Because I Love You✔️

Chapter 31: Ordin, The Cloud City

Author's note: I'm beginning to worry about whether or not this story is any good... I feel like it might be a bit too drawn out, or even boring, but I'm not sure. Is there anything I can do to improve it? Let me know what ya think! Oh, and remember to vote if ya liked it.

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Chapter Thirty-One: Ordin, The Cloud City

It took a long time to get to Ordin.

A very long time indeed.

After another four hours of riding their horses into the mountains, however, they finally made it.

When they came around the last bend of the mountain pass, all of them froze for a moment; then Xaphile slowly tilted his head back, eyes growing large and mouth going slack. The fog that had been present for most of their hike lay at their feet like a sea of cloud, but above them...

"Gods above," Ella whispered in sheer awe. "This is..."

There were really no words so it wasn't surprising that she couldn't think of anything else to say. Xaphile didn't blame her one bit since he was in shock himself. The mountains all around them seemed to have melted away into intricate stone carvings unlike anything he'd ever seen, beautiful and twisted and incomprehensible all at once, but even more shocking than that were the buildings themselves once he noticed them.

He gawked at the gorgeous and stunningly carved stone white spires that towered above him, linked together by bridges of what looked like pearl and ivory. Every single building was connected by a gorgeously engraved walkway. The majesty of it was amazing since the connected constructs stretched for miles and miles, dotting the mountains farther off because of the layered development style.

Shaking his head, he continued to gape at the clouds drifting around them until he realized there were people above them.

Hundreds of them, bustling to and fro across the bridges.

"Wyrd's Blood!" Amelia gasped, gawking at the buildings above them with eyes that had grown bigger than her glasses. "Is this truly Ordin?!"

"Amazing, isn't it?" Gus asked, riding up to rest beside the enraptured girls and patting their shoulders with a huge grin. "Aye, this is the city of Ordin, and the castle up there near the tallest peak is called the Storm Reach. Some legends say that it was once used to conjure forbidden wind storms."

"Amazing?" Amelia whispered, shaking her head. "Gus, this is the most incredible thing I've ever seen!"

"It's even more impressive than the capital city!" Ella breathed, seeming to be utterly dumbstruck. "I am not jesting! Even the King's castle can't compare to this!"

And it was true: nothing, at all, could have compared to this kind of natural architectural beauty.

"This isn't even the start," Gus chuckled, clapping his hands. "All right, once we've gotten settled in, I'll give you kids a tour! There's a very rare tree in the center of the city called the Kynlaein, and it holds an unbelievable amount of beauty. They built this entire city around that tree because they thought it had unknown magical power."

"Wow," Amelia murmured, glancing at him in surprise. "You sure do remember a lot of interesting stuff."

"Very true, but let's not stop now... we're almost there!" Gus mischievously told them. "We've all had a rough journey, so let's head to the inn and have a decent rest."

Everyone perked up.

"Lead the way, Octavius," Ella sighed, folding her arms. "I'm eager to have warm food and a bath. Also, remember the cover story... we must abide by it at all times if we are to avoid drawing attention to ourselves."