Chapter 6: First Glimpse of the Empire
The week leading up to the parade went by in a flash. His mother had bought some new clothes for them and his father had spent the week working overtime to make up for the money spent on them. In Vedel's opinion, the money was wasted on something as frivolous as clothing. Yet no matter how much he protested the purchase, his wife couldn't be argued with.
Now that the day of the parade had finally arrived, Einar couldn't help but feel anxious. This would be his first real outing into the city. He was worried that what he would find there would be completely unrecognizable to him. So completely and utterly different from anything he knew from his previous life. Something so alien to him that comparing it to his old life would've been ludicrous.
Whilst Einar was lost in thought, Vedel grabbed two coats from the closet and handed one to his wife. "Hurry up, if we don't leave soon the trains will be swamped." He told her as he hurriedly put on his coat. Alicia quickly followed suit and picked Ruen up from the bed. Einar still didn't quite know when he should cry to be a convincing baby, but he decided that now seemed like a perfect moment. He took a deep breath and started putting on his best crying performance. He bawled his eyes out and whined as much as he could.
His mother sighed. "We're leaving right away honey, let me just feed Ruen first."
Einar continued his act until his mother had finished feeding him. After he was done eating his mother picked him up again and they left their apartment. He took a good look around the hallway. It was dirty, rusty, and filled with leaky pipes. A veil of steam covered the entire floor and mold filled every corner. He had to hold his breath to avoid coughing from all the fumes around him.
'This truly is a shithole.' He thought.
Einar only allowed himself to breathe again once they had left the building. The situation on the street wasn't much better, but he could at least take a deep breath without immediately feeling like he'd die of pneumonia.
There were still leaky pipes –and there was trash overflowing from every building, but at least the road was paved and there didn't seem to be too many beggars going about.
His parents navigated the roads with ease and eventually joined a large stream of people heading towards some elusive destination on a main road. Einar noticed that the buildings here were slightly larger and better maintained. The road also didn't have as many potholes as the one in front of his house, but that was all the information he could gather. The large crowd of people surrounding them obscured his view.
As they presumably got closer and closer to their destination, the number of people kept increasing. Einar felt akin to an ant navigating through a colony, never having more than his body width worth of space.
After a few more minutes of walking, they finally arrived at a large building made of red bricks. Through either side of the building ran some kind of steel track, suspended in the air by large stone pillars. The building itself was divided into a few platforms on the inside, each platform running alongside one of the tracks. Einar guessed that normally each platform would be filled with people, but today only one platform seemed to be of interest to the crowd. He wondered why they were all gathering there and seemingly doing nothing else but waiting. His parents joined the crowd on the platform and started waiting as well. They stood there as if it were the most mundane thing in the world.
Einar was still formulating theories about the purpose of this building when he heard a loud whistle coming from afar. He looked at the track and what he saw made his jaw drop to the ground. One of the large carriages he had seen on his first day was slowly levitating towards them on the track. Even though it wasn't the first time he had seen the magnificent contraptions, they still baffled him beyond belief. They were large and long. Each one was covered in windows and decorated with gold. He estimated that at least 300 people could fit inside each carriage.
"Hurry up honey, the train has arrived!" Vedel shouted, trying to drown out the crowd.
As soon as the train stopped at the platform, and another blow of the whistle announced the opening of the doors, the mass of people started shuffling towards the doors, trying to get in first and get a good spot. It was a sight to behold. If not for the fact that Einar was in his mother's arms, he was sure he'd be swept away by the crowd. People of all ages and sizes slowly but surely streamed into the many carriages. There were so many people that he and his parents had to stand in the middle of one of the carriages. There wasn't a single free spot left.
The doors soon closed and the train started picking up speed. Einar looked out the window and saw the buildings pass by at extraordinary speed. He tried his best to keep track of how fast they were moving but was quickly overwhelmed by the sheer velocity. From the vantage point that the elevated tracks granted him, Einar finally got a good look at the city.
It consisted of many different layers of building, increasing in quality as they increased in altitude. Most buildings were made out of metal plates. Only buildings at the very top were made from more luxurious materials like stone or marble. The entire city resembled an enormous mountain, the top of which was concealed by clouds – hidden away from the eye. At the bottom, rows upon rows of apartment blocks sprawled out as far as the eye could see. At the uttermost edge of the city stood a giant wall that circled the entirety of the monstrous metropolis. On top of the wall sat a row of massive white crystals that connected to form a white barrier that extended up to four times the height of the walls.
The train was quickly racing to the top of the city, and the closer they got, the more Einar started to fathom the sheer scale of the settlement. It had to be at least the size of a large Country or small Duchy.
As they neared their destination, a massive structure took up most of his sight. It sat at the top of the city, like a crown. It was a gigantic marble palace. It was so large that Einar wasn't sure if he should be thinking of it as a palace or a small city of its own.
'I guess this is the Emperor's palace.' He thought.