Despite being called the Lowlands, this Province contrarily had the highest points in all the realm, with star-touching peaks that both towered over the populace and were the source of the many rivers and minerals that sustained it.
It had been many years since Elijah had returned here, and he observed the amazing mountains and took a deep breath of it in.
Despite his long absence, these citadels of nature had not changed at all, and their permanence in contrast to the seeming transience of everything else moved him in a way that it was hard to put into words.
As the omnibus navigated its way through the wide roads, he took in the scenery with interest, his usually bright but uninterested eyes shining with deep attention at his unexpectedly poignant reunion with this familiar city he barely knew.
The roads, covered in their black, parched tar and faded markings, led him through the complex architecture that was to be expected here.
From their steady velocity, he marvelled at the haphazard mixture of styles which tried (valiantly but futilely) to resolve the clash between the archaic Reiginian style and the more recently imported and yet widely popular Human architecture.
The grand arches and steeply pitched roofs described the style that the Humans had named after a Queen Victoria would run into the curious shorter yet airier red clay buildings native to this land.
This small and perhaps inconsequential clash of styles was, in its own way, an analogy for the state of the realm as a whole. Half drawn to its roots and half drawn to the new way of life introduced by Humankind.
Yes, despite the untold races, large and small, in this land of Reigina, the Human was not a native but rather a visitor who had taken deep roots in the land, as the surroundings evidenced.
If one was looking for more tangible evidence, though, they needed only to sit next to our young subject and feel the hum of the engine beneath him. Red Governor Engines, elsewise shortened to Red Governors, were a new form of energy manipulation introduced to this land by the mysterious race sometimes called Man.
These combustion engines spread like wildfire, transforming all forms of life in the realm… the results of this were clear to see: the extended sprawl of urbanity; vehicles with power and consistency dwarfing all beast-drawn carriages and a world split between the old and new.
Despite the grand diversion created by the new yet familiar scenery, the trip was gratefully drawing to an end. As they pulled into the station, he sighed with relief before making a swift descent, his large load of luggage clinging to his small body as he landed softly, barely stirring the dust on the uneven ground beneath him despite the obvious heft of the high-stacked bags and cases.
It was a while before even the conductor, who was interested in the young boy and hence wanted to chat a little (he had since repented of his harsh treatment of the child and wanted to make amends), noticed that he had disappeared down the road.
He had been making calculations and talking to his supervisor about how much extra Red Engine Crystal they'd need for the trip back and to check the state of the omnibus's wheel and axle and in his preoccupation had lost the chance to do what he resolved in his heart to.
The man sighed a little in disappointment but decided that it was probably for the best. Even if osu were people, they weren't necessarily people one should have much association with.
Outside the busy station, the sight of a young boy with such conspicuous luggage and the clear marks of an osu drew glances, but not for long, as everyone looked at those like him as potential harbingers of misfortune and thereby thought that letting him leave of his own accord as soon as possible was more desirable than delaying him.
The osu were a taboo in the realm of Reigina.
The word meant outcast.
They were a walking contradiction.
Living men who had no part in the world of the living.
Dedicated to the gods and yet completely abhorred by them.
In older times, he would likely be accosted once or twice during his journey but the extreme vehemence formerly aimed at osu had for the most part dissolved into mere disgust or indifference. They were treated no different from dirty beggars and, although not an amazing shift, it was one the mysterious yellow-eyed child found very suited to his needs.
As he made his way through the spacious streets, he pulled out a flat rectangular object from his pocket.
It was an illustrated playing card in a rough but well-designed metal frame. The young boy's bright eyes caressed the image, a young child in front of a full moon, on the card musingly before placing it back into his pocket and continuing his journey.
This card, although not spectacular in appearance, was of immeasurable significance to the young boy.
He replaced the card after some time and looked up to the mountains ahead, clearly thinking something over.
He apparently decided against it though, as he shook his head and maintained his route, ignoring the path that led up the mountains he was eying.
"Are you Elijah Brimstone?"
Deeper in the Lowlands, in a rather nondescript office, a man sat with his head buried in his work. He smiled after a few moments of thought, seeming to have confirmed something before flinging himself back into what he was doing.
The very next moment, a wave of energy flew at him.
The silver-headed man leapt from his seat with a weightlessness that belied his tall but portly frame and bypassed the sharp energy before clicking his tongue at the documents that had been destroyed by its force.
He turned to the direction the attack had originated from and flicked his finger almost imperceptibly, a motion that resulted in a wave of scarlet flames leaping forth and entangling the invisible wave he had just avoided with his airy motions.
There was explosive feedback from the collision of powers but that seemed to be consumed by the flames too, resulting it only a slight tremor through the building.
The mysterious assailant seemed undeterred by the effortless neutralisation of their attack and decided to make up for it with volume, firing out dozens of the mysterious invisible waves at the silver-haired man in an attempt to drown him in the flurry.
With leisure unexampled in anyone under attack, the man stretched out his finger and traced out a simple pattern. Sparks flew out as he slowly mimed a doorframe slightly taller than him, as though he were actually making marks on some metal rather than tracing them out in the air.
Suddenly, an ethereal door appeared in front of him, swinging open and drawing the still incoming barrage into its limited frame.
In a few seconds, all that was left was the tingling in the air that signalled that the mystic energies of the world had been stirred up by magic.
The assailant wasn't done yet, though, and it could be felt that another attack was on its way.
Instead of waiting for it, though, the man took a few steps and disappeared through the immaterial door he had created.
In the office, a tall man suddenly emerged from the shadows and looked around with some shock before plunging into the still-open door after his target.
The decision was one he would come to regret as he found himself suspended in space like a fly in resin.
Stranger than his immobility was the environment he found himself in. It was a field of stars like an immeasurable cosmos, and he had suddenly found himself adrift in it, scarcely conscious of his own movements or existence. He looked at his hands and discovered them to be similarly astral and intangible and marvelled at the phenomena.
In the midst of his wonder, though, he was suddenly pulled out of the world and dumped onto the floor of the office he'd just exited.
His former alacrity was nowhere to be found as he lay sprawled out like a drunk cat. The silver-haired man wasted no time and suddenly started stomping on the man with uncharacteristic animation.
"You just destroyed five days of work with your stupid attack," he said as he burned his footprint into his victim's hide.
The man took his punishment philosophically, and once the other was satisfied that he had learned his lesson, he helped him up to his feet.
"So, what are you doing here?"
"Can't I visit my senior disciple anymore?"
"No, you can't," he said seriously, shaking his tangled head of silver hair, "I've told you that repeatedly."
"Forget about that, senior," the man said, waving his hands and adjusting his appearance with some secret art so that the fact that he had just been trounced and literally stomped was impossible to ascertain by looking at him. "When did you learn how to use the Astral Gate to contain your opponent?"
"I don't know what you're talking about," was the reply as he waved his hand and saw the documents and furniture that had been destroyed by the man's attacks restore themselves.
The man's brow twitched in genuine frustration as he watched his senior show off.
Nevertheless, he calmed himself down and adopted a friendly mien, determined to extract answers by any and all means.
Quite used to the man's shamelessness, Cardinal Brimstone, the silver-haired man with the marks of an osu waved him away and yielded before he witnessed a scene that would be mutually embarrassing.
"I haven't mastered it at all," he said with a contemplative frown, "it's well beyond my powers to. What happened just now was essentially a party trick. It wouldn't work against an enemy who was prepared for it… hence why I hadn't shown it to you until now."
The younger man's gaze burned with envy. Cardinal had channelled the power of the Astral Plane into a technique and completely incapacitated him and was still complaining.
He sighed deeply.
"You Fae are really something else," he said stonily, "the very Heavens are yours if you choose to claim them."
Cardinal aimed a stern look at the man as a warning.
"I'm only speaking the truth," the man continued fervently, "you have the power to ascend–"
"Enough, Q'Roh!"
The declaration stirred the energies of the world and suppressed the Aura of the man speaking to him to the point that he found it difficult to even speak.
Noticing his stifled expression, Cardinal relented and allowed his junior to breathe freely.
"What you're saying is blasphemous twaddle," he said after a while, clearly still much annoyed by his insinuations. "I wonder what the master is teaching you if all you do is spout that. Since you have time to do all that, why not sharpen your sword intent so that it's actually threatening?"
This remark had its intended effect and the man in question fell to the floor as though he had received a bodily blow. In truth, he worked on his cultivation extensively and never neglected his sword arts and Cardinal was aware of this. This insecurity of his was persistent, though and had anyone except this indomitable Fae mentioned it, he would have exploded in fury.
"Speaking of master," he said, while still lying down on the floor, "he actually sent me here on an errand."
Cardinal was piqued and wondered what it could be that their master wanted from him, but was even more curious as to why he'd send this fool as an intermediary when he (Cardinal) would avail himself no matter the circumstance if called.
"What could the master possibly send you here for?"
"I wondered at first, too, but it's just regarding a request of yours from back in the day."
"An old request?" Cardinal had great esteem for his great master's time and had barely asked for anything save when it was dire.
Could he mean?
Still, why on Ani's green earth would he send Q'Roh to him if it was a matter that serious?
"Indeed, but before that," he said, aiming a mischievous smile from his position on the dusty rug, "how's your son? He's returning today, isn't he?"
Cardinal was, above all things, incapable of guile and found it difficult to even recognise it in others, so although he found the segue weird, he answered the question in the affirmative blandly.
"That's actually why I broke out the Astral Gate to end the duel suddenly," he confessed, "I didn't want to be dragged into a prolonged match with you. Also, you should be more careful; you've already asked me more than three questions."
The junior waved it off and inquired once more about the Fae's son.
Cardinal closed his eyes for a second before responding.
"He actually managed to get himself drawn into some mess in the short time you occupied my attention."
"Wait, what?"