THE KEEPERS RISE

Chapter 7 - Right Foot First - Part 2

*Remember to click the play button to listen to the soundtrack as you read!*

Velda nodded and they put their swords away, Cha went back into Velda's stone, and Will'ym led the way back down the hallway. After they went down the main bridge stairs, Velda got a quick glimpse of the world outside through the bridge's glass doors and was startled by the difference! Instead of being open countryside and forests like on Myusaria, the spaceport was entirely closed off with a solid ceiling, though it must have been hundreds of feet up. On the edges of the spaceport were buildings forming the walls, and roads led past some buildings to what Velda could only assume was more of the same at a smaller scale. She could see hundreds of other tarrephaene and a few other species scurrying around among the ships like bugs.

Will'ym saw her staring out the window from the bridge door. "Most of the Tarrephaene Empire looks like this," he explained, "I understand that it will be very different from what you're used to. Our planets usually hold very large populations, upwards of ten billion, so we live underground to save space and protect our natural resources on the surface." Will'ym led Velda down the main hallway and out of the ship, which was resting on the expansive metal-covered floor. "I'll also warn you that tarrephaene tend to be a little cold towards outsiders. Don't take it personally."

Velda nodded, but she was hardly listening. She couldn't believe what she was looking at. All around them was nothing but a swarm of skyscrapers, crowding the edges of the underground spaceport like angry beasts. On the ground, tarrephaene were rushing everywhere, attending to the many starships in the spaceport and hurrying on their way to the outer buildings. She was sorry she had missed the landing. "How do you get back onto the surface?" she asked.

"We have teleporters to access certain areas for forestry, farming, and battle training, among other things." Will'ym set off across the shipyard, and Velda followed cautiously.

At first, Velda didn't recognize one of the Common words he had used. Cha, what is battle?

Combat, it said in Meppish.

Velda frowned in confusion, and asked him, "Why would you practice fighting away from where you live?" As they walked, a few tarrephaene passed them and stared suspiciously down at Velda.

Will'ym swallowed and said, "Don't mind them, just keep walking. Wars can't be fought underground because towns are connected by teleportation, not open underground space. We need lots of experience to survive in the wilderness on the surface, and it is very wild."

"It seems like your society is rather obsessed with war," she said.

Will'ym was taken aback, though he hid it well. "No! It's not like that at all! We may care about it more than most, but that's only because we've had many civil wars in the past, and the Empire is so big that we inevitably get attacked now and then. There's plenty of art and science too."

Velda looked up with a wary eye at the building they were approaching, which was the widest and probably the most important building in the port. It was entirely coated in various colors of sheet metal, and there were very few windows. For all the talk of the Stargazer belonging to all the Keepers, it seemed to Velda like it had been designed with tarrephaene architecture in mind. "If you say so," she said finally.

The glass doors to the building slid open at their approach, just like on the Stargazer. Inside, the building was fairly spacious, with similar furnishing colors to what Velda had seen in her room on the ship. Everything was white or black with some accent color, in this case, red. Velda could almost forget that they weren't above ground.

Will'ym walked up to the desk in the center of the room, where a tall woman sat idly checking her nails. He pleasantly leaned down and laid his arms on the counter. "I'd like to go to the training grounds above Rhoqareh with my friend here," he said in Common. Velda noticed that Will'ym pronounced the letter after the 'o' in the city name like a hard 'kch'. The single word from Will'ym's native language sounded alien to her.

The other tarrephaene looked up and raised an eyebrow in surprise at Velda. "Back so soon?" she said to Will'ym finally.

"Myusaria isn't far. I said I'd return within the day."

"I remember. Well, my prince, you know where to go." Will'ym winced at the recognition and quickly pocketed the gray clearance card she gave him.

Velda took a step back. "What did she call you?" Will'ym was silent and walked past the desk to a door on the side of the room. He was ahead of Velda so she couldn't see him turn red. All he could think about was how untimely that had been.

Velda wasn't going to let up. She ran up to him, walking at his side. "Didn't she say you were a prince? You never mentioned that."

Will'ym stopped just past the door, which turned out to be an elevator, and faced her once they were both inside, having gained control of his emotions. "I didn't want you to think differently of me."

Velda smirked. "I'm royalty too, remember? MepQueen Rhea is my mother. It would be a similarity for us."

"I suppose." Will'ym stopped the conversation there, and they were silent as the elevator carried them up.

Velda became lost in her thoughts. If Will'ym is a prince, then his father must be a Councilor! She guessed as much since she knew that nearly all other societies were led by males instead of females.

Likely so, Cha replied, But I cannot claim to know much about tarrephaene politics.

Do you think we'll get to meet the Tarrephaene Council? Velda asked.

Their Council brought you here, so I suspect they will check in soon enough.

The elevator doors opened to a small space with no furnishings and gray walls. On one side was a control panel against the wall, and in the center of the room's floor was a glowing red circle. Lines were radiating outwards from it, flowing up the sides of the room in square-shaped patterns. Will'ym went up to the panel and skillfully typed in a set of coordinate numbers. The circle in the middle of the room began to glow, and energy went through the lines on the floor in waves of red light.

Velda watched a pulse of the energy travel across the room, up the wall, and stop as it rejoined the other waves in the center of the ceiling. She curiously stepped forward to look at the center of the room more closely, where a sliver of red magic was gathering above the circle. It expanded to completely fill the space above the disc but kept growing past it, and at a quick pace. Velda held a hand up to cover her eyes as magic filled the room.