Memoria was at the same time both a surprise to Leon and exactly what he expected.  It was a city that acted as the capital of a powerful Empire, one of the premier powers of Aeterna.  That meant that Leon wouldn’t have blamed anyone for thinking it would be a grand imperial capital where ostentatious displays of wealth and power would abound.  A large city, and wealthy, with beautiful architecture and a vibrant culture.

The truth that Leon saw as Silver Spear descended upon the city, however, was the exact opposite.

There were no grand buildings that showed off the creativity of Sentinel architectural minds, there were no huge palaces or opulent forums.  There were no magnificent public structures or private dwellings.

Every building in the city, it seemed, was some variation of a gray box.  Even square windows were optional.  Nowhere could he see any gold, silver, or marble.  There weren’t even any buildings artistically made of wood or red brick; only gray stone boxes everywhere he could see, all of varying sizes.

About the only places that caught Leon’s eye—or rather, his magic senses, as he was observing the city from within his personal ark—were the strategically placed fortresses, arkyards, and mustering grounds, though all of those showcased the same purely functional architecture as the rest of the city without even a single architectural flair to draw the eye.  The only exceptions seemed to be the bright splashes of color from the few foreign embassies located close to the city’s outer boundaries.

The people he could see walking around weren’t much better, as they were all dressed much as Keeper always was: gray or brown robes, most of them so roughly spun that they were ill-fitting.  Notably, Leon mostly saw men, women were much rarer in Memoria.  He hardly even saw many carriages, though what few he did spot were at least both wheelless and horseless.

Given what he knew of the Keeper, he wasn’t surprised to find the man’s capital city exactly as dour, brutally serious, and lacking in comfort as the man himself was, but on the other hand, Memoria wasn’t just unique amongst imperial capital cities, it was also unique within the Sentinels’ land, too.

The Sentinels were the least populous of the four Empires, but even they, ruled as they were by stoic monks who seemed to favor brutally simplistic architecture, worked in their own way to build magnificently in other Sentinel cities.  They were even allowed to use color in those places, though the use of gold and silver still seemed either out of fashion or outright outlawed.

‘Whole damn city looks uncomfortable,’ Leon observed distastefully as Silver Spear slowed until it hovered over an arkpad close to one of the biggest, most rectangular buildings he’d ever seen.  Silver Spear had been escorted by several Sentinel arks the entire way, and the landing was no different as they slowly touched down on the arkpad, with three Sentinel arks following suit while another five watched from above.

Despite this overt show of force, Leon, accompanied by Cassandra, Gaius, Alix, and their respective guard details, descended Silver Spear’s ramp with confidence.  An almost insultingly small group of Sentinel bureaucrats—or monks, priests, or whatever bespoke name Leon supposed they would be called in this spartan Empire to show how stoic they were and how much they eschewed the finer things in life—met them at the bottom.  The only reason neither Leon nor Cassandra were offended was because the average power level of these bureaucrats was startlingly high, at the eighth-tier.  There was even a pair of ninth-tier mages leading them.

From one of the other three landing Sentinel arks emerged the Keeper, who descended from his ark with little fanfare.  He walked over until he stood in front of the waiting group of bureaucrats and formally stated to Leon and Cassandra, “Welcome to Memoria.  Rooms will be set aside for you to occupy here, if you so choose.”

Leon was hardly averse to spending a day or two in harder conditions, but his opinion of where to stay had to answer to another, and that other spoke while he was still wracking his brain trying to think of something to compliment the city about.

“We will be staying in the Evergolden embassy,” Cassandra replied.  “Your offer of hospitality is appreciated.”  She even said it with a smile, though Leon could see it straining at the edges.

“So be it,” Keeper replied, looking not at all offended or surprised.  “I will send someone for you tomorrow morning.  We make for the Sundered Lands then.”

Without another word, Keeper turned around and made for the nearest entrance to the large rectangular building.  Most of the waiting bureaucrats turned around and followed, though both of the ninth-tier mages and several others remained.

“We will escort you to the embassy,” one said, explaining their lingering presence.

“Very well,” Leon said.

And with that, they were escorted through the city—on foot, to Cassandra’s consternation, though Leon at least appreciated being allowed to see the city up close—toward the palace-tree on the city’s northern edge.

The entire way there, they were shadowed by the five arks above and several hundred other powerful mages in adjacent streets, though they at least kept a respectful distance.  Leon also noted that many of the other people on the street didn’t react to any of this at all, though he also soon realized that there didn’t seem to be any places of rest or relaxation in the city.  There were no restaurants, no parks, and no public gathering places where the citizens of the city could linger and spend their leisure time.  Everyone they saw on the streets seemed like they were going somewhere; not a single person appeared to be people just spending their day outside.  As a result, Leon wondered how many of these people were private citizens and how many were connected to the Sentinel government.  He was willing to bet that the ratio was skewed more in favor of the latter than the former compared to other Imperial capitals…

‘This city…’ Leon thought with growing dismay as they made their way through the perfectly ordered grid of gray stone boxes.  ‘Thank the Ancestors I didn’t grow up here.’

---

“This fucking city,” Cassandra bemoaned as she collapsed on the plush bed in her and Leon’s private apartment in the Evergolden embassy.  She snuggled into the blankets a bit before freezing for a moment and finishing her thought.  “I hate it.”

Leon hummed in agreement, though he refrained from saying his real thoughts aloud.

“Should’ve just gone home instead,” Cassandra complained.

“We can still do that, if you insist,” Leon offered half-seriously.  His visit to the old Thunderbird Clan palaces seemed weird without Nestor there, and a part of him understood Nestor’s reluctance to come on this trip in the first place.  Now that he was here, he almost didn’t want to go at all, if only to preserve the mystique of the place.

“Noooo,” Cassandra sighed.  “Let’s go see it.  I want to see it, too.  I just don’t like having to deal with Keeper to do it.”

“No one likes dealing with the Keeper,” Leon clarified.

“I think Ilion’s Lord Protector likes him.  A bit.”

“Really?  Then one whole person likes the Keeper.  That’s literally an infinite increase!  Incredible!  Has someone told him yet?”

Cassandra threw a pillow at Leon, who had to suppress his laughter at her outburst.  He picked up the pillow and joined her on the bed, relishing the moment of calm.

“I want to go home, too,” he confessed.  Cassandra responded by snuggling closer and wrapping an arm around his waist.  “Haven’t had enough time with everyone, yet.”

“If you ever have ‘enough’ time with all of us, then I’m going to be upset,” Cassandra cheekily replied.  “There’s no such thing as ‘enough’ of me!”

Leon chuckled and pulled her closer.  “When you’re right, you’re right.”

They lay there for a few minutes more, simply enjoying each other’s company, when Cassandra broke the silence.

“It’s going to be strange leaving this place,” she whispered.  “I… almost don’t want to go.”

Leon nodded in understanding.  “Aeterna has been our home for all our lives.”

“How close are we to leaving for the Nexus?” she asked.

Firmly, Leon stated, “I have to achieve Apotheosis first.”  With more uncertainty, he added, “We need arks and MALLs.  I don’t know how many.  I don’t think there’s really a number that’ll feel ‘enough’.”  He put some emphasis on the word, hoping to get a rise out of Cassandra.  He wasn’t disappointed when she poked him in the ribs.  “Ambrose has offered to send us to the Nexus himself.  The whole Kingdom, too.  I’m not sure how that’s going to work, though, and we’re undoubtedly going to need to do some scouting first.  I don’t want to put much faith in the man’s ability to follow through when his portal sent me so far away from where it was supposed to on Arkhnavi.”

“We’re not going to be teleporting somewhere overrun with Devilish magic,” Cassandra pointed out.

“No, we’re not.  It’ll only be overrun with who-knows-what other kind of magic?  And that close to the universe’s Origin Spark?  I think I’ll be much happier if we’re able to reach the Nexus of our own accord in some way, even if it’s only with a few people.  We’ll find a good place, then have Ambrose send the rest.  In a controlled manner.”

“That’ll depend on getting what you want here,” Cassandra stated.

“Yes, it will,” Leon agreed.  “But we can’t take anything with us, this time.”

“Next time, we’ll take your metal kinsman.”

Leon nodded.  “Even if I have to drag him here myself.”

With that, they drifted off to sleep—a rare indulgence, and one that didn’t last much longer than an hour, but it was refreshing, nonetheless.

---

The journey into the Sundered Lands was an experience that Leon wasn’t soon to forget.  First, they weren’t allowed to take Silver Spear, but the Keeper personally escorted Leon and his people out of Memoria in a large convoy of carriages—it turned out that Memoria had plenty of them, they were simply not allowed within the city itself except under rare circumstances, like moving supplies.

Secondly, the Sundered Lands lived up to their name in spades.  The Sentinels’ lands in general were less fertile than the other three Empires, but the land northeast of Memoria seemed to grow more and more barren with every passing mile.  Brown plains with dry dirt as far as the eye could see, followed by hills with only the gray and palest yellow of exposed stone to break up the color palate.  Leon almost started to sweat as the landscape more and more resembled that of Arkhnavi, though thankfully with a clear sky, and without the constant pressure of Devilish magic polluting the environment.

But life wasn’t completely gone from this border region of the Sundered Lands, showcased by the occasional stubby tree or weed poking out of the dirt.  The real desolation, Leon could see, was ahead.

The real Sundered Lands, Leon soon saw with his own eyes.  A desert situated in the crook of a rocky mountain range to the north and east, and by cliffs and hills to the west and south.  Hot, sunbaked ground was all Leon could see in the south, while further north the desert was replaced with huge sand dunes and the thick brown clouds of a perpetual dust storm, occasionally illuminated from within by white and gold lightning.

The Keeper shared Leon and Cassandra’s carriage on the ride over, though he’d remained silent until finally reaching the top of the hills bordering the Sundered Lands to the south.  Now that they could lay their eyes on what the Sundered Lands truly were, he spoke.

“These lands were once fertile, according to our records.”

“They were a land of great plenty,” Cassandra agreed, appearing to take no small amount of joy in interrupting the tenth-tier mage.  “Fertile fields, beautiful lakes, and snowcapped mountains that no artist could ever perfectly capture.”

Keeper nodded.  “Not that some didn’t try.  Of all the lands of Aeterna, these were once the most beautiful.  And it makes sense that this is where the Thunderbird Clan built their capital.”  Keeper had kept his eyes closed for nearly the entire trip, but with that sentence, he opened his milk-white eyes and seemed to stare directly into Leon’s soul realm.  “In the chaos and the violence that followed your Clan’s downfall, Leon Raime, no land suffered more than this.  For thousands of years we have tried to heal the scars left from the wars of those days, but our efforts have… seen less success than even our most pessimistic Keepers have hoped for.”

“Maybe you should take up our offer of help, then,” Cassandra accusingly stated as their carriage began its downward journey through the hills and into the dry southern desert.  “The Sacred Golden Empire has offered to help restore this land’s natural beauty for thousands of years.  You Sentinels have always refused.”

“A naked attempt to undermine our people,” Keeper said dismissively.  “We have no time for such political games.”

“And so your Sundered Lands remain dead,” Cassandra replied with some resignation.

A moment of silence followed, broken when Leon wondered aloud, “What could’ve caused this level of environmental devastation?  I… know some kinds of magic that might do it, but for the land to linger like this without any kind of trace…  Or at least, no trace that I can sense…”

Leon almost hated himself even silently admitting that he wished Nestor were present, if only to explain how all of this might’ve happened.  Fortunately, Keeper seemed eager to provide an explanation.

“The servants of the Thunderbird Clan warred with each other here,” the Keeper gravely stated, judgment dripping from his voice.  “Arks were shot down, men died, and the land burned.  The capital activated its impressive defenses without restraint, causing even greater devastation.  The land was soon poisoned by corrupt magic, and never recovered.”

“Easy enough to fix, if time-consuming,” Cassandra pointed out.  “For skilled enough nature mages, anyway.”

Keeper barely spared her a glance.  “After the servants of the Thunderbird Clan fought themselves to exhaustion, the armies of the Brilliant Eleven stormed in.  Though the Clan servants had done their best to kill each other, the Sundered Lands still saw a fresh wave of violence tear them apart.  The Brilliant Eleven were the victors, and the Clan servants were expelled from this region.  They fled south, but suffered even greater defeat when they tried to resist the Brilliant Eleven’s army.”

“And eventually, they were forced off the mainland, and fled to Kataigida,” Cassandra added.

“And became the Ten Tribes,” Leon finished.  Looking out of the carriage window, he said, “Other than the desolation, you can hardly tell that this place was the scene of such violence.”

“Time washes all away,” Keeper said almost sadly.  “Even arks.  Especially men.  All have long been buried, never to be recovered.”

“I would love to lead a dig here,” Cassandra longingly stated.

“You have done good work illuminating the people who lived here before the Thunderbird Clan came,” Keeper said.  “That is more valuable than looking for the remains of invaders.”

“They’re both valuable,” Cassandra snapped.

“They are not,” Keeper disagreed, his voice finally losing a bit of his usual detachment in favor of what sounded to Leon like anger.

“If you believe so strongly, then why are you allowing me to access the palaces?” Leon asked.

“Old crimes can be forgiven with time, though never forgotten,” Keeper replied.  “In the name of peace, I allow this.”

Leon gave him a thin-lipped smile and didn’t reply.  Silence again fell for several minutes before Leon asked an obvious question.  “How do we know the palaces are still intact if the fighting was fierce?”

Far to the north was where the palaces had been built, close to the mountains on the border of the Sundered Lands, and deep in the sandy desert obscured by thick brown clouds.  Not even Leon, with his tenth-tier senses, could see through the clouds to what lay shrouded amidst the sand.

“Expeditions over the years have confirmed the continued existence of the palaces,” Keeper explained.  “It’s easy to get lost within the clouds, but we’ve found a way.  So long as we stick to the guide markers, we will have no trouble finding the works of your ancestors, Leon Raime, though we will have to spend a few days within.”

Leon waved his assent.  However, as he examined the dust storms shrouding the northern Sundered Lands, he thought he could sense something strange about them, a hint of magic within that wasn’t present in the rest of the desolate Sundered Lands.

[Heh,] the Thunderbird quietly chuckled.  [I’m surprised the defenses are still active after so long.  I didn’t think the area had enough magic to sustain them.]

[The storms are created by the palace, then?] Leon asked.

[Yes,] the Thunderbird confirmed.  [If I had to guess, the current state of the land is because the palaces are sucking up all the magic in the area to power the enchantment creating those storms.  I’m actually a little surprised that anyone found their way through, though I suppose that’s what happens when someone has eighty-thousand years of uninterrupted access.  Take this as a lesson, Leon: never give your enemies such access.]

[Not a lesson I need to learn,] Leon whispered as his golden eyes took in more of the dust storm.  It was an intimidating sight, but if the defenses were still active, then it stood to reason that other enchantments might be, too…

Though the dust storm was an obstacle meant to deter, Leon’s desire to see the palaces only grew as he took in every current, eddy, and bolt of lightning within the storm.

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