Morning came quietly to Aurion Citadel.
The eastern towers were still covered in pale gold when the expedition gathered at the southern harbor.
The sea beyond the walls was calm.
Their new vessel waited at the dock.
It was neither a traditional ship nor a true airship.
Its lower hull resembled an ancient sea vessel, reinforced with modern Technomagik plating. Beneath the hull were compact levitation engines, while folding stabilizer wings rested along both sides.
It could sail.
It could travel over land.
And, when necessary, it could rise into the air.
The Sky Mantle technology had not yet changed limitation.
Dorion stood at the front of the vessel wearing the original Sky Mantle.
The ancient fabric moved gently in the morning wind.
Its bronze-gold patterns caught the sunlight.
The copies worn by Lirion, Sorion, Valek, and Bardin looked almost identical, though their resonance was noticeably weaker.
Sorion wore the newly recovered shoulder guard beneath his mantle.
He touched the bronze compass at his side.
The needle pointed north.
Toward the mountains.
Lirion stood beside the navigation console.
He examined the route one last time.
The map projected above the console.
Aurion Citadel glowed at the center.
Far to the north was another marked location.
SKYREACH OBSERVATORY.
Between them stretched mountains, forests, rivers, and ancient roads.
Bardin leaned over the map.
"So that is where we're going."
Lirion nodded.
"According to Mirehaven's records, yes."
Valek folded his arms.
"And the relic?"
Sorion looked at the compass.
"It is somewhere there."
He didn't say anything more.
The compass had become strangely quiet since leaving Mirehaven.
It no longer gave them a precise direction.
Instead, it occasionally produced a faint pulse whenever they approached an ancient Orinthal structure.
As if it were waiting for something.
Thomarion had warned them before they departed.
"Skyreach was never simply an observatory."
"It was a place where the Orinthal studied things they could not understand."
And that was precisely why they were going.
The next relic of the Bronze Plate was believed to be hidden somewhere within the region.
But they did not know where.
They had no exact coordinates.
No surviving map.
Only fragments of information gathered from Mirehaven.
And a musical clue that had yet to reveal its entire meaning.
Bardin carried the old Mirehaven records inside a weatherproof case.
He had also brought something else.
His lute.
Dorion looked at it.
"You brought that?"
Bardin smiled.
"Would you rather I brought another sword?"
"Yes."
"No."
Dorion sighed.
Lirion laughed quietly.
The harbor crew released the mooring lines.
The expedition vessel began moving.
Their journey toward Skyreach had begun.
MERIDIAN SEAS
For the first part of the journey, there was no reason to fly.
The sea was calm.
The vessel sailed beneath a clear sky while the Technomagik engines assisted the ancient sails.
Aurion slowly disappeared behind them.
The Citadel's towers became smaller.
Then they vanished beyond the horizon.
For several hours, the expedition traveled through the Seas.
It felt strangely peaceful.
After the battles in Solaris and the dangerous journey through the Shrouden Swamps, nobody complained about the slower pace.
The sea seemed almost untouched by the ancient wars.
Great translucent creatures moved beneath the water.
Some were entirely organic.
Others carried strange mechanical structures along their bodies.
One enormous creature surfaced beside the vessel.
Its body resembled a whale, but bronze plates covered parts of its back.
Small Technomagik lights pulsed beneath its skin.
Bardin stared.
"That thing has machinery growing on it."
Lirion watched the creature through a scanner.
"Not growing."
He paused.
"Integrated."
The creature released a deep sound.
The vessel vibrated.
Then it disappeared beneath the waves.
Another group followed.
Long silver creatures with glowing fins moved alongside the ship.
Their bodies were organic, but their tails produced controlled energy pulses that allowed them to accelerate through the water.
Valek watched them.
"Beautiful."
Sorion nodded.
"Everything here seems to have survived by becoming something else."
Lirion looked toward the horizon.
"Or by adapting."
The journey continued.
At night, the ocean became even more impressive.
Thousands of small organisms illuminated the water beneath them.
The ship appeared to sail across a field of stars.
Above them, the actual stars stretched across the sky.
Bardin sat near the bow with his lute.
He played softly.
Not a battle song.
Not a heroic anthem.
Just a quiet melody.
Dorion listened from the deck.
"What song is that?"
Bardin continued playing.
"The road."
"The road to where?"
Bardin smiled.
"That's the part nobody knows."
THE FIRST LAND ROUTE
By the following afternoon, the expedition reached the coast.
The sea route ended.
The mountains had begun appearing in the distance.
The Cloudspine Peaks.
Even from far away, they seemed enormous.
Their upper slopes disappeared into clouds.
Some peaks were covered in snow.
Others were dark stone.
Ancient structures could occasionally be seen along the mountainsides.
Lirion examined the terrain.
"We'll continue by land."
Dorion looked at the ship.
"Can it travel there?"
"Yes."
"Then why walk?"
Lirion pointed toward the mountains.
"The old roads are still visible. The vessel can follow them."
The vessel transformed.
Its lower propulsion system changed configuration.
The keel lifted.
The wheels and stabilization mechanisms extended beneath the hull.
The ship became a ground-skimming vehicle.
It moved across the ancient road.
Not flying.
Not sailing.
Traveling.
The transition was surprisingly smooth.
Bardin looked over the side.
"This is the strangest ship I've ever traveled in."
Valek laughed.
"At least it doesn't require horses."
Dorion looked at Lirion.
"Can it go faster?"
Lirion glanced at the controls.
"Yes."
Dorion smiled.
"Then—"
"No."
Dorion frowned.
"You didn't even let me finish."
"I know what you were going to say."
Bardin laughed.
THE PEOPLE AT THE FOOT OF THE MOUNTAIN
Near sunset, they reached a settlement.
It was not marked on any modern map.
The town sat between enormous trees at the foot of the Cloudspine Mountains.
Its buildings were simple.
Wood.
Stone.
Old metal.
Small Technomagik lamps hung outside homes.
Some inhabitants looked completely ordinary.
Others did not.
There were people with unusually bright eyes.
People whose skin carried faint markings resembling constellations.
A few had small crystalline growths along their arms.
Others possessed strange animal-like features.
Yet nobody seemed concerned about the differences.
They simply lived together.
A woman approached their vessel.
She looked at the Sky Mantles.
Then at the brothers.
"You came from Aurion."
Dorion nodded.
"Yes."
She looked toward the mountains.
"Skyreach?"
Sorion answered.
"That's our destination."
The woman's expression became serious.
"Then you should know something."
"What?"
"The mountain does not welcome everyone."
Valek asked:
"Why?"
She pointed upward.
The clouds above the peaks moved unnaturally.
"There is a barrier."
Lirion immediately became interested.
"Technomagik?"
"Very old."
"Can it be crossed?"
The woman shook her head.
"Not by flying."
Lirion looked toward the mountains.
That confirmed what he had suspected.
The hybrid vessel could reach the region.
But it could not simply fly to the Observatory.
The barrier extended above their maximum flight altitude.
They would have to find another way.
THE MUSIC OF THE MOUNTAIN
The settlement's elder invited them to stay for the evening.
The people gathered around a large fire.
Bardin opened his case of Mirehaven records.
He showed them the old maps.
One elder recognized the symbol immediately.
"Skyreach."
Bardin nodded.
"Do you know how to reach the Observatory?"
The elder looked toward the mountains.
"There is an entrance."
"Where?"
"Hidden."
Bardin waited.
The elder continued.
"Skyreach does not reveal itself to those who simply search for it."
Sorion looked at him.
"Then how do we find it?"
The elder pointed toward Bardin's lute.
"Through sound."
Everyone became silent.
Bardin slowly lowered the instrument.
"You know the song?"
The elder smiled.
"Not the whole song."
That answer immediately caught Bardin's attention.
"What do you know?"
The elder explained that generations of their people had preserved fragments of an old mountain melody.
The melody had been passed from one generation to another.
Some remembered the rhythm.
Others remembered the words.
Others remembered only the final notes.
But nobody had the complete composition.
Bardin opened the Mirehaven records.
One of the pages contained musical notation.
He compared it with the elder's memory.
His eyes widened.
"It matches."
Valek leaned closer.
"Then Mirehaven wasn't just preserving history."
Bardin nodded.
"They were preserving directions."
Sorion touched the compass.
A faint pulse answered.
Once.
Then disappeared.
The mountain had heard them.
THE LIMIT OF THE SKY MANTLES
The next morning, the expedition prepared to continue.
Lirion inspected the Sky Mantles.
The copies were functioning.
Barely.
He explained the limitation.
"The flight resonance is incomplete."
Dorion looked at his original mantle.
"Mine?"
"Stronger."
"How much stronger?"
"Enough to assist movement."
"Can it actually fly?"
Lirion looked at the mountains.
"For short periods."
Sorion touched the shoulder guard.
"And mine?"
"The shoulder guard contains part of the original resonance system."
"So?"
"It can stabilize your body during jumps."
Sorion nodded.
That was enough.
They didn't need to fly across the mountains.
They needed to survive them.
The vessel was left at the settlement under the protection of the locals.
The expedition continued on foot.
Dorion carried the heavier supplies.
Lirion carried his machine equipment.
Sorion carried the compass.
Valek carried his weapons.
Bardin carried his lute.
And all five wore the Sky Mantle.
They entered the first mountain path.
THE IMPOSSIBLE BRIDGE
The path eventually ended at a canyon.
A bridge stretched across it.
Or what remained of one.
The ancient structure was broken in several places.
Far below was a river.
Clouds moved beneath them.
Bardin stared down.
"I suddenly miss the sea."
Dorion looked at the broken bridge.
"We cross."
Lirion scanned it.
"The remaining structure can support our weight."
Valek looked at the gaps.
"And the missing sections?"
Lirion looked toward the opposite cliff.
"We jump."
Bardin stared at him.
"Of course."
A roar came from above.
Everyone looked upward.
Several winged creatures circled the canyon.
Their bodies were partly organic.
Their wings contained metallic structures.
Ancient Technomagik creatures.
They had noticed the travelers.
Valek drew his weapon.
Dorion raised his.
Sorion remained still.
The creatures descended.
Bardin quietly held his lute.
"Should I play?"
Dorion looked at him.
"Can your music stop those things?"
"I don't know."
"Then don't."
Bardin smiled.
"Fair."
The first creature attacked.
Dorion stepped forward.
His Sky Mantle reacted.
The fabric flared.
His body became lighter.
He jumped.
For a moment, he seemed to hang in the air.
Then he landed on the broken bridge.
Valek followed.
His copied mantle stabilized his movement.
Sorion crossed next.
His shoulder guard activated.
The Veil flowed around his body.
He disappeared between one step and the next.
Lirion crossed carefully.
Bardin followed last.
The airborne creatures circled them but did not immediately attack again.
They were watching.
Waiting.
Sorion looked upward.
"They aren't hunting us."
Valek lowered his weapon.
"They're guarding something."
The compass pulsed.
North.
Higher into the mountains.
Toward the Observatory.
THE GUARDIAN OF THE LOWER PASS
At the next plateau, they found an enormous stone structure.
A guardian stood before it.
Not a machine.
Not entirely.
Its body was made of stone, metal, and crystalline growth.
Its eyes opened as the travelers approached.
"STATE YOUR PURPOSE."
Dorion stepped forward.
"We seek Skyreach Observatory."
The Guardian remained motionless.
"WHY?"
Sorion answered.
"We are searching for a relic of the Bronze Plate."
The Guardian looked at the five travelers.
"THE BRONZE PLATE."
Its voice echoed across the mountains.
"THEN YOU CARRY THE MEMORY OF ANOTHER AGE."
Bardin stepped forward.
"We don't seek to take what isn't ours."
The Guardian looked at him.
"THEN WHAT DO YOU SEEK?"
Bardin held his lute.
"Knowledge."
The Guardian was silent.
Then it asked:
"AND WHAT WILL YOU DO WITH IT?"
Nobody answered immediately.
Finally, Sorion spoke.
"Remember it."
The Guardian's eyes brightened.
The ancient mechanism beneath the mountain activated.
A distant melody echoed through the pass.
Three notes.
Then four.
Then silence.
Bardin's expression changed.
He recognized them.
"The clue."
The Guardian stepped aside.
"THEN FOLLOW THE SONG."
The passage opened.
Beyond it, the Cloudspine Peaks rose higher.
Somewhere above them was Skyreach Observatory.
Somewhere inside it was another piece of the Bronze Plate.
And somewhere within the ancient music was the path to find it.
The five travelers continued upward.
THE ROAD ABOVE THE CLOUDS
By evening, they reached a narrow ridge.
The clouds had fallen beneath them.
The world below looked impossibly distant.
Aurion was gone behind the mountains.
The Southern Seas were no longer visible.
Ahead stood a massive peak.
At its summit was something that looked almost impossible.
A structure suspended between the mountains.
Ancient towers.
Circular platforms.
Bridges extending into empty sky.
And countless Technomagik lights glowing faintly within the clouds.
Bardin stared.
"Skyreach."
Lirion quietly scanned it.
His machine interface filled with unreadable symbols.
Then one translated.
ORINTHAL OBSERVATORY NETWORK
Another appeared.
ARCHIVE ACCESS: RESTRICTED
And then—
a final message.
BRONZE RESONANCE DETECTED.
Sorion's compass began to glow.
The needle pointed upward.
Dorion looked toward the enormous suspended structure.
"So that's where we're going."
Valek smiled.
"Then we finally found it."
Bardin looked at the clouds beneath them.
"No."
He gently touched the strings of his lute.
"We found the beginning."
A single note echoed through the mountain.
Far above them, something answered.
Another note.
Then another.
The ancient Observatory had heard the music.
And it was responding.
TO BE CONTINUED...