Chrysalis

I suppose to some, it might be considered appealing… sort of. Others, perhaps some would say, those with better taste would call it tacky! Overdone! Gaudy, even!

Then again… no, no, I will not admit it! There’s no tunnels! How can any place be considered the best without nice, wide tunnels? It can’t, end of discussion. The roads do seem nice and spacious, though.

Bah! Who would ever want to dwell in a house covered in metal? Nobody! Even if that metal was… so soothing, and emitting such a glorious, ephemeral light….

DAMMIT!

I connect a mind bridge to Eran Thouris who is leaning against the railing next to me, looking smug.

[Well?] she asks.

[It’s nice.]

[Nice?] she asks, raising one scaled brow.

[Very nice.]

That’s all she’s gonna get out of me.

Mount Atreum, heart of the Atreum empire that bears its name, rises tall and imposing from the shimmering waters of the Lake before us. From the waterline up, the great and glorious Silver City covers the slopes. And I do mean covers. There isn’t a single square inch that hasn’t been developed, all enfolded within six rings of mighty walls. That’s not to say there aren’t any green spaces, oh no, there are frustratingly luscious and attractive-looking parks all over the damn place! The rest of it is large, well organised buildings connected by clean, wide streets. All of it, ALL of it (not the trees, obviously) is covered in what I’m told is Soul Silver.

And it is absolutely stunning.

Thinks it’s all that! Well, it's

look. I think the clouds are going to part. We should get

look at what?] I

Twin Cities

by cloud and mist, but, for a moment, I catch a glimpse of something golden breaking through, a beam of light that stabs me right in the eye. Then, like magic, the clouds

up the top? And it’s covered in GOLD?! Not just any gold, but gold that seems

metal must be worth a damned fortune, and you

without the author's consent. Report any

rises like a mighty tree to pierce the heavens, easily several kilometres high. Each is a work of art, as if someone let Michaelangelant off the chain for a thousand years. Beautiful in design, delicate in construction, each line is aesthetically pleasing in context with those around it. Whoever made this city was determined to make it so damn pretty that nothing would ever come

[Not that we are going to be welcome up there. That’s for citizens only. Wealthy citizens at that. You’re looking

hut in the sixth, wouldn’t that be

the week, but it’s not like I don’t understand the appeal,] she sighs. [We brathians love

[Spending such an absurd amount of resources just to make things look nice? Impossible. It’s too inefficient and doesn’t provide any

most part, it's filled with the people of Atreum. Humans, by

no second-skin rock people, just humans. I mean, humans

grows more beautiful the closer we get, stupid city, with the Legion continuing to shadow us on the way. The outer wall looms

imprinted unspeakably, eye-meltingly attractive artworks into the wall. Because of course they did. If Michaelangelant is in this fleet, she is frothing at the

we expect much trouble here?]

a secret war against the Atreum that I

just as much a surprise to me as

The Atreum can be a little bureaucratic, but they are a well-run and organised sort of place. We

words, of course, doom us before