15-27. Melting Pot

Elijah and Mano watched the serpent’s coil for more than an hour. During that time, they both remained silent. Mano, out of respect and Elijah, because his voice wouldn’t carry through the void. Despite the fact that he had dozens of questions he wanted to ask, he counted it a benefit that he couldn’t do so, because it allowed him to truly take in the experience of it.

But eventually, their time observing the serpent’s coil came to an end, and Mano led him back to the Coreway. Once inside, Elijah peppered his adopted brother with many of the questions he’d wanted to ask, but Mano only answered a few. With some, that was because he simply didn’t have the answers, and with others, he decided to let Elijah discover them for himself. Still, he did reply to a couple of Elijah’s queries, which only served to increase his curiosity.

He’d known that Shape of the World Serpent was special in a way that Shape of the Sky never had been, but to see it in action was something altogether different. More than anything, he wanted to go back into the void, find that serpent’s coil, and try to commune with the creature wrapped around it. And if he was lucky, maybe some of the babies would hatch.

However, when he mentioned that to Mano, the big dragon flat-out told him that he would restrain him, if that was what it took to keep him away. Elijah considered doing it anyway. Right up until he remembered that Mano was really the size of a moon and could squash him like a gnat.

After that realization dawned on him, Elijah agreed to stay away.

Once they reached the caravan, Mano left Elijah to his own devices. Of course, that meant having to explain where he’d been to his friends. Okar was jealous, while both Alrhok and Imal seemed extremely uneasy about the idea that a true world serpent was so close.

Tisk just shook her head and focused on keeping Mona calm.

That left Elijah to his own thoughts, which centered on a truth he kept coming back to. No matter how terrible things got, no matter how many horrible things happened, there were always majestic sights to see. Wondrous places to visit. Incredible events to experience.

There was beauty out there. He just sometimes had to wade through the muck to find it.

Those thoughts accompanied him for the next day until Tisk let him know that they were approaching another intersection.

“This one is much larger.”

“How much?” he asked.

“It’s an entire planet,” she told him. “K’kayix.”

Then, she went on to explain that it was a true melting pot of various cultures and races. “The Coreway is not a unique feat. Other empires or kingdoms have built similar paths through the void. K’kayix is where most of them meet,” she said. “It is an entire planet built around a complex intersection.”

“More complex than Mitharin?”

She narrowed her eyes at him. “What part of ‘K’kayix is an entire planet’ did you not understand?”

“Ouch.”

“Don’t ask stupid questions.”

“There’s a saying on my planet,” Elijah said. “There’s no such thing as a stupid question.”

“Whoever came up with that needs more life experience.”

“You’re really mean sometimes,” Elijah pointed out.

She grinned. “Only to people who ask stupid questions.”

After that, she explained that they’d be passing through K’kayix fairly quickly, with only a couple days’ worth of layover. “When we’re there, don’t wander too far. Once they tell us to get moving, we can’t stick around. Even if it means leaving you behind.”

“I’ll be good,” Elijah assured her. However, in the back of his mind, he recognized that if it came down to it, Mano would start throwing his weight around. Maybe the city-planet had a transcendent to counter him, but it would probably be much easier just to give him whatever he wanted.

Fewer casualties that way, at least.

Regardless, Elijah was more than a little excited about seeing the sights. After all, he’d never seen a city the size of a planet, and he didn’t think he’d get the chance to do so again anytime soon.

Idle conversation filled the next few hours until, at last, another gate came into view. The first thing Elijah noticed was that this one was quite a bit different from the others he’d seen. Blockier. Not as shiny. And it looked absolutely ancient.

As she soothed Mona, Tisk explained, “The whole Coreway was built with this city in mind. The gate was one of the first things they built.”

The caravan drew closer, with Mona pulling the first wagon into one of the lanes approaching the gate. There, they came to a stop so they could wait their turn. Meanwhile, the gate was in constant use as the wagon trains in the other lanes passed through. Finally, their time came, and, atop Mona’s back, Elijah passed through.

And he immediately wished he hadn’t.

The first thing he noticed was the smell. Like diesel fuel, ozone, and the unwashed masses. But he soon recognized that something very important was missing. There was no nature. Not really. Sure, he could feel fungi and bacteria all around him, and the press of people was like a physical thing. But while those might have represented life, they were not nature.

In short, Elijah felt like he’d stepped into hell.

It made him sick, like he’d suddenly developed a fever and food poisoning all at the same time. “I really don’t like this place,” he muttered, resisting the urge to heal himself. It wouldn’t have done any good because he wasn’t physically sick. Just nauseatingly aware that the city – or planet, really – lacked even a tiny thread of nature.

In a lot of ways, it was even worse than the abyss. Gorveth might’ve been corrosive and antithetical to his very existence, but at least there was an excuse for it. This city had the capacity to host nature, but somewhere along the way, the inhabitants of K’kayix had abandoned it.

“How long do we have to stay here?” he asked, any enthusiasm he’d felt about the prospect of seeing the city having disappeared the second he’d stepped through that gate.

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“A couple of days at most. It depends on the traffic.”

“Ugh.”

As he groaned, Elijah looked around and saw nothing but heavy iron pipes, brick buildings, and downtrodden people. That last bit might’ve been the work of his bias, a result of the feeling that no one could be happy living in such a desolate place.

Gradually, the caravan snaked forward, and Elijah was treated to more of the same. Water poured from the ceiling above, mimicking rain. But there was an acidic tinge to it. And it smelled faintly of heavy minerals.

Eventually, they reached a wide yard where the wagon train curled around itself and came to a rest. The animal handlers like Tisk unhitched the ekolasi and escorted them to the other side of the square, where they were fed from huge barrels filled with a mixture of grains, offal, and a few other things Elijah couldn’t identify.

The others came by to see if he wanted to accompany them in their exploration, but Elijah was in no mood for fun. He felt that if he drank even a single drop of alcohol, he’d end up spewing it onto the floor.

More than anything, he just wanted to be left alone so he could wait things out.

No one else in the caravan had any such issues, and soon, Elijah was practically alone with the huge beasts of burden. After a couple of hours of misery, he decided to do something about it. So, he snatched a handful of ordinary seeds from his Herbalist’s Pouch, scattered them across the black sand yard, and shifted into his dragon form. A second later, he unleashed the Breath of Life.

But he didn’t stop there.

Instead, he used both Blessing of the Grove and Nature’s Design to nurture the seeds to fruition. A clump of grass grew beneath his feet, followed by a small collection of diverse bushes. More importantly, a feeling of nature suffused the area, allowing him to take a long, deep, and relaxing breath.

Back in his human form, Elijah sat in the center of his impromptu garden, just basking in the feeling of dense vitality and nature.

Then, without further ado, he grabbed his tent from the Arcane Loop and deployed it. But before he went inside, he took a few minutes to bathe, using his new soap along the way.

And it was potent.

The soap was so corrosive that it left his skin red and raw. That wasn’t the extent of it, though. If Elijah focused inward, he could feel it eliminating some of the impurities within his body. And oddly enough, in his mind, soul, and core as well. Apparently, it was no longer just a body cultivation aid – a welcome surprise, to be sure.

He was so enamored with the soap’s effects that he didn’t even realize he’d picked up an audience.

Not until he heard a giggle.

Elijah whipped around and saw a wide-eyed Imal standing only a few feet outside the range of Blessing of the Grove’s localized rainstorm. For a second, they locked eyes.

Then, with blue spreading across her pale cheeks, she spun around.

“I wasn’t looking!” she screamed.

“It looked like you were looking,” Elijah pointed out. Thankfully, his self-control won out, and he’d not reacted the way he had the last time she’d stumbled upon him naked. Instead, he’d kept his composure.

Still, it did beg the question of why she kept finding him in such a compromised position. Once could have been coincidence, but twice? Maybe she had an ulterior motive.

Or perhaps she just wanted to sneak a peek, his ego told him.

Either way, Elijah cancelled Blessing of the Grove, then wrapped a towel around his waist. “Alright. I’m covered.”

She exaggerated her turn, not opening her eyes until he told her that it was okay.

“So? What’s up?” Elijah asked.

“Um…”

“I mean, a guy might start to read into things. You know, with you peeping on me.”

“Peeping?” she asked, cocking her head to the side. “You do realize that you were standing naked in the middle of a public yard, right? If anyone’s responsible for this…awkwardness, it’s you.”

Elijah opened his mouth to respond, but then realized that she was right. His shoulders slumped. “You know what? You have a point,” he admitted. “Would you believe it’s the result of spending nearly thirty years alone? Sometimes I forget that other people exist.”

“Did you?”

“Oh, yeah,” he answered. Then, he tapped his skull. “I get inside my own head, and I just…I don’t know.”

She planted her hands on her hips. “Not what I meant, Elijah.”

“Right. Of course not. Yes. I spent a long time alone. A long, long time.”

She stepped forward. “What was it like?”

“Any chance you could do a guy a solid and get rid of all this excess water?” he asked. It would eventually disappear, but as Elijah had grown more powerful, the water from Blessing of the Grove had become more persistent. At present, it would last at least a few hours.

She rolled her eyes. Then, she waved her hand. Instantly, the water exploded from his body. But it didn’t go far, instead coalescing into a snaking river that swirled around him. Imal flicked her fingers, and it slid along his torso, tracing the lines of his scales.

Then, another gesture, and it sailed away, splashing a few yards past the nearby tent.

“You’re pretty handy to have around.”

“I have my moments,” Imal admitted.

“You mind turning around?”

She stepped closer.

“Do you want me to?”

Too close. She was still a few feet away, but the look in her eyes told him that could change in an instant. He only needed to say the right thing.

Then, her expression changed. A smile turned up the corners of her mouth, and she let out a hearty laugh. “Oh, that expression!” she exclaimed. “That’s just perfect. Perfect.”

Elijah frowned. “Glad I could entertain.”

“You definitely did,” Imal said, finally turning her back to him. “What was that you were singing, by the way?”

Elijah dropped the towel into his Arcane Loop, exchanging it for a pair of pants. He slipped them on, following it with an unadorned shirt.

“Huh?”

“You were singing while you showered. It sounded…different.”

“Oh. A famous song from my planet,” Elijah answered.

“I heard something about butts.”

“You must’ve misheard,” Elijah quickly countered. It was a lie. For some reason or another, Sir Mixalot’s Baby Got Back had been stuck in his head for the past few days. An oddity, considering that it was well before his time, but it was definitely an earworm.

To change the subject, he announced, “Alright. I’m decent.”

“I highly doubt that,” Imal said, a smile in her voice that became visible when she turned to face him. “I could use a lot of words to describe you, but decent would not be one of them.”

“I don’t know if I should be offended.”

“So, what is this about you spending thirty years alone?” she asked.

“Tell me why you came back.”

“I thought we already established that.”

“Because you wanted to get a good look at my…scales?”

“You wish. I was going to invite you to dinner with the rest of us,” she said. “But now, I’m more interested in hearing your story. So? Are you going to tell me? Or are you going to leave me so incredibly disappointed that I seek entertainment elsewhere?”

“If entertainment is what you want, we could always dance. I know…two good dances.”

She was still smiling when she said, “I am aware of your dubious dancing skills. You weren’t just singing as you showered.”

“You seem a lot more confident than the last time you saw me naked.”

Her blue blush returned, and even more prominently than before. “That is because you caught me unaware.”

“Not this time, though?” he asked.

“Not what I said.”

“You implied, though.”

She rolled her eyes again. “Are you going to tell me or not?”

“Maybe. But first, can I offer you a meal? I have hippo steaks served with carrots and mashed potatoes.”

“I recognized one of those words.”

“You have carrots in the Empire of Scale?”

“I think you know that wasn’t the one.”

Elijah grinned, then, with a flourish, summoned a plate from his Arcane Loop. “Madame,” he said, offering it to her with a flourish. She took it with an exasperated giggle.

Then, he summoned a meal for himself. It was all but identical, but instead of carrots, he had spinach. And there was a side of macaroni and cheese that he’d had specially made in Ironshore.

A second later, he’d pulled a pair of camp chairs from his storage as well.

“You come prepared, don’t you?”

“Lessons learned.”

“From that long stretch alone, right?” she asked, accepting a fork from Elijah.

“Do you want the long story? Or the short one?” he asked. Then, he said, “Wait. Do you have macaroni and cheese on your world?”

She shook her head.

“Then you have to try this,” he said, dipping his own fork into the mass of pasta and creamy cheese. He leaned forward, offering it to Imal.

She took a dainty bite. Her eyes lit up.

“What is that?”

“Only the best food America ever invented. Well, I think it’s actually French, but we made it what it is.”

She didn’t seem to care about that explanation. Instead, she shifted her chair closer to his, then stole another bite. Elijah didn’t bother trying to stop her.

And together, they savored the taste of an American staple before he finally recounted the tale of his time on Gorveth. All in all, it was the best meal he’d had in years.