Chrysalis

Marvel. Wonder. Architectural triumph. One of the great achievements of the age. The Twin Cities have been described in such glowing terms for over a millennium and truly they are deserving of their reputation.

Situated on the same mountain, Mt Atraem, they can be seen many kilometres away, glittering like matched jewels in the distance.

Dressed in peerless Soul Silver, the lower city gleams like the finest polished swords. Home to several million citizens, the Silver City is the beating heart of a great and enduring empire. Its six walls and twelve towers are so heavily enchanted with wards and protections it can be painful to look at them with the naked eye.

As impregnable as it is beautiful, visitors have so many sights to take in, one simply cannot hope to catch them all.

Yet it is above that the true vision lies. Carved from pure Heart Gold, the Golden City glows radiant from the upper reaches of the mountain, a glimpse of a luminescent heaven.

Palace after palace, castle after castle, each one a peerless work of art such that the finest carvers and builders weep to look upon them. The Scholars’ tower, rising like a spear into the sky, a house of learning and knowledge unequalled in all the realms.

For those lucky few who are able to catch a glimpse, the Imperial Compound, home to the Child-Emperor himself, is a sight so rare, and so marvellous, as to be without equal in all Pangera.

The Twin Cities of Silver and Gold. Seat of the Emperor and Capital of the Atraem Empire. Truly a wonder of the modern age, may they stand forever.

of the Fourth Stratum - Sights to See’ by

had learned to be hard in return. Carving a bloody place in the world had been his purpose and he

the last, only the veneer of civilization was different. Kill or be killed. Fight to live, surrender and die. These were rules that Odin understood, and so, for

he might truly be free. Rather than kill for others, or to make himself useful, or defend that which wasn’t his, in this world,

he couldn’t bring himself to believe that he had any alternative but to obey. It was normal, in a dog-eat-dog world, for someone to be

of a being so much older than he, and had been lost for a time. The lure of Arconidem was so seductive, so powerful. His demon body craved indulgence, it needed to kill, to revel in death and destruction. The Demon God whispered to him constantly,

fire, of that he was sure. The great demons had been with him at times, at others, they had not, but

Until now.

hell was that?! Some sort of

very nearly died his second death. He could recall running along with the horde, but he had no idea what they’d been chasing. Then it had… appeared, booming into existence in front of him, a terrifying visage of

brief, horror-stricken moment, he’d thought the world had simply ended. The howl of the wind, the groan of the earth, all things being

enough to shock his mind out of the rut it had been stuck

hitman, or the incredible capabilities of his new demon form, he would be dead, without a doubt. Lashing out with his blades, he’d latched into his own allies, using their flesh to

he could escape its pull, he’d been caught. In that terrible moment, he’d lifted

vanished before he’d