The city came into view slowly as the wagon rolled down the hill. Towers of stone and steel shimmered in the distance, enchanted lights glinting along their edges. The gates rose up ahead, massive and carved with wards that pulsed softly, a low hum carrying across the open ground. Even from afar, the city's buzz hit: voices murmuring, carts clattering, floating lights glowing faint in the streets below.
Thrain kept the wagon steady on the winding road. Einz leaned forward a bit, eyes taking in the layers. Humans, elves, beastkin, and others moved with purpose, weaving around carts and each other without a hitch. Cranes lifted crates on spells, streetlights hovered over the cobbles, blinking with runes. Every spot thrummed with energy, the scale pressing in as they got closer.
At the gates, guards in mixed steel and enchanted armor checked wagons quick and clean.
Once inside, the streets opened into organized mess. Narrow alleys fed into broad avenues, glass and steel towers standing next to older stone, all tied with subtle wards. Light bounced off enchanted surfaces in broken patterns, throwing quick rainbows over the crowd. Einz's eyes caught a pair of elves bargaining with a dwarf over gears, a human mage weaving wards over a merchant's cart. Every inch showed magic and work blending, proof of the races holding together.
The wagon bumped along the cobbles, steady but jolting enough to make Einz hold the bench. City noise closed in—voices, hooves, distant spell cracks—until the streets widened.
A tower rose over the district, unlike anything Einz had seen. It stabbed the sky, fused stone and steel with glowing runes climbing high. Silver glyph bands circled it, pulsing with held power. Upper levels vanished into clouds, a monument that dwarfed the rest. Above the gates hung the Order's emblem: spiraling depth in enchanted silver, shifting in the light.
Borin whistled low, leaning out halfway. "By the forge... it just keeps going up! You could fit ten castles in there and still have room for a tavern on top!" His grin was wide and boyish, legs kicking the bench like he wanted to climb it right then.
Aurelia kept her arms folded, no glance his way. She nodded at the tower. "That's our stop—the Order's branch in human lands."
Einz tightened his grip on the bench, chest caught between anticipation and unease. The wagon rolled forward, the city's flow closing behind as the tower pulled them into its shadow.
The wagon slowed to a stop at the colossal gates. Each was a wall of blackened steel, silver script running across like molten light. Two wardens in rune-etched armor stood guard, halberds resting but charged.
One stepped up as the gates rumbled open a crack, helm turning to the wagon. "State your—" He cut off, tone shifting to recognition.
"Lady Aurelia." The warden's voice carried respect. He raised a hand to the other, gates pulling wider with a grinding hum. "Forgive me. I didn't expect you back so soon."
Aurelia tilted her head, steady as always.
The second warden's gaze swept the passengers, lingering on Einz a moment before moving on. The wagon creaked ahead under the gates' shadow, swallowed by the tower above.
Inside, the tower was like a cathedral of stone and steel. The entrance hall stretched up high, swallowing sound, pillars rising smooth into the distance. Sunlight cut through tall glass panes, casting bright paths across the polished floor. The scale made Einz feel small, like the place was built to show just how big the Order's reach was.
Staircases climbed in wide arcs to upper floors, while stone platforms hovered silent on the other side, carrying people up steady and timed.
Aurelia guided them across the hall to a chamber on the first floor. It was circular, walls smooth and dark, broken only by faint silver lines tracing the Order's emblem on the floor.
Aurelia slowed, looking between the recruits. "Dwarves often get creation or enhancement. They shape matter, strengthen what's there. Humans lean elemental—fire, wind, water, earth. Rare ones awaken temporal, threads of time itself." She paused. "These are patterns, not rules. Affinity comes from will too. You might pull something unexpected."
Aurelia led deeper to a raised dais at the center. A smooth oval stone sat embedded, translucent like polished crystal, faint patterns shifting inside like light under skin.
Attendants waited nearby, robed in gray, tablets hovering. Quills moved slow over floating parchment, noting every change. No one spoke. The room stayed hushed.
She stopped at the dais, tone even. "This isn't ordinary. The Affinity Stone is high-tier, made by elf seers and dwarf smiths. It shows your affinity path and your mana's state. Both set your start in the Order."
Borin edged closer, eyes bright. "So we touch it, and it tells what we're made of?"
Aurelia nodded small. "Yes. But it's direction, not judgment. Shows where your strength is—nothing else."
The dwarf bounded up, slapping his hand down hard. The surface stayed still a moment, then flared crimson, deep like molten iron. Light lines spiraled up in a lattice, locking into enhancement. The air vibrated faint, heavy with raw force.
An attendant noted it calm. "Enhancement. Stable."
Borin turned, grinning wide. "Hah! As expected. My old man said I was born for steel, and this stone agrees!"
Aurelia's gaze shifted. "Einz. Your turn."
He approached slower. The surface was cool under his palm—too cool, like it pulled heat from his skin. Nothing for a heartbeat. Then light surged hard, like it woke startled.
The crystal broke into bright shards, swirling and remaking, never settling on one mark. Space flexed, dais edges bending in around his hand. The light pulled together last into a warped mark no one knew.
Attendants noted quiet, quills moving faster, but steady. One murmured: "Unclassified. Stable refinement detected."
Borin leaned in, blinking. "What does that mean? It didn't pick..."
Aurelia's face sharpened, voice level. "It picked. That's not in any records." Her eyes narrowed. "Space."
Borin frowned. "Space? Never heard it."
"No one has." Aurelia stepped closer, eyeing the distortion. "And your mana... refined. Not raw, not unshaped—tempered." Her look searched him. "Like you've already faced a trial in the Depth."
Einz pulled his hand back silent. The bend faded, but the quiet left felt heavier.
Testing done, attendants got to work. They cut runes into crystal slips quick, layering spells. The ID cards shimmered soft, wards tied in to check name, track jobs, open doors.
Aurelia handed Einz his. Light to look at, but dense in his palm, like weight folded in the glow.
She led them down another hall. Broad spaces, stone smoothed, walls etched with sigils that whispered on pass. "You'll learn more than magic," Aurelia said. "The Outer Verse, combat, strategy, deployment. This is the hub for ops—the heart where the Order answers."
The dorm door opened easy: simple quarters, two beds, shared desk, shelves lined with texts. Borin's eyes lit as he dropped his pack with a thud. "Roommates, huh? Hope you can keep up."
Einz looked over slow. This wasn't just a spot to crash—it was a step past hiding, past scraping by. He felt the city hum far off, the tower's wards above, the Order's strength at the core. For the first time in years, his path wasn't about fading out.
He brushed the ID card, a faint hum meeting his touch. Space magic... The words hung unspoken, a reminder of what he held inside.