The Celestial Way

Chapter 10.3 - Guardians of the Way

Vorzii soared above Terra Para's frozen lands at a steady, swift pace. The skyship's name meant 'bright claw' in the language of dragons, Stamat had explained. Airo cared nothing about such clarifications, and instead searched for something to take care of his injuries. Fortunately, the heavily armed skyship was equipped with a state-of-the-art medbay, and he was as good as new after some downtime in a healing pod.

After getting better, Airo spent most of his time on the bridge. He decided to play the observer, and learn more about the situation passively, since the prospects of gaining more useful information by wrangling the skyship's crew were dubious at best. Veralla proved a nuisance as usual, asking him to come down in the hangar and meet the other dragons. He refused adamantly, and had to yell at her, something he hadn't done in weeks, which drew quite a lot of shock and dismayed glances from the bridge personnel.

With that exception, the trip to the Knights' base was as uneventful as the one with the convoy to Dragon Retreat. The landscape outside the observation window remained bleak and cold throughout the entire journey.

Once, the skyship had to ascend high into the thermosphere to avoid a warpstorm, and all Radiant Knights were on edge during the brief jaunt on the threshold of space. Veralla, Kiana, and Zuckeroff wondered what was so dangerous, but Airo remembered well his orbital encounter with the draconic Revenant. Fortunately, the risky maneuver reduced their travel time drastically. The skyship flew against the planet's rotation, and when it arrived at its destination the night was still deep. Airo began to suspect some sort of pattern.

From a distance, they seemed to approach some random summit in a mountainous region. However, when Vorzii got closer, the summit shimmered, and then the ridge melted away, revealing a gigantic, bevel-edged tunnel. Vorzii flew into the gaping dark. The tunnel was rather short, relative to the skyship's proportions. Within seconds, the skyship emerged on the other side...

...into a great upland, sprawled with mountain peaks everywhere to the edge of the horizon.

"Wow!" Veralla exhaled.

"Impressive," Kiana said in a low voice.

"Seems a bit repetitive, though," Zuckeroff commented.

"This is a self-instanced fractal dimension," Stamat explained, his eyes bright too, despite his familiarity with the sight. "The only way in or out is through the tunnel portal."

Beyond, a large, fortress-like structure rose from one of the mountain peaks. Huge battletowers loomed over wide courtyards. Bastions and ramparts were layered atop one another in intricate terraced patterns. Like in Dragon Retreat, the overall architecture was dominated by stone- and crystalwork, though this time there was a fair amount of light applied as a construction material. Despite himself, Airo was amazed. He hadn't seen such wonders even on Arceria during his youth.

Vorzii approached the stronghold complex, and landed on a clear platform near the top. The Radiant Knights began to disembark, helping the refugees from Dragon Retreat to get settled in the base. Outside, more figures in red-gold armors emerged from the nearest fortified building, bringing tools and machinery, and began to service the skyship.

"Sir, if you would please come with me," Stamat said to Magus Dei. "I'll introduce you to our current warleaders."

"Can we come, too?" Kiana interposed.

"Well, yeah, I guess," Stamat said, uncertain. He then shrugged. "Ok. The elders will have to decide what to do with the survivors from Dragon Retreat anyway. They will probably get shelter here, but since you're from the Consortium, your case can be... well, different. And you have a dragon," he said, glancing at Veralla. "Come."