The Capitals

The journey by train to the capital took no less than 24 hours. It would have taken less if it hadn't been punctuated by stops in every town, big or small, that happened to be along the way. Since Qingshan province was one of the most densely-packed provinces in the Realm, I reckon that must have included over a hundred towns.

At the western edge of Qingshan province one comes upon the Tonglu River, the longest river on the continent. Running north to south, it splits the Realm's homeland in two. But in the section of the river that separates Qingshan from Bailin province, the river is almost cut off by a massive island lodged in the middle, slightly closer to the eastern bank than the western. Connected to the mainland on both sides by long, sturdy bridges, this mountainous island was home to the capital.

When the train finally arrived at the station, Lin Yuchen, luggage in hand, stepped onto the platform and drew a massive gulp of fresh, morning air. He tried to muster the students as they came off the train, telling them things like, "I better see you in class next week," but most of them hurried away, wanting nothing to do with him.

Qiu Shujie was an exception.

"Won't you put in a good word for me to Professor Bai?" she asked resolutely, "Tell him I have potential as an archaeologist, since I'm the one who found that ancient coin."

Lin Yuchen was shocked to hear her say so many words at once, and on top of that, that she did so with such confidence.

"You got it," he smiled, "I'll be sure to tell him the credit is yours!"

They went their separate ways. Lin Yuchen was in a hurry to get back to the university and meet with Professor Bai. He hightailed it out of the station and was about to hire a driver, when a cohort of six or seven armed men shouted him down.

"Yuchen!" The voice was a familiar one, at least. "Over here! Professor Bai asked me to provide you an armed escort. He said that--whatever it is is too precious to carry around unarmed like that."

Lin Yuchen almost didn't recognize his friend in his black and green military uniform, especially since his face was almost completely covered by the massive peaked cap bearing the Emperor's insignia he was wearing.

"Song Qizheng." he hurried across the sidewalk, "It's been a while hasn't it."

One of the armed men took his backpack from him and held open the back door of a shiny black motorcoach with silver embellishments on the front of the hood. Song Qizheng climbed in from the other back door and joined him on the leather seats that were hot to touch as they had been cooking for a couple hours in the sun. A driver and one other guard sat in the front and the rest were to follow on motorcycles.

"Wow, I'm not used to military treatment," Lin Yuchen said flatly while staring out the window.

"You see, that's just the problem. This country doesn't treat its archeologists the way it should..." said Song Qizheng as he lit a cigarette.

Song Qizheng and Lin Yuchen went back a long ways. They were close friends through high school, both harboring rosy dreams of becoming the most famous archeologists in all the Realm. But Song Qizheng suddenly changed his mind after graduating and went on to the military academy instead. At the time Lin Yuchen couldn't help feeling betrayed, but when he heard that Song Qizheng had scored third place in the entrance exam, he didn't doubt that his friend had found his true calling. Still, Song Qizheng's enthusiasm for archeology never faded and he got close with Professor Bai, who often asked him to escort valuable artifacts.

"You've been promoted since I last saw you, haven't you?" Lin Yuchen noticed the insignia on his epaulettes looked slightly different.

"That's right. As of last month I'm now a Captain in the Capital Guard. Junior Fifth Rank."

Lin Yuchen thought he was having a stroke. "Junior Fifth!?"

Every official in service to the Emperor had an official rank. The vast majority of Scholars never rose above Junior Eighth--the lowest of the low. Military men like Song Qizheng belonged to the other official class besides Priests and Scholars, the Warrior class. While the numbered ranks were the same for all three (although they didn't matter much to Scholars), Priests and Warriors were given different offices, such as Captain in the Capital Guard.

Most ordinary officials were lucky to get promoted one level up in their whole careers. For Song Qizheng to have climbed that high in just a few years was by no means an easy feat, but it shouldn't have been difficult for someone who scored so high in the military academy entrance exam. It entitled him to a very generous salary and a plot of land in the capital to build a house on.

As Lin Yuchen daydreamed about how big his friend's house must be, the motorcade passed through two massive wooden pillars and onto a wide stone bridge. The train station was not located in the capital proper, but in an eastern suburb. One knew one was entering the true capital when passing through these pillars, called Holy Gates, which were erected over every entrance. On reaching the other side they passed under a grand gate where a sign bearing the words Imperial Capital was hanging.

From there they passed into the East Gate district, one of the most fashionable places to live in all the world. There high-end stores and fancy restaurants lined the streets, and if one looked above them one could see the mansions and villas of lords and noble gentlemen dotting the tall hillsides.

Lin Yuchen's eyes locked onto one of them that must have had ten to fifteen buildings linked together by stylish covered walkways. Though it was far away, he could see willows and other stately trees and rock formations poking out of what must have been a massive private garden. Imagine coming home to a place like that, he thought to himself.

He pictured himself walking through the front door and being greeted by a beautiful wife and a crowd of children, handing his coat and hat to a servant then sitting down to a gorgeous dinner with expensive wine. Later on he would relax in the garden, disappearing into drunkenness under the full moon while listening to talented maidens strum the lute. He would end the night in a giant canopy bed with his wife, her fragrant silk robes replaced by a pair of thin undergarments. Why did I ever become an archeologist?, was his only thought.

Lin Yuchen spent the rest of the ride catching up with Song Qizheng, but before long the motorcoach pulled into the Archeology department's dedicated campus within the university. Yes, archeology was such a huge subject in the Emperor's Realm that the capital's university had an entire campus dedicated to it.

"Well, it was so good to see you again," Song Qizheng told him, "Here's your backpack back."

An armed man returned the backpack.

"You too."

He bowed his thanks and hurried off to the central hall, where Professor Bai's office was. As he pushed open the door, he felt a tinge of nervous perspiration coming on.

"I wish you had gotten back sooner, but as long as the artifact is unharmed then it doesn't matter." The Professor's broad voice and long, thinning gray beard made an intimidating combination. But as a member of the Archeology Council and one of handful of Scholars ranked Senior Seventh, he had plenty of reasons to carry himself with such pride.

"Here it is," Lin Yuchen said, putting the ancient coin squarely on the Professor's desk.

Sunlight peaking through the white window blinds landed on its surface, once again revealing brilliant specks of gold.

"As I told my students, since gold coins were almost never minted in the sixth and seventh worlds, this coin must be as old as the fifth. But you read about discoveries of gold coins from the fifth world almost every week in the Archeology Gazette--they were minted by the millions. What makes this one so special that you wanted to see it in person?"

"When I first saw it, I thought the same thing you did, but since I've been at this business a little bit longer than you have I noticed something about it that would make it even older than the fifth world."

Lin Yuchen couldn't believe what he was hearing. "Older than the fifth world? But no coin earlier than the fifth world has even been discovered. According to the current consensus, they don't exist."

"That is why I wanted to see the coin in person. I couldn't see much from your clumsy photograph. The lighting was done very poorly." He turned the coin over and pointed at the faint outline of an image that had once been engraved there, but had weathered considerably over thousands of years. "Have a look at this."

He traced the outline, and Lin Yuchen could clearly make out what appeared to be a carving of a step pyramid, some six or seven steps total, with a large staircase cascading down the center. There also appeared to be writing carved circularly around the pyramid, but it was too eroded to read.

"What is this supposed to be?" he asked.

"It's a step pyramid." Professor Bai pulled a fat book down from his bookshelf and slapped it onto the desk, shaking the desk so rigorously that Lin Yuchen thought it was going to collapse, "I want to draw your attention to a certain passage out of the Classic of the Eight Worlds."

It had been a while since Lin Yuchen had heard the name of that book. Everyone in the realm had heard its name, but only specialists, both Scholars and Priests, were required to familiarize themselves with it. Since it was so big--over seven hundred thousand characters--there were entire schools dedicated purely to its study. A fairly thorough knowledge of its contents was required to pass the archeology final exam, but in his day-to-day work Lin Yuchen rarely had to refer to it.

The professor pointed to this passage, from the first Memory of Book III.

"Book III, 1:4--The First God descended from Heaven and was shining so brightly that one could easily mistake him for the sun. His wisdom deep, he put the land and its beasts at his service. When it came time for him to build a dwelling, he carved vast channels into the earth. With the flip of his hand he reduced great piles of dirt to flat and orderly terraces, and lifted boulders weighing thousands of tons. Soon by his might a tall pyramid of stone rose out of the ground amid the channels and terraces. It faced south, had six steps some fifteen feet tall each, and staircases cascading from the top in all four directions. Visible from miles away, it cast a profound shadow across the grasslands and when the sun was setting and stretching its shadow, confused crickets would begin their songs sooner than expected. He passed carefree days in the pyramid with his 60 wives."

Lin Yuchen had read these lines before, but never came anywhere near memorizing them. Now when he read them again, his jaw dropped.

In short, the Classic of the Eight Worlds is a record of the Memories of the eight worlds. It was compiled shortly after the founding of the country over a thousands years ago by a group of sages who were gifted with the Memories. Since they had access to the Memories, the sages were able to write down accurate accounts of what went on in the previous worlds, even without any material records. It was divided into eight books, one for each world.

"If you remembered much of Book III, you would know it goes on to describe the primitive empire founded by the First God and his descendants, who lived in and held court at the pyramid. Since it was their capital, it makes sense that it would be engraved in their coins. The Memories recorded in the Classic aren't perfect of course. No mention is ever made of coins being issued, so if this indeed is a coin from that world, then that would make it an earth-shattering discovery," Professor Bai explained.

Lin Yuchen nodded his head. "That would make it the oldest coin ever discovered."