[Corven Umbrovante]:
The teleporter dispensed Corven and Cimon into a grand, glass walled building, bustling with activities. Entire families went in and out of this building, shopping its various corridors where vendors sold their merchandise. While many were coming into this building through the doors or simply teleporting in, some were interacting with these various vendors about items they were selling at various market booths.
Corven saw one customer interacting with a vender selling well-forged swords and shields; the booth said "Finest Swords & Shields" on a sign overhead.
"200 flats just for this short sword? This is daylight robbery!" the customer, a well-built, stockish man with grey hair, was exclaiming, his arms dramatically flailing.
The vender, a small, petite, beautiful elf woman barely a head size smaller than Corven was smiling with a reply. "Honey, we make the best weapons around with the best quality, so, of course, it will be expensive. If you can't pay, get lost!"
Cimon led Corven past another vender selling snacks and treats called 'Luka's Candy Shop,' and Corven could see a bunch of children and families walking inside the mall-like shop, wandering the isles.
"This place is called The Hub — It's basically just a big mall, but it is amongst the most popular places to be in the city and amongst all of Mythos," Cimon was explaining as Corven observed his surroundings with awe. He couldn't believe such a place existed. "C'mon, this is merely the foothold of the Mythos Isles. There's a whole city here to see, one unlike you've ever seen before."
Corven, doe-eyed, followed his enthusiastic friend. As he did, though, he took in his environment even more. The place was both massive and unreal.
"While Mythos Isles is open to pretty much everyone, it is protected and founded by Houses Luminaris, Keresa and Morpheus, with close ties to House Ausar and the Flying Cities of House Caelus. House Luminaris is the primary power behind the city, though, with House Keresa and House Morpheus making up secondary power behind them."
Mythos Isles was a vast, multiculturally influenced city, its districts shaped by a wide array of architectural styles. Greek and Roman designs stood alongside Japanese and Chinese districts, with countless other cultural influences woven in between. Corven even noticed more modern buildings scattered across various parts of the city. Encircling it all were towering walls—2.5 kilometers high—both massive and deeply intimidating. They appeared to be forged from a dark stone, etched with enchantments that allowed them to project a dome over the sprawling 1,200-square-kilometer city. The barrier shimmered faintly, its translucent surface touched with some form of lunar energy, casting a soft yellow-white glow across the skyline.
Near the center of the city, multiple skyscrapers reigned—the Hub was one such building. Standing at least 120 meters tall with 28 floors and glass walls, it sat more toward the medium end in terms of city building heights. There were taller structures—and shorter ones as well—but near the heart of the city stood something else entirely: a colossal building that stretched at least 900 meters into the sky, easily the tallest and grandest Corven had ever seen, and by far among the tallest in all of Mythos Isles.
Creme marble columns lined each of its octagonal sides, while the triangular faces of its roofing were etched with gods and goddesses—stories carved so vividly that, if Corven squinted, he could swear they moved within their frames. And in big, bold, white letters—twice the size of those on the Hub—the words "MYTHOS BANK" stood emblazoned across its surface.
"This is Mythos Isles, and that is Mythos Bank!" exclaimed Cimon, whom Corven was certain had always been the silent type before — He was perplexed at this new version of his friend, but it wasn't not a pleasant sight to see him so enthusiastic about something. It was a nice change.
Besides the bank, there were three skyscrapers at the heart of the city that dwarfed the others, with two being twice the height of the Empire State Building, though designed differently, each possessing a differing crest.
One skyscraper was bigger than the others — It had 3 foundational towers that spiraled uniquely into a singular spire that had both a futuristic vibe and traditional Greece feel to it. At its top, the Luminaris crest rested, a crescent moon with clouds and 3 stars dotted around it. Made of white marble that must've been enchanted to absorb moonlight and reflect sunlight, this tower was a work of art and architecture. This was Luminaris Tower, according to Cimon.
The two beside it were smaller, though no less impressive.
One was half over the size of the empire state building, a black tower with a dark violet, metallic sheen to it. It was shaped like a 4-towered castle, with 4, hexagonal-shaped, black, metallic towers connected to one another by 8 levels of bridges on all 4 sides. It has a metallic, gothic feel to it, with metallic gargoyles and reaper statues decorating each towers' edges like watchful guardians. A crest Corven has seen Achlys wear a few times etched onto the top of its four towers: the Scepter of Hades, but with wings coming from the side. Fortress Necropolis, is its name according to Cimon, and it is one of House Keresa's most formidable fortresses.
The last of the three towers was a lotus shaped building, made with pearl white plating and designed to look, not like a tower, but a flower. It had an illusionary effect to it that made one see multiple colors like light blue, soft pink and calm green in tints when one looked at it. Its crest was one a torch with wings on the background of a white flower. 'The Elysian Oneirys,' according to Cimon, was House Morpheus' seat of power.
"The city's three founders are House Luminaris, you know, Celeste's House; Achlys' house, House Keresa and my own family house, House Morpheus," Cimon said, much to Corven's interest. "Amongst the noble houses of this world, House Luminaris is what you would call a Great House. House Keresa and House Morpheus are High noble houses, a step below Great Houses, while being of higher status than lower and mid level noble houses. The three noble houses of Mythos Isles protect and watch over this city, as both its rulers and its guardians."
Many families used a variety of transportational methods to get to and from around the city, including a speed train that went throughout the city, mounts of pegassi(winged-horse), and other magical mounts as well as speeder vehicles that hover and starvessel spaceships capable of flying in outer space that Corven swore he only read about in myths and novels. It was impossible… at least, he would have thought it to have been if he hadn't seen it with his own eyes.
This was real.
Cimon was pointing out places to check out later, and commenting on different mounts he saw others use, as he summoned his own from the space ring on his finger: A grey pegasus that neared very little.
When Corven asked what the ring was, he told him a conduit to a pocket dimension linked to his soul used to store things. He called it a space ring: It was a soul-boundd item that many nobles use, especially those amongst the great houses.
As he explained what soul-bound items were, Corven willed his shadow to expand and out came Eclipse in her original size and form. The action startled a few passing pedestrians and the beast itself definitely gathered quite the attention. None have ever seen a Shadow Sphinx before and, technically, Eclipse was the first Shadow Sphinx to ever exist.
As Corven climbed onto Eclipse, he willed part of his shadow to curly around Eclipse's neck, mane and chest, forming a harness and reins of sorts. He'd been practicing his shadow manipulation ability in the shower earlier that morning. After last night's events, he wanted to get a grasp of his powers – Luckily, he has always been a fast study. It did not take long until he could separate his shadow from his body and manipulate it's shape.
Surprisingly, it didn't take too much energy to change the shape of his shadow, nor too much concentration — And, as long as he was only splitting a part of his shadow, he wouldn't be expending too much stamina when using the ability as manipulating greater amounts of his shadow required greater energy.
Following after Cimon, Corven commanded Eclipse to take off into the sky after he pegasus. Once airborne, Corven could get a better look at the city's beauty, this time from a bird's eye view. Not only was it beautiful, but he felt so free and so… right in the air, like he was meant to be free like a bird.
'Darkness is an element that doesn't like to be bound,' Corven realized this to be true. 'It is an element that defies logic. Whoever my father is must be insanely powerful with the element of darkness.'
Corven thought to himself, attempting to use his memory of different mythologies to guess who his father is, but he came up short. Try as he might, Corven could not think of who he could be. With a shrug, Corven realized he'd know it when it mattered.
"Corven's let's descend there," Cimon's voice knocked him from his own thoughts in his head, causing Corven to look to where Cimon was pointing at: A road directly in front of Mythos Bank directly below. It had a clearing pretty much, or at least one big enough for landing of two flying mounts like theirs.
With a nod, Corven agreed, following closely behind his friend in a controlled descent. As they descended, many pedestrians casually made way for them, many of whom were gawking at Corven's mount.
As they reached a stop directly in front of the bank, a really wealthy man approached Corven, intending to buy his steed. He was wearing an expensive suit with a leopard skinned neckrest jacket and a fedora hat. He had an expensive looking cane he'd used when he was walking, but, honestly, from what Corven could see, it wasn't like he needed it; it was likely just because it was stylish that he used it. His greedy orange eyes matching his weird mustache and Corven could already tell he wasn't going to like the guy.
"Excuse me, young man. How much for the steed?" the man said, pulling out a pouch sac.
"Not for sale," Corven said, curtly, as Eclipse shrank to the size of a cat and climbed onto Corven's shoulders, hissing.
But this only served to make the man more insistent on buying it, though. "Young man, my name is Quiylan Caelus, Treasurer of the great house of Hose Caelus. I'm extremely wealthy; I'm sure you have a price, just name it. I'll match it right here, right now!"
Corven looked the man over, before turning to a shrugging Cimon, eyes radiating mirth. "Did I stutter?"
Quiylan, who had expected Corven to cave, was watching Corven with envious eyes before swearing to himself that he'd get that creature. He knew rare and expensive things when he saw it; he was the treasurer of House Caelus — it was his job to know this, and whatever that creature was, it was definitely rare. And he would have its furr, even if he's gotta take it by force.
'I'll use my envoy I came with to forcefully take from the boy through intimidation,' he thought, deviously smiling, as he watched the boy leave, walking towards the bank he'd just left.
He knew the boy wasn't from a Great House; he didn't have an envoy for one. Two, his companion shared traits from those of House Morpheus — baggy eyes, sleepy gaze as if he'd rather be asleep more than anything else, grey-silver hair — Yep, definitely a Morpheusian. And everyone knew House Morpheus was only a mid-level noble house and, while formidable in their own right, they pale next to the power of the great house of Caelus.
'Yes,I'll have that creature, and then, maybe, make a slave out of that boy. He should know not to deny a member of House Caelus anything when we are so generacious to the peasants and lowborn scums. I deserve that creature. Perhaps I'll sell it or make fine cooked meals from it. Or maybe, I'll train it to kill that boy and then his family…,' giggled Quiylan, as he hurried to his envoy waiting for him, thinking of all the ways he intended to use that creature and ruin that boy's life.