My Servant System

"So there's just a floating island in the middle of the Labyrinthian that happens to have a gigantic, multicolored city that is home to... nothing. No people, no monsters, no resources and not even furniture? Nothing at all is within this city besides buildings and roads?"

"That is correct, Draka~! A city of nothing; a hollow city of grandeur, an empty metropolis, a municipality of no one! I could go on, if you'd like?"

Lilith once more showed off her discovery with pride, before turning around towards us with a grin as she added "But that isn't the most fascinating thing about this place~! No, no it isn't~! Take a look at the sky and tell me if something seems off~!", redirecting our attention upwards and giving us a moment of pause as we searched for what was wrong.

Seconds passed us by as we searched and searched, and even as I used the mana enhanced senses to look at the brilliant blue sky above I could see nothing wrong, so I just focused on Lilith again and tried to figure out what she was playing at.

There was no change in her expression, no switch up in what she was thinking of or how she looked at us, and that was yet another thing that added to the ever present air of mystery around her as she just clicked her tongue and said "Well, that's fine, you'll see it eventually. Come, let's head towards one of the buildings and take a break~!"

Her excitement was a little contagious, her prior question fading from our minds as we stepped up towards a golden brick, purple accented house that was just on the edge of the city, the stables that were attached to its side large enough to fit the carriage and keep it safe from the elements.

The street wound through the city, quickly branching off into various other paths that led to new places deeper inside of this enigma of a place, so for now we gathered at the edge and just went into the this building to look around, finding it just as Lilith had said.

Completely empty and devoid of any furnishings, signs of life or even deterioration; there was nothing wrong with the interiors, and yet that made it so unsettling as we settled down inside, gathering around a table that Anput quickly created for us.

"It's just... empty. This is freaky... and not in the good way."

"All of the buildings are like this, from the small storefronts to the towering inns and dance halls. The gardens, orchids and parks are all in 'working order', so to speak, and even the various ponds and rivers that are around have their banks stuck in perfect uniformity. It is beyond fascinating~!"

Plopping down onto a chair, Lilith gestured at the walls and floors next as she added "And the intriguing part about these materials is that they all seem to be durable and they all possess some sort of regenerative properties. Whatever damage you do to them is repaired quickly enough thanks to all of the mana in the air. Truly, it is quite fascinating how advanced just the buildings are..."

"A self regenerating, durable, perfect city in the depths of the world's most dangerous location, completely uninhabited? That's just bad news."

The Jackalkin gave us that snippet before poking around the open floor plan of this building a little more, finding the door that connected the stables to here and opening it up to let in a bit of a breeze, though that gave her a moment of pause as she looked back at Lilith with a narrowed gaze.

"Back when we were on the ground, you said that the Labyrinthian shifted whenever we stopped paying attention to it. When we weren't perceiving it directly. Is this place the same? Can someone walk into an alleyway and find themselves transported miles away?"

The black skinned Demoness leaned back in her personal throne with a grin, her flaming rubies sparkling with mischief as she met Anput's gaze for a few moments, though thankfully she gave a real answer this time instead of dancing around the question.

"Yes and no. Unlike down there, where you could look away for long enough and have the biomes shift without you knowing, up here it takes time. The shuffling still happens, but it takes quite a bit of time to occur. Additionally, it is all contained to this island, so even if we were to get 'lost' during an exploration, it isn't that hard to find one another again. You'll notice that the buildings are unique, yes, but they aren't insanely tall..."

"So we could use the rooftops to traverse freely without ever worrying about becoming lost. If you can see everything while up above, any shifting that happens has little consequence on where you are so long as you focus on where you want to go."

Lilith flashed me a grin before turning towards Jahi as she asked "How much of this city did you explore? It's fascinating, yes, but what does it actually mean? What is there to learn from this right now, that requires us of all people to come? Two Ice Mages, two Metal Mages, Two Demonesses... Then a True Vampire and the oldest living Demoness... Quite the spread of people you've gathered up, Lilith..."

"I was beginning to wonder when that would be asked~! It is quite the fascinating group, right? Unique bloodlines, rare magics, incredible talents and genetics all packed into seven people... You could spread that out amongst an entire city and turn it into a Kingdom~!"

"I think this is one of those questions that you should answer, Lilith..."

Lady Fenyras leaned forwards and stared at the Demoness, her single silver eye gleaming dangerously, while Mom and the rest of us remained quiet, not offering support to either; that made her chuckle, and she nodded as she leaned back into her throne, relaxing beneath that rather menacing glare. Discover stories at My Virtual Library Empire

"What do you know about Time and Space Magic?"