All the Dust that Falls

Chapter 220: A Land Before Time

Chapter 220: A Land Before Time

As Daedalus and I emerged from the cave, I couldn't help but feel a slight thrill of excitement quiver through my bristles. I had been at the castle for several months straight now, and I was starting to realize that I had a taste for adventure. Being cooped up for so long was not as fun as I had thought it would be, especially with how seriously everyone took their cleaning responsibilities. The ability to go anywhere I wanted truly was a blessing and a curse.

When I approached Beatrice about taking an extended trip with my new draconic friend, she was surprisingly receptive to the idea. In fact, she started producing what people called "tears of joy," promising to protect the city and that my trust in her wouldn't be misplaced. It was reassuring to hear, though I wasn't particularly afraid of any threats showing up anyway.

As Daedalus and I flew north, great sheets of ice spread out below us. Additional snow-capped mountains reached toward the skies, though none were as tall as his. Soon, though, the landscape transitioned from frozen earth to a marshy swamp.

When I asked Daedalus about that, he explained that the ground beneath us was called a tundra. Now that the beginning of spring was here, the frozen ground had begun to melt and give way to budding plant life. The initial ice plain we saw apparently had to do with mountain shielding and weather patterns that I didn't really understand. Apparently, some magic was involved, too, but Daedalus wasn't entirely sure about it himself.

After that explanation, we flew silently for a few more hours before Daedalus spotted something else and perked up. "Ah, Spot, my friend. This is going to be a sight. Have you ever flown over the ocean before?"

I had not. What was an ocean? "You've never even seen an ocean before? Surely you've heard of them?"

I mean, I knew they were large pools of water, but that didn't seem particularly noteworthy to me. Certainly not something worth celebrating or admiring.

Daedalus thought for a bit. "Well, let me tell you how we explain it to our hatchlings. A long time ago, among the void were scattered world gems. The most ancient of dragons fought over these gems, coveting them and their incredible shininess and warmth. That led to many battles across millennia, with my kin fighting or fleeing to seek other gems.

"This gem in particular was fought over quite fiercely. As the dragons grew in size and power though, winners emerged. Seven earth dragons gained prominence and were able to more reasonably claim the gem as their own. They defeated the water dragons, whose remains cover the earth even today." Daedalus pointed below. "The land we fly over is the backs of these great earth dragons. As for the water dragons… Well, they form the oceans."

I beeped a question. "No, the earth dragons still live. In fact, they;re still fighting even today. They've grown lazy and comfortable over their long lifespans. They move across the world so slowly that it takes hundreds of thousands of years for us to even notice their steps. But they seek each other out, and when they collide, their roars shake the world, their battles forming mountains. Then, when they retreat, the land splits apart and the ocean comes to fill the void."

I wasn't sure what to make of the story. The idea of walking dragons forming the ground below us seemed pretty unfeasible. Though the general idea gave me some useful context. I remembered a brief image of a scribble from one of the very, very small humans back at home. It was a strange circle of blue and green. Perhaps it was attempting to depict these land masses separated by water, as Daedalus explained?

The dragon nodded as I projected the drawing. "Yes. That's not the right shapes, but that's the general idea. Splotches that are the backs of earth dragons poking up from the endless water. Up north of us, there is a great ocean. It's not nearly as large as some of the others in the world, but across it there will be another dragon's back. A continent, as the humans call it. We will fly over there to reach our destination."

I beeped my thanks for the explanation. "Of course. The ocean is a beautiful thing. You'll see the sunsets and the waves, and maybe we'll even see some leviathans of the deep."

Soon, something new appeared over the horizon. I recalled seeing something similar once before, on the way back home from Arthur's army. A sliver of vast, sparkling blue. As we approached, it widened and widened until it became clear that this expanse was far larger than I had expected.

We continued toward the ocean until the land below us gave way to azure water. My sensors indicated that not only was this wide but incredibly deep as well. In fact, if I stuck my mop in it, I doubted that I'd be able to make even a dent in the sheer volume of the stuff.

It made me shudder internally. Without the wonders of flight, I would have been very uncomfortable about all of this. Even now, the idea of plunging into that much liquid felt like my worst nightmare. I made sure to top off my energy regularly as a precaution. It's a good thing that it was nowhere near any of my homes. This would be a nightmare to clean up.

As we flew across the water, Daedalus was quick to point out when massive dark shapes glided under the water below. Apparently, things lived under there. I shuddered at the thought. How did their circuits stay functional? Or, if they didn't have circuits, how did they breathe?

"Look. Look. You see those tentacles? That's a baby kraken." Daedalus excitedly gestured, pointing out a floating tentacle mass that was thrashing about on the water. "It must be stuck. Wait one second. I'll be right back."

Daedalus dove down and gripped a few of the tentacles in his massive talons. With a mighty beat of his wings, he slowly pulled the Kraken until something seemed to give. Satisfied, he let the writhing mass sink back down underneath the waves in a froth of bubbles. How nice of him.

I saw another mass beneath the water, only a few dozen feet below the surface. I pointed it out as Daedalus returned to flying by my side. "Yeah. That looks to be like an island that's forming. I don't know the explanation for them, but sometimes islands will just appear. Apparently they come from molten rock that hardens or something. That, or it's a great turtle."

I just beeped, and we continued on.

***

A few days later, we finally saw land again. I was overjoyed. Sure, the place was edged with horrible sandy beaches, but it was something. But we didn't stop, even for such an important task as fixing one of the worst collections of loose debris and dirt that I had ever seen. It was all wet, to boot. I was glad no one had introduced me to such things before. They might haunt my background processes for a while yet.

Soon, those beaches transitioned into plains of long grass and then eventually some spotted trees. A few hours later, mountains rose up on the horizon. More than that, though, I felt something odd. A strange twinge picked up by my sensors, but unidentifiable.

Daedalus confirmed that it wasn't a glitch. "This is what I was talking about. The magic feels a little bit different. There was a slight draw power from this area."

I probed my senses more thoroughly, and indeed, I could feel slight currents of energy being pulled toward this area. I asked if he had only noticed this recently, and Daedalus nodded. "Yes. I can guarantee it wasn't a thing until a couple of months ago. Even then, I wasn't exactly sure when it started, as it's been gradually ramping up. If it keeps growing at this rate, there will be significant consequences for even over on our continent, and I'd like to take care of it before things get out of hand."

I considered what the castle would be like without magic. For the most part, everyone would be okay, but the healing potions and other alchemic ingredients we relied on for so much might not work so well. Could that mean we couldn't get more ingredients, or would the magical properties actually be leached out of the stored ingredients as well? Either way, that probably wouldn't be good.

At the same time, I thought about this trip. Travel alone had taken us quite a deal of time. Depending on how long this took, I was going to be gone for at least a week from the castle. Maybe more. I wondered how everyone was doing. Beatrice and the others had been doing an admirable job of keeping everything in order, so I wasn't too concerned, though. I know they were worried about a response from the kingdom, but that probably wouldn't happen soon.

Setting my worries aside, we continued on.

---

Bee worked alongside Maranda in the laboratory. Today, they were attempting to research a new type of potion that would allow for long-range communication. They were essentially trying to combine Felix's telepathy skill with Void's paper messengers if such a thing were possible. The new messenger service had given her the idea of improving communication even further, but being able to mimic that with conventional magic was more difficult than she had thought. They simply weren't having any luck.

Right as she was thinking about calling it quits for the day. A soldier knocked on the door frame and stuck his head in. "High Priestess Bee, Arthur requests your presence in the command hall."

Bee waved in acknowledgment to the man. "Tell him that I'll be right there. Just need to clean up. Did he say how urgent it was?"

The man nodded. "Yes. The highest priority, ma'am."

He gave a sharp salute before he left to go deliver the return message. Bee frowned. Highest priority? There hadn't been any major incidents that she was aware of in a very long time. Nor did there seem to be a large commotion that she could tell. She couldn't help but wonder what the issue was. They were preparing for the thaw of spring, but they wouldn't expect any sort of conflict with the kingdom to start for at least a month after that. So they should have time before anything major showed up. At least, that was the going theory.

But with Void having gone off on his own travels, she was a little bit worried. She was glad that no one in the castle seemed concerned that Void had abandoned them, but she also wasn't sure what their God was up to. It was a little presumptuous, but having been with Void nearly constantly, it was a bit disconcerting to have it away again for more than a day. Still, Void had trusted them with defending their home. They couldn't disappoint it. That didn't stop her from sending her thoughts to her master, though, wishing he would return if they did, in fact, need his aid.

Finishing her clean up, Bee made her way over to the exit of the castle and out into the city. The city was massive, already several times the size of Caleb. At least, it seemed that way, based on the size of the outer wall being built on the nearest ridge around the castle. The wall wasn't filled in yet, so they would have room to grow, but she didn't doubt they would fill the city in no time, especially with Void's blessings.

The city would completely enclose the castle eventually. The wall was the first thing they started working on after the amenities of the initial camp were done. The layout of the place was a little bit complicated, though. There was the castle as an inner sanctum, then the soldiers' initial camp further out. Past that were all the military buildings and other amenities they had created. These two adjacent circles formed the two city centers.

As they continued to grow, Arthur had started to develop it as a defensive project that would enclose an entire section of the valley, with one massive wall blocking off both the city and the castle from the forest and surrounding area. That left a secondary place where other things could be built, and the city leaders had decided that they would expand into this area for housing and public areas. After all, they'd need them once the families of the soldiers and Caleb's citizens arrived.

Bee took in the sight of their budding city as she approached the newly built command center. With a tired sigh, she stepped toward the entrance.