After passing through the gate before them the streets began shifting while they moved deeper into the interior districts of the Ivory Citadel. Aria noticed that the ambience changed significantly here. Where there was once bustling merchant avenues and plaza courts the vibrancy of the city became more of a pale glimmer.
While the stones under their feet polished out and spread into neatly divided streets on either side of the retinue Aria noticed that the buildings in this particular district weren't residences or shops. Instead it appeared that they were Institutions. Workshops, Archives, buildings with wide bay windows thrown wide to reveal the interiors filled with workers. Spelltech devices, Arcanists and Artificers pouring over schematics. Creating things that Aria could only really speculate.
The windows around them shimmered like water reflecting the sun, which in this case was the many flashes of sparks and spells. It seemed some of them had wards on the architecture to provide attentive privacy so curious people like her would not see the happenings inside. How annoying. Now she only wanted to know more.
This place was clearly a nerve cluster for the manufacturing in the city. Even someone lacking in the education necessary to tell exactly what was being made like Aria could tell that. It helped that the security in this district became much more strict.
Every intersection now possessed Knights in their gleaming Spelltech armor astutely watching and protecting. Some bore the same insignia as Kaden's retainers, and others possessed different symbology. Aria wondered if each house dedicated resources to the district to be distributed freely? Or perhaps they were guarding their own investment?. She suspected the latter.
Kaden had carried casual polite conversation into this part of the Citadel but now remained contently silent. For some reason Aria found it more comfortable than speaking with him in small pleasantries. He didn't seem to mind all that much, so why should she?
Every now and then she would ask a question, something regarding the city itself, the layout, where she could find certain things if she liked. Information she could have gotten anywhere most likely, but why should she wait? She had her own personal Ivory Citadel handbook living and breathing feet from her.
Soon enough their path gradually tiled towards another lifting rise. Leading them to a marble rampway that suspended itself over a dividing canyon below. Stretching further down than Aria was comfortable looking. On the other end was one of many grand entrances to their destination. The White Tower. The rampway itself threaded through a heavily guarded gate. One they passed through without much trouble with only a raised hand and a nod from Kaden.
She suddenly began to feel the anxiety of her deep unease settle back into her bones. She noted that the Knights halted their escort as herself and Kaden stepped onto a circular lift. Seemingly created from the same polished alabaster marble that was so bright it almost hurt her eyes at this point. They all saluted Kaden who offered his annoyingly rehearsed polite smile and then Aria felt the harsh thrumming of mana-suspension glyphs under their feet come to life.
"You've gone quiet again, Lady Leiden." Kaden's calm voice shattered her spiralling thoughts. Drawing her attention she noticed now that his hands were folded behind the small of his back. His posture immaculate as he gazed down at her with his always present smug expression.
"I'm only thinking." She answered carefully. Not sure she wanted to admit to the flips her stomach was in the process of doing.
It was beginning to settle in now that she wasn't a guest. She was here to do a job which happened to be quite dangerous. Or so she was told. After all she was here because the council had a desperate need of a Nullist to assist in the monitoring and if necessary restraint of a troublesome Deva.
She had read the sparse files she had been given on the long weeks aboard the ferries. They were less helpful than she would have liked.
Dayne Kiir. Affectionately referred to as 'The Slayer' by the other Deva and troops along the Frontier Fortresses. He was the only registered Deva in the West that was not born into one of the current Noble Houses. Adopted by Caeldren Kiir and having taken his last name. The rest of the files were fragmented beyond reason but what was there painted a rather vivid picture.
He was trouble. The most dangerous kind in Aria's experience. The one you didn't know enough about. She didn't know anything about what she was walking into, and whatever it was it was her job to contain it. Contain him. How in the Divine was she going to manage that?
"You seem to be worrying, Lady Leiden." Kaden once again interrupted her musings. He sounded like he was rather enjoying her expression.
"Wouldn't you?"
"Perhaps. Your charge can be…difficult."
"I hadn't noticed. The only thing his file really mentioned was how difficult he is." She answered with harsh sarcasm.
"Yes, the Council is not particularly fond of him, this is true." Kaden admitted in a tone that Aria could only interpret as sheepish. "Though try to keep an open mind."
He finished his sentence as the lift slowly came to a gliding halt. Leaving a pathway before them that led down a well lit hall to a pair of closed metal doors. She felt a question beginning to bubble out of her throat when Kaden lifted a hand to pre-emptively silence her. Only making her eyes narrow at him in a glare. She was not enjoying this trend that had begun to form between them where he seemed to be able to know what she was thinking. She did not enjoy it at all.
"You'll see what I mean in a moment." He spoke as his gliding steps carried him forward. Silently indicating she should follow.
She relented for now, begrudgingly. Her head slightly throwing back in exasperation with a steadying sigh before her steps followed him through the shockingly narrow hallway. She had noticed from the start that here there seemed to be no guards or Knights. Unlike everywhere else. Though now that she considered it there was likely no need for security in the White Tower. After all, what fool would try to disrupt the home of the Deva?
When they arrived at the door she noticed now that it was not just any metal making up its bulky shape. It was made of Manasteel, apparently in its pure form. Typically you would see the rare alloy interwoven with others to strengthen or properly dilute its properties. Typically because of its ability to disrupt Spelltech and other magically infused items which included just about every device used in the modern day.
It bore none of the reflective gleam you might find in silver or gold. Instead the metal seemed to drink in light—creating a deep, lusterless blue. It reminded her of the way the shallow parts of the ocean looked on a clear night when she'd look out the windows of the ferries.
Along with its peculiar material the door itself was odd. There were no handles or interactable devices on either side. Just a seamless plate of metal. Not even a hinge that she could find. Only an inset spiral, a gently designed and continuous groove boring into the center with mathematical precision.
She watched as Kaden's hand extended and with two practiced fingers glided them in a series of sequences along the spiraling inset. First clockwise, then counter clockwise, and in tandem with one another in what she could only imagine as some kind of strange combination.
Eventually the door let out a vibrating hum signifying that whatever Kaden had done had unlocked its secrets. Sliding outwards and parting way to reveal perhaps the most chaotic and beautifully crafted laboratory that Aria had ever seen.
There were winding and intricate Spelltech conduits openly exposed to the air creating a strangely beautiful weave of their glowing and active luminescence. Data cores, hardlight interfaces, half-dismantled constructs that she didn't even dare try to understand strewn about the space. Tables were overflowing with heaps and heaps of notes and schematics. Mercilessly scribbled upon in a way that drove Aria's complicit need for cleanliness absolutely mad.
In the center of the lab itself was a ceiling-high array of suspended lenses and other machinery. Glimmering with half finished spellweaves. Showcasing a constellation of work that Aria wasn't sure anyone but the most brilliant minds could comprehend.
There were mannequins all around as her and Kaden stepped inside. Each in various states of completion—some humanoid and others disturbingly abstract. Empty vessels that had not been infused or tied to one of the spirits just yet. Probably being utilized for testing specific purposes. Though in some cases she wasn't sure why anything would ever need that many arms.
The air reeked of burnt metal, sulphur, and many other unidentifiable scents that made Aria's nose wrinkle up. She hoped she never had to see whatever made some of those stenches.
"Master Kiir, Dayne. This is Aria Leiden." Kaden's voice pulled her from her distractions to the two men before them.
Her attention first fell to the elder. Whom she gathered to be Caeldren Kiir almost immediately. He was an older man, and despite his hunched posture and disheveled appearance did not give her the impression he was diminished by his age in the way most might be. She could see that in his youth he had likely been quite a handsome man. Now harsh angles sagging from sleepless nights and the brutal grasp of aging betrayed him. His eyes were deep-set, the color of smoky quartz, shimmering with something that almost made her skin crawl. Like he was a person who had seen far too much about the truth of the world.
His hair was a fading silver-black. Swept in every which way with careless strokes. He wore a well faded jacket that was perhaps once a pristine white. She suspected that had changed to its raggedy stained state many many years ago now.
It was Caeldren's quiet power that struck her the hardest though. There was a gravity to him that threatened to suck you into his mad schemes. Like he had completely dissected and measured her in his brilliant mind the moment he laid eyes on her. To be found either worthy or in the worst case wanting.
This unease she felt vanished with the warm curve of his smile. She could tell by the wrinkles at the corner of his eyes that he was not a man foreign to the concept of sharing joy.
"Kaden! You're far earlier than we expected! Hello my dear my name is Caeldren Kiir." the tenor gravel of his voice filled her ears in a soothing way. His feet shuffled across the chaotic floor of the lab until both his hands grasped one of her own between them with a surprising sturdiness. "It is my absolute pleasure! I have never met a Nullist before, tell me–"
"Master Kiir." Kaden's voice interjected as the elderly engineer began to rifle off on an immediate tangent. For once Aria was painfully grateful to Kaden.
"Ah…yes sorry there is time for all that later." Caeldren said with no intent of hiding his disappointment.
"It's a pleasure to meet you, Master Kiir." Aria said with the kindest and calmest smile she could muster. Noticing how the elderly man's smile widened significantly at her response.
"Oh stop with that. Only Kaden calls me Master Kiir, bloody boy and his formalities. You can just call me Caeldren or Mister or whatever." His sentence was accented with a raspy chuckle as he shook her hand between his own for a moment before releasing her and turning.
"My manners are failing me however. My boy is the reason you're here after all. Kaden how could you let me get away with taking the stage!" he chastised.
"My deepest apologies, Master Kiir. I will be sure to intercept you quicker next time." Kaden replied without missing a beat. Aria was getting the feeling that this was far more of a common occurrence than she would like to believe.
"Excellent. Dayne! Stop hiding back there and come say hello to your new friend!" Caeldren's sharp voice snapped. Forcing Aria's eyes to lift to the second man in the room when they had entered.
'Ah.' she thought to herself hiding a grimace. 'So they're all just annoyingly beautiful then?'