Empire Builder 1: Breed, Populate, Conquer

by Dante King

  The same sound emerged from the other side of the village, where presumably more stone blocks hurtled toward the crystal shard.

  Glancing over his shoulder, Ben saw the stone pile rising in height. It grew to the height of a high-rise apartment, then kept growing until it was the height of an inner-city skyscraper. Then it kept right on growing.

  The tower in his vision had been obsidian, not pale stone, but Ben supposed he could be content with either.

  The earthquake hadn’t stopped. The others breathed heavily as they all kept running, not knowing when the tower would stop growing. Nipper loped along beside Ben, his eyes wide and his ears flattened against his furry head.

  Sir Gallant the Younger was now perched atop Sir Gallant the Elder’s shoulders. “Oh shit!” he squeaked in fright as a boulder shot across their path.

  The rumbling in the ground beneath began in earnest. Ben and the others were thrown from their feet. They scrambled up and kept going, lurching as though they were on the floor of a ship in a storm, their arms shot out to their sides to keep balance.

  Looking back, Ben saw the tower rising upward. Its top was shaped like a crown, just as he had seen in his vision. It had a long and spindly neck. The base splayed out like a ziggurat, visible above the smashed wreckage of the village.

  The pyramid base grew broader and wider as it rose out of the earth, shrugging off dirt and destroyed huts like dust. The very ground beneath the feet of the party was being pushed up like soil before a plow, forcing them to keep on running.

  Then, just when Ben thought they could run no further, the rumbling stopped. A huge thud like thunder rang out, sending out a wave of wind that bent the trees at crazy angles.

  An eerie silence fell, one that chilled Ben to the bone.

  Everyone stopped, breathing heavily.

  “Is that it?” Sir Gallant the Younger demanded.

  Ben glanced at him skeptically. The impudent homunculus hadn’t even had to run himself.

  “I’ve never summoned a building before,” Ben shrugged. “I couldn’t say--”

  His words were cut off by a boom like the sound of a cannon, but amplified to rock concert levels, the noise loud and jarring enough to make Ben feel like his teeth were rattling. The tower flashed a blinding white, and a column of flame shot up to the heavens. The very clouds around it were scorched into non-existence, dousing the travelers with a sudden downpour.

  The flame burned brighter and brighter, forcing Ben and the others to shield their eyes. Then, with a crack and a hiss of heat, the flames went out.

  As the light dimmed, allowing them to look again, Ben saw that the tower was in fact now made of obsidian. The stone had been burnt all the way through, turning it a gleaming, translucent black like glass. It looked identical to the structure he had witnessed in his vision.

  From the enormous ziggurat base to the wide fanged crown at the top, the black glass, dark as night, gleamed in the sunlight.

  “It’s beautiful,” Imogen breathed.

  “It certainly is,” Ben agreed.

  Melody wordlessly took his arm and nestled close to him, her heart still pounding from the run.

  Ben pointed up at the tower. “Welcome to our new home.”

  “A fine establishment, if I may say so, sire,” Sir Gallant the Elder said.

  “You may indeed, Sir Gallant.” Ben enjoyed ribbing the somber knight by parodying his tone, but the joke was lost on the morose soldier. It was not lost on his mischievous younger self, who laughed at his elder self’s expense.

  Ben was itching to inspect his new home. He’d never even really dreamed of owning a house, let alone a skyscraper that would put modern towers to shame.

  The landscape was vastly changed now that the whole village had been bulldozed by his ziggurat. It had been uninhabited, so nothing of value had been lost. That thought only made Ben more determined to ensure the mountain ogres received their just reward for raiding and slaving, but that was a problem for later.

  “I’m going to inspect our new home now,” Ben said. He turned to look at the three nymphs. “Ladies, will you join us?”

  Vinata, acting once more as their spokeswoman, replied. “We would love to inspect your new home with you, if you permit it.”

  Ben laughed. “I don’t think I was quite clear. When I said our home, I meant that the three of you are welcome to consider it your home too. If you don’t have to be anywhere else, that is.”

  The eyes of all three women went wide.

  “Do you think you can handle living in a home made of stone, Vinata?” Ben teased. “Come on, let’s take a look. Sir Gallant,” he turned to the knights. “Uh, both of you, can you patrol the grounds and watch for enemies?”

  “Of course, my lord.” The larger knight stood to attention.

  “And let me know if you see anything I might need to know about, anything suspicious, or valuable.”

  “I shall give you a full report.” The knight laid the deer carcass on the ground, saluted, and marched off to start patrolling a perimeter around the village.

  Ben craned his neck to try and take in the tower as they walked closer. They had run about half a mile in their efforts to escape the earthquake of destruction the growing tower had caused. Now the base of the tower itself was only a hundred yards away, meaning the whole first floor must have been nearly a mile across.

  Although the pyramid at the base was formed in steps, the surface of each step was rounded. The entire tower was so glassy and smooth, not a single foothold was presented anywhere. Unless an enemy had flying mounts that could reach the stratosphere, Ben felt confident they would not need to defend any part of the tower except the entrance.

  The smooth surface didn’t deter Nipper from attempting to explore. With a run and a leap, he launched himself at the bottom step, scrabbling for purchase. But in vain. He slid back to the ground in an undignified slump, then proceeded to nonchalantly lick his behind as if that had been the plan all along.

  Melody giggled and smiled at their child with a mixture of amusement and affection.

  Fortunately, the entrance itself had flat steps with a textured surface, allowing Ben and his companions to walk inside without difficulty. Two giant obsidian doors stood wide open to either side of the doorway. The entrance rose dozens of feet into the air, opening like a great gaping mouth, leading them into the interior.

  The first chamber they entered was a splendid atrium. It was a large square courtyard where marble statues of various divinities, warriors and monsters stood between fountains and well-kept vegetation. Light filtered in through the obsidian walls, which were less opaque from the inside than they were from the outside.

  It took another half hour for Ben to explore the bottom level to some degree of satisfaction. Three other entrances, identical to the first, led into the tower from the other directions of the compass.

  Passing through the atrium at an entrance would bring a visitor first to a long passageway leading to the heart of the first floor. In the passageway, obsidian gave way to ruby. Ben wasn’t sure if the entire heart of the tower was in fact made of ruby, or simply some sort of red volcanic glass, but it shone bright red.

  Here and there some sort of glowing crystal was lodged in the walls, much like the crystals they had taken from the plant level of the dungeon. The walls were cleverly designed to reflect this light throughout the passageway, bathing their surroundings in a warm red light.

  Each of these four hallways led to the center of the tower. Branching off the halls were networks of passageways leading to groups of rooms which spanned city blocks. They found kitchens and workshops on the first floor, well equipped with everything that might be needed. They deposited the deer carcass and the roots Vinata had harvested in one of the kitchens.

  Many of the passageways were blocked, however. When Ben attempted to enter these halls, a message of swirling letters appeared in front of him, much like the message he’d received from the crystal ball when he’d activate
d it when he first came to the world.

  Armory currently unavailable

  He headed down the hallways, checking other rooms and finding that they were also unavailable. These included crafting labs, torture rooms, and supply chambers. Ben tried to bypass the warning, walking past the floating, swirling letters. But in each section an invisible wall blocked him, one that didn’t give way no matter how hard he pounded it with his fists.

  “I wonder what I need to unlock these rooms,” Ben asked out loud, his hands throbbing with dull pain from his attempts to break through.

  Melody shrugged. “I’m afraid I don’t have any information about that.”

  “I’ll work that out later,” Ben said. “For now, I think we’re all in need of some food and rest. I could do with a shower or bath after all that fighting this morning too. This place is huge—there has to be a bathroom somewhere around here. And if we’re lucky, it’ll have some running water.”

  “I’ll start preparing some food,” Vinata offered.

  Melody looked at her. “All the food?”

  Vinata squirmed. “I suppose I can prepare all the food.”

  Ben laughed. “I’m going to explore a bit more and work out where our sleeping quarters and the baths are.”

  “I’ll come with you,” Melody said.

  Nipper brushed against Ben’s leg. It looked like he would be coming too.

  Imogen shuffled her feet.

  “What do you want to do, Imogen?” Ben asked.

  “I’d really like to see the foundations. My family would be so jealous to see this tower.” She smiled shyly.

  “Come on then—we’ll see how you can get down there. It’d be good to have your expert eye on them to make sure they’re all solid.”

  “I’ll come too,” Lulu volunteered. “I want to check how you could get a clean water supply into the tower.”

  “That’s very thoughtful of you,” Ben said, his tone one of gratitude. He was pleased to see that all his crew was eager to help and make themselves useful any way they could. There’d be no room for freeloaders with the task ahead.

  They set off for the middle of the tower, leaving Vinata to begin preparing the food. In the very center, the low ceiling opened out into a vast space. In the middle a thin ruby spire rose as high as they could see. At the base a pair of doors opened on each side, facing the hallways.

  The nearest pair of doors was open, revealing a glass cylinder.

  “It looks like an elevator,” Ben said.

  The women looked at him, perplexed. He caught himself, realizing he’d made another reference to something they’d have no idea about.

  “It looks like that cylinder will take us to different floors in the tower,” Ben explained.

  They all got into the elevator, which had room to spare. Ben suspected a cohort of fifty men with their equipment could fit in the elevator.

  A series of names and numbers in a runic font were inscribed on the glass surface on raised plates. At first, the runic symbols were completely foreign to Ben, but as he peered at them, their meaning slowly became revealed, as though he was recalling a language he had mastered many years ago. Now that he could read the names, Ben examined them for a minute.

  “Cellar seems like the best choice to see the foundations.” He placed his finger on the plate. The letters glowed bright red, and the glass doors noiselessly slid closed.

  Ben felt the dropping sensation in his stomach that he associated with descending rapidly, like hitting the peak of a rollercoaster and starting the plummet, but it lasted no more than an instant.

  The doors slid open once more, and a very similar floor was revealed. But there was no sunlight here, only the glow of crystals. Evidently the underground cellars received no outside light. Hallways opened in each direction, leading deep underground.

  Ben looked around, realizing how much there was to explore. It’d take days, if not weeks to scope all of it out. Just standing there before it all was enough to make Ben feel tired.

  “Much as I’d like to explore these cellars with you,” Ben said to the women, “I think I need a wash—not to mention some rest. It’s been a long morning. Let’s meet up for lunch in a bit and discuss a plan.”

  Lulu and Imogen nodded and turned to enter the cellar.

  “Before you go, actually, I just want to check that you can both get back up to the ground level. Imogen, can you place your finger on the Cellar plate?”

  Imogen turned and placed her finger on the plate. It lit up red, but the doors did not close, since the elevator was already at the cellar.

  “I’m not sure, but I think that means the elevator will recognize you both and allow you to travel,” Ben said, feeling better that they could both get back to the ground level. He wasn’t sure if that meant just anyone could use the elevator, and figured he’d have to work out later what sort of security protocol it allowed for.

  He and Melody waited for the nymph women to leave, then Ben inspected the plates in the elevator again.

  Melody also stooped to read them. “Oh, I would love to see the library, just for a brief visit.”

  “Why don’t you stop off there?” Ben said. “I’ll take the lift right up to the master suite. You press the button, and we’ll make sure it recognizes you too.”

  Melody activated the “library” button. The plate lit up red, and the doors closed.

  The red ruby surface of the elevator spire flew past them. After what felt like only seconds, the doors opened again. This time, they entered a much narrower room. Only one set of doors opened into the Library, and no space was allowed this time for a giant foyer.

  Shelves of books reared up almost immediately before them. Hallways led deeper into the stacks. The shelves lined every hallway, reaching up to the ceiling, which was easily thirty feet above them. Ornate but sturdy looking ladders made of brass lined every one of the shelves. At intervals, platforms jutted out from the shelves, with comfortable chairs and glowing crystals, allowing for a bit of midair browsing.

  A short distance from the elevator doors, a glass pylon rose out from the floor with a display surface. Bright yellow script blazed on a red surface.

  Welcome to the Library and Archives of Benzhameen the Forgotten Ruler

  A list of options was displayed underneath. Melody took to the touch surface instantly, flicking through the categories to find tomes on beasts, alchemy, arcane magic, and other topics. Nipper sniffed curiously at the glass surface, but seemed to find nothing of interest.

  Ben left them both to explore. It warmed his heart to see Melody’s happy smile as she sank into her research, the rest of the world melting away around her as she sank into her reading.

  Returning to the elevator, he pressed the button for the Master Suite, and endured the brief sensation of having his guts trying to escape through his pelvis. After the rapid ascent ended, the elevator doors opened. The room was flooded with daylight, far brighter than it had been on the ground.

  Ben didn’t know how it was possible, but he suspected he had just reached the top of the tower, several miles above ground, in less than half a minute. The engineers of the Empire State Building would have killed for the secrets that would allow such rapid transportation without causing physical harm to the occupants of such an elevator.

  Ben smiled to himself, knowing this feat of engineering was all his now.

  In front of the elevator doors was a foyer, relatively sparsely furnished, with only a few reading chairs and couches. The floor was made entirely of transparent glass. Ben walked out into the foyer and could see clouds below him, and through the clouds, the forest, miles below.

  As Ben walked out into the large room, he heard the elevator doors smoothly slide shut. A hissing noise came out as the glass cylinder slid back down the tower. One of the women must have needed it. Maybe the nymphs were returning from inspecting the cellars.

  Judging by the unobstructed view through the floor, the Master Suite was the bottom floor of the crown
, where the tower widened again. Ben could see the black glass spindle of the tower neck stretching down toward the ziggurat below. When he walked to the glass outer wall, he could see floors stretching out above him as well, each wider than the last.

  The room was warm, and the air smelled fresh and felt pressurized. Ben wondered how this was possible. He was grateful for whatever magic enabled it however, as he was currently standing at passenger jet cruising altitude. The air outside would be far too thin and cold to breathe.

  Ben took a moment to appreciate the view. He put his hands on his hips and gazed out over the hundreds of miles spread out before him.

  This was where his empire would begin.

  He faced south, where the sun was sitting in the middle of the sky. Directly below him, he could barely make out the destroyed remains of the village at the foot of his tower. Nothing recognizable remained.

  The forest stretched out in every direction. To his left, the east, the forest rose up slopes which grew ever steeper, giving way at last to sheer snow capped mountains. Among the foothills he could make out the great chasm he had crossed that morning with Melody, though he was too far off to see the rope bridge they had crossed.

  To his right, in the west where the sun would set, the forest stretched ever on, replaced on the horizon by a great blue expanse. Ben could hardly make out any transition from this distance, but he realized there must’ve been a coastline where the forest met the ocean.

  Further south, the forest thinned to another coastline. Perhaps a port would lie in that direction, where he could access the ocean, though Ben didn’t know what sort of trade might already exist in that region.

  The further south Ben looked, the more the trees gave way—first to more stone ruins, some of them vast enough to be clearly visible from this distance. Whether they were inhabited or not, Ben couldn’t say. Then even further south, the forest died out entirely, replaced by a sandy desert, which he perceived as an ocean of brown, like the ocean of blue to his right.

  This desert was finally closed off by a giant wall in the south. The wall blended with the desert, forming a giant barrier of brown between the forest and the Xurian Realm to the south. At least Ben assumed that was what lurked behind that immense wall, based on what Melody had said.