Alturus Lorian Turtledove et al Sol

  2510.01.01

  Sol 0

  Stellar Stratum

  Leaf Sub Extension 4893 Transit Hub 64

  Alturus found himself walking at the forefront of a smaller crowd of students. His peers gave him a wide berth; however, thanks to Elaine and Titanus, he wasn't completely isolated. The group had left their section of the amphitheater and was now working their way through a large, wide parkway that led deeper into the forests and away from the large sea of a lake.

  "Well, that was a lot," Elaine said, interrupting the thirty-minute silence.

  "Nothing says welcome like having your entire world flipped upside down,” Alturus mumbled to himself. He kicked a rock to the side.

  “Still, that was a massive army,” Elaine said.

  “I wonder what it’s meant to fight for,” Alturus said.

  “Army?” Titanus asked in a confused tone. “What do you mean, army? We haven’t had wars in centuries. That looked just like a decade's worth of people to me.”

  “Still,” Alturus replied. “That was a show of force. But it felt heavier than I expected. Why didn’t my parents ever mention any of this? Children of Gods and Kings, Emperor?”

  Alturus went silent for a moment, thinking of what his father had said about executing the wills of those three groups.

  “Mine didn’t either,” Titanus said, after a few moments. “My mother was so special, yet we lived just like everyone else. I don't understand why she kept it from me.”

  “Well, I knew most of that,” Elaine said. Her face turned red as Titanus and Alturus focused on her. “Whoa, whoa, I didn’t know about you being a Child of God until the shuttle ride, nor about how massive the number of people we would see today. I just knew about the stasis and the information about how rare we all are.”

  “Well, it’s already happened,” Alturus said. More to calm himself than his friends. “Besides, I imagine it’s harder for your parents to hide it from you. But this really makes me question my family.”

  “What I really need is a bed to sleep in," Titanus groaned. "Just how much longer will it be?"

  “We are almost there, good sirs.” Wizard James said in answer to Titanus. He looked at Alturus for a second before looking back at the path ahead.

  “Hmm,” Elaine whispered to Alturus. “Is it me, or is he being more formal and nervous around us now?”

  “Oh, it’s right up there,” James replied to Titanus. His voice cracked a bit as he tried to ignore Elaine’s comment. “Just around this bend, there will be a building that leads to the interstratum transport system.”

  A one-story building soon appeared on the side of the pathway. Around it was a small group of locals. They clapped and cheered, and they saw the large group of students approaching the entrance.

  “Once we get inside, we will board the train that’s on the left side of the building.” Wizard James announced to the hundred or so strong group following him.

  Because the class was in the range of twenty thousand or so. Each section of the auditorium had left following a specific faculty or staff member, who would leave one hundred students each to their assigned academic dorm. The assignment was random, so whoever was sitting next to you during your introduction to the stratum would be your classmates for your first tier.

  This content has been misappropriated from Royal Road; report any instances of this story if found elsewhere.

  As instructed, Alturus and the others made their way through the lobby and onto a train. It was a foot or so off the ground. He wondered how something could float above the ground. Every carriage he had seen entering and leaving the estate rolled on large wooden wheels and was pulled by horses. For good measure, he looked through the front window to see what size horse could pull a train this big.

  “What are you looking for?” Elaine asked him, noticing he was fervently staring out the window and ducking around for a better vantage point.

  “Where are the horses pulling this? I thought they would be quite massive for a carriage this size.” Alturus replied. His question was met by a loud laugh that seemed to come from someone behind them. He looked around as he noticed the considerable gap left between their trio and the rest of the class. As he met eyes with the students around him, they all looked away immediately. He could hear fervent whispering coming from the classmates behind them.

  “It’s a train,” Elaine replied. “It propels itself on special tracks. This one here is a little special as it uses magnetic levitation to float and move.”

  “Oh. I’ve never seen anything like this before.” Alturus said. “It's honestly incredible.”

  “We haven’t even started moving yet,” Titanus replied. “Where are we even going to go? There’s a wall right in front of it. We didn’t see any rail ties when we boarded.”

  “It doesn’t need them.” Wizard James had spoken up for the first time since entering the building. “You will see once we go down.”

  “Down?” the trio asked, skeptical looks on all of their faces.

  Slowly, the ground rose up through the crowd. Several screams echoed through the cabin as it looked like the floor was swallowing them whole. Titanus covered his eyes while Alturus and Elaine stared through the window. It wasn’t the floor that was rising but the train that was sinking through it. As the train descended underground, a large chasm opened up. Below, a myriad of trains could be seen throughout a vast open space that was as large as the forest he had just seen. In the far distance, he could see a wall of glass and the water that lay beyond.

  Suddenly, the train accelerated. There was no perceptible movement, and yet the vast space rapidly moved around them. The train was moving on a greyish track that extended to the far wall of the cavern. Within a blink, they were already halfway along the track and almost to that wall. Impossibly fast, the train surged through tunnels of various composition. Sometimes they opened up to grand vistas of various biomes and landscapes. Mountain ranges, canyons, deserts, and occasionally, they passed through megacities that spanned as far as the horizon would show.

  “Were we not already at the academy?” Alturus asked. The group remained silent as they took in the wildly changing sights around them.

  “No, that was an amphitheater used for special events.” Wizard James had replied. Forgetting for a moment that he was talking to Alturus. At the last second, he added "Sir."

  “I thought this whole time that was the Stellarium. You mean to tell me there are entire cities out here?” Elaine muttered.

  “The Stella Stratum is a manmade world,” A girl who hadn’t been there before said. She was looking outside the window next to Titanus. “This world of many worlds is home to a population larger than that of even the Earth. Billions of people live here. Where we are from is one of the many worlds that showcase the past of humanity. While the Stella Stratum is its future.”

  “Breath-taking, isn’t it?” Wizard James asked. Although his question was rhetorical, the rest of them nodded. He sighed. “Ah, we are getting close, now. They usually hold the ceremony on the opposite side of the stratum so that they can showcase this new world to its new students. We were in the Arm of the Forest before, and the Stellarium's Arcanist School is located in the Arm of the Vista.

  The train exited the long, seemingly infinite tunnel out into an open expanse. A giant valley of evergreen trees, snow, and large looming mountains spread out before them. Unlike the forest section they were in before. This new area felt as if it were on a real planet; the sky far above, blue and radiant.

  “Have we traveled into the future? Why is it day already?” Titanus asked.

  “Its because we are on the opposite side that is now facing the sun,” Alturus replied.

  “Look who isn’t entirely stupid,” Elaine retorted. Though her smile faded, a look of awe replaced it once again.

  Nestled in the center of a large lake were a series of buildings. Towers of various shapes and sizes glistened with different colors. Each tower was made of a different material. On either side of the massive lake were large cities of medium to low-rise buildings. The train slowly worked its way towards one side of the grand valley, lowering farther and farther towards the ground. The track ended as the train entered the station.

  Through large windows, the grand cluster of buildings sat perched at the center of the lake, their silhouette creating a crown of various shimmering gems.

  “Welcome to the Stellarium first branch, the Arcanist Academy,” James said. “Welcome to your new home.”