Well, at least we still had a couple hundred years before the tower would be lost. I had kind of hoped that we would be able to use the building itself as a place to have this school I was trying to set up, but putting it in a place that was going to be wiped off the map eventually seemed like a bad idea. Sure, it would take a pretty long time to get to that point, but if we were going to set up a school like this, we’d probably need to use a lot of very powerful enchantments that would be hard to do in the first place, let alone redo later once we inevitably had to evacuate. Besides, putting the school right in the middle of a place that would eventually be completely overrun by Fomorians when the entire point of this was to eventually eliminate them completely was probably stupid. We needed to keep this whole thing secret, not plant our flag right in their path.
On the other hand, just because we couldn’t set up shop in the tower didn’t mean we couldn’t go there and take away everything that wasn’t nailed down. If that place was really some treasure trove of Necromancy tools and the like, we were absolutely stripping the whole thing clean. For the moment, we’d just keep everything we took on this ship I had so recently acquired. There was room in the cargo holds. We’d figure out what to do from there later. Hell, maybe the school would be on the ship itself. Then we could go anywhere we wanted and we’d be even harder to track down.
It also meant that I was going to see Desoto for the first time. Unfortunately, I had absolutely no frame of reference for anything in that area, and none of the computers we had access to had any pictures of the place since neither the intact ship or the crashed one had ever gone there. We had the map and the general coordinates, but I didn’t think that would be enough for my teleportation power. I needed something more than that to work off of, an image to focus on whether it was in front of me or in my memory. Trying to go to a place that hadn’t even existed in my normal timeline probably wouldn’t work. At least, I didn’t want to take the chance of screwing it up.
So, we were going to take the intact ship instead. That was probably a better idea anyway, if we were going to load everything from the tower onto it. Once I saw the place in person, I would be able to go there any time. At least, as long as it still existed. I wasn’t sure what would happen if I tried to send myself there after Desoto was destroyed. Would I just end up in the middle of the gulf of Mexico? It was a dark thought, and one I couldn’t really think about too much right now. Especially considering I absolutely could not tell Gaia anything about what would happen in the future. If just talking to her about random timeline things was risky, saying a single word about a Fomorian invasion or her eventual decision to allow the entire state to be completely erased just to stop it would almost certainly be catastrophic.
No, I had to keep quiet about that. But I was pretty sure she knew something was up, because this was Gaia we were talking about. Still, she didn’t say anything as we boarded the ship once more. I had already taken the time to collect all the ghosts and zombies from their digging and collection work, thanking them even if the latter didn’t really have the capacity to appreciate it. And speaking of whom, I had the undead automatons wait in the cargo hold so we could use them to carry stuff as soon as we’d made certain the tower was safe. Laein stayed in there as well to practice her own zombie control. At least that was what she said she was doing. Personally, I was pretty sure she was just playing with them while also trying to figure out if I’d done anything special to make it so she couldn’t take control of them during our little competition. Either way, I told her I’d let her know as soon as we actually found the tower. Because something told me it wasn’t just standing out in the middle of nowhere. Sure the land was sparsely populated at this point, but someone would notice some sort of tower full of magical things if it wasn’t hidden in some way, right?
Meanwhile, Gaia, Percy, Cerberus, Eurso, and I went to the bridge. The bodies and other remains of such had already been cleaned up, so at least we didn’t have the smell to deal with while we were doing this. The ghosts I’d left behind to watch over the ship while we were gone had done a remarkable job of finding and turning on the automated cleaning robots, and now the place looked like that fight never happened. I’d asked what happened to the bodies themselves and was told they were ‘safely in storage’ just in case we needed to use them for any Necromancy-related things.
Standing on the bridge, I watched as Percy moved to the pilot’s seat. Gaia could’ve just taken over the ship and made it fly all by herself, but we wanted to do this the right way. Besides, given this thing was from the future, it was probably better if she touched the systems as little as possible, just in case. Still, the woman put her hand on my shoulder and squeezed with a soft gasp of amazement as the ship began to lift off. We could feel the engines under our feet (actually, if I could feel it, I had no idea how much she could feel with her powers), while the main viewscreen in front of us was showing a split view of both the ground while we lifted away from it, and the sky above us. Sure, Gaia had only recently been in space when she transported up to this very same ship to help me. But something told me actually being here and experiencing the liftoff for herself was different. After all, she’d never so much as been in an airplane before. This was… probably pretty special.
With that in mind, I put my hand over hers and squeezed it with a smile that way. I couldn’t wait to talk to her in the present about what she had really thought about all this. And I really wanted to ask her if she had ever realized who ‘Jacob’ really was and when. There was a lot I wanted to talk to her about. Which was just more reason to make absolutely certain we saved her as soon as possible. To be honest, I still hadn’t given up the hope of figuring out a way to set up something with this version of Gaia that would pay off in the future. Even if ‘hey just in case you’re ever completely out of reach…’ was probably a pretty bad way to maintain the timeline.
Normally, we could have gone all the way from what would one day be the border between Wyoming and Colorado, where the ship was parked, to the edge of Desoto about twelve hundred miles away almost instantly, but we wanted Gaia to actually enjoy her first real flight like this. And I thought Laein would appreciate having a little more time to work with the zombies. So, Percy took it a bit slower. Besides, we didn’t have to be in a huge rush right now. After everything we had already done, I could use a few minutes to catch my breath. Especially if we were about to have to deal with a bunch of magical traps once we found the tower. I honestly had no idea what we would walk into, and neither did anyone else. There had been nothing on the ship about what we would find there, only the coordinates for where it was supposed to be. Which was another reason I couldn’t just teleport us straight there. With our luck, we’d end up right on top of some sort of magical boobytrap and blow ourselves up.
So, we went the long way and gave Gaia a chance to see the landscape from this point of view for once. We were still going faster than an airplane, traveling just under a thousand miles per hour. That gave me a chance to sit down and a chair on the bridge, which reclined so I could take a nap. Given my stamina power, a simple one hour nap in the chair was far more refreshing then it had any right to be.
Back on my feet once more as the ship was passing over the last bit of what would one day be the boundary between Alabama and Mississippi, I stared straight ahead at the monitor. I was trying not to let any emotion show on my face, of course. But this was my first chance to see a land that simply didn’t exist in my time. In about three hundred years, Gaia would make the decision to destroy all of it after evacuating as many people as they could. I had never really spoken to her very much about what that was like or how much it hurt her, given she was responsible for that land and everyone there. But now I was here when she was seeing it for what I was pretty sure was the first time for her as well. Yeah, I really had to try not to let on what a big deal this was. She’d probably have a few questions if I didn’t keep it together.
Stolen from Royal Road, this story should be reported if encountered on Amazon.
Still, I couldn’t help but stare as we watched the land come into view. Honestly, it didn’t look that different from what we had just been flying over. Which was understandable, considering the planet itself didn’t know how states were divided. The only real indication of any boundary between this eventually-nonexistent land and the area we had just been in was a low set of rolling hills with what appeared to be a few mines set on them. We could see camps where people were working near those mines, and there was a town in the distance, near a small lake fed by several streams. It wasn’t a very big town, even for this time, but it was definitely there. It was a settlement, or fort, or whatever. It had walls just like the oh-so-recently founded Laramie Falls. Though these didn’t seem to have any magic involved. The people down there were all–at least as far as I could tell– Bystanders. Spanish people, judging from what we could see. The view on the screen gave us a really good look around the place as Percy slowed down to let us take it all in. We were invisible, and far too high up for the people down there to notice us. But we could sit there, a few thousand feet up, and spy on them as much as we wanted. We could watch their entire lives play out and they’d never have the slightest idea anyone was there.
Yeah, it felt creepy, and we moved on soon. Still, I couldn’t help the thought of whether that would one day be a large city. At least, for a while until it was destroyed. All those people down there, did their descendants die in the invasion, or were they killed when they couldn’t escape before Gaia made the decision to allow that spell? Or did they get out and have their memories wiped about where they had come from? Would any of those people or their descendents become Heretics? If so, how did they feel about the decision? Did they think everyone should have stayed and continued to fight?
“Jacob?” that was Gaia, looking at me intently. “Is something wrong?” She nodded toward my hands, which I belatedly realized were clenched tightly. A little too tightly.
Resisting the urge to curse at my own reaction after I had told myself to keep calm and not give anything away, I shook my head. “Sorry, I just… miss my friends and family. It’s been awhile since I saw them. But I’ll be fine, really.” I managed a smile that way and tried to change the subject. “How’d you like your first flight like this?”
She, in turn, chuckled. “Well, not my first flight. I am quite the powerful and talented sorceress, after all. I have enchanted various objects to lift me up. Who wouldn’t? Especially considering my brother–” She stopped then, blanching a bit before looking away. I could see her face twisting a little, like she really wanted to ask something.
That was it. Arthur. After everything else she had been curious about when it came to the future, everything she had successfully pushed aside without showing too much difficulty, it was wondering whether her brother had ever returned that she was having trouble putting out of her mind. I could see the question right there on her lips.
But she couldn’t ask, and I couldn’t answer. There was no way that I could give that much information.
So, even though we both knew what Gaia was thinking, and saw the question practically hovering in the air between us, it went unasked. Gaia took a deep breath and offered me an understanding smile, breaking the moment of tension. “That said, this vessel is far more comfortable than any enchanted flying object. And at least I am not in a cage this time.”
Okay yeah, I definitely wanted to ask some questions about that. But before I could decide whether doing so was a good idea or not, my attention was drawn back to the monitor. Percy had flown the ship onward, and now we were deep in Desoto territory. It was… it was beautiful. I didn’t know whether I was being influenced by the knowledge that all this would eventually be destroyed or not, but still. It was so green. Seriously, the hills were higher now than they had been back where those mines were, and a wide river cut a valley through them. Those hills, the valley around them, all of it was thick, luscious green spotted with bits of color where wildflowers grew. The river was about seventy feet wide, and had spots of intense rapids. I could see a stream in the distance coming down off the side of one of those hills, forming a beautiful waterfall to meet up with the river. A herd of antelope were bounding across the field on the far right of the river, being chased by a couple lion-like creatures with horns that I couldn’t even recognize. Alter animals of some kind, that much was clear. As was the gigantic bird flying directly underneath us. It had a wingspan of about thirty feet, with bright blue and purple feathers. Spotting something in one of those trees far below, it dove while letting out a loud, powerful scree. A moment after disappearing into that treeline, it flew back up with what looked like an oversized ferret in its talons.
Everywhere I looked, everywhere I turned my gaze, there was something else to take my breath away. I really wasn’t usually much of a nature person. But this was truly incredible. It was beyond anything I could have imagined, honestly. The fact that all of this would one day be wiped off the face of the planet was even more of a complete and utter travesty than I’d ever understood until now. This place was… it was just…
“It’s incredible.” That was Gaia, her voice hushed as she stepped forward and put her hand out toward the screen, as though she could touch the images of the land through it. “This is the most beautiful land I’ve ever seen in my life. Truly, this must be paradise. No wonder knowing you were about to see it was emotional for you.” She swallowed, completely caught up in staring at the screen so she couldn’t see my reaction anyway. “This… this place is where I belong. I have searched for… for a home. Here. I… I think I will stay here, after helping you.” Her gaze turned to me finally. “I know you cannot and should not tell me anything about the future, so you cannot tell me if this is the right choice. But it is my choice. Whatever happens after I help you with this tower so you can follow your own path, mine has brought me here. I will stay in this land and see that it is protected.”
God, there was so much I wanted to say right then, so much I wanted to warn her about, just in case there was any chance it could help her. But I couldn’t. I had to keep my face as neutral as possible. All I offered the woman was a nod and a very faint smile. “You’re right, it’s beautiful here. It deserves someone who can protect it.”
Persephone spoke up then, raising a hand. “Ah, we’re approaching the coordinates of the tower, and nothing is on screen.”
Sure enough, the area just looked like more of the same beautiful land we’d been watching this entire time. Obviously, the tower was disguised or hidden somehow. Maybe it was invisible just like we were.
Just as that thought occurred to me, I felt… something, a presence or consciousness or something seem to brush over my mind. It was faint, but definitely there. And from the way Gaia reacted, head turning abruptly, she felt it too. Something had just reached out to us.
And in the next moment, we saw it. The tower. Only it wasn’t anything like I had imagined. I had thought we were heading for maybe something the size of a skyscraper, if that. But this was… this was far more. This was mind boggling. It lay directly ahead of us, maybe half a mile away. And it was the single largest structure I had ever laid eyes on. It had to be thousands of feet wide, and so tall… so… fucking tall… it stretched far out of sight above us even though we were several thousand feet up. I couldn’t comprehend what I was looking at initially, just seeing this unending pillar stretching off into and beyond the clouds.
“How… how high is that thing, Percy?” I managed.
“Almost eighty thousand feet,” she informed me. “Over fifteen miles, as you would say. Twenty-four thousand meters.” A pause came then, before she added, “It is rather large.”
“I… I…” Staring at that thing, thinking about how much stuff had to be inside it, all I could do was gape in disbelief.
“I think we’re gonna need a bigger cargo bay.”