After the experience with the Wild Shapers attack and the curious thing about their low members, we both continued our walk and some time had passed. As the two of us continued our walk towards the Birthing, I began to have a curious fever about Cret's world and mostly the Vermillion Empire.
"Hey Cret" I called out as I looked to my left. Hearing my call, Cret looked to his right and met my gaze, "what is it?"
"What was your old world like?" I asked as I walked in front of him. He looked at me for a bit and pondered for a bit, "I can't really say much about it since for most of life was spent inside the cages that they made to train us."
"Train you?" I said confused and curious.
"Yes. When we Half Breeds are born, we are born similar to that of Wild Shapers, our minds acting like wild beasts. So once we are born, they would trap us and seal us in cages. After spending some time alone, they would take us out and train us using various "methods" to make sure we have some form of loyalty to the Vermillion Empire."
As he said that, I noticed his body involuntarily shaking. I wonder what form of training he had endured just so he has loyalty to the Vermillion Empire. But this does show something a bit concerning about Cret. If he has this much fear from just memories, could he truly be trusted if we were to ever face the Vermillion Empire?
It's best to put these thoughts away for now.
"But you have explored some parts of the Vermillion Empire, right?"
"Yes" Cret said as he nodded his head, "it was during a rebellion that threatened to take over one of the Empire's Eternal Cities."
"Eternal City?"
"Uh, what do you know about big groups that are pretty advanced?" Cret said as he looked at me, as if he was expecting me to say something dumb. Sure my mind of my last life might be fragmented, but it doesn't mean I don't remember some parts of it. But since in this life I technically didn't know about things like other worlds, only knowing this world and Shapers, I couldn't say anything from my old life.
"I don't really know, I can only think of the Wild Shapers who sort of build hives underground in the sand to hide from Shapers who hunt them for sport. Usually these hives span to about many miles and could hold up to almost 5,000 or more members" I said. This is true by the way. I think it was my second or third year in this life that I had faced an underground hive during a scouting trip. I informed my master about it and she promptly left the cave and several minutes later she returned with the head of a wild shaper.
"Alright, now imagine that the Eternal cities are not underground, but instead are kept above ground and are built higher and higher into the sky. Going so high that it pierces the clouds above and is expanded so far out that they had to cut down and drain every single resource nearby just to create one of these cities. Each spire is made of metal and stone, forged with the hands and magic of thousands just to increase a single spire by several miles high. And they didn't just focus on its size, but also how wide it is. Expanding it hundreds upon hundred of thousands of miles before creating a grand mighty wall that encompassed the city. Not only its size or how wide it is, but also imagine that instead of the 5,000 living there, instead it was in the millions. And to keep order in the city they separate it into four sectors that could properly sustain itself without outside help. That is an Eternal City, a giant hive filled with millions of humans who have various jobs to ensure that the city is able to function properly. "
Hearing the words that left his mouth, I could feel my brain going numb. Millions of People! Going hundreds of thousands of miles out and reaching so high that it pierces the clouds and beyond! It sounded unreal and almost impossible to believe, but Cret is someone who has lived in the world where such a thing is possible.
"Wait hold on, you said there was a rebellion that almost took over one of these Eternal Cities?" I said I was confused. I mean, a rebellion almost taking over a city that holds thousands of lives and probably has more than a thousand soldiers inside of them. I really can't think of such a thing happening.
"I don't know the specifics, but supposedly the person in charge of the Eternal City had not realized about the rebellion due to them cutting all forms of communication and feeding them false information. This went on for more than a month before it was discovered, sadly at this time the Eternal Cities stationed soldiers already had their backs against the wall. So to counter this, they released me and the rest of my kind upon the city to take out the rebellion. We were told to stay hidden since the people of the city didn't know of our existence. We listened to the orders and did assassinations or full blown black out attacks. Due to our abilities we were able to push back the rebellion so far and in a week's time we ended the rebellion" Cret said as he flexed his right hand, probably remembering something.
The story was nice to hear and gave me some information about the Vermillion Empire. Whoever is in charge didn't want the people to know about the existence of Shapers and probably never told them about our world. So either this person didn't care about the opinion of their people or cared enough that they didn't want their people to compromise their discovery.
Whatever the case is, I just know they want Shapers hidden from the public eye.
I wonder if I were to ever go to the Vermillion Empire and reveal myself to them. What would their reactions be? Would they be amazed by my existence? Would they be terrified of my ability? Would they rally the people to attack my world? Or would the people revolt against the empire?
Heheheh, it's a fun thing to think about. But, I can't focus on that right now, since.
"We're here" I said as I looked in the distance. Out before laid a giant dome made of a pure white chitin. Around this dome lay several rock pillars with several individuals sitting on top of them.
Cret walked past me and stared at the white dome. His eyes were wide open and he was hanged. I could tell he was amazed at such a sight. Shame he couldn't stare at the dome for much longer since one of the figures on the one of the rock pillars launched themselves off of it and punched Cret in his jaw.