Chapter 123 Rising Above it All

It was dark everywhere, and she was exhausted. Her body ached in ways it hadn't since she was forced to fight opponents for three days straight. Aella teleported to just outside the tower window, and looked in at Jozef.

"About time," he said, softly, glancing over at her. "You've been pretty busy though, huh?"

"I have been. Is it safe to enter the room?"

"Yes."

She entered and looked around. Not a single sign of any magic could be seen, other than the circle that still contained him. Sitting on the window ledge, she looked at him with heavy eyes.

"You've been overworking yourself," he observed.

"I'm the only one who can teleport everyone to the new city," she said.

"It's that far away, huh? How are the people taking it?"

"They don't like having so little food, being shoved together in cold tight quarters and sickness has started breaking out everywhere because there's no water or sanitation. It's getting out of hand, and I'm so tired I can barely think."

He looked at her for a moment before looking away. "I heard what you said about the palace being destroyed. Care to elaborate on that?"

"Not really," she said shaking her head. "I'm too tired to explain everything."

"Then how do you plan to succeed in all of your things? There's far too much for any one person to accomplish."

She looked at him and sighed. "Jozef, I had so many questions to ask you, but I can't think of a single one. I don't know how I'm going to succeed. I just know I'm not going to lose."

He looked at her with a sad look and sighed. "I have greatly enjoyed feeling the wind and seeing the outside world. Being here, I have access to all of the magic I thought I had lost, and most of my memories are back. The world is a sad place that you have control over. My suggestion to you would be, find some time to take for yourself to get rest and gather your thoughts, or you will lose everything you have already gained."

She looked at him and nodded. She would find some time. But where was it hiding? Closing her eyes for a moment, she jerked awake when she started to fall, and dragged herself to her feet. She needed sleep. Thinking of her room, she started to jump there, then heard screams from the city down below. It was so cold that anyone outside in the wind would be dead before dawn.

"There must be some way for you to find some extra time to rest," said Jozef behind her.

"I only know one way to steal some time," she whispered into the wind.

Why hadn't she thought of it before? She had even taken advantage of it before. Teleporting to the treasury room, she looked at the chests before her. Her tired mind was chugging away at all manner of crazy thoughts. Heading over to the chicken chest, she threw it open and stepped inside.

The buildings had mostly been taken down, and only piles of rubble still remained. Aella looked around at the haze that had settled over the surrounding landscape and sank to the ground. Her eyes fluttered shut before her head hit the ground and she was out.

"Your Majesty?"

She knew that voice. It was an annoying voice. She needed more sleep.

When she finally woke sometime later, she blinked in surprise to see that walls had been erected all around her. The circle on the floor that marked the entrance and exit to this world was still on the ground below her, but her view of the destroyed city was gone.

Climbing to her feet, she went over to the one door and saw that there was a hall with several doors. The first was nothing more than a room with a large table and several chairs around it. The second was a room with a bed and the last was a door to the outside.

"Your Majesty! You're awake!" exclaimed the mimic with a grin. "I was worried when I found you, but you didn't seem to be hurt, only tired."

"I was tired. How much time has passed?"

He cocked his head to the side as he thought about that, his chicken comb flopping over as he did so. "Here in this world, about seven hours, but in the outside world, less than a second. I have the time dilation turned up really high."

She nodded, remembering some of her ideas from her exhausted stupor.

"I want to use the rooms you have erected, but I need something else."

"What would that be?" he asked, pausing and turning as several chickens entered the area.

Aella finally noticed that, even though she could see the outside landscape, she wasn't really outside. One wall was missing from this room where the mimic seemed to have erected a small throne room of his own.

"Sector three and four are cleared of rubble and sector one and two are ready for planting," said one of the chickens.

Both of the chickens were wearing grey jumpsuits over their feathers, leaving only the tips of their wings and heads exposed.

"And all of the remaining grain has been recovered from the underground chambers," said the second chicken.

"Good, have teams one and two start with planting while teams three and four start plowing," said the mimic with a nod.

Once the chickens left, he turned back to her. "Sorry, I have to stay on top of things and only give out small orders, or things never get done."

She nodded thinking that was a wonderful idea. "I want to bring all of my people here to be able to hold meetings and plan things out, without wasting time."

"What exactly do you want, then?" he asked.

"I need a room big enough to hold between twenty to thirty demons at a time, a bathroom for them to use if we are here for a long time, and food prepared for them to snack on."

"So, you plan to have long drawn out meetings where you hash everything out with a lot of different people?" he asked. "I can get something together."

"Good. I want to watch."

He shrugged and walked over to the end of the room, where the wall was missing, and called several chickens, she couldn't see, over.

"We are going to modify the rooms you just completed," he said carefully to the group of five chickens.

"You are in charge of building the walls. You will be in charge of getting the dimensions correct. You are in charge of final construction of the rooms. You are in charge of materials, and you are in charge of time management," he said, pointing to each chicken. Thinking about it for a moment, as the chickens stood there, waiting, he finally said, "I want it done in two days."

The chicken in charge of the dimensions started asking questions, and Aella watched as the others waited patiently. They couldn't do their parts until the first chicken was done. Once he told everyone what was needed, they all turned to the one in charge of materials, who spouted off what they needed based on what he was told, then the rest started to fall in place. They all rushed off, talking to each other about the job.

"There you go. The rooms will be done in about two days, which is something like seven seconds outside the chest."

She shook her head. That was insane. No wonder things were so different each time she came here.

"I can't have food for you, because I would never know how much to have prepared or when," he said with an apologetic smile.

"No, I understand. That's fine. I will have my palace staff prepare food for us to bring here. The biggest problem I have is that I don't want them to know where here is. Is there anyway you could hide the treasury room? Or maybe redecorate it so they don't realize where it is?"

He thought about it for a moment then nodded. "They would still have to step into the chest, but yes, I can do a few things."

"Thanks," she said with a grin, watching as the chickens started working on the walls, to enlarge the room that had the table in it.

It looked like the bedroom was being modified into the bathroom. Teleporting to the dining room, she saw that it was indeed the middle of the night, just after she had left Jozef. She might want to go see him again, but first, she needed to speak with Edgar.

He was standing, dozing against the doorframe leading to the kitchen.

"Edgar?" she called softly, afraid of waking him too suddenly.

He jerked away, and smiled at her. "Your Majesty, are you ready for your supper?"

"Yes, please," she said, sitting in her chair. She felt so refreshed, it was amazing what a good bit of rest could do. She had so many things available at her fingertips, she was determined to start using them smarter, rather than haphazardly. It was time to raise her game to the next level.