[Book 2] Chapter 13 [Interlude]: Project Skyfall (Part 1)
[Clock - 13:44 | 01:44 PM]
[Calendar - 21/06/2010]
[Location - Beastialis Empire - Skypelago, Menagerie Island, Central Region, World Pillar]
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3rd Person POV
A group of young and adventurous, but dutiful and serious young soldiers were gathered by the World Pillar. Alongside the Learning Palace of Thoth and the Mindreach Tower, the World Pillar was one of the three major towers in Beastialis that together made this almost triangular shape if you connected a line between them. While one served as a gathering place for students to learn the wonders of magic, and the other served as a physical location for the Flumph Hive Mind, the World Pillar was essentially one of the official goverment buildings where bureaucracy actually happened. Right by the reception table, at the base of this massive and beautiful tower, a very familiar man sat- he was none other than the... Empress? Although looking a bit different. This Atlas was wearing a huge black hat with a big [9] letter on it. Walking by, another Atlas carelessly strolled down this corridor, a stack of papers following after him. Right about everywhere within this tower and every other tower in Beastialis, where in the middle of all of them is the Pyramid Palace of Cycles, Emrpess Atlas works.
Several illusory clones of himself work. Each one of them has something called a Will.
A Will is what is called when you take the metaphysical limitations of your mind and shatter them apart, picking up the pieces and making them copies of your own mind. Basically, Atlas has 50 identical minds that are part of his own mind that he can absolutely control and experience life through! Because each Will is him, he can control them and as such he used the three towers and their locations, alongside the Pyramid Palace of Cycles, as a massive ritualistic bending of magic and reality to allow himself absolute control over Illusions within the Beastialis Skypelago island of Menagerie, making so all 50 of his minds could work and make progress while having physical illusory representations so he could better do what needs to be done. With over 50 minds working together, it doesn't come as a surprise to know that Atlas is one if not the strongest magic user right now. If not by sheer magical prowess, then by sheer versatility and control over his own magic.
A good example of this is that he is magically studying 7 different types of magics at the same time, doing a lecture on Transmutation Magic on the 7th floor of the Learning Palace of Thoth, while also being a judge in one of the many fun competitions, while also being physically (main body) present back on the pyramid palace where he was kneeling by the base of a cloud bed, his face between two big cocks as he was worshipping and sucking both of Waylon's cocks dry.
Back to the World Pillar tower, many of the illusory representations of Atlas' many minds were working and organizing the highly prioritized project called Skyfall Project. This project was an expansion project where Atlas planned on creating a permanent base in the Boundless Blue, the Elemental Plane of Air, and have it be one of their many cities. He has been planning for a long time on expanding the Empire, and the skies of the Earth were not enough for him- so he took to the skies where the skies themselves are endless and pristine. Such a bold choice was supported by the Glażar family and Marchosia Ventus too, they loved the Elemental Plane of Air, and having a city that connected them to their friends was something straight out of a dream! Marchosia even offered his old nest to be the place for the expansion, and Atlas thanked him. Feather Dragons make their lairs on the large floating islands found within the Elemental Plane of Air. Rather than dwelling in a cave or an enclosed space like other dragons, the Feather Dragon is able to manipulate the air around its lair to create a large, transparent bubble to live in. The Feather Dragon is also able to suffocate or remove intruders by manipulating this air, giving the lair an extra measure of security just from its structure! Usually, air elementals usually surround a Feather Dragon's lair as well, but they're chill as long as you leave them alone and to their own.
Back at the base of the World Pillar, the Atlas with the [9] hat on simply looked at the line of adventurous people who wished to become pioneers and be the first ones to start a new life in the Elemental Plane of Air. He watched as a small but old-looking Homo Beastialis Felinae approached him: "Identification?" It is quite common for everyone in the Beastialis Empire to have at least one form of identification, being them many of the "cards" given when you register as an Apprentice Artist or Architect on the Halls of Ptah, an Apprentice Healer on the House of Khepri, an Apprentice Entertainer (Dancer, Theater, Music) or Cook in the House of Hathor, a Student in the Learning Palace of Thoth, as a registered Magic User or Meta Power user in the Gardens of Isis, a registered Beast Warrior by the Royal Guard Academy, or any registration you'd have to make when getting a job in the Skypelago of Beastialis. This registration was magical in nature, carrying the owner's magical equivalent of thumb print, being completely tied to the owner and only the owner having that magical resonance. This system allowed the citizens to receive proper remuneration, healthcare, safety, and even allowed them access to many of the facilities available for everyone that is a registered member of the Beastialis Empire. A rather nasty example would be someone who isn't registered tries to enter one of the many Healer's Bath Houses that are spread around all the islands of the Skypelago... Let's just say that, after continuous and arduous attempts, Atlas finally figured out how to shift the acidity of water and make it able to melt bones easily.
"Ah, right- Here you go, Empress." The big cat man fumbled for a moment before he pulled out a sleek black obsidian card. The [9] Atlas simply picked up the card with a single thought- automatically, the magic of the card reacted, showing the information it had by creating an illusion floating above the very card, like a hologram. Atlas simply read over the information, anothet one of his many Wills already registering the volunteer by the name Amek Vanush, Age being 56, and other essential information like the skills the volunteer had. This one was one of the Architects from the Halls of Ptah, a Master Architect to be more specific.
"We will divulge the results of the selection in the 27th." Repeating the same thing he said a thousand times already, Atlas [9] gave the card back to the old man, who nodded and smiled while walking away, giving way for another person to walk forward: "Identification?"
The same repeated itself.
High in the World Pillar tower, Atlas [33] sat by a long desk. Various papers floating everywhere around him and his mind reading through them at incredible speeds. This is where the Perk [Fast Reading] truly shined! In less than 30 seconds he had already read through all the papers and was already discussing them as Atlas [26] in a floor above, where a group of people were gathered to discuss about the volunteers for the pioneering mission of establishing a city in the Elemental Plane of Air. This group of people consisted of the Lady of the Immaculate Garden, the Blood Sage, the Blue Sage, the Yellow Sage, alongside the Empress [26], the Master of the Skies, and the Lady of the Endless Waters.
Sitting in a circular table, Empress [26] listened as the other members discussed each individual that had volunteered-
"I believe Candidate N°09 is more suitable for perhaps an exploration of the Bottomless Deep." Said the Lady of the Endless Waters. Her name was Ae'lia Endoris, and she was a mermaid. A refugee from Poseidonis when the Atlantian Civil War started- she is a very powerful Sorceress, she specializes in the study of Biosorcery, the manipulation of the body by using magic. "The Elemental Plane of Water seems a better location for one such as Grace." Looking at the file in the table before them, everyone easily agreed, seeing the one and only Grace Balin, who has happily become a Homo Beastialis Orcinus. With black and white skin and wearing a robe that covered her entire body, the massive orca woman smiled in the picture that floated before them: "Although she would need a team, since she wishes to establish research about the local monsters and other beings found there." Her Identification Card clearly stated that she was an [Student of the Learning Palace of Thoth on Menagerie Island, Apprentice of the Researcher's Den on Reverse Island, Warrior of the Deadly Depths on Aquarium Island]. Of these three qualifications, the easiest one to achieve was the Student of the Learning Palace of Thoth.
"I believe that was an obvious but wise choice, Lady of the Endless Waters." Nodding, Empress [26] fiddled with the projected image a little, changing it to another person: "Here we have Amek Vanush, Master Architect of the Halls of Ptah. One of the few that considered applying. His specialty seems to be working with wood, which sounds interesting seeing as the provided island by the Master of the Skies has a lot of natural trees of different species." The dragon- or rather, the silver haired man that sat beside Empress [26] smiled and nodded, a proud look on his face: "His expertise might be essential to finding new ways to use the available resources for building."
"My Empress, if I may-" Pamela, the Lady of the Immaculate Garden, said: "-I do believe that some of my own people would be also able to better help as well, with their own expertise in bending nature to their will." She was referring to the Druids of Beastialis, a group of nature alligned magic casters that were trained and helped by the Lady of the Immaculate Garden herself! Pamela has grown a lot ever since the Day of Ascension, and that has reflected in her own authority within The Green itself, seeing as the Parliament of Trees were all dethroned by her and she took their place as the Queen of the Green, gaining god-like abilities related to nature in its entirety. And with her abilities and authority she reached out for The Red, establishing a network of cooperation between these two forces, which allowed the Druids of Beastialis to have access to both The Green to control aspects of nature and The Red to change their physical form to that of animals, but they needed to have a high understanding of the animal they wished to transform into, which was a high requirement because of the sheer amount of study and connection needed to initiate such transformation.
"Perhaps they could even find new beasts to take the form of too." Added the Yellow Sage, also known as Nora Fries, who was reading this detailed description of the location that Beastialis would expand upon. It was provided by Master of the Skies himself, the previous owner of the floating island: "The detailed description lists a few interesting species of beasts that they might encounter, which would increase the many beasts under the protection of the Beastialis Empire..."
The discussion went on for a long time, with more and more people being discussed about. Robert wanted to come along with the exploration team to start his own experiments with magical beasts and how their DNA might have been changed by the existence of magic in their habitat and how living in a dimension where only sky exists might have influenced their evolution.
Project Skyfall has just started.