233 Matrioshka Moon

Doyle Wolfgang.

***

"I increased the radius and altitude. So, it's the same size in the night sky."

While his words created a surge in the vast crowd, they sparked an epiphany to form in my mind. Even in this airless realm, we could breathe. And more, we could speak. Yet no one seemed to notice. Even Olga, who I realized stood beside me, surged towards Amun with the hunger for answers burning in her eyes. And Amun took it stoically by turning on his heels.

Though his pace was slow, he somehow outpaced the mob- which now included me- on his way to a curious mound with a cliff face that hung over the land like a gaping maw.

Because of the gathering of Captains before me, I couldn't quite see what or where he was leading us to. I could make note of the steady decline in our path and begin to panic once it turned near and eventually past ninety degrees.

With my slowing pace, many goblins, deep gnomes, humans, and other creatures overtook me. Yet, when I arrived at the destination, I quickly saw there was more than enough room for thrice our numbers.

"Oho!" I bellowed, wide-eyed in disbelief as I tapped the floating stone below my foot to ensure its security. "Zeff has to see this!"

There was nothing that the platform was attached to. Or so it seemed until I skirted the entryway to see the other… citizens, entering through the same type of arcane portal seen at the Bodhi Tree. Only, nothing stood behind it, save a curb of stone and a thick branch holding it aloft above an endless sea of midnight-blue clouds.

Both the platform and the black, glowing grains of the divine tree seemed to be the only objects of material for leagues. But out there in the distance, I saw land.

Not a horizon, but shards or platforms or solid chunks of the Mortal Plane adorned with buildings and structures that shouldn't have been able to stand. Many of them towered higher than cathedrals or wider than sports arenas, yet stood on a post just wide enough to fit a door. Others were inverted entirely, with interior courtyards suspended above main roads and avenues.

Vast though they were, the conglomeration of bodies served as the only landmasses within the realm. Or that section of it at least. The swirling sea of dark blue clouds extending into the far distance would serve as real estate for the worlds Amun advertised to the Captains, I was sure.

Yet, the skies above contained an entirely different prospect.

Above the sleeping tempest, was a skyscape that contained more stars than I ever thought possible to exist in one sky. They came in a full range of colors and sizes, from white bodies so bright they left streaks in my vision after looking away to tiny red dots nearly indistinguishable from the gaseous clouds they sat within. And at the center of it all, was the object of my affection.

It appeared as it did from the surface of the Mortal Plane. The moon- Mani, dominated the zenith with its glory and splendor, bathing the floating land below in its gentle light in a way that was just…

"Beautiful."

Mary said it before I could. Yet, it was but one variation of many outbursts from the crowd of thousands.

"Thank you." Amun bowed, though I couldn't see him from my position within the crowd. "And welcome my divine realm, a region of space hosting many worlds, Eotrom."

"Eotrom, huh?" I muttered to myself. "Rolls of the tongue quite nicely."

"The full name is Eotromentia."

"Eotromentia." I somewhat struggled to repeat.

"By living under my wing, you are now Eomen. And though this is not your birthplace, your home is Eotrom." Amun continued, rising above the crowd. "This is a, above all, a meritocracy. A society in which you are free to live your lives as you see fit. You can become a merchant, an inventor, join the Legion, or do nothing if you care not for social status. You are free to do anything you wish. But take care to remember." He raised his finger. "Your actions have consequences.

"You citizens may live anywhere in this world, Bithisarea, and may travel as you please between this realm and the Material Plane." He threw his arm out to the sea of clouds spread out before us and a veritable mob of the new citizens followed, uncaring of the words to come. "Although it is without solid ground, this world, the first of many, is considered the mainland. And should you raise your social standing or become an officer in the Legion, you gain the right to create your own world above."

Pausing, Amun reached his left hand to the moon above and torqued his wrist in a clockwise direction, and the moon followed by shifting slowly through the sky, at first, then faster and faster, transitioning through the phases as it fell towards the east until it was but a crescent shape lingering above the clouds.

And it stayed. For seconds, and then on to nearly a minute, the moon hugged the eastern skies, brightening slowly from blue to white to gold until suddenly. it budged once again. And, as quickly as it set, the moon ascended across the sky, perpetually eclipsing the light of a radiant sun rising in tandem behind it.

"As you can see observed." Amun lowered his hand and turned to face us. "There is no day here. Only night. Only moonlight and twilight. That moon is the same as the one outside. Mani. My home. While, frankly speaking, the vast majority of you are unwelcome there, the officers and the exalted will join me for a tour. Thank you for your time."

With a bow, the citizens, the sea of clouds, and the sea of stars disappeared from my view entirely. As did the moon, I first thought, and then thought we'd been transported to the exterior before I looked out to see a banded and ringed eye staring back at me.

It was colossal. Veins of arcane lightning flashed into light and faded out of existence quietly within an iris of blues, greens, whites, and purples.

It was… Bithisarea, a world of a much more difficult pronunciation than that of Eotrom or Mani, but a world that was no less vast than either the realm, the moon, or the Mortal Plane when viewed from above. Yet, there was another world above. Frosted and covered in ice, unlike the world behind the mainland. A small patch of dirt and water that I recognized instantly as the Cove.

"Honestly." Amun sputtered out a sudden raspberry, pulling our eyes to drow-devil, flicking his eyes back and forth. "It's too much to explain. Here. Or ask your Doppelgangers. Now follow me. We'll begin the tour."

A silver mirror appeared before my eyes just as he turned to float away, thus cementing my feet on the dusty surface for at least a few seconds.

Eventually, however, I followed the now-thinned stream down another vertically inclined road while perusing the surprisingly accessible display.

Through it, I was able to track my position as we traversed the massive structure and bend my head around the fact that we were walking down a sheer wall to enter the various levels inside the moon.

More so, I read about the fascinating features of the realm as a whole.

The 'sun,' for instance, was a layered ball of adamantine, mithral, and other metals heated past their melting point. It was explained to be done for the industry rather than for heat or light, however, and thus is always behind Mani, the moon, when viewed from Bithisarea.

Mani itself was layered like an onion, with eleven sub-realms that loomed above the nondescript core, accessed by the same vertical road on which we traveled. Though it was dozens of meters wide and kilometers longer, the road seemed as tiny as a vein in a leaf in comparison to the trees I gazed upon within the wondrous interior of the first level.

The widening of the luminescent cave signaled our arrival, opening the space around us to reveal an expansive wall of glass to our backs and a vibrant forest to our front, beset by a gleaming city of floating pale stones. Like our home, it was called Eotrom and thus labeled as the realm's capital city. Yet, it wasn't our destination.

We continued on to the second level. The Silverstream Forest. A dreamy, almost ethereal expanse of luminescent plants spread below a ceiling of silver shimmering waters, filled with creatures that could have only been described as divine. One animal, in particular, was the reasoning behind our pit stop. Just before entering the next tunnel, we halted to step onto carriages led by beautiful elks with snow-white coats, velveted silver horns, and eyes of the most mysterious pale blue.

Under a quickened pace, we raced through the Duskwoods on the third level, relegating me to focus to the best of my ability on my senses and view as much of the purple, amber, and blue flowers blooming within the perpetual dusk as possible. But alas, the most I retained were the strange, almost noxious mixes of spices congesting the air and the tiny motes of light that seemed to blink in and out of existence along the cavernous ceiling.

The fourth level was our assumed destination. Like the first, it was a vast city of pale stones sandwiched between dissimilar expanses of rapidly changing biomes and environments. Yet, we continued on to observe the floating studies and formless universities on the fifth floor.

And past that too, to view the recreation facilities. Where parties would be held in the future for all the Legions, Amun was sure to tell us. But my eyes were focused on the expansive amphitheater featuring silver screens or illusions of the many encounters seen throughout the Captains' last six months of training.

Of course, a huge outdoor bar could be seen in the distance as well. And beyond that sat a curious pink-lit alcove that beckoned many of the young men as much as the bar did the dwarves. The Pink Crater, Amun teased them, where the brothels were soon to be.

Still, though, we continued to the seventh level to be met with the training room, Amun's monastery, and several hot springs, shrines, camping sites, and hiking trails stretching on for as far as the curved horizon allowed.

The eighth room, however, was an undeveloped land bathed in twilight much like the surface above and nondescript as to what it would become. But the ninth room was Amun's true domain. And after realizing we were to enter it, I found myself eager to see how he lived.

It was much more ascetic than I ever expected, yet grandiose all the same. Like the floors above, expansive forests, tundras, swamps, and other environments stretched along the ambiguous surfaces that could both be called floors and ceilings, but with forges, workshops, labs, observatories, and everything besides a house or home floating on squat platforms, conical rocks, or hollowed boulders floated between them.

The only thing that could have even resembled a home was a comparatively tiny cube, housing a bench and a pillow, shaded from the moonlight and dusk by a squat, winding tree.

Yet, Amun looked upon the place as if it were perfection before he turned his beaming eyes to us. "Let's eat!"