Lament of the Fallen

Dee’s first thought on seeing the White City was that the name didn’t quite fit. First of all, the name applied to the entire capital world of the Assembly, thus making the term ‘city’ invalid. To compound the issue, the actual primary capital city of the world in question had the same problem that the two grand cities of Pantheon and the shining city of Paradisia had, in that they were really too large to be called a simple city anymore. In some ways, all of them were actually multiple cities joined together, though that was much more pronounced with the Day and Night cities of Pantheon that dwarfed the White City completely. A more accurate term for all of them would be a megalopolis.

Secondly, the city wasn’t entirely white either. Dee could see that the original intent had been for all the buildings to be made of the same white stone magically formed into beautiful and intricate buildings. The central areas of the city did follow the motif for the most part, but the wide streets were dotted with colorful vendor stalls and hastily erected shops that could be quickly moved as the authorities shooed them away. Many of the permanent buildings had entire walls made of nothing but colorful glass, and the additions to many of the buildings also broke the norm. Even a rich merchant would think of it as a waste of money and an inefficient use of materials to have their garden shed made of the white stone. The disparity only grew larger the further away from the central mountain one traveled. There were no slums or hovels in the White City, as even the poorest inhabitants would be relatively wealthy compared to most worlds, but at some point aesthetics gave way to more practical concerns and materials. Besides, almost every building was decorated with a hundred different colors other than white anyway, so the impression was already ruined.

The entire city was built to accommodate the Lords of the Assembly, and the tall white towers dotted the central areas of the city like an endless forest of spikes stabbing at the clouds. Most of the towers were in fact tall enough to reach the same cloud cover, that even now was releasing a slight drizzle of rain, that was just enough to get everything wet. Even if some of the Lords spent most of their time on other worlds, each Lord was still supposed to have a private tower of their own to function as their official residence. That alone accounted for millions upon millions of towers focused on the central parts of the city. All the other buildings and people in the White City were there to serve the Lords and their wants and needs.

For some reason, the Lords had decided to turn most of their official buildings into towers as well, and those towers tended to be much larger and taller than the private towers of the Lords. That decision wasn’t a bad one either since the bureaucracy of the Assembly that ruled over countless worlds and races was stupendous, to say the least. If all those buildings had been built wide instead of tall, the city would have been even larger and more cramped. Nearly all the inhabitants of this world were powerful mages or warriors, and thus capable of flying so even official buildings could easily have a hundred floors. Many of the towers had additional entrances along their length and not just at their base. This gave the city an odd three-dimensional feel.

While most of the traffic still happened on the ground, an impressive number of people and various flying mounts and vehicles dotted the skies above. Many entrepreneuring individuals also had small flying vessels that functioned as restaurants and shops as they traveled either between the towers or stopped at busy aerial thoroughfares to hawk their wares. The most desired customers were, of course, the Lords themselves, but the density of people here rivaled anything Dee had ever seen before, and despite the presence of millions of Lords, most of the people moving around didn’t wear the robes of a Lord or even a trainee.

In a city dedicated to the Lords, one would at first assume most of the people would be either the Lords or their students, but that assumption would be very much in error. Most Lords had dozens if not hundreds of servants taking care of their towers. Many of them also had families that were not Lords themselves, and many Lords also brought their relatives and friends to the White City, partially to be safe and partially to have a better life and easier time growing stronger in the mana-rich environment.

Then there were all the merchants that provided the Lords and the associated people with wares, food, and entertainment. Countless artisans created magical items, potions, and weapons, and then there was a need to keep some security. While the Lords easily had enough strength to do that, they didn’t want to bother personally, and it was a waste of their time to deal with pickpockets and rabble-rousers anyway. And all of these additional people needed services too. This created the endless snowball that had slowly turned into an avalanche of epic proportions and one of the most population rich worlds in the universe was born. That was with the exceptions of Pantheon and Paradisia of course, both of which were several times larger but also had less population density than the White City.

The ambient mana here was comparable to the first circle on Pantheon as well, so many people moved here just to advance their own growth, perhaps in the hopes of joining the ranks of the Lords in the future. Dee had noted that even the servants and hawkers were relatively powerful, and that was mostly because it was much more beneficial to be a servant for a Lord in the White City than try to advance your own growth on some other world with much less ambient mana. Besides, the Lords usually compensated their servants extremely well, and those servants were almost never mistreated.

If a Lord wanted to mistreat or abuse someone…well, there were discreet shops for that too. While no one would punish a Lord for simple abuse, word got around fast and those Lords would find themselves without anyone willing to serve them really quickly. Competent and discreet servants were worth their weight in gold and there were several agencies dedicated to finding such people and facilitating their employment. The abusive Lords really didn’t want to be forced into cleaning their own tower. The risk was simply not worth it, especially since there were already specialized shops that catered to all their deepest and darkest desires.

At the center of the city was a large mountain that almost rivaled the Living Mountain in size. Dee quickly estimated that the Living Mountain was taller but thinner at the base. Maybe the Living Mountain’s diet had worked? Aurelie had mentioned that this mountain had a consciousness as well, and the Living Mountain was already sending hopeful images and emotions to Dee, clearly looking forward to this meeting. Unfortunately, the surroundings of the mountain were full of the white towers and there was no way for the Living Mountain to go out full-sized. Naturally, the Living Mountain was not feeling right about showing up in a miniature form either, so the whole thing was put on hold for now.

While the surroundings of the mountain held most of the administrative and public-facing buildings of the Assembly, the mountain itself held most of the really important official facilities, ranging from the schools for the future hopeful Lords and elite subordinates, headquarters of every faction, the hall of the council, the grand hall of the Assembly and a hundred more. Those hundred more also included the gateway their group used to come to this world. The gateway was situated almost at the base of the mountain, but still providing a grand view over the city.

Dee was slightly surprised to find that the gates of the White City were not even guarded, but she realized that there was little need for that because all of the worlds that allowed entry to the White City already had almost excessive precautions, checks, fortifications, and security. Besides, any would-be attacker would find themselves surrounded by every Lord of the Assembly staying in the White City within a minute of arrival. If the city faced a danger that could avoid such focused attention, then some slight security would not be much help and would only complicate matters. Much like Pantheon, the White City also had thousands of gates scattered all over the planet, though only a handful of them facilitated travel to other worlds. Considering the large number of people, ease of mobility was valued higher than security that could be delegated to several other worlds instead.

“It’s a nice place.” Moirai commented in a rather neutral tone.

“I think I like it.” Dee replied. “It’s not Pantheon, but we might find this to be the next best thing for the time being. We’ll have to snoop around to see if we really like it here or not.”

“Before you do that, there are some matters we’ll need to handle. Don’t worry, we won’t dive straight into the heaviest stuff, but we need to get you registered as Lords at least. We also need to report our presence and willingness to attend the grand Assembly should one be called on a short notice. There are certain boring procedures to go through every time one of our kind arrives here, but it is the price we pay. Like I said, you’ll be staying in my tower for the time being, which is luckily not that far.” Aurelie explained.

“Once you officially become part of the Assembly and choose a faction, you can consider building your own tower, although there’s no rush with that.” Mit-Amen also helpfully supplied. “The different factions also have a habit of grouping their towers together, and you’ll get a spot assigned based on your seniority. With Dee’s strength, she’ll get a spot right by the mountain.”

Moirai lifted her eyebrow a bit while looking at the forest of towers right next to the mountain. “I don’t think there’s space for that.”

Mit-Amen chuckled a bit. “Space will be created by our spatial mages once a location has been assigned. There are certain guidelines about the whole process, but I’m sure the officials will be more than happy to spend a few weeks going over them with you. I would advise paying at least a little bit of attention just so they won’t make your life difficult. There are a hundred small annoyances that they can inflict on you even if they don’t have real power. That said, I think Dee at least is scary enough that they might go with the short version.” She gave Aurelie an amused glance before continuing. “When it comes time to hire servants, I’d advise against asking a red for help. The servants they can recommend can be skilled and discreet for the most part, but they will also all be spies.”

Aurelie gave a look of faux indignation. “I resent that implication! We would never have all of them be spies. That’s a waste of good manpower. We’d have at most a third of them be spies, and the rest can be informants and collaborators.”

Mit-Amen turned back to Dee’s group with a clear ‘I told you so’ expression. “In any case, I’ll leave you to it. While I would love to stay and make sure the red one won’t poison your mind with all sorts of biased information, I do have some work to do. This war won’t wage itself, and although the more militant factions handle most of the actual fighting, we need to handle support to the best of our ability. Besides, us whites are considered to be half-way between a militant faction and a peaceful one. I’d advise you to take a few days to familiarize yourselves with what the city has to offer. I think you’ll enjoy it. It’s not quite the same as Pantheon, but you can find almost anything here.”

The next few hours were spent dealing with the bureaucracy of the Assembly. Dee noted with interest that most of the officials seemed to come from a set of very particular races known for their long lives and attention to detail like dwarves and certain kinds of fay. It made sense that such positions would benefit from the continuity of diligent workers that were able to become experts at their work over centuries of practice. The downside was that they became a little too dedicated and matters were somewhat dragged down by the minutiae, hence the time everything took.

“Don’t worry, the first time is a little painful but after that, it becomes much easier.” Aurelie joked.

“Are we still talking about bureaucracy?” Nyx asked with a suggestive wiggle of her eyebrows. She had recovered enough for playful jokes, though on second consideration Nyx had cracked dirty jokes almost immediately after being resurrected.

“Well, I was.” Aurelie smiled in slight delight at her joke being played along with. “The first session is all about gathering information on new people. In the future, you only need to report yourself present and answer one or two questions instead of this veiled interrogation.”

“Oi! This is important work!” The dwarven official handling their affairs protested.

“Really? What exactly were you planning on using the knowledge of my bust size for?” Dee asked a little amused. Some of the questions had been a little probing.

“We have lists and rankings.” The dwarven official replied shamelessly. “Some of the more gossipy news outlets pay well for such tidbits. For instance, there’s a yearly ranking for the bustiest female Lords as well as the most eligible bachelorettes. Of course the males have their own as well. Not that they reach anywhere near the same popularity.”

“Perversion and corruption. Delightful.” Moirai commented primly. She was however delighted that unlike Dee, she had not answered those questions.

“You’ll have to excuse them.” Aurelie laughed. “The Lords are the focus of everything that happens in the White City, so it’s only natural that such things pop up. Some of the Lords are extremely popular and even have dedicated fan-bases. The Assembly turns a blind eye towards such activities as they are ultimately beneficial for us and morale.”

“Incidentally, she always does well on most rankings.” The dwarven official stated pointing at Aurelie. “I believe that’s the main reason she doesn’t mind.”

That wasn’t hard to imagine. Despite her dangerous-looking tail and almost insectoid looking chitin protections on her arms, Aurelie was a beautiful woman. Her extra parts mostly added to the allure and mystique, and Dee guessed the placement of those extras was not accidental. If they had looked grotesque, Aurelie would most likely have done something about them. At least that was the impressions Dee got. She might have judged the other woman wrong though.

“Still though, you didn’t need to be quite that open about some of the details.” Aurelie commented as they finally walked out of the administrative building. “I mean really? Cat Panties?”

“I happen to think they are cute.” Dee replied without missing a beat. “Also they were standard issue for the facility that trained me in my holy power skills.”

“I find that seriously doubtful.” Aurelie’s suspicions were clear from the tone of her voice. No holy institution would have such scandalous apparel as standard issue.

“I keep telling you Dee, that’s just a joke they play on new recruits.” Moirai also stated with a sigh. They’d had this discussion before, but it was not about being right or wrong. Dee liked the things and her mistaken beliefs provided a good enough excuse.

“Anyway, I was only open about certain things. I kept most of my history and abilities secret.” Dee pointed out. The questionnaire conducted by the dwarven official had been extremely thorough, but nobody expected anyone to actually answer honestly to all the questions. Incidentally, even the angels had been forced to answer certain questions, although they got off easier since it was assumed they were only visiting.

Even among the extremely varied display of races, eccentric clothing, and powerful beings, their group managed to draw a fair bit of attention when walking the streets. Angels were a rare sight in the White City after all. Fortunately, Aurelie had been truthful about her tower being relatively close, so they didn’t have to suffer the prying eyes for too long. Most of the people around this area were also officials or Lords so there were no problems.

Aurelie’s tower looked identical to many others from the outside. Just a simple square building that with each side being a few hundred mel wide and the tower reaching endlessly towards the skies. Aurelie explained that the outsides of the towers rarely differed all that much, but much like with the clothing the Lords wore, it was the insides that mattered. As soon as they entered the large doors it became obvious that the insides of the tower were much larger than the outside. This wasn’t a surprise as this was a city filled with skilled mages, but the extent of it was still quite glaring.

The first floor seemed to have a large forest that seemed to extend in all directions and Dee could sense live animals and beasts in the forest. There were also blue skies and a sun where the ceiling of this floor should’ve been. The central path from the door quickly led to a well-tended garden surrounding a series of teleportation formations. Aurelie explained that all of the formations had different purposes and could reach different destinations. One was dedicated to servants and lead to their living areas, another nearby one led to the facilities the servants used and storage facilities for everyday goods that took care of the deliveries left at the door, mostly in the form of supplies. One led to the guest accommodations with separate themes and surroundings for different tastes and races. One led to areas suitable for official functions, one to Aurelie’s own quarters and so on. And apparently, nearly every floor had a separate climate and weather. Some might be clad in an eternal night, while others were battered by constant and never-ending storms.

“And those formations there are in order: crafting facilities, bestiary, sex dungeon, dungeon dungeon, training facilities, torture facilities, more training facilities that can double as torture facilities, landing areas for aerial mounts and flying ships, and miscellaneous.” Aurelie said pointing to one side, with no one being certain just how serious her words were.

As they looked at Aurelie, she cracked a smile. “What? Don’t believe I have skill in crafting? I mean, I am a psion so I can see how you would be skeptical.”

Dee walked straight towards the formation Aurelie had labeled as ‘sex dungeon’ and vanished. After being gone for a few minutes, she returned with a slightly confused expression. “Well?” Nyx asked brimming with anticipation.

“I mean…I suppose all that could be used for sex. I’m not sure I would call it a dungeon though.” Dee answered, hedging her words.

“You just have to be a little imaginative!” Aurelie stated with a wide grin. “Incidentally, most of this is just stuff that comes as standard. Like I said, I’m a psion so I really can’t construct anything like this tower. There are mages dedicated to such things, and you can make requests for additional features. I never said I actively used much of this stuff, but it’s nice to know you have a dirty enough imagination to state that all that stuff has some use for sex. Honestly, I wasn’t entirely sure myself. I just ordered the thing as a joke.”

“A little imagination goes a long way.” Dee stated with a faintest of blushes on her face.

“Ooh, now I have to see this. Moirai, help me get there.” Nyx laughed while prodding Moirai who was still helping her move around. Nyx was already mostly strong enough by herself, she could even contribute to battle to a small extent, but couldn’t keep it up for the entire day.

Aurelie laughed before stopping them. “I think we should get you situated and fed before any of that. You have time to explore later. Incidentally, my servants were not made aware of our arrival so we have to handle our food today in a different way. Follow me.”

She led the group through one of the teleportation formations, and the group found themselves in a rather cozy lounge with tables set up for both dining and entertainment. Many of the tables had various games set up, and there was an open door leading to a large room with what looked like heated pools for both exercise and pleasure. The most obvious feature of the room was that one side of it was currently opening a view of the city, with only a small railing for safety. There were obvious spots were a flying vessel could dock as well.

“I’ve already sent a signal and three restaurant boats will come to us shortly. I tried to aim for a varied selection, and I’m buying so feel free to eat whatever and however much you’d like.” Aurelie explained, and the first of the boats she mentioned was already pulling over next to the tower.

The flying boat was barely larger than a standard street stall serving food, and the human man piloting the boat suited the appearance of an enthusiast cook to a tee. The varied menus made it clear that the boat also had much more varied materials and facilities than it seemed. Another, much larger vessel was also approaching in the vicinity.

“That was probably a mistake. Promising whatever and however much.” Moirai muttered, getting an agreeing nod from Nyx. They were both aware of Dee’s eating habits.

“You mean you can just send a signal and they deliver any sort of food and an actual restaurant right to your doorstep?! I love this place!” Dee exclaimed, already drawing a list of foods in her mind. The first of many.