.
Midway up the hillside between the bridge and the arena stood a long jade building with a colonnaded portico at each end. A wide cupola that looked a bit like a turtle shell rose from the center of its flat roof.
“This is your ‘art gallery’?” Dilorè asked as we entered into a grand hallway, wide enough that I could spread my wings in it if I grew them. At the far end, a similar entry was visible, with a grand open area below the cupola, in the middle.
“That’s just a nickname for the place,” I answered as I walked forward. “Properly, this is the main training center. All my Servants have expanded their skills in this hall. Although, like all the buildings, it has probably undergone restoration hundreds of times through the years, so it’s a philosophical question whether it’s truly the same building.”
To Ryuu’s puzzled look, I said. “A river is never the same twice, right? If everything in the building down to the stone itself has been replaced, you should question if it’s the same building.”
Tiana on Huade and Robert on Earth never really had thoughts like that. I reminded myself that I should stop them from coming out of my mouth, so I don’t confuse my companions.
The layout was simple. A single corridor with a high ceiling ran from end to end, lined with entrances into rooms on each side, interrupted only by an open space in the middle, beneath the cupola. The rooms were also interconnected from one to the next. There were only open entrances in the building, so it was possible to walk the entire length of the building going from room to room. Two rows of rooms lay to each side, for a total of four such paths in addition to the central hall.
It also had second and third floors, reached by staircases at the corners.
Along the walls, down the full length of the building, banners and paintings of varying sizes hung between the entrances to the rooms. The smallest were around thirty inches wide and a pace tall. The largest were tapestries more than two paces wide and nearly the height of the two-and-a-half-pace ceiling.
We never had the practice of putting art inside ornate frames during the Elder Age, so the banners hung from horizontal rods, suspended from hooks, and the paintings simply lay flat against the walls.
Most were depictions of varying environments. Along with pastoral landscapes, desert wastelands and arctic panoramas, there were subterranean galleries, seafloor views and soaring mountains. The degree of variation was far greater than a similar exhibition on Earth, though. Some of the views appeared similar to the surfaces of Mars or the Moon or other alien worlds. Some depicted ancient ruins or cityscapes of unfamiliar forms. The art styles varied from photographic to impressionist.
As we walked down the hall, Diloré wondered, “Is the entire building like this?”
Due to her fairy sense, she would have a sense of that, from the nearer rooms around us.
“Not the entire building,” I answered, “there are other art forms on the floors above. But this floor is more-or-less the same from end to end.”
“Do we do something here, or are we simply supposed to look at them?” Ryuu wondered.
While my eyes were turned in his direction, I felt a presence appear in the space at the center of the building. I looked ahead to see a dignified woman with long white hair in a long silk robe waiting for us in the central space.
Ryuu would have his answer soon enough, so I focused on her, first.
With a nod, I said, “Hello, Curator.”
It has been quite some time since you’ve visited us, Commander.
Despite her human form, this one never communicated by voice.
I nodded. “Indeed it has. I presume your cultivation has advanced considerably, considering you’ve persisted this long.”
The Curator, you see, is neither one of the spirit beasts nor one of the Servants who regularly visited.
I have been most fortunate that you brought me to this place, Commander, she told me as we entered the central space. The gains I have made through the years have been of inestimable value. I can never repay you for what you have done for me.
The central space was the width and height of the building. Daylight streamed down through enormous circular windows in the roof of the cupola. The interior had a reasonable level of lighting from invisible sources, but the additional daylight gave this broad space a brighter feeling.
The walls of the ground level also displayed artworks, as did the walls along the balconies which wrapped around all four sides of the room on the second and third floors. Walkways on each floor above us crossed the open space, but these were thin, fairy-like structures which blocked almost none of the incoming light.
“You had the right to leave at any time,” I noted as we arrived. “You never grew too lonely to continue your stay here?”
A fond smile grew on her face as she shook her head. I was never lonely. The spirit beasts have been treasured companions. And, as they made ample use of this facility, my meditations never lasted long enough to grow monotonous.
“What about the residents of the gallery?” I wondered. “Have they become companions as well?”
Although they have grown fully sentient, their path is too different from ours to regard them as the same kind of companionship.
Nevertheless, she added with a deep nod, they have also contributed to keeping the years fresh and interesting.
“Your Highness, this is not one of your serving girl spirits?” Dilorè asked.
I pursed my lips, trying to decide how to answer the question. “She is somewhat different, but according to my fairy sight, I think she has grown far more similar to them than she once was.”
She smiled and bowed her head deeply again. I had already finished cultivating a fully magical body when you saw me last. I have now replaced most of that mana with spirit essence. I could indeed be said to be gradually transforming into something like a spirit beast.
Dilorè gave me a quizzical look. I decided to explain.
“You’ve met Elementals before, right? Rather than coming here with me from the Fundamental Realm, the Curator began life as a Light Elemental on Huade.”
Like Carson and Benedetta, she was the result of a spirit becoming resident in a mortal fetus. The belief among Orestania’s scientists is that spirits possess human eggs during a woman’s fertile period. In the Elder Age, we knew that they actually reanimated non-viable fetuses which would have aborted, had they not moved in. Elementals are rare, and the superstitions that people have about them are a little overboard, but ultimately, Carson, Benedetta and the Curator are all simply the same ilk as Lucy, except they inhabit formerly human bodies which their presence has transformed into magical beings.
I explained, “The Curator had a spirit contract with me, rather than a blood bond, but I counted her among my Servants. When her biological body began failing her, after she reached two millennia old, I brought her here to extend her life. She began to assist Little Jia in the management of the ‘Art Gallery’, and she eventually took it over, entirely.”
It has become a very fulfilling career, Commander, she stated. I have been able to assist everyone in their journey in your absence.
“I am thankful that you stood in for me, Curator. I need your assistance now, with these guests.”
Are they new Servants, Commander?
“This woman, Lady Chiara, is my Servant. The other two are my confederates in the fight against the demons.”
The Curator’s gentle smile slipped slightly. With her gentle voice acquiring a slight edge, she asked, The demons threaten once again?
“It turns out they have threatened many times in our absence. The Supervisors have recruited allies over the millennia to fight them, due to the absence of the Elders. This man is one such ally,” I said while indicating Ryuu.
“And this,” I indicated Dilorè, “is my great-great-great-granddaughter. Her great-great-grandfather is the baby boy you helped me deliver.”
The Curator’s eyebrows raised slightly and she bowed slightly to my cousin. It was an honor to assist in your great-great-grandfather’s birth, and a pleasure to meet his progeny. He was a healthy and most welcome baby, and his arrival delighted me nearly as much as it delighted the Commander.
Dilorè grew a complicated, slightly bemused smile as she bowed her head in return. Probably, she had never pictured the Fairy King as a newborn baby before.
What course will you engage in, today, Commander? Are you here for cultivation or recreation?
I smiled, as vague memories of Senhion’s favorite recreations flitted through my mind. But I shook my head and stated, “I am here to train these three. It has been a very long time since you had beginners in your facility. Do you still have the initial stages in place, or do you need to reconstruct them?”
We have had a continuous flow of new spirits coming into the world, such that there are always participants in training at every level. Although the systems requirements are different for mortal and spirit trainees, the facilities have been in continuous use and are fully available.
Puzzled, I asked, “Where do all these incoming spirits go after you train them?”
Little Jia and I have continuously increased the capacity and complexity at all levels, so that we could raise the limits for the residents and allow them to continue advancing as they train. Each level requires more spirits to operate the scenarios, as they become progressively more sophisticated.
The spirit beasts in the world have also increased their number, necessitating facilities for the juveniles. Systems for them are located in an auxiliary hall that we created for the purpose, and naturally, spirits to operate those were needed as well.
That was news to me, that I needed to ask Jia about, later. We had planned for the beasts to not increase their numbers while they lived in the small world. Then again, ten thousand years, or however long it had actually been in the local time, was a long time for the occasional accidents to accumulate to a large number.
I sighed and nodded. “Very well. I need an initial training scenario for these three. How long until it’s prepared?”
She nodded. I ordered the work begun as soon as Little Jia informed me that you would be arriving. It was completed a short while ago. I will lead you there, now.
Spinning in place, she immediately walked ahead, crossing the floor toward an entryway in one of the corners. We followed her into a square room with exits and smaller paintings on three walls and a massive painting on the fourth. The latter stretched from the floor nearly to the ceiling, and filled most of the available space.
It depicted the scene of a wide plaza, paved in large tiles, with a statue in the center and pavilions, statues and flags around the perimeter. The sky had the appearance of an approaching storm, and the flags were streaming as if a steady wind were blowing.
We have made some modifications to the details, but for the most part it is the same starting level for new mortal trainees that we used, back then.
I nodded to her. “Thank you, Curator. Is the scenario ready?”
Yes, Commander. Please start whenever you choose.
I took Dilorè and Chiara’s hands, then told Chiara, “My Lady, hold Mr. Kowa’s hand tightly and don’t let go. And you two keep hold of mine. Is everyone ready?”
“Ready for what?” Chiara asked, mystified.
“Just hold on and follow.”
“Follow?”
I smiled, then stepped forward into the painting.
