Guiding Lights

King Johann Silas.

1st of Luxortia, 1491.

***

"The rest of the Council is spreading the word and gathering everyone as we speak. Don't be late!"

"Oh, I won't!" I shouted, but my clone had already reverted to its true self. No matter. I ran to the trading bureau and had to stop to marvel at its transformation into the Transportation Bureau. Despite everything going on, I just had to.

What used to be a solitary clock tower in the middle of a roundabout was now a towering spire that looked down upon the rolling hills beyond our plateau, giving any who roamed the wilds the time of day either through the illuminated clock face or the droning bell found within.

Hidden beneath those marbled stone walls were various machinations for communications and managing the barns, stables, and warehouses neatly cluttered around its base, accented by statues and plants all the way around, aside from where the road transitioned to the pathways leading into the Inner Yard.

As Amun decreed a year ago, all traffic coming into the city would arrive there first. Any cargo would be offloaded and sent up the adamantine cables to the roadways and tunnels higher up the mountain, where they would be rapidly transported to the many wings that would soon be carved within.

That, however, was for another day.

I approached the bureau from the outside and approached the mob gathered around the station, waiting to enter one of the gondolas and be carried up the mountain. What used to be stained clothes and tattered gear was now custom-tailored suits and glimmering jewels fashioned by those tireless youths who thrust themselves upon us, and to significant benefit. Fear had been replaced with hope by their hands, and hope into motivation that saw us drive toward that purpose we decided for ourselves all those years ago.

"My King!"

Mayor Caleb Goss' cutting voice snapped me from my reminiscing, just in time to see the wall of hands ushering me forward.

"Please!" I pleaded to my former alderman, cheeks hot with embarrassment. It was too early to claim such a title, though I understood their enthusiasm. Still, I couldn't help but mask it beneath a veil of patience, ushering them to go first instead; a veil torn down by the sight of Giorno and Letta, holding the door for me.

"Apologies, Letta, Giorno, for not checking up on you. Anta, Eric, Hope, and Sage, I hope you all are well?" I smiled at the lot.

I knew the answer, of course. Like everyone else, they'd been working their tail feathers off, making gear for the legions. And the work would only increase now that those in Nonus were due to finish their ritual. And yet, I was met with warm affirmations and even a bubbly "yaya!" from Hope and Sage.

They, however, didn't know about much else beyond their seemingly insurmountable tasks. I, for one, was delighted to tell them.

Once the lift got underway, I unfurled a blueprint of the grand design's first stage of the design and laid it out across the floor. "What we've accomplished thus far was only stage one. Stage Two is dubbed, Hill Fortress." I proclaimed, smiling.

"When enchantments come, our deceased Tree of Life will be excavated from the mountain with this chasm." I said, pointing to the vertical pipe of vacant space separating the vast trunk and the mountain. "With that done, these concentric tunnels will be carved around Maru's base, with those four tunnels branching out to the cardinal directions until they breach open air. Together, they will make up some type of rapid transport ring to link different parts of the mountain above, which we are to make hollow. By then, Amun would have sent a final design.

"Some industries outside the plateau will be moved deeper inside the hollow mountain and distributed across the interior. Although some farms, ranches, orchards, and tree nurseries will remain on the mountain top. The inner yard will be expanded to become a city center, and the new Trading Bureau will become a proper transportation hub. The plateau will then become a reception, leisure, and tourism district.

"As for our homes, everyone will move into the aforementioned caverns and be afforded larger plots- districts, essentially, governed by us, with transportation infrastructure near each residence."

"Wow." Eric whistled low. "I know the Emperor is ambitious. But this is…"

"Nigh-incomprehensible?" Gio chortled. "You'll get used to it."

"We may be laughing at such words soon." I playfully warned. "Soon we will have Amun's enchanted tools at our disposal. The work will be completed before you know it."

As if the heavens themselves agreed, my words were punctuated with our arrival at the summit. The pale stone of our mountain seemed radiant, even amidst the setting sun, casting a glow, or perhaps an influence on the mountain that made its life stand still. The bugs, the birds, the fish in the lakes, and the goats on the cliffs, almost as one, they turned their gaze upward, as if we were guided by something.

Like them, we stepped out of the lifts and turned our gazes south, to Nonus, where a bright point, silver-blue and gleaming, grew immensely bright against the darkening sky.

"Even from a realm away, our Emperor watches over us." I pointed to it. "Nay, our God-Emperor watches over all of Maru, guiding us to a greater future. Though it will not be easy. We must work hard. And when the time comes, we must do as we did before and fight. But this time, we will not fail, for Amun will not fail us. So, let us not fail him."

The light on everyone's faces grew from the metaphorical to the tangible as my words fell through their ears. Rising above to aggregate above them, it shone as brightly as the distant star behind us, albeit with a gilded color; bright enough to illuminate the very ground akin to the enchantments in my office. Only, it grew brighter as it molded itself into humanoid. One with a bulbous nose, long locks of hair, Elven ears, and monastic robes.

"Well said, Silas." The light of our God-Emperor said, just before it reached out and filled my mind with wonder.