ZOOM

There stands a rock-strewn ground tinted black by whatever malevolent forces are darkening Dead at the foot of the mountain range where Skystead Keep resides, right beside the violet balete tree marsh Gardens. Thousands of giants are hitting piping hot metal shards with stone mallets on stone anvils. Some are using their sword-like needle to expertly sew a glimmering white thread on a rough violet fabric. An even lower number of them were operating on some complex-looking gigantic types of machinery that continuously pump out smoke while emitting a worrying blood-red luminance. As their pieces of equipment work with no need for manual labor, a few kapre with metallic face shields tinkers on a tube-like mechanism ridden with wires and dents. The entire kapre army wears a peculiar-looking violet light armor while crowding all over the place in what I can only describe as organized chaos. There are so many things happening on the ground, and I can't keep up with any of them even if I see beyond the fog.

<If you want to see clearly, just say ZOOM.>

'Eh? Why are you just now telling me about this?'

<I forgot; besides, there's no real need for it earlier. Just be happy I even told you about it.>

'Whatever.'

"ZOOM," I whispered, trying not to alert Times or the soldier beside him, but no matter how low my voice was, the Vyurborne general still managed to hear the words I had uttered. Thankfully, he just side-eyed me and continued ignoring my very presence once again.

Anyway, as I uttered the ZOOM command, a small square screen appears on my upper-right side. It shows a perfect image of the happenstance below our slowly moving balloon, almost as if I'm using the most high-end telescope available. No, I'll wager this is much, much more useful than any junk Firmament can ever make. It's as if there's a second version of myself floating closer to where I'm looking so that it could produce a clearer image of what's happening below. However, whenever I move my gaze towards the upper-right screen, the image on it would follow where my eyes would go as well; thus, once my eyes were on the screen, it would only show a zoomed clip of the gray sky instead of the one I wanted to look at.

<Say HOLD ZOOM if you don't want the screen to keep following your gaze. Just focus on something from afar, say "HOLD ZOOM," and it would only show that particular scene on the screen, even if you're moving.>

'This is quite a fantastic tool, Dominion! Can we keep monitoring that image even if we're in the Keep?'

<Sure. As long as you're not a hundred kilometers away from what you zoomed in on, you can continue observing them even if you're lying on a bed somewhere in the Keep. That screen on your upper-right side will only disappear if you repeat the ZOOM command. If you want to observe a different area closer, just utter ZOOM 2, then 3, then 4, then 5. At that point, you may not use the ZOOM command again unless you say CANCEL ZOOM. If you do that, all of your ZOOM screens will disappear. If you want to remove a specific ZOOM screen, just command it specifically like CANCEL ZOOM 2 or something. As long as you have enough mana, this bad boy can be open for as long as you can, but be wary that it depletes ten mana per hour.>

'You're being awfully cooperative right now, aren't you, Dominion?'

<Because your interest aligns with mine for once. I want to know what's happening down there as much as you do. Indeed, a war is currently happening between the Vyurs and the kapres. I want to know what we're dealing with first while we're up here.>

I followed what Dominion had instructed. I focused my gaze on a specific kapre on the ground and uttered, "HOLD ZOOM." I said a tad louder than earlier; I couldn't care less anymore if Times or the soldier heard me.

I directed my gaze on the small square screen on the upper-right side of my vision, and sure enough, it did show closer surveillance of the kapre I was looking at earlier. And it kept showing that certain kapre, unmoving, even if the balloon is moving quite swiftly away from it.

<Now, Aleph, what I want you to do is pinch your thumb, middle finger, and ring finger together with your forefinger and pinky finger raised.>

I followed his instructions and let out a lazy chuckle.

'It looks like a dog.'

<It has a purpose, okay? We're not here to fuck around. Listen, what I want you to do is to tap the mouth of the dog-looking hand gesture onto the screen.>

I did as Dominion commanded, and blue light suddenly glimmered around the area of the screen I touched.

<The image you're seeing on the screen right now is the default view you'd be seeing. If you want to make the ZOOM surveillance closer, just lower your forefinger and pinky finger; if you intend to widen what you're seeing, just open up your three other fingers. If you wish to return to the default, just shape your fingers into that dog-looking gesture I taught you about earlier.>

I tried what Dominion had instructed with a now impressed expression. On the screen at the upper-right corner of my vision stood closer surveillance of a kapre on the ground; he seemed to be hammering on a rough-looking gigantic sword. I shaped my hands into the dog-looking gesture Dominion had instructed and tapped on the screen again with my thumb, middle finger, and ring finger. Similarly, a blue light appeared on it.

First, I lowered my forefinger and pinky finger. Sure enough, as Dominion had taught me earlier, the screen got even closer; now it's showing the fine details on the kapre's gloves and the indents on the metal they're hammering. I raised my two fingers high up again, and the screen returned to its previous or "default" state, as Dominion had explained earlier.

Next, I opened up my three pinched fingers, and just as Dominion had said earlier, it did widen or zoomed out the scenery the screen was showing. This time, it was now displaying a bird's eye view of the foot of the mountain.

"What are you doing with your hands, Exile?"