The Spires of Glass was a very literal name for a city. In the middle of the desert giant pylons, larger and taller than anything around, jutted out of the landscape. The green and blue light of the suns clad it in a veil of gentle teal.
Then the fastest sun, the chariot of the sky, comes and through its white light the glass spires act as prisms, painting the city underneath in a rainbow.
Martin chuckled, this whole world had rainbows. The chain, the suns, colors in the celestial plane were not so monochrome like in his old home.
Below the spires, a city was built. Hardened sandstone buildings dotted the landscape, bathed in the rainbow lights of the pillars. Grand structures hugged the spires as they used them as pillars. It was comical seeing a palace bending with the spires.
The most startling aspect of the city though, was a single fallen glass spire. An uncountable amount of glass, larger than buildings, littered the landscape outside the city.
"Get in your places people!" Velkron's shout broke him out of his reverie.
Martin dragged himself away from the central hologram and stood straight. The Guild uniform was a black robe with a gold-yellow cloth belt wrapped around the stomach. A loose jacket was worn over the robe, its color more of a gray than black. It reminded him of the clothes people in deserts wear.
Under the robes they could wear whatever, but the shoes were also chosen for them. A practical set of leather combat boots that stretched up to their shins.
There was also optional wear, like a waist pack, like the one he was wearing right now. The insignia was worn on the right breast.
Sissy detested the black and gold, it was depressing to wear such colors. But Martin thought it was cool, he felt like a proper member now, decked out with a staff on his back and a pouch on his waist.
"Brace for landing!" One of the crew members shouted, and Martin had to hold in his impulse to look behind him at the hologram.
The Fourth Sun shook briefly, Kishna bumped into him as everything vibrated.
"Successful landing, engaging standby!" The crew member shouted again. Overlooking the deck was the Captain, who was not smiling for this occasion.
Velkron stood a step in front of them. His posture was rigid, and his middle eye closed.
"Confirmation to open the door Captain?" The crew member asked.
"Proceed," Bartos spoke. The merry man's voice was gruff.
There was a great hiss, the air inside the craft turned turbulent for a moment as the pressure between the interior and exterior stabilized.
From the entrance hallway, there was a cascade of steps. A crew member led the crowd inside, and separated from them and went to the side.
At the forefront was a man in the same uniform as Velkron. Shaved, buff compared to the wiry framed Velkron, but shorter than him.
Walking besides him was a girl, she was short, baby fat cheeks sprinkled with freckles. Innocent hazel eyes beneath sleek eyebrows. A small nose overhanging red lips. Raven black hair framed her face, cascading behind her reaching into her waist.
She was a child. The body of a pre-pubescent, barely into her twelfth year into the world. She flinched as her recruiter stopped abruptly, eyes erratic as she beheld the welcoming committee in front of her.
"Recruiter Glave reporting to the Fourth Sun." The man's booming voice echoed in the confines of the deck.
The girl besides him had snapped out from her skittishness, and her eyes wandering in wonder at the magical machines that operated the ship
"Welcome aboard the Fourth Sun Recruiter Glave." The Captain's voice bellowed from up high, "Care to introduce your recruits?"
"Yes sir." The man saluted and he motioned with his hand to the girl beside him. "This is Ava Vain. A lady blessed with a four in her talent assessment. Her care is our utmost priority."
"Of course." Bartos smiled at the girl and descended from his perch. He stopped in front of her and dropped to one knee, a gentle smile on his lips. "I welcome you aboard this fine ship my lady, I am Bartos Moss, at your service."
"Thank you." Ava's voice was light and meek, childish in its candor.
"My pleasure." The Captain said then stood up. "How about I show you your new living quarters? It has a fantastic view, I assure you."
The girl nodded, taking the genial captain's hand and they shuffled away to the top levels of the sphere. There was a wave of relief as everybody on the deck untensed, Velkron's middle eye flickered open and closed, the man himself blowing out a breath.
"I got heavenly luck!" Recruiter Glave laughed uproariously as he patted Velkron across the shoulder. "A four! I recruited a four in this backwater ** hole, no offense guys, but I got lucky!"
"Get your hands off me." Velkron pushed the guy away, and Martin had the rare pleasure of seeing Velkron sulk.
"You jealous that I am gonna get rewarded the hell out of?" Glave did a little dance as he laughed. "I'll quit bragging, what's your catch so far? Four kids, what is their talent score?"
"Two ones, two twos." Velkron rubbed his forehead. "I got unlucky in this batch, but what can you do?"
"Eh, you got the ** parts of the continents. The glass city farts out talents like crazy." Glave then looked behind him, and only then Martin noticed that there was a group behind.
He hadn't even registered them, his focus was on the four. There were three guys and four gals, they stood slack jawed at the deck.
"I got a good haul, one one, four twos and two threes." Glave said and turned to them. "Alright ladies, I'll get you up to speed, follow me!"
"Room number three is my room, don't go in there." Velkron shouted after the retreating Glave, he sighed and again rubbed his brow. "Alright, you did well, the four was someone innocent and good."
"Are the fours and fives usually bad?" Kar asked.
"Usually, yes. People of that talent bracket get poached by the large factions immediately, and those left are the ones who want to be gods in a small pond." Velkron said and continued. "Arrogance, inflated ego, bigotry, people get a big head once they realize how special they are."
"The treatment feels so different." Sissy muttered.
"Get used to it kids, get used to it." Velkron repeated grimly.
The sphere was parked beneath a glass spire, the second dawn hadn't arrived yet so everything was shining in teal light.
Martin tried very hard to not stop and gape at the size of each spire. It was one thing to see them from far away, but closer they were gigantic. They rivaled skyscrapers in height while also having the diameter of a city block.
Though as they walked through desert city, he noticed that businesses congregated around the pillars. Nicer buildings and proper streets were more common there, while the places further away were more rundown.
Sometimes they would pass by a plot of land sectioned off, a building sized glass occupying it.
Velkron guided them through the streets, he hummed as they passed the glass shard. He stopped for a moment as he regarded it and turned towards them.
"Do you want to know why people gather around these pillars?" Velkron posited.
"They do something to the mana." Kishna spoke, her silence broken. "My roots are tingling."
"That is…interesting. You could feel that?" There was a glint in Velkron's eye, "Anyways, yes, the spires themselves are mana generators. They turn solar energy into mana. The mana atmospheric pressure is about three fold everywhere else on this continent."
"What?" Martin blurted, the implications there were huge. But there was a question he had to ask first. "Does that mean you can have a pocket solar mana generator? Why isn't that a thing?"
"You cannot, for the effect to activate, the glass spire must be whole." Velkron tapped his shin. "How they turn solar into mana is a mystery, nobody has ever been able to figure it out, whoever does though will acquire a lot of wealth."
The conversation flowed after that, Velkron was in a good mood. Martin guessed it was from the inoffensive four they had met earlier. Each of them kept asking him questions until they reached the local Guild office.
The architecture was what he expected, black gray and gold with a factor over form design. Hard edges, smooth walls and little exterior decorations.
The insides were the same, minimally furnished. That wasn't to say that it wasn't rich, quite the contrary, there were lines of gold in between the gray tiles. The reception area was lined with a mahogany wood desks.
Velkron talked to the receptionist and they were granted access. Inside, an open floor plan office was laid out. Workers traveled about the place, and in the center was an isle where a man was sitting and looking over the room.
Martin didn't pay attention to that, as hanging off the wall, was a plaque of hard wood with small papers spread throughout it.
His reading skills that he worked on these last two weeks aided him and he smiled.
A Quest board.
Novel Bin 