The street they were in seemed to lead towards the inner walls directly, the buildings to each side almost providing a hallway for them to go through; the buildings occasionally departed, giving one view into another less-concurred street and the occasional alleyway. The buildings themselves were pretty varied, some were stores with a person in the front yelling, advertising their product, others were houses, some with two stories but much bigger than his own house, and much sturdier as well. Some of the other establishments were more familiar, taverns and a couple restaurants, which Alyska focused on more than others, or at least that’s what Luca thought it seemed like.

  “Are you hungry?” She looked back at him with a confused face, he nudged towards a nearby restaurant they passed by. “You keep looking so.”

  “No, not really, I’ve just kinda… I’ve always focused on smells more than other things, so it’s always nice when we go by a pce with good food.” She giggled “And also, we did just eat on the train, didn’t we?”

  “Oh yeaah…” He regretted not being able to fully enjoy the steak because of his little panic attack. “Nice food… always better when it’s free too.” She giggled again.

  “It wasn’t free, silly, I paid for it while you were picking our table.” Luca stopped walking, which Alyska noticed since they were still holding hands. “hm?”

  “Why did you do that?” He felt bad, uncomfortable almost. “I-I could have paid for my part, I have money.” Alyska got closer to him to talk directly to him instead of just looking back.

  “I know, but I don’t know, I have a lot of money, so...” She shrugged. “I don’t usually think about it, you know? I just kinda pay for stuff for people… I hope it didn’t bother you.”

  “I mean…” He was gd the food was free, but knowing that Alyska spent her money on him made Luca feel weird inside. “In a way it did… Yeah, you didn’t even tell me.” Alyska squeezed his hand, looking regretful at the ground.

  “I-I’m sorry Luca, I didn’t mean to- I-I just have this money, which I didn’t earn a-and I want to use i-”

  “Hey hey calm down...” She was speeding up, so he reassured her. He leaned forward so she looked at him, which she did. “It's not that big a deal alright? Just tell me first.” She straightened her posture and nodded firmly.

  “Sorry for the reaction… “ She looked embarrassed. "Not used to having many friends, worrying to mess it up, you know?”

  “Oh do I.” He chuckled. “Preaching to the choir here my friend.” They both ughed, Luca then squeezed her hand and smiled. “But to make it even, I’m paying next time, deal?” Alyska’s expression seemed surprised, but it turned rapidly into a happy smile and a nod after she realized there’d be a next time.

  “Deal!”

  “Cool, now let’s keep going.” This time, he began leading her towards the inner walls, but she seemed to catch on quickly, and now they were just walking side by side, holding hands; the idea of how it looked making Alyska blush.

  “H-hey… silly thing the guard said back there, huh?”

  “Hm? Which part, I was distracted by, well, the situation.”

  “Y-you know… that part.” She was hesitant to say it. “After he threw you on the ground…” Luca looked at the ground trying to remember.

  “... Listen here Runt?” He answered, and Alyska’s nervousness turned into ughter.

  “No silly… what he said to me." Luca shrugged and Alyska realized she had to spell it out for him. “H-He called you boyfriend, he said your boyfriend can’t enter ma’am. J-Just a silly thought, I dunno thought it was funny.”

  "Oh, d-did he? Didn’t hear that part, haha…” He was starting to feel warm inside again, he felt his face get warmer with a blush. “I mean, we just met, just cause we are a guy and a gal doesn’t mean we are automatically a couple haha… s-silly guard.”

  “R-Right? Haha, who knows where he got that idea.”

  The two walked next to each other for a couple of minutes quietly before Alyska broke the silence.

  “I mean… you think it’s because of the hand holding?”

  “It was totally the handholding; I was just thinking that.”

  “Yeah, not that silly of him, is it?” They both ughed a little, realizing their situation. “P-Probably shouldn’t hold hands so that people don’t think we are a couple, huh?”

  “Makes sense to me.” None of the two released the other’s hand; both of them might have been bracing for the other one to do it, but neither actually wanted to.

  “...”

  “...” Luca cleared his throat. “Or we can do it ter, you know? No big deal.”

  “Yeah, totally.” Alyska scoffed. “I mean it’s a big city! We could get lost, it just makes sense to hold hands… I mean, right now it’s a direct way, but still!” Luca agreed, then turned away and smiled, relishing the feeling of her hand on his. After a while he noticed she was starting to breathe through her mouth, and her hand started sweating slightly.

  “You wanna take a break? We are already like, two-thirds there.”

  “Uff… u-um, if you wouldn’t mind, yeah… I’m just gonna…” They walked to the side in front of an alley, then lowered her bags and her clothes, put them on the ground one under the other and sat down on them, trying to control her breathing. “Huff, you know I understand the city is big, but did it have to be this big?” The comment made Luca chuckle.

  “Yeah, honestly, I can’t even begin to understand how it’s all filled, there isn’t a field in sight, if you wanted to get the feeling of some grass from here, you’d probably need an hour to get to the one outside.” He covered his eyes from the sun and looked around.

  “True, enough field for everybody though.” She stared at him, Luca was standing without issue, not huffing and puffing like her, she tilted her head looking at him.

  “Fair, at least you can have as much as-” He gnced at her and their eyes met. “... all good?”

  “You aren’t like, tired or anything?” Luca looked at her, then at the path they walked already and then shrugged. “Really? Nothing, not even sweating.”

  “I don’t know what to tell you; in Dryleave most of my jobs are taking a thing from a pce to another, water from well to house, crate from supplier to tavern, object from neighbor to neighbor, I must’ve gotten used to walking.”

  “Heh, well at least I’m not having you as competition for the best healer huh?”

  “What do you…”

  “Well, seems like you’d be much better in a physical job, no?” She hugged her legs. “What do you think you are gonna do?” Luca gnced at the path again, then turned around and looked at the fortress, contempting the magnitude.

  “Dungeon…” he looked back. “I don’t know about mapping, but going there, getting resources, that’s what I want.” Alyska nodded.

  “Cool, not an adventurer type?” She said as she started getting up again.

  “It’s not that I just… don’t want to move around too much." He was still looking at the fortress. “I like exploring, at least Cuartel but, I don’t know. This is the center of the world right? Don’t want to overwhelm my brain with even more stuff I don’t know about.” He looked back and Alyska was already behind him, picking her things up again. “Want help with any of it?” She looked back and smiled.

  "No, tha- actually yes, hang on.” She grabbed her clothes and handed them to Luca, putting the fluffy deep purple hat on his head, then opened her suitcase and started grabbing items from Luca and stuffing them in the suitcase.

  “You sure that’s gonna fit?” he asked, she stood up, grabbed the hat and tossed it along with the rest of the clothes.

  “Yeah, give me a hand though.” She crouched behind the briefcase and tried to close it; unfortunately, she couldn’t get it all the way closed, Luca got the idea and pushed down, both of them able to close it fully. “You know, we don’t make a bad team!”

  “I don’t know if you can decre that from closing a briefcase but…” He snickered and Alyska rolled her eyes, smiling as she stood up.

  “I’m serious! If I heal and you do the... physical stuff, we could even be a delving duo!” She put her hands on her hips proud, the sight making Luca happy just by seeing her.

  “... sounds like a pn c- Aly.” Luca panicked, his brain, going to say 'cute stuff' backed off at the st second, deciding to shorten her name for some reason. He was gonna correct himself until he saw her smile even more, pick up her briefcase and enthusiastically grab his hand and lead him forward, clearly she didn’t need much to restore her energy.

  They both walked at a brisk pace, admiring the wall getting taller and the hilly road getting more gentle and ft. Alyska pointed at a side from the wall, Luca gnced and saw nothing, so she got closer to point him correctly, pointing to one of the sides of the outer wall, not that it had any side per se since it was a circle but still, Luca didn’t quite comprehend and Alyska noticed.

  “Look how far it is! It’s just a city, and yet look how far that pce is!” Luca’s eyes opened even more as he understood, one would need to take a carriage with horses to get there in less than 2 hours, and even then they’d have to take more time if other carriages came in the way and there weren't a thousand buildings in the way.

  “This pce might be… too big honestly.” He chuckled.

  “The biggest city in the world, they don’t call it that for nothing. Even if it is the most boring name it has.” She giggled, and Luca chuckled in agreement, Luca then nudged her and pointed at the inner wall, closer than 70 feet away, both invigorated walked over to the pce and finally crossed the passageway.

  "Hey, I’m thinking, why are there inner walls?” Luca asked, Alyska stopped walking but continued shortly after smiling. “What’s so funny huh?”

  “Nothing, I’m just excited to see your face when you see it.” She had a smug look about her, and Luca was gonna tease her for it, but when he felt the sky above him, signifying the end of the tunnel, he looked up.

  His suitcase dropped, the fortress seemed magnificent from outside, but now that he saw the huge chunk of rock it supported itself on, floating in the sky, he felt like the smallest creature in the world. Some smaller chunks floated alongside it, but the main one supported the fortress on top of it. Luca's mind went wild, there was nothing supporting it, no buildings or ropes keeping it up, it was simply floating, and for the first time for Luca seeing magic, it was spectacur.

  “Look, those things keep it up.” Alyska pulled him from the trance, pointing at some diamond-shaped structures that had simir-shaped blue crystals. After looking for a while Luca saw the crystals tinkle with a purple tint. “Look look! Those waves are what keep it up.”

  “W-what waves? I only saw it tinkle…”

  "Oh, you didn’t notice? Well nevermind that you can see it anytime, now we gotta figure out where to go.” She looked around as if to find the answer on a sign. Luca, still dazed by the sight of a mountain floating, looked at her half in a daze.

  “Y-you talking about the uh, meeting point?” He reached into his bag still gncing towards the fortress as he took out a booklet and started skimming through it.

  “What 's that?”

  “T-the instructions, you didn’t get this?” Luca showed her the booklet and she recognized it after a bit.

  “Oh yeah, I skimmed past it, it was like, obvious stuff no?” She tilted her head and he shrugged.

  “I can’t assume anything here, for all I know the entire city could shock me.” He started reading the booklet before motioning to the floating fortress and then focusing on reading again, Alyska chuckled as he did. “Says… 18:00 on the western ’Lifting ptform’ whatever that is…” He closed the booklet then looked around.

  “Okay so… the station was on the west therefore, we just go forward, so- what time is it?” She patted her pockets before sighing. “I have my clock in my briefcase... ugh help me get it out?” She gnced at Luca defeated, he giggled.

  “No need, easy enough to tell the time.” He then leaned backwards and looked at the sky, which was still blue but they couldn’t see the sun from their part. “Um, we are west right?... I can’t see the sun so it’s ter than 4 pm, the sky's not orange, so between 5 and 6 and a quarter at least, probab-” He stopped his sentence while looking at the sky.

  Alyska looked around the inner wall area. Surrounded by the inner walls, the floor was made of brick paths with grass between them, a couple mps with powerful mplights in them illuminated the area that was darkened by the fortress above. A couple buildings were around which looked like normal retail, a restaurant, a cafe, some public bathrooms, stuff that an academic might need between csses, which makes sense, since the inner walls were actually also a building, the dorms for the school which found itself just outside the inner walls in the eastern side, opposite to where they came in. Alyska then spotted some rails in a circle which confused her, until she looked up and noticed that on the fortress were these circle openings branching off the structure, she deduced quickly that the rails were surrounding the so-called lifting ptform, the way to get up.

  “I feel like we haven’t been here that long even with the walk here, so we are probably early, no?” She then put her briefcase on the ground and dusted her hands. “And I see some people waiting around like us, so we are probably early.” Realizing they still had some time, Alyska thought of something to do, gncing at the cafe, a light blush crept up to her face. “You know, w-we could get something to drink at that cafe.” She looked at Luca, who was staring, mouth open, at the top of the walls, eyes wide open. “Luca?”

  She gnced at the top of the wall, seeing nothing. She looked at him again, he was sweating slightly, perhaps from the walk, but a small tremble to his hands made her worry, was this the same stuff that happened on the train?

  “Luca! Luca talk to me, what’s happening?” She grabbed his hand which didn’t grab hers back, she started to get scared before she heard him speak.

  “Behind the wall…” His voice was stoic and quiet.

  “W-what? Behind the…” She felt her blood freeze.

  Behind the wall the sky seemed gray, except it wasn’t the sky. Behind the wall in the distance stood the dungeon, a gigantic mountain that started lower than where the floor of the fortress stood now, Alyska had heard the stories, same as Luca and most people in the world. Over the years, for some unknown reason, it started raising itself slowly, it had been years since it happened again, but before it stopped, it got to a tremendous height.

  The dungeon was the reason Zenith was built where it was, originally a region too affected by the magic used in the old war and the fight against a certain historical figure, nothing could reside there for too long without being affected. One day some adventurers found a dungeon there, in the base of a mountain. Without thinking it different from any other dungeon, they decided to delve into it, not knowing it being special. Only one of the adventurers came back, and he rushed to his guild to tell them about it, a dungeon bigger than one could imagine, with treasures aplenty and unraided because of its position, he told the guild to seal it off, too much treasure makes people not realize how much danger lurks around it, when they questioned why worry too much, perhaps some stronger adventurers would survive! The man expined his reason, the dungeon wasn’t the problem, but one couldn’t live in a dungeon forever, and when some of them came out, the magic in the area affected them immensely in ways that the stories refused to tell, the dungeon was immune to the magic in the area, but not the people, so when they came out after a week of delving, they’d be affected by a week's worth of the effects all at once, seeing the inherent danger in the greed of people and the effects of a dungeon (no matter how rich it might have been) in that region the adventurer’s guild decided to close it.

  During years adventurers everywhere pestered and begged the guild to let them inside the now-dubbed “Dungeon of infinity”, to the point of the first and ever-only adventurer’s strike. Eventually, one of the top members of the guild got an idea, to take the more magically adept members and make them build a safe camp in front of the dungeon where the magic didn't harm them, so that even if people went to it, they could still come back and not be affected by the surroundings. The pce became famous, adventurers everywhere settling in and delving, some permanently, with time more and more people arrived at the city and it expanded more and more,. With the dungeon providing riches, the adventurer’s camp had soon become a town, then a city, and with years, Zenith, a pce rich and powerful enough to dispel the magic that affected the region, making it safe.

  Alyska looked at the peak of the dungeon’s mountain, people said it stood kilometers above the ground, they said it was the most dangerous pce in the entire world, and they said that once you enter, you don’t come out the same, she had heard about this many times, she thought she was prepared, she thought she understood.

  “...” Luca breathed deeply. “T-that is the biggest power in the world, not this city o-or it's people… not Zenith.”

  As they both contempted the gargantuan mountain, their minds were bnk, the only thing on them was the sheer size of it. Alyska felt something brush against her; she grabbed it, and both of them squeezed the other's hand in order to find some comfort, in order to not feel so small.