm as well. So technically, most of the improvements to his soul realm have been because of her hard effort, so he was okay with her having some pride in her work.
After showing him the somewhat bare armory, with promises that it would be full in no time, they left over the wall to the next destination further into town.
“And this is the factory complex! Of sorts…” Kassandra began, moving her arm to encompass an entire area of large buildings. The two then walked into one of the buildings.
“This here is where we take what few animals we grow or hunt and dismantle them for parts.” talking about the dozen or so goblins and kobolds that were working together to break apart a deer that they caught earlier that day. They took about one-twentieth of the large building, making Van wonder if they shouldn’t move into a smaller one.
“It’s still not fully staffed… but we have plans to grow our economy so we are planning in advance! ...And it’s not like we had a use for this building before anyway...” she said with a shrug near the end.
She then showed him around the other buildings nearby where they took the leather from the deer to be tanned. Every piece of the animals was distributed into nearby buildings where they were to be further processed and used to make more things that the town might need.
Kassandra then showed him a nearby blacksmith, where the leather was being put into use to make armor and satchels plus a few other things. Which was very interesting to see.
After that, she went down the road to show him a carpentry shop where a bunch of rabbit kobolds were making chairs, tables, long wooden rods that would be used for spears, and a bunch of other things. He was actually very impressed by how good they were at their jobs and how dexterous their hands were. Kassandra even went so far as to point out that they were able to make most of the equipment necessary for the other buildings because of them.
Going further down the road she introduced him to a few rabbit kobolds who were taking care of large greenhouses that were meant to grow food to help feed the city and everyone inside the soul realm. He was then shown in so he could see for himself how they worked, and he had to admit, once more he was surprised by how good of a job they did. While so far they were only able to staff enough to work two of the two dozen or more greenhouses he didn’t even know he had. They were able to already make plants flourish with the promise that within another two months they would be able to start producing the first batch of vegetables.
“Not bad right?” Kassandra said with pride. “The rabbit kobolds are really something! They can cook, clean, woodwork, and farm really well! And the forest wolves come by from time to time to help increase the rate of plant growth in the greenhouses! Honestly, without them it would be a lot harder to get things going, you should really think about making more of them soon to help with the expansion of the town.”
“I’ll… take it under consideration…” Van said.
After that, the two enjoyed their time looking at the many plants that were growing around them. But once they felt like they spent too much time wasting it there, they decided to move on. Once again, they moved down the long road, going further down until they hit the wall where a large open gate was.
The gate led right into a large dense forest, and Van watched as schools of people brought carts filled with chopped lumber, herbs, firewood, a few hunted animals, and an assortment of other goods that could only be found in the forest.
“This here is the gateway to where Lyn rules, where her influence is the strongest,” Kassandra said, guiding Van past the large arched gate and into the woods, the sound of crickets and birds slowly growing in number and volume the deeper they went in.
“At the moment we have to be very careful with how much we take, since it’s not a fully established forest, not to mention we don’t know what is actually free choppable lumber and what is a fairy home, or even a part of Lyn’s actual core. Which is a bit of a problem...” pointing at the super-large tree with blue leaves off in the distance and taking center stage of the forest. “After all, we really shouldn’t be chopping something that is a part of Lyn’s core, even if such a thing is largely impossible without someone skilled in soul magic…”
The two walked further down the trail for another hour or so until they came upon a truly magical sight that took Van’s breath away. Kassandra noticed the look and smiled and with wide-open arms and flourish, introduced him to the fairy town in the forest.
“This is Lyn’s fairy town, where the queens are. As you can see, they made their home right around Lyn’s core tree to protect it and be closest to her power and its benefits. Beautiful, isn’t it?” Kassandra asked, knowing full well that Van would agree.
Van had to admit, this place looked very mystical. With fairy-sized tree houses, hovering lightning bugs that acted like lanes for the insect-kin and fairies to follow, ornate and flowing woodwork that both made the architecture of the houses blend in yet stick out from the tree they seemed to be a part of. Colors of blue and gold, fairies flying up and down and every which way, glowing lights and lanterns to give a nice atmosphere. It truly made him feel like a kid again.
Once Van was brought back to his senses, thanks to Kassandra, the two made their way to introduce themselves to the queens under Lyn who helped take care of the forest. They then offered them a short break and to join them for some tea, to which they gladly accepted and sat down with them for the next hour or so talking about nothing in particular.
Soon though they started asking about Lyn’s sex life and wanting info about other personal matters that Van didn’t feel comfortable talking about. So with a few excuses and with the help of Kassandra, the two made their way back into town to visit the last few places on the tour she had planned for him.
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“And over here you will find that we are converting these empty houses into homes and apartment complexes for the future growth of the population. With facilities for the day-to-day caring of eggs and babies when they arrive. Most importantly there is a small group of people who have already opened up a tavern! And they sell a mean ale!” Kassandra said cheerfully, sounding like she already had a sip or two.
“Finally, next door to it you will find a brothel, you can’t have a town without one!” pointing to the building next door to the tavern.
“Brothel? Is that really…” Van was about to ask, then he thought about it and realized that was a stupid question considering the libido of most women and instead changed it. “How is a brothel going to work if I'm the only guy around? I'm too busy with work and my own harem to take time out of my day to work at a brothel.”
Kassandra chuckled. “While it’s true we are lacking in men at the moment. That doesn’t mean we will be forever right? Not to mention, even if there are no men around, it’s still nice to have a place to go to when you want some privacy with your lover, male or female. Not to mention, even if not as used, there are female escorts and prostitutes that are very skilled at what they do, enough to satisfy you until you get your real fix. Unless you swing that way of course.” she finished.
Van had to agree that she made a point and the two then moved on again, ending up at a small park where people can come and enjoy themselves with a nice picnic or view of the place. There were water fountains, benches, and an assortment of flowers. And some of the roots from Luna’s tree snaked their way all the way over here and grew small branches with silver leaves, adding to the ambiance of the place when included with his floating blue lanterns. Now all he needed was a nice picturesque moon to look at.
“Not bad, right!” Kassandra asked, looking at the small park in front of them. “I personally helped make this part of town. It was a bit hard to get Luna’s tree to cooperate, but we finally were able to work something out.”
Van nodded, impressed at the amount of work that must have gone into the park. After that, they strolled around enjoying the scene before moving on to the second to last place on their destination.
Walking for a bit, they came upon a large grand temple that belonged to Anna. or should he say, the temple was a part of Anna’s soul core. It was a large multilayered structure with many floors growing smaller and smaller the higher it went.
The base was large with pointed peaks and a dark gothic design, the roots of Luna’s tree also made its home on here, overgrown in some places and its silver leaves growing out and on the temple, giving off a soft glow. Blue lanterns floated about the place and runic sigils and symbols were glowing and flowed over the walls and canopies of the temple. Water rushed out of the second to topmost floor, cascading down layer after layer of the temple.
All in all, the temple exuded a strange hallowed ground kind of vibe, almost like a temple to some old dark god that has been overtaken by nature, yet remnants of its power still remained…
Van was awed by the grandeur of the place, and even more so when he walked in. inside was an absurdly open space that probably could fit thousands of people if not more, with large arched columns that looked like they went a mile up. It was dark and suffocating, yet you always had enough light to see due to the floating lanterns that dotted the place.
What was even more surprising though, other than the dark theme of the place, was that there were actually a few people here, praying, either standing up or on their knees, and a few even brought their own rugs to rest on while they pray.
As they walked near the end, Van saw his personal symbol, a black sun wreathed in gold on a black field. And one of the few Anna’s that stay inside his soul realm, wearing what appeared to be some sort of dark flowing priestess robes that hugged her figure, the color of which was black with some gold. She carried a staff-like spear, or perhaps, a spear-like staff, with a strange design. Made up of what appeared to be bronze, as one looked towards the tip, they will find that it broke off into eight points with a hole in the center with six rings, three on each side attached to it with the top point being the largest and most spear-like.
“Ah… master! So good of you to visit! What do you think of my temple?” Anna asked as Van walked forward, still in awe with what he saw.
“It’s… impressive!” he said admittedly. “But why did you make a temple? And who is it for?” asking because he felt even for him it was a bit too grandiose so it had to be for someone else.
Anna smiled, probably knowing full well Van’s line of thinking. “It’s for you silly!” she chuckled. “Who else would it be for?”
“Well…” Van tried to think of a good response, but realized that he didn’t have one for something so obvious so instead changed tack, “don’t you think this might be a bit… much? And why me of all people? I know what Lyn’s been saying, but I really don’t think I'm all that special.”
“But you are special!” Anna said, “at least to me you are…” then shook her head and gently took hold of his hands. “Van… you are more special than you realize… even if you feel like it's a bit too much, the truth is…” she hesitated, unsure of how she was going to explain this.
“The truth is… I have faith in you… actual faith in you… I always had faith in you…” now looking Van right in the eyes. “And… when I asked what I could do to help around here… Ren said that doing this would help out the most…”
“Now I know what you're going to say!” she said, cutting off Van before he could reply to that. “But this is just as much for me as it is for you. There is a reason for all of this… and I believe Ren will be talking to you about it soon… for now… just trust that even if he said otherwise… I still would have made a temple for you… I believe… you are destined for great things…”
Van didn’t know how to feel about that. He wanted to refute her, but… he actually felt stronger here than anywhere else… like a strange form of energy was flowing into him, empowering him and making him stronger… he also didn’t know if this was during the time where he couldn’t access his soul realm, for all he knew, this was done to help stabilize his soul realm while it recovered.
In the end, he sighed. He didn’t know what Ren was planning, but he knew it must be close to finishing… he just had a feeling about it…
“Alright, I understand… just don’t go teaching or preaching about anything… too controversial… or promises I can’t keep, okay?” Van asked Anna.
Anna gave a small smile. “I promise, so far all I’ve been doing is just helping people pray while doing a bit of prayer myself. Nothing more, nothing less.”
That was a bit of relief for Van, a small weight off his shoulders he wasn’t even aware was there. He didn’t want to think about what would happen if people started praying to him, expecting him to solve all their problems…
After that, the group did some small talk and then parted ways. Van and Kassandra going to the final destination of their little tour. Once they walked out of the temple, they flew back towards the castle and landed somewhere very close to it. Ending up in a large open area that had guards patrolling around and a pedestal of sorts that looked like it controlled something.
“And this here is the place where the portal is!” Kassandra said, back to her chipper tour guide attitude. She then played around with the controls and soon the focal core popped into existence in the center of the wide-open area. With a few more presses of a button, a fifteen-foot in diameter sphere grew out of the focal core and glowed brightly. Soon, people were entering the sphere area, disappearing, with others reappearing out of thin air.
“As you can see, when the portal is open, people can leave and enter into the real world and in and out of the soul realm!” Kasandra said. “Because of it, we were able to help stabilize the soul realm and help in it’s growth!” then more quietly. “We were actually very lucky to have a focal core to help us. Who knows what would have happened if we didn’t have it?”
She then turned to Van with a smile on her face, talking about a few more fun facts about the portal and ending with, “and so?! What did you think of my tour! It’s the first one I've given yet!” genuinely hopeful of a good review.
Van smiled. “It wasn’t bad, I really enjoyed it, ten out of ten,” Van replied, watching happily as a joyful smile took Kassandra's face at his words. But then a question popped into his mind. “Kassandra… What would happen if I used the portal?
Kassandra blinked and tilted her head in thought, then in confusion. “I… honestly don’t know… but I wouldn’t try it if I were you. Who knows what would happen if your inner self tried to exit to the real world… it could be nothing happens… or it could be something terrible would happen… let's not find out until we have more information.”
Van nodded, and after turning off the portal, for now, they went back to the castle to finish up a few last few things before he left. After that, when Van finished everything he wanted to check, he prepared to leave.
But before he did, Ren called out to him, wanting to talk about something. And by the look on his face… it must be important…