The city where everyone is frozen in time . Inside the dome everyone is preserved by the dome where time is stopped . But anyone entering from outside the dome is normal and does not feel the effects . They are literally frozen rock solid .
It needs deeper inspection but I don't want to be beheaded alive. It rather looks like a film set rather than an actual city . They don't even allow to open or close doors . The only doors we can walk through are the ones which are already open .
Jay :
Are we just supposed to enjoy the kingdom .
A bell rang on my phone . And that is not good .
New quest :
Name : Time Stop .
Rank : Undetermined .
Description:
Solve the mystery of the Frozen City.
Rewards :
Chain quest .
Failure :
The secrets will be buried .
Time limit : None .
Jay :
Time for some detective work .
Jay :
Step 1 :
Where do I start . I think there were some people studying the city . Maybe I should start from there.
I approached some of the scholars studying a statue .
I could hear their observations clearly .
They were studying a person who had a myopia in one eye and to correct it he was wearing a monocle .
Scholar 1 :
The glass has an exquisite curved design which bends the lights towards the retinas . How can we replicate the technique to produce these .
Scholar 2 :
These fibres it seems they're made with cotton woven together into several stands . And this colour is quite deep .
And they are talking about things I already know .
Jay :
May I have a bit of your time I want to ask some questions.
Scholar 1 :
Absolutely, please ask away .
Jay :
Have you determined why is the time frozen in this place for these people.
Scholar 1 :
Not yet no , but we believe this is the curse of the
God of Time ' Chronos '.
Jay :
What has the kingdom done to anger them .
Scholar 1 :
We e been investigating for months . But we've yet to find a trace.
Jay :
Can you tell me something about the kingdom .
Scholar 1 :
This kingdom is divided into 3 parts and in those parts there are various sections. Within the outer circle . Consist of the slums , the markets and living space for the general population. As well as the industrial area . Which is directly connected to a downstream river and which waste is directly disposed in.
Scholar 1 :
For the inner circle , exist the area for nobles and the wealthy merchants to live in as well as various religious places of different gods and Elder gods scattered around the kingdom. These merchants and nobles generally have a vast amount of land compared to the general population who lives in houses built in stacks .
Scholar 1 :
And then at the innermost circle exist the palace of the royal family . Again divided into 4 parts . The royal library where a book can be found on every topic .
The royal gardens where every kind of flower blooms .
The living quaters for the servents located downhill . And finally the royal palace. Which consist of the royal court , banquet hall , .....
Jay :
And ?
Scholar 1:
Well actually those were the only doors which were open so that was how much we could map .
Jay :
But are there such a rule ?
Scholar 1:
It's quite simple to protect them from outsiders . Let say in any event that the people would spring back to life just to have everything they had stolen from themselves.
Every life savings they struggled to make gone in an instant . Not just gold they could be also be stripped of their belongings like family heirloom .
And for some they could even end up getting kidnapped . And either sold for slavery or somewhere much worse be used as a toy. Without their consent .
To protect them from such future these laws have been placed in action .
Jay :
That was actually very deep . I'm frankly amazed .
Scholar 1:
Hey are you a newcomer here right . We are going to travel across all the sections might come with us .
Oh that's right I forgot . My name is Michael Collins. Nice to meet you.
Jay :
Actually I didn't know where to start but my group would definitely like to join you .
And I didn't have any clue where to start the investigation so it's very helpful to have someone with us . I could ask Era but I think it would tire her out very quickly. Since I ask a lot of question.
Like this one.
Why am I doing this inner monologue who's going to read it .
Maybe someone will .
I joined with my group once again.
Jay :
They are here to investigate the city . We should move along with them .
McElroy:
Okay boss .
Now from the main entrance we moved to the industrial section where when we entered there was lots of pungent smell coming from the waste being stuck in the pipeways as it was thrown into the sewer it was stuck there without flowing .
The area was filled with Carbon dioxide and Monoxide as well as various sulphates , flourides and heavy metals such as lead and Mercury . This area is nothing but a hazard . Atleast I could filter out the heavy metals in the air.
But what about others materials . The time in this world seemed truly frozen when the gases released from the chimney were still and very much visible . Well then if we could observe the electrons in the smoke it might yeild a position with a 100% certainty. Without changing its outcome .
Who's to say I'm not a scientist in just a student .
By the looks of those factories I can estimate these factories are built when there was not much knowledge about the process . If building thungs.
Let alone humans I can see even rodents stopped suddenly. There is a bridge from which I can see a rodent jumping down . And he is stuck in midair.
Due to the excessive amount of carbon some of it had deposited on the top of roofs of buildings in the residential area and the top of factories in the form of soot. Walking some distance ahead I saw a small crowd near the bridge theu were overlooking something from the bridge and I saw a child drowning in the water . But due to time being frozen he was seemed like floating on the water .
Jay :
Is there no way to save that child from drowning.
Michael:
When I visited this area for the first time I also wanted to save that child but rules are rules. Can't do research of you are beheaded .
Jay :
If all of the citizens are frozen then who is guarding this place .
Michael:
At first every kingdom and governance was jumping at the chance to conquer this kingdom and add it to their prestige. So they all at first sent their entire troops to conquer.
But it in the end turned into a cold war . For each was in a deadlock with another.
They all signed a treaty to not capture the kingdom and sent platoons of guards to guard this place. And set the rules in place.
Jay :
So the war it over .
Michael:
The cold war is still on going . It still hasn't ended and it won't end anytime soon . They are just waiting for someone with power to fall .
Then like hyenas they will pounce and grab hold of the kingdom .
I saw a man who was arguing with another over some receipt but was frozen . The receipt was waving in the air
Without anyone noticing I grabbed the receipt and read it .
It was a batch order for a large amount of gunpowder, 3xplosives and muskets and revolution.
Why would you need this much are they going on a war with someone . But for that it's too quiet .
What other reason could it be . Maybe an illegal trading of goods . Might as well capture it's photo .
As we passed along the industrial district I saw more and more people frozen while they were quarelling . After a few meters I saw people started running .
From something .
And we found the reason why . The gunpowder storage had caught in fire when someone was smoking during his duty inside the warehouse. And some of the gunpowder was loosely packed which allowed some of the gunpowder to slip through and ultimately it caught on fire .
And thats about it for the industrial district. Next is the slums . Not too great of a condition . The houses are looking very collapsible. Some have already collapsed . The people who work in the industrial district mainly live in the slums . The slums were very shabby , disorganised and had a same pungent like smell like the industrial area .
The people here had a very depressed look on their faces . As the countinued their daily lives either working or sleeping and those who couldn't handle the truth they sought the help of medications such as cocaine , morhine , amphetamine and so on .
They would take these Drugs and lay in the streets.
As for anything unusual I found a drug warehouse but it was closed so I couldn't enter and there were guard surrounding the house where tons of cocaine was stored waiting to be sold illegally .
But once again due to the rules nothing couldn't be confiscated. Well there were some signs of a peaceful protests back there . Maybe they want to ask for their rights .
Right now I felt I was on a sightseeing tour rather than a detective investigating . But I have no clue what to look for . It's like searching for a needle in a haystack . Though Jay could sense the metal if needed .
Way to ruin the idiom .
Now we have crossed 3 out of 4 areas of the outer circle as we headed toward the innermost circle. And the final area of the outer circle is the markets .
Maybe I would call it a market if it wasn't this isolated ?
Where's everyone all I can see are guards and some dudes fighting with weapons .
There are stalls which are empty as if there was nothing there in the first place . And once again the people are fleeing the scene . Is this some kind of riot or revolt .
This concludes the tour of the outer circle