With the passing of an uneventful day full of meditation and lounging about, I emerged from the master keep of the Fulgum castle alongside my father and with my vassals in tow to take a final parade through the capital city.
Poised atop an enchanted catwalk that carried us forth, we were forced to look down, smile, and wave at the thousands of citizens kneeling and shouting praise at us as we passed by until we reached a vacant platform at the northern end of the subterranean city nearly an hour later.
Stepping off from the catwalk, my father approached the ledge and peered over the rail for a second, before craning his neck upwards and staring at the ceiling for a long moment.
After that moment, the natural shadows on the ceiling started to condense and soon after formed a large threshold in the ceiling. Allowing a half dozen iron disks set in a parallel fashion to stick through peer through over the next passing seconds. Followed by a large base filled with axles, pistons, and large panels, all attached to a massive frame of blackened iron.
The construct suddenly lurched downward after a quarter or so of it passed into real space, no doubt causing the relentless pull of gravity to take hold of its mass and pull it violently towards the ground. Causing it to slide down faster and faster as more of the material passed through at a panic-inducing rate.
In one fluid motion, my father threw his arm up in response to the potential catastrophe forming above him. Conjuring several tentacles of umbral energy to sprawl out around the hulking piece of machinery and wrap umbral limbs around the frame. Gracefully slowing its pace as the structure fell entirely out of the shadow and came to a gentle rest atop the track's magnetic cushions.
In tune with my father's relaxing hand, the tenebrous tentacles retracted back to the ceiling, revealing three sleek train carts that were painted a gray-black color and proudly stenciled with the literal mark of the Cole Family on the side. An inverted crescent moon; akin to a sun rising over the horizon, occluding by a black structure that strongly resembled a massive willow tree.
The same mark that I and presumably father had; judging from what he said on the day I was born.
"All aboard." My father chuckled. Ripping my wandering thoughts asunder and turning my gaze to him, ushering us inside the caboose.
The interior of the caboose was a nearly 3.5-meter wide space that'd been split in half between residential and service modules for any tenders or servants who happened to come along for whatever rides my father chose to go on. Just left of the entrance were a pantry and tea station while a full kitchen sat on the right. Emplaced along the far wall were several twin berths that were set in a repeating fashion between two communal bathrooms; all laid in the same dark-toned baroque style that my family seemed to favor.
"Would you mind putting on some tea for us, Jonet?" My father asked after sealing the door shut behind us. "You all may enjoy our ride at your leisure. We shall call if we need you."
"Of course, Your Royal Highness." Jonet bowed.
With a jerk of the neck, Father wordlessly motioned for me to follow him to the second car; a double S-curved space with four identical berths, labeled with my name and the names of my mother and forefathers.
"Take a moment to get acquainted with your room and meet me upfront." Father looked back to me over his shoulder before sliding around the corner.
Taking pause before the door, I charged shadow mana within myself before I leaned closer to the door and dipped my head into my shadow racing up to meet me.
With my head sticking through the shadows lurking on the other side, I saw a surprisingly spacious berth with a full-sized bed tucked into the corner under a U-shaped row of storage cabinets. Set in line with the door was a multi-purpose desk that was set at eye level with the narrow windows lining the car while a wet en suite occupied the remaining third of the booth.
Satisfied with the accommodations, I pulled my head umbral window and went up to the locomotive to meet up with my father.
"I'm sure you're dying to know how this works," Father called out to me as soon as I entered.
I could only grin as I waddled over to a large map set into an elliptical table that occupied much of the space. "You know me so well." I chuckled before focusing on the map.
Like I'd seen before, the map separated the massive island that was the mainlands right down the middle; with the Deapou Empire on the right and the Odissian Empire on the left. From there, the Odissian Empire was split into thirds; with the capital county occupying the southern region near the coast.
"Our destination is here." Father pointed a slender finger to the border of the next region. "The border town of Emi, in the province of Telma; 1,474 kilometers away. Now." He waved me over to a panel under the front windshield and pointed to the crystals inlaid into the metal assembly. "These enchantments correspond to the different locations within our Empire." He paused to gesture to a similar set of stones inlaid in the ceiling. "And the Deapouan Empire."
"May I?" I gestured towards the console.
"By all means." Father grinned. "Simply pour mana into it."
I leaned closer to study the crystal for a moment before doing what was asked. By appearance, the enchantment stone appeared much the same as diamond, only tinted the same vibrant blue as the mana that persisted around it. Each of them was a neatly cut gemstone that'd been etched with strange runes that I had no means of reading or deciphering and were filled with traces of mana that I felt no connection to but felt more than safe in assuming it was magnetic mana.
With my observations noted, I gathered a handful of mana within my hand and sent it into the stone that corresponded with Emi. And within seconds a gentle hum began to ring throughout the structure and the floor began to lurch beneath us.
"With enchantments, there's no need for a conductor." Father proudly explained from his seat at the elliptical table. And without much else to do, I went around to sit at the opposite end. "The stones throughout the vessel and track will accelerate us to around 500 kilometers per hour. Allowing us to cross the immense distance before us in only a few hours."
"It goes without saying that life would be much harder without enchantments," I commented if only to make idle conversation. "Where do we get the raw materials from?"
"You shall see when we arrive." Father grinned behind his clasped hands.
"Very well then." I nodded, then turned as a knock came at the door. Followed soon after by Jonet with our drinks. Took a pause to take in the environment.
It was evident that this car was as much a social space as it was a navigation center. As there were rails inlaid into the walls about a meter before the nav console as if for a partition and a comfortable arrangement of benches and booths and enchanted coolers filled with drinks and hors d'oeuvres sat in the corners of the spacious interior, comfortably separated from the large table that my father and I were seated around.
My scan was essentially complete by the time Jonet came by with my tea and I was delighted to see that she sweetened it precisely to my preference, despite her never having to make it for me before and despite me never even telling her.
I couldn't help but smile as she palmed my cup in her hands and chilled it with her ice magic before placing it before me. With a bow, she retreated into the next car before I could even take a sip of my drink.
"I was impressed by your earlier spell." I sighed, turning to my father. "It seems quite versatile."
At that, my father perked up at once. "My Shade Tendrils?" He beamed, then reclined further in his seat. Hiding his smirk behind his glass. "That's not the only spell in my repertoire. As I've said before, I prominently use my magic as a form of armor. More specifically, I use a variation of the Wraith Form."
"A variation?" I pondered aloud.
"Magic reinforcement can work in many ways, Son." He advised with a warnful finger. "Think of when you scry through shadows. It involves focusing shadow mana into your eyes, yet it remains a reinforcement spell at a fundamental level. It's only that the effects are changed due to the body part in question."
"Ah." I nodded into a sip of my tea. "I understand."
"It was only a matter of time." Father amiably chuckled. "Anyway. Depending on the situation, I concentrate shadow mana into either my skin, muscles, or bones. Either at a single time or in conjunction with one another. Imbuing the skin with shadow mana gives our flesh the amorphous properties of solid shade. Granting a resistance to blunt attacks; causing most of them to be bounced off of us as if we were made of rubber, rather than being phased through us like in the Wraith Form. Though, stabbing or slashing attacks would still remain effective." He added with a wave of the hand.
"The skin, in conjunction with the bones, provides a great deal of defensive power." He continued after a long swig of his drink. "Your bones will be immune to breakage or fracturing while they're reinforced with the energy; and if you flood the reinforcement, your bones will become far denser than they otherwise would be. Making you completely immune to blunt damage. The muscles on the other hand, provide no extra strength." He sighed. "Though they do banish any buildup of lactic acid to the Shadowfell, greatly enhancing our endurance."
"I see." I nodded, grinning widely. "That's fascinating."
"Indeed." Father oh so humbly nodded. Then abruptly stood from his seat. "Would you like to try it out?"
"Sure." I shrugged to a stand.
My father's grin spread wider than possible across his face as he moved to the open area between the head of the table and the nav console. "Alright." He beckoned me towards himself with both hands. "Try to hit me."
"Uh…" I hesitantly chuckled. "Is that a good idea?"
"Sure it is!" He chipped back as he swallowed the whole table into his shadow pocket. "It's my train."
'Can't argue with that.' I shrugged. Then moved before him to settle into my stance.
After a final reassuring nod from my father, I pulled back my arm and leaned forth, aiming straight for his gut while my father just stood there, like he wanted to see what I was capable of. Causing a small ember of anger, rage, or fury to smolder into life within the core of my being just as I rotated into my punch.
Just as fast as the newfound drive to strike my father consumed me, however, it was replaced- swapped with the sickening feeling of my heart plummeting deep into my bowels.
Before I could pull back, retract, or avert my blow, an umbral mass pooled to life and occupied the small space remaining between my father and I. And I looked up in shame and frustration to find his doppelganger, grinning down at my hand embedded into its stomach.
A cold mass wrapped around my arm just as I started to try and thrash myself free. Followed by a similar force taking hold of my leg, and my other arm, and my remaining leg. All pulling me upwards until my frail body was helplessly suspended above the polished tiles of the train car.
Sneering in the face of my father's seemingly mocking grin, I broke the proverbial floodgates on my mana well and sent an indiscriminate amount of shadow mana towards my father's feet. Producing my own set of Shade Tendrils to grab hold of his limbs and lift him up into the air.
Not satisfied, I sent more of the energy to his feet to form a large shadow gauntlet that flexed its fingers after forming, then lunged forward to catch my father's torso in its grip and push him upwards. Pinning him to the ceiling.
In the midst of our stalemate, my father threw mocking grins at each other for more than a few moments until we eventually burst at the seams with laughter and released the other at once.
"Ah. That was great." My father sighed heavily after replacing the furniture from his Shadow Pocket and seating himself once more.
"I should've trained with you years ago." I chuckled, returning to my seat.
Though Father waved my comment aside at once. "Oh, the fault lies with me." He scoffed. "I'm a busy man, after all. I don't have near enough time to practice our sorcery as much as I'd like to. The only other spells I have revolve around imprisoning things or stepping through the shade to an advantageous position."
"Imprisoning things." I pondered aloud once more as sudden realization struck me like a mallet. "I completely forgot!" In a half panic, I leaned my face towards the table to first peer inside my pocket.
I'd ventured inside the umbral dimensions to check on it on a few occasions shortly after I first captured it, but I had yet to either go inside or take a close inspection after any notable length of time had passed. Thus causing me to hesitate in anticipation before coaxing the creature out of the umbral dimension that was now its home.
My father had been silent ever since his initial inquiry had gone unheard or ignored, and had simply been leaning on the edge of his seat, staring intently as his chin rested atop of his folded hands, shaking with anticipation.
I saw it just before it stepped into the light, revealing the color of its abyssal fur and crimson red eyes. Though otherwise, it looked and felt like a normal rabbit.
"Amun, this is amazing!" My father leaped out of his chair and leaned over the table to take a closer inspection at the creature I'd summoned. Though there was more than simply surprise or shock to his reaction, I observed. Disbelief, almost. Or something I couldn't quite name. Like I'd done something he'd only heard legends of or and hadn't expected me to be able to do in the slightest. "When did you get this?" He asked as he cautiously reached out to the creature."
"A few years ago." I reluctantly shrugged. "I've been too preoccupied with training and forgot to check on it."
"It's always important to stop and smell the flowers, Amun." Father gently advised alongside an awed sigh. "You may be a half-elf with death magic, but life is still fleeting. Rest can be just as beneficial as training, at times."
"Yes, Sir." I bowed. "I'll keep that in mind."
"Good." He resolutely nodded before turning back to the rabbit. "Now, tell me what this magical rabbit does."
"Well." I took a hard squint at the rabbit before letting out a conceding. "I'm not sure. I can definitely feel shadow mana from it.
And a… connection. Like I can feel what it feels. But otherwise." I shrugged without another word to drive home my ignorance.
Then, on a whim, I tried to give it a sort of mental order like I would a piece of machinery linked to a brain-machine interface, and either surprisingly or not, it suddenly jumped from the table to my lap and onto the floor beneath the table.
My father and turned and bent in our seats to see under the table in unison and simultaneously let out awed and surprised gasps at the rabbit flooding a small region of shade below the table all on its own.
Soon after, the shadows flowed back into it. Causing its body to swell and morph as if something was crawling about underneath its coat, swelling and growing with each passing second until it was almost twice its normal size.
When it split into two.
We looked in silent wonder as the process repeated with the two rabbits. Turning them into four, then eight and sixteen, and so on. Duplicating over and over again until the entire car was filled with umbral bunnies crawling all over each other.
It took me nearly two whole minutes to regather my wits and return the mass of bunnies to my Shadow Pocket. Then I turned to my father before my thoughts could begin wandering astray. "Judging from your reaction, I assume you've seen this spell before."
"N- no." My father struggled to shut his gaping mouth and shake his head. "But I have heard of a spell that fits the description."
I only raised my brow inquisitively, prompting my father to lean his elbow on the table and start out with a heavy sigh. "Azrael Cole. My father, your grandfather, was a great shadow mage who met an untimely demise when I was around your age. He was always off fighting, so I never spent much time with him." He sighed again, then somehow elevated the emotion in his voice to a prideful tone as he continued. "But, I'd heard many times of his prowess while I was growing up in Deap Ridge. And his most famous spell what he called, Shikigami. It being a trademark spell, however." Father sighed once more. "He told no one of the secret."
'Well, that name won't do.' I chuckled to myself. 'I'll have to come up with something better.'
***
I retired to my berth shortly after our conversation had died down to spend a bit of time writing and a lot of time staring at the rigid lines of civilization looming on the northern horizon until we made our final approach to the border city of Emi; a vast area filled with gargantuan greenhouses or warehouses that filled the otherwise barren tundra for kilometers upon kilometers as if the structures themselves were meant to replace the obligatory high stone wall with a maze composed of absurdly long buildings.
Within a few more minutes, we were arriving in the station and stating on geothermally heated streets, waiting for a sleigh being led by some type of large and feral dog-like creature to stop before us.
"Welcome to Emi, Your Imperial Majesty. Your Grace." A man huffed from behind his thick scarf as he hopped down from the carriage and opened the doors for us.
"Thank you, Sam." My father smiled at him as he stepped inside. Then called back out to him after getting seated.
"Of course, Your Imperial Majesty." He bowed again. Then slammed the door shut to then trot around to the front of the carriage and take his seat behind the wargs and get us on the move.
While he got settled I peered around through the small windows like an owl adjusting its field of view and saw that, much like in Odissi, every structure had a glass wall on the southern face to provide greenhouses for the multitude of residences or businesses made of the same black iron and volcanic materials as every other piece of architecture in the Empire; albeit the structures were far more spread apart and larger due to the extra land the city had a claim to.
Still, it was clear that the people lived in the same levels of comfort as in the capital; far fewer though they were. There were the schools, medical clinics, libraries and everything else that my father promised would be found in each settlement in the mainlands, as well as banks and a wider arrangement of parks than everywhere else I'd seen thus far.
"You all will be leaving this Empire one day." My father suddenly began with an intense eye to me and to Toril, Jaimess, and Jonet in turn after seemingly noticing the newfound pride I was feeling for the Empire. "When you do, be wise and remember that not all places in Maru are as wealthy or well of as those of us in Deapou and Odissi. We are fortunate to have Emperors capable of things like lava, magnetic, and death magic. Their magical ability is what protects our cities from invaders or wild beasts and allows our citizens to thrive in this otherwise inhospitable region. With their power, enchantments are made to heat our cities, to create fertile soil, and other things that allow our people to live as comfortably as possible. Because of that, however." He added with a stern tone and a warnful finger. "Other empires in the world despise us for the care we show to our citizens, and not to the greater world. As such, they don't think too highly of us royals. As is their right." He finished with a child-like shrug.
'Sounds like sour grapes to me.' I laughed on the inside.
After swimming among the thoughts wandering around in my head after my father's story, I set them aside once we entered a town hall-like building to once again sit through hours of court and listen to the happenings of the region in which we now found ourselves.
I felt somewhat relieved to learn that this particular court didn't consist of a dinner, but rather a formal meet and greet. During which I was introduced to the Marchioness Mellorine Redstone, and genuinely listened to her explain the inner workings of her territory.
In essence, Emi was primarily a mining town. But was largely considered the center of industry within the Odissian Empire.
Far below and around the city's perimeter were vast underground mining complexes that extracted immeasurable tons of material from below and used mostly shadow enchanted equipment to move the ore, equipment, and people around within.
It was through this place that the veritable mountain of ore necessary for enchantments was extracted and sent up to the surface through the same enchanted means that everything else used.
Naturally, that formed a need for manufacturing to develop in the city above. Turning the somewhat unassuming small town of Emi into the center of industry and crafts that it was today. I found myself giddy to learn that the finest artificers, alchemists, weapons, and armorsmiths lived in the large, luscious homes that we'd passed on our way in and that they all called Emi their home and place of passion.
Since it didn't have the amount of traffic or infamy that the twin capitals had, Emi was able to retain the peaceful state it had at its inception. Both a blessing and a curse, as it also had the effect of making independent trade a struggling endeavor.
With our conversation over, we listened to the proclamations of the Marchioness for changes she intended to make for the following year, followed by a few declarations by my father.
While it was a town focused on industry and manufacturing and most of the topics revolved around that, the Marchioness was proud to have three children go off to the Corvus Boarding School this year. Similarly, my father seemed all too excited to share that that was where we were scheduled to go next. Causing her to leap forth and insist that we not keep ourselves waiting.
Much like last time, father led me through the halls of the capitol building to a more private room to be handed a chest full of the coins and jewels that were voluntarily given as tribute. Only this time, my Father nodded to me and wordlessly instructed me to store it in my Shadow Pocket.
And only after the Marchioness said her goodbyes and the door shut behind us, did my father speak- whisper again. "Don't spend it all in one place."
"Wait, this is mine?" I chuckled wryly.
"Where did you think your allowance came from?" He laughed just as boisterously as Grandpa Lich as he stepped out into the snow. "You're responsible enough to receive your annual amount in one sum, are you not?"