Chapter 6. The Floating Orb

The Floating Orb was where high-ranking wizards dwell and had their research laboratories.

Since the Floating Orb was the abode of wizards, only a select few humans were permitted to enter and only on special circumstances like today.

After all, the Floating Orb was filled with unknown passageways since the Divine Archmages and wizards carry the secrets passed down for thousands of years on how to keep the magic in Livingrings intact.

The Floating Orb was magically connected to the Magical Isles – a gargantuan building here in Faliamber, Livingrings' capital. 

The Floating Orb gave sustenance to it; and let the wizards stay in the human world for a longer time. 

The Magical Isles was where most Rune Masters and apprentice wizards stay, plan negotiations, and study the kingdoms outside of Livingrings.

Only those ranking from advanced to supreme wizards knew how to get inside without using the doors that accept or reject those that enter. Advance or supreme wizards were those who have expertise and have served the kingdom for at least 200 years, and had seen empires rise and fall around the human realm.

As they flew to the Floating Orb, Dunesther whispered in a very low voice, afraid the king could hear them, "Jenna, I hope someone is there."

"At least we could bring the Prince and Princess there so the spells' effects could be minimized," Jenna whispered back and glanced up at the Floating Orb.

"But their lives are being sapped by these Ellysian Chains. If no one's there…" Dunesther trailed in horror at the thoughts as he saw the two children had begun to lose their muscle mass.

Thankfully, they had temporarily lessened the size of the cube so King Thalorin and the others could not see what the children looked like now.

"It's best not to tell them at the moment. We can find a solution once there," Jenna insisted, also getting nervous.

"Should we let the soldiers in?" Dunesther asked this, since humans have different ways of thinking, and they knew a lot were mostly fueled with greed.

They might see something more than they ever perceived and try to do something uncalled for.

"Well, the doors decide. We could just erase their memories if needed," Jenna pointed out. 

For safety and security, on the doors of the Floating Orb, the high ranking wizards had used spells akin to the power of the first layer of Auroras.

Jenna knew they had to resort to these security measures to prevent the humans from planning to fight against themselves to gain more magical powers.

This was exactly why the Auroras were made to protect the kingdom of Livingrings.

Sadly, the power of the first layer did not always work if the intruders were in great numbers or intense magical powers.

Still it worked on most intruders. 

It made them think that what they thought they saw and experienced were nothing but impossible dreams or illusions. 

This resulted in different books and stories that had evolved for many centuries created by those who had strong memories and magical powers. 

For instance, the Black Sun Alliance had thousands of arcane records of magical experiments, appearances of certain castles, kingdoms, animals, or faces that many humans had encountered for centuries, but never changed. 

The most powerful human wizards, knowledgeable historians, and scribes had been working on these nonstop for many years since the Black Sun's creation.

It came to a point when they made conclusions and stated that Livingrings could be powered by some magic that lets those who stay there live for a long time. 

And they concluded it was power beyond their current understanding since everyone who went there only had bits of their memories and dreams about it.

Some had recorded that the place they saw had gold everywhere used in buildings or ordinary ornaments. 

Some said it had ancient animals and plants that could increase the magical abilities of humans and wizards if harvested or used as potions, amulets, or attached in weapons and bodies. 

Some of the intruders had gold with them when they came out and this served as a proof that what they remembered as dreams were real. 

This changed the lives of those who had visited Livingrings. 

Some who were town scribes became Royal Court scribes if they had the ability and information those at the top required.

One such example were wandering scribes who were those struggling to make ends meet but were so curious that they often visited everywhere and tried to get work. 

Many wandering scribes landed in Livingrings for centuries, only to forget what they learned when they stepped outside the Auroras. 

However, they were the ones who had the most detailed and vivid "dreams", causing high ranking officers to seek them under their king's command.

Further, those who had pacts with ancient sorcery and dark rituals gained more valuable information and learned that the Seal of Gaxinar was located in Livingrings.

They then spread stories about the seal, making fake records and plots as the belief of the people in the seal grew over time.

People could be fooled and some loved it that way, because of the advantage this gave them.

***

After flying for a few minutes, the troops and the wizards finally arrived outside the Floating Orb.

Dunesther and Jenna were pale since they knew Nymeria and Orion were on the brink of death.

For some unknown reason, all of them were allowed inside.

Most were in shock to see that inside the Floating Orb were different types of infrastructures that had different orientations of what's up or down, west or east, north or south.

These made the newcomers dizzy and had a difficult time moving around. 

It was not like the labyrinth and maze-like dimensions in the second layers of the Auroras.

The direction everything was facing was not unified. It was somewhat like a mess and dizzying for them to look at since they were not used to it.

There was a city above the skies but pointing towards them as their north. Meanwhile another city protruded on the western side pointing to another direction as their north. 

These cities also had different designs, like the builders were trying out things.

Author's Note:

*Floating Orb - where wizards were born and get their life to exist in the human world

* Magical Isles - a huge building in Faliamber where wizards stay among humans.