Path of Dragons-Chapter 34Book 8: : Shiny and New

Once upon a time, a mile-long walk would have taken at least fifteen or twenty minutes, but in this instance, Elijah and Sadie covered that distance in approximately a quarter of that time. Still, they both had a chance to admire Seattle from afar.

As with every other successful city that Elijah had seen since the world’s transformation, Seattle was encircled by an imposing wall. However, unlike the others Elijah had encountered, this particular bulwark was seemingly made of metal and glass. At more than a hundred feet tall, it featured huge towers every few hundred feet and a multitude of gates in between. Through those gates ran wide roads that extended far into the desert.

“Looks like Isaiah’s been busy,” Elijah remarked as they stepped onto one of those roads and approached the nearest gate. “Really busy.”

“It looks so different,” Sadie agreed.

Indeed, the last time Elijah had been there, most of the buildings had been crumbling, and the population looked like it was on its last leg. He’d taken steps to help them, putting them in touch with the desert elves who’d agreed to help with water availability, and he’d put down a couple of hostile factions. However, even if he’d expected those actions to improve the lives of the people in Seattle, there was no way he could’ve ever anticipated such a huge transformation.

“How did they find the time?” he wondered as they joined the flow of traffic leading into the city. Much of it was comprised of pedestrians, but there were plenty of seemingly self-propelled wagons as well. He even saw a few trucks, though they seemed far less common.

As they drew nearer, Elijah caught sight of the city through the glass walls. And it was breathtaking. The architecture adhered to neo-futuristic principles, with a predominance of steel and glass arranged in sweeping, curved structures that made each building a work of eye-twisting art. However, for Elijah, he was far more concerned with the ethereal density.

The city wasn’t as powerfully magical as Ironshore, much less his grove, but the ethera was markedly denser than the last time he’d visited. What’s more, as he approached the gate, he could feel the moisture in the air – a stark contrast to what he’d felt during his short trek through the desert.

Eventually, they came within a hundred feet of the gate, where traffic had come to a halt as guards – each one wearing what looked like carbon fiber armor and carrying boxy rifles – checked the entrants to the city. The line moved slowly but steadily, suggesting that the sentries were quite efficient, and soon enough, it was their turn.

“Here for the Summit?” asked one of the guards, her voice modulated by her closed helmet. It was entirely reflective, meaning that Elijah couldn’t see her face. He could feel it via Soul of the Wild, though.

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“We are,” Sadie said, taking the lead, as they’d already planned. Elijah had no interest in the spotlight, but with her white-and-gold armor, Sadie’s arrival would never fly under the radar. She made for a good distraction. “Sadie Song and Elijah Hart.”

“Hart?” asked the other guard, his posture shifting from relaxed to tense in the space of a single word. That was the only warning Elijah got before the man raised his rifle and squeezed the trigger. A second later, a bolt of ethera slammed into him hard enough to spin him around.

Or that would have been the case if he hadn’t recognized the danger. His training gripped his mind, and he leaned into the shot. As a result, the force of its impact only sent him skidding backward a few inches.

But the guard wasn’t finished. He continuously squeezed the trigger, firing a half-dozen other attacks over the next second. Elijah slammed his staff into the ground, then threw himself forward. Before anyone else could react, he had his hand around the man’s throat. He lifted.

“Release him!” shouted the other guard.

“No.”

Elijah squeezed, and the man’s face went blue. A second later, the sound of cracking bones filled the air, and the guard went limp. The second Elijah felt the man’s life flee his body, he threw him aside like so much trash. Then, he turned his attention to the guard.

Through it all, Sadie had remained motionless. She knew Elijah didn’t need her to fight his battles, and she’d left him to his own devices. Even so, he could practically feel her disapproval radiating from the glowing, white eyes within her helmet.

“Not the welcome I anticipated,” he remarked. “But given my experiences last time I was here, I guess it should be expected.”

Indeed, the last time he’d been in Seattle, he’d been mugged on his second day in the city.

He sighed, moving toward the gate.

That’s when he saw almost two dozen guards blocking his path. Each one was armed and armored exactly like the two gate sentries, which meant that they were wearing composite armor and carried futuristic-looking rifles that, if he’d felt things correctly, were more like wands than guns.

Whatever the case, it was clear that they had no interest in letting him through.

“We really doing this?” he asked. “I didn’t do anything. That guy just shot me out of the blue. I’m well within my rights to defend myself.”

“Place your weapon on the ground, step back, and put your hands behind your head!” ordered one of the guards, his rifle aimed in Elijah’s direction. It felt a bit more energetic than the others, which meant that its owner was probably a higher level.

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“And if I don’t?”

“You’re not getting into the city unless you comply!” the guard shouted. Behind him, Elijah could feel that the other prospective entrants into the city had scattered, and the lone gate sentry was kneeling beside her partner. Elijah couldn’t see them, but he felt the woman’s tears flowing down her cheeks.

Elijah really didn’t want to kill these people. He’d come to Seattle on a mission of cooperation, and kicking it off with violence was destined to sour the whole thing. So, he went over his other options. Turning around and walking away was probably the easiest route. He still had the radio he’d gotten from Isaiah, and he suspected that the leader of the city could easily solve the problem.

Yet, Elijah didn’t want to go down that road. Doubtless, Isaiah would hold it over him in future negotiations and other interactions. Elijah had no interest in giving the man that kind of ammunition.

But more impactful than that was his pride. As Sadie liked to point out, he was one of the most powerful men in the world. It was time he made that abundantly clear.

And he had the perfect tools to do just that.

Elijah slammed the butt of the Verdant Fang into the concrete ground, channeling the barest wisp of ethera through the shaft. He felt that energy race up the staff and to the blade, where it burst into emerald flames. At the same time, he activated the Crown of Authority trait native to the Antlers of the Wild Revenant.

The helm suddenly came into view, though he knew from a previous activation that it no longer looked like an engraved leather helmet. Instead, it had transformed into a skull of ivory bone emblazoned with dense glyphs. They burst into green flames before manifesting an enormous set of fiery antlers.

But that was not the only visual effect.

He was also suddenly cloaked in those same green flames, though they were somehow more solid. Like shimmering tendrils of verdant fire that wrapped around his body.

In truth, it didn’t affect his power at all. If anything, the drain on his ethera was a little annoying. However, when he stepped forward, the effect on his would-be enemies was worth it.

The guards collectively gasped – which he could only sense via Soul of the Wild – and shifted backward. A few fingers crept toward triggers when he raised his hand, saying, “I didn’t come here for a fight, but if you push me, I will kill every single one of you and lay waste to this little city of yours. I’ve done it before, and I will do it again.”

They didn’t retreat. Nor did they lower their weapons. But before Elijah was forced to do something he definitely didn’t want to do – whether that was retreat or fight – a drone swooped in to hover between him and the line of guards.

“Stand down!” came Isaiah’s breathless voice. When the guards hesitated, he repeated, “Stand down. Now. On pain of exile, lower your weapons and go back to your stations.”

That took the wind out of their sails, and within a few moments, the crowd of guards had dispersed.

“You never do things by half measures, do you?” asked Isaiah.

Elijah, who was still wrapped in green fire, answered, “I’m not the one who started this. Your guard shot me first.”

“I know.”

“Care to explain?”

“You made enemies last time you were here,” came Isaiah’s voice from the drone. “Some of them are bolder than others. We thought we got them all, but some clearly skated by under our noses.” There was a long pause. “Ah. Brandon Nichols. His brother was in the now-defunct Adventurer’s Guild. No history of sedition, but it seems he was merely biding his time until he had a chance at revenge. On behalf of the entire city, I would like to apologize for this incident.”

Elijah let his flames dissipate. “It’s fine. Just a misunderstanding.”

He knew that wasn’t really a good characterization for it. If Elijah had been just a little less powerful, that weapon would have wounded him. Even after his recent improvements, it had probably left a sizable bruise. It was just a reminder of how far a good weapon could go toward closing the gap.

“Good,” Isaiah said. “I look forward to seeing you in person.” Then, ethera stirred around the drone, and an entirely different and mechanical voice sounded, “Please proceed to the welcome center to receive your orientation packet.”

“Well, that was certainly interesting. I stand corrected. You should have come incognito,” said Sadie, who’d approached from behind. “In my defense, I didn’t know you’d made such an impression on these people.”

“It was just one guy with a grudge,” Elijah stated.

“Sometimes, that’s all it takes,” Sadie reminded him.

Elijah knew that was true enough. Things could have gone very wrong if he’d reacted even a little differently. Even having done things the right way, he’d killed a man. And while he wasn’t broken up about it – especially because the guy had tried to murder him – it still didn’t leave him feeling good about what had happened.

So, it was with a somber mood that he and Sadie headed toward a building set into the wall. It was helpfully marked as the Welcome Center. Inside was a crowd of people, but it parted upon their entry. Everyone had seen what had just happened, and the last thing they wanted was to get in his way.

A few moments later, they were striding out of the building, directions in hand. Not only had they been given assigned rooms in a compound near the Citadel, which was the central seat of government, but the packet also contained a wealth of information about the city and the mission of the Summit. Elijah let Sadie take care of that stuff, though, preferring instead to focus on the city itself.

Walking through Seattle was awe-inspiring for Elijah. He’d grown up less than an hour from the city, so he’d visited often enough that he knew the layout like the back of his hand. However, it had changed so much that he barely recognized anything. Certainly, landmarks like the Space Needle and Lumen Field remained, but they’d been renovated according to the city’s current aesthetic.

According to the packet they’d been given, there would be gladiatorial contests held at the former football stadium throughout the duration of the Summit. In addition, the entire city held a carnival-like atmosphere. Everyone seemed eager and happy, though Elijah could feel that everything wasn’t precisely as utopian as it seemed.

Beneath the earth, buried under more than a hundred feet of concrete, were subterranean slums. The people down there felt healthy enough – better off than the last time Elijah had visited – but he couldn’t help but notice the distinct differences between their lives and those of the people aboveground.

Still, they were alive. They were fed and watered. And, for the most part, they didn’t seem as if they’d been mistreated. So, Elijah was forced to accept that the state of that portion of the population was just a reflection of reality. Utopia was not an achievable goal. Not in their current world, at least. Some people would inevitably have more than others.

Regardless, Elijah wasn’t that concerned with their plight – if plight it truly was. He had his own issues to deal with. So, when they arrived at the compound – which looked like a resort, complete with helpful staff, spas, and other amenities, Elijah told Sadie he would catch up to her later. After that, he set off back into the city with a singular destination on his mind.

Or rather, a person.

He hadn’t seen Lucy in a while, and he hoped she could help him with an issue that had plagued him for some time now.