The surface of cemented roads had folded up, exposing the man-made paths underneath. The roads were riddled by potholes and yet it seems like no effort was made to repair them. It was an unpleasent trek, no different than walking on a broken path in the wilderness. Nangong Wuyue was rather winded walking on such a path, and wondered if her serpentine form would help. But after recalling Vivian's little nice magic had already scared the locals senseless, she suppressed her desire in morphing her three meter long tail out. Of course, a little grumbling was par of the course. "Say... Are all your roads these difficult to walk on?"
"Difficult?" Willy looked at the road surface under him, "Oh right. This certainly cannot be compared to the roads in Highspire as this is a poor backwater. Neither the Eisenstadt or the Kingdom of Highspire will be sending anyone to fix the roads here."
"Why... are the two 'countries' fighting a war? Is there some bad blood or something?" Hao Ren asked.
Willy simply blinked. "Why? Because winter is coming of course. We need to light the fire at the World's End. Those who have perished in battle are fuel to the fire. All four kingdoms did not fight because of some petty grudge. I thought this was common knowledge."
The group looked at each other with an astounded look. Vivian immediately frowned. "Your kind have... splitted into FOUR kingdoms?"
"Are you really from the Frozen Beyond?" Willy swallowed his saliva. "Everyone knows this. The Kingdom of Highspire, the Eisenstadt, the Freistadt, and the Starhold. These are the four kingdoms in this world.
Hao Ren was astounded after hearing that, and was rather incredulous to say the least. The world order within the sanctuary inside the ark had changed completely, and have became a few disparate city states and villages, and the roads of old became the way of transportation between the 'cities'. Skyscrappers and other tall buildings were fortified into fortresses and townships while the industrial zone became the wilderness after being torn down and everything useful scrapped. The sanctuary had been turned inside out. A medieval society had bizarrely grown upon the ruins of an advanced civilisation. And these ruins, was just so small.
It was a literal dystopian nightmare.
Hao Ren looked up. It was possible to see the entire landscape of this enclosed scape. Hao Ren wanted to ask what do the young man think of this weird world structure, but he quickly realised that he did not have much to ask at all. The young soldier was born and bred here. He was raised and educated in the same place as well, and thus his world view would be as such. If no one in the ship now knew of the concept of the 'ark', it was probable that everyone here think of the world as a giant egg shell. The freezing world outside the metal hull probably mean nothing to Willy.
Willy was jittery throughout the journey. He really really did not want to travel on this part of the road, especially after his comrades were defeated and in the company of these unknown strangers that knew sorcery. That left him with a sense of severe lack of security. But the soldier did not have a choice, he still have to brave through to guide the outlanders, and to watch out for any attacks by the Eisenstadt or Freistadt soldiers.
Quite some time had since passed since they had departed and Hao Ren did not see anyone appearing. He inevitably started doubting Willy's. "You mentioned that this road was dangerous? Why haven't we ran into anyone yet?"
Willy rubbed his hands together as he tighted his sleeves. It was cold now, and the young lad was shivering slightly. "I don't know... They are usually soldiers patrolling this path, or at least merchants going between cities..."
As he walked he looked up, the dim lights across the cityscape looked like flickering fireflies in the dark, making this enclosed place looked like a cave filled with fireflies. The young soldier's brown eyes exudes some sort of uneasiness. "It's getting worse day by day for the last ten years. I myself had ran into countless weird incidents. Perhaps the Eisenstadt and Freistadt patrols are slacking off today?"
"Getting worse day by day?" Hao Ren asked.
As Willy opened his mouth to speak, a weird low hum shook the boy.
The sound came from deep under, and sounded like some sort of massive equipment slowing to a halt. The soundwave revebrated across the land, and while not particularly loud, the entire place suddenly shook. At the same time, Hao Ren felt that he suddenly got lighter as his got a feeling that he was about to float away. Willy's expression turned to panic as he screamed. "Don't move! It's the Rising! The Rising!"
Just as Willy finished, everyone felt their bodies turned light. The sanctuary's artificial gravity had disappeared.
Hao Ren saw a red light ran rapidly from one end of the place to another and was followed by another. It looked like an alarm light and Willy's eyes were locked onto the light, as he counted under his breath. "One... Two... Three... Three meteors. Oh goodness, it seems like it won't last very long... Please stay still, and don't jump!"
The artificial gravity had completely disappeared by now, and yet Hao Ren and the rest was still 'standing'. In reality however, they were already floating, it's just that their soles are still slightly touching the ground. Willy immediately stiffened and did not move, afraid that any movement would cause him to 'rise'. This would not only throw him uncontrollably into the air, and it may even throw him across the land. Hao Ren quickly understood why the young man was so afraid. He tried to soothe the boy's fear. "Don't worry. Don't worry, your warning was in time. No one will be flying. Say, does this happen often?"
"No, it happens once every few months, but it seems like it was much less frequent before I was born." Willy took a deep breath, and he was already by now used to Hao Ren's 'lack of knowledge'. Speaking to someone itself helped him to calm down. "Winter is coming, and the heart of this world is slowly freezing. The land will be powerless to keep us standing on our feet... Nan had told me before. But if we are able to relight the Furnace of the Ancestors, everything will return to normal. Nan told me that too."
Hao Ren gave a casual 'Oh' in reply before looking at the massive pipings and alloy bridges above him. There were lights across their surfance, and they were not there before. It seems like the ark has an automated maintenance system, and it was clear that it was having problems, it was still functioning, if barely.
The artificial gravity had disappeared for almost an hour now, and from time to time Willy clasped his hands together before his chest, silently muttering something that sounded like a prayer to the gods. After the gut-wrenching hour had passed, Hao Ren heard another hum came from underneath, and as it disappeared, he felt heavy again, and he was solidly planted on the ground once more.
Willy's wobbly legs almost failed him and he struggled to stand. Giving Hao Ren a rather awkward smile, he said. "You guys don't seem to be afraid of the 'Rising'."
"As long we don't rise, we won't fall." Hao Ren shrugged.
Willy's expression darkened. "My best friend said that before too, but he ended up dying in the plaza of Wind Valley City on the other corner of the world."
As he looked up towards the titled buildings. "That was a long 'Rising', and lasted a whole day. Poor Borqen, he just accidentally stretched and I saw him suddenly rose into the air, higher and higher... and that time I still did not know how to use the meteors to determine how long the phenomenon will last. I thought it was going to end very quickly, but in the end, he became nothing but a black dot in the sky. His sister was with me that time, poor lass... her brother even crossed the 'World's Axis'. And by the time the Earth Mother had recovered, Borqen had fallen into the other end of the world. It was a few days later that the lord of Wind Valley City sent in back in a box."