CHAPTER 89: A CITY IN THE SKY.

A week later, Derin came to the palace to report. He had completed the census. The people were organised and ready to work.

He walked into the main hall and stopped, stunned by the sight before him. The long table was covered in complex blueprints.

He saw the design for a city so grand and advanced that it made the royal capital of Azuregard look like a primitive village.

"My Lord..." he whispered, his voice full of awe. "This... this is magnificent. But the foundations... to build something so grand on the weak soil of this valley... it would be impossible."

He shook his head, his practical mind seeing only problems.

"And the required manpower is also immense. To our great shame, the city has no more than fifty engineers."

Rhys looked up from his work. He looked at the weary but determined face of his administrator, then at the grand blueprint spread before him. A slow, confident smile touched his lips.

He rolled up one of the scrolls and walked to the large balcony, looking out over the bustling town where the first stages of demolition and construction had already begun.

"Foundations?" Rhys said, his voice a quiet murmur that held the weight of an impossible dream. "Derin, where we are going, we don’t need foundations."

He looked up at the pale blue sky.

"This city will not be bound to the earth. We are building a floating city."

Derin’s mind went blank. The words made no sense. A floating city? That was a myth, a fairy tale. He stared at his new lord, thinking the man was a madman.

Ignoring the stunned face of Derin, Rhys continued, "And as for the manpower, I have a perfect candidate for it."

In his mind, a stone face appeared.

’Stony is going to have a hell of a job this time...’

From the moment Rhys decided to build his empire, it was not planned to be on the ground. It would be in the sky.

Rhys turned from the balcony and walked back into the main hall. "Watch," he said.

He closed his eyes and reached out with his mind into his Ashen Dimension and called for his most powerful servant. The air in the hall shimmered.

A huge, swirling vortex of starlit void opened in the ceiling of the palace.

It did not damage the building; it was just a window to another world.

Derin stumbled back, his hand on his sword. The people in the town square screamed as the sky above the palace was blotted out.

A hand emerged from the vortex. It was the size of a house, made of black rock and dead starlight. It placed itself on the ground outside the palace. Then another hand appeared. A giant head with swirling galactic eyes emerged from the portal.

Stony, the Ashen General, stepped into the mortal world.

It was huge. The Behemoth was a small mountain, but the Titan was a mountain range brought to life. Its presence was a crushing weight that silenced all sound.

Derin fell to his knees, his mind shattered by the sight. This was not a monster. This was a god.

The Titan knelt.

It lowered its head until its chin rested on the ground, its intelligent eyes level with the palace balcony. It looked at Rhys with absolute devotion.

Rhys walked back out onto the balcony. He placed a hand on the Titan’s rocky cheek.

"Stony," he said, his voice calm. "Meet Derin, my administrator. Derin, this is Stony, our chief engineer and main workforce."

Derin could only stare. He could not speak.

"The fifty engineers you have are not enough to build a city," Rhys continued. "But they are enough to oversee the work of one. Stony will provide the power. My Ashen Vindicators will be the labourers. We have everything we need."

He looked down at the town, at the thousands of people staring up in a state of religious awe.

"Derin. Go. Tell the people not to fear. Tell them they are about to see a wonder."

Derin somehow found his feet.

Rhys turned to his task. He flew into the air, his grey cloak fluttering. His blueprints floated around him, glowing with golden light. He activated his Tempest Weaver profession, creating a cradle of wind and energy to support the land.

"Stony," he commanded. "The palace district. Lift it."

The Titan obeyed. It rose to its full height. It knelt by the edge of town, placing its two giant hands into the earth on either side of the hill where the palace stood.

Down below, Derin was shouting to the crowd. "Do not fear! This is not destruction! Our lord is giving us a new home in the sky!"

The people stopped panicking. They watched as the miracle began.

Stony pushed its hands deeper, and with a deep, groaning sound, it began to lift. The world shook. A huge crack appeared in the ground, separating the palace district from the valley.

The chunk of earth, an island of rock and soil held together by Rhys’s formations, broke free.

Slowly, the Titan raised it into the air. It rose past the clouds until it was a floating island, a piece of the world hanging in the sky a thousand feet above the giant hole it had left behind.

The people of Silverwood stared up in absolute, stunned silence.

Rhys landed on the new, floating island. This was the first piece of his capital.

"Stony, reshape the land. Carve the foundations."

The Titan began to work. Its massive fingers moved with surprising care. It used its power to manipulate the earth and stone, smoothing the edges of the island and carving out the flat ground for new streets and plazas.

Rhys then summoned his army. Thousands of Ashen Vindicators appeared on the floating island. They were not soldiers anymore. They were a construction crew. They worked twenty-four hours a day, their movements perfect and efficient.

The fifty human engineers were brought up to the floating island. Their terror turned into a feverish excitement. They were the foremen of a divine project. They studied Rhys’s blueprints and directed the Vindicators.

The first buildings of the new capital began to rise. The foundations of the Alchemist’s Alley were laid with obsidian from the Titan’s body. The framework for the Forger’s Road was built with a dark metal Rhys summoned from his dimension.

The day ended.

The sun began to set, its light shining on the new island in the sky. Rhys stood on the balcony of his floating palace. The Titan was holding the city in its hands.

Rhys had to make a few anti-gravity formations to make sure they floated on their own. But before that, he had to expand the city further.

As per his calculations, the capital city would be two hundred miles in area. The city building was progressing smoothly, and slowly, the rumours about the new city lord and the floating city began to spread into the other parts of the province.

The five heirs were gathered together once again in the quiet, heavily guarded hall within the Azure Royal Palace. The mood was sombre.

"As per the reports from our spies, the roads connecting to Silverwood are cleared," Daemon began, breaking the long silence. He leaned back in his ornate chair, his fingers steepled before him.

"Every last one of the beasts left over from the tide has been exterminated. The paths are safer now than they have been in a decade." He paused, letting the information sink in.

"Oh, and Silverwood is now the Eon Emporium."

Daemon continued, his voice steady despite the weariness in his eyes.

"We have ignored this situation for too long, hoping it would resolve itself. It has not. He... is growing stronger and more organised by the day. It is time for us to meet with him."