Judith once more had been left mesmerized by the wonders the capital city of Qugan had brought. But at the same time, she felt her knees buckle by the height they were gaining. Not wanting to think on her fears, she at once turned away from the castle and toward the opposite direction, so she could see the city in the distance.
Once more, the sight had left her a bit dizzy and only seemed to make her acrophobia that much worse. But then, seeing into the distance, which seemed to stretch on forever, had somewhat calmed her down.
Yes she was still nauseated by the oddness of what she was seeing, but the fact that it was nothing like she had ever seen before pushed the feelings of wonder and amazement to the front of her mind rather than the strangeness of it all.
She didn't even notice that she had walked to the edge of the rising platform, just so she could see the picturesque view in front of her. As she stood, the wind had picked up, flowing into her hair and robe so she felt as though she was an extraordinary being which was soaring through the skies. The feelings that were going through her was nothing short of profound.
In this moment, she felt nothing if not on top of the world. But bringing her thoughts back to reality, she remembered she was afraid of heights, and she was dangerously close to the edge, so like a doll with sand caught in between its joints, Judith stuttered backwards, until she was well within the crowd.
With a deep breath, she had turned, only to bump someone. Doing so had caused a reverberation of chains which had clanked into Judith's ears. Taking a single step back, she realized she was in the midst of the slaves and she had just bumped into one of them.
Looking up, she found that a very tall and broad slave was standing right in front of her. Slowly reaching his head, she met the slave's eyes, as he stared at her with a form of contempt in his glare.
Not wanting to be in such a compromising location anymore, she at once reeled into foray of Tethereds and nobles, right behind Qui Lin and the impostor. Following this thought, she had wondered where Tsai was.
Looking around, she saw Tsai likewise at the edge of the platform, squatting and staring at the ground below. Not the castle or the city behind them, but the ground below.
Judith didn't know exactly what Tsai was looking at, but what she did know was that she felt a very bad uneasiness by Tsai's sudden change in behavior. Ever since she laid eyes on the crown city of Qugan, she hadn't been herself, or rather, she hadn't been the self Judith had come to know in the short span of time.
Wanting to speak with Tsai, she took a step toward her. But just one step, because following this step, was the halt in the platform's ascent. Judith had forgotten Tsai for just a moment, and had turned her gaze to the castle.
What she found was another equally massive and mighty door. This was the fourth door that had been built on the front of the castle. As they rose into the sky, they had passed door after door, till they finally arrived at this one.
Looking up, Judith found there was at least six more doors high above them, but yet they stopped not even halfway through. Knowing full well the reason for this, Judith removed her attention from the castle and returned it to Tsai, who she found was missing from the edge of the rising platform.
With the disappearance of Tsai, Judith felt her heart skip a beat. The first thought to cross her mind was that Tsai had fallen off, or, was pushed off by one of the slaves. But then, she slightly calmed down when she realized that what was supposed to accompany a plummeting person, was a loud scream.
Which meant that since there was no loud scream, there was a good chance she was just overreacting. Or perhaps, her neck was snapped, and only moments from now, a thud would be heard.
Shaking off this thought, Judith decided to make her way in that direction, when Tsai's voice rang into her ears.
"Where are you going?"
Upon hearing this voice, Judith froze in place, mildly frightened. She at once turned to Tsai's voice, and found her standing right behind her.
'When did she get here?' Judith wondered to herself. She didn't notice Tsai walking toward her, let alone standing right behind her. She didn't even notice that there was anyone standing directly behind her.
Staring into Tsai's eyes, she saw a purple gleam at the top of her right iris, which all but confirmed her suspicion from earlier. It looked as though a stray stroke of a paint-filled brush, had smeared a wrong color of paint in Tsai's translucent greenish blue eyes.
"I was looking for you." Judith had said, a little bit flustered.
"Oh," Tsai responded with a brightness in her eyes and a smile on her face. "I was just enjoying the view. I've never been this high off the ground before, I always loved sneaking into the captain's balcony so I could look down, it always felt amazing, this feels amazing."
Tsai had spoken with great enthusiasm in her voice, acting like a little child that was given a new toy, or taken to a new playground. She held nothing back, pouring out her heart and or excitement to Judith.
A bit surprised by Tsai's return to form, Judith smiled, chalking up the weird feelings she was getting from Tsai as nothing but jitters caused by the city. Yet she couldn't shake the color in Tsai's right eye, as she wondered if she had missed it and it had always been there.
Not wanting to think further on this, Judith turned her gaze forward. In front of her, Qui Lin had pushed the massive door open, so a loud and powerful creak echoed into the air and everyone's ears.
On the other side of the door, was a massive hall which was only filled with nine people. Apart from the enormous chandelier over head, a row of ornate support beams that filled the room and several small Way-Points lined on each corner of the massive hall, the only occupants of this hall were eight men, who were seated on two separate tables, four men on each.
These tables were placed at the front of a mighty throne that was elevated off the ground by several layers of marble slabs placed on top one another. This mighty throne stood at the far end of the hall, where a man was seated, the King, Xia Feng.
These were the only people in this massive hall, who wasn't a Tethered that had lined the the corners of the hall, blending in like decorations.
Making their way forward, Tsai stuck close to Judith, while watching the several old and obviously very economically powerful men who sat at the end of the hall.
Judith kept her gaze on the King, who had his gaze dead set on the impostor.
As they all walked, the sounds of their footsteps on the marble floor was reverberating off the walls of the enormous and almost empty hall. This repeating and echoing sound somehow ate into Judith, making her feel uneasy.
Making their way to the King and the other eight old men didn't take too long, so the footsteps had finally ceased.
Judith kept her breathing quiet as it would seem the hall fell deathly silent.
"Father." The impostor had called out, being the first to speak. Judith had fixated her gaze on him as he took a step forward, then bowed his head. She then diverted her gaze to the King, who had just nodded, then turned his sights to Qui Lin.
She too took a step forward, then bowed.
"My Lord." She said, then at once she raised her head and turned to the slaves, who were still in chains and shackles. "These slaves are part of the gifts the Lord Randell Carmichael have sent to you. The rest are in those chests which were escorted by several nobles who sought to see the wonders Qugan had to offer." She then diverted her sights to the nobles on the right of the slaves, all now out of their carriages and on their feet, with treasure chests suspended in the air by Alkalis Stones.
Judith didn't even realized when the nobles had left their carriage, and gotten onto their feet. Looking at them standing, Judith was afraid their legs would snap, as she felt they had never been used.
With a grin, she returned her sights to the King, who was looking intently at her. Responding to this, Judith had fallen her gaze, now feeling a sudden fear wash over her.
"The slaves are, quite small." One of the men seated on the table to the right had spoken.
"Well, that is as a result of..." Qui Lin had paused, then pointed her gaze to the ground. "A Parabeast attack, Councilman Fouwen."
Following this revelation, whispers had filled the air amongst the Councilmen, and the King was left unhappy.
Thinking for a few moments, the King leaned forward, which had caused Qui Lin to mildly jitter.
"We will discuss that later." The King had said, then turned to the nobles with a gentle smile. "Welcome to Qugan, and welcome to Xian city. Forgive us for the crude hospitality." Following these line of words, the strange intensity in the room had quelled, allowing Judith to breathe easier.
She had turned her sights to the nobles, who all began to smile through their rotten teeth.
"Don't worry about it Lord Xia," They had pronounced the name 'Xia' very painfully to the ears. This had caused Judith, along with almost everyone else to suppress a laugh. "We understand you have certain procedures you must go through."
The King nodded, then smiled.
"We will further talk during lunch," The King turned to the slew of Tethereds to the far end of the hall and gestured with his fingers to come closer, so four or five of them came forward. "They will escort you to your rooms, once again, thank you for your gifts."
The nobles returned the kings smile, then turned to the Tethereds, who had approached them and began to lead the way.
Judith couldn't have been happier the snooty aristocrats had finally left the room. Eager for all of this to be over, Judith found herself antsy to get to work. This evening, once the phoenix had gone down, she wanted to venture out of the city, for very important business.
"Now, onto the slaves." The King had said, pulling Judith from her head. "Please Councilmen, feel free to chose whichever one you want."