Surviving The Myriad Worlds (A Multiplanar LitRPG)

Wind whistled through Dante's hair, which now was about an inch long since the transmigration had burnt it all away, and he tightened his grip on the railing. Now that Dante was standing on the deck of the landship, he realized just how fast they had been moving. Inside the ship, it had been difficult to gauge their speed but it had to be quicker than a car could travel by a fair margin. The only reason it was safe to stand here on the deck was because the front of the ship had a windshield and also, Dante was certain, a fair bit of magic. He was nearly spun in a circle when he stuck his hand out of the protection.

It wasn't the only thing that had been put into perspective. Dante had really underestimated the size of the ship. It was larger than a yacht, though didn't quite approach cruise ship size. The wing he had seen earlier was just one of many and was not even the largest. It utterly dwarfed any of the ships he had seen in the sky during the ill-fated assault on the Ahsmati camp which he supposed made sense. It was Ahzi's first ship and had to be a flagship.

It was everything Dante had dreamed of and more. This was pure fantasy. An entire world of magic and engineering that awaited him when he had the time to comprehend it. Those mystical symbols, the strange metals, and the tantalizing whiffs of mana he got from his new aura sense. For a brief time, he could cast off the shackles of his despairs. It was moments like these that had made him glad that he had been transmigrated in this world and those were few and far between.

"Thank you for bringing me here," he said to Pauwna, who was reclined against the railing beside him. "I was getting sick of that training room. And looking at that wooden floor. Seriously, how many pushups did you make me do?"

Pauwna gave him that small fanged smile of hers. "You think that was bad? Wait until you meet a royal tutor. You will long for these days. Besides, you've made good progress. You deserve this."

That was true. Right before they made their way up here, his strength had reached nine. Which had been encouraging right up until he remembered that regular human strength was ten. Even by Earth's standards, he would be a weakling. Here? It was but a drop in the bucket compared to, say Pauwna's strength.

"How did you know I would like this?" He asked, returning his gaze to the ship. It was hard to know exactly where to look, there was so much artifice.

"Pfft. It wasn't that hard. You're always scrabbling in that book of yours, writing down runes. Why the look on your face when you ran out of pages, ha!"

Dante colored slightly. He had been quite distraught. Maybe there would be more pages in the city? He had gotten his stipend again right after his visit with Ahzi so he had the cash to burn. Though he still needed to replace his armor and weapons.

"I didn't know you watched me so closely."

Though he wasn't surprised. Pauwna was in an unenviable position of rebelling against the system while being in the heart of its military. Dante imagined that sort of thing bred a high perceptive ability and judgment.

"I am always watching you, ya know?"

Dante slowly turned to her, saw the mirth sparkling in her eyes and sighed. That was a joke then. Pauwna had recovered a lot of her energy since yesterday and her mischievousness with it. She seemed almost eager to make up for lost time. This morning had begun with her looming over him, which had given him quite a fright and her a lot of laughs. Then, in today's training, she had moved far less stiffly. Despite the extra bruises, Dante was glad to see it. Watching her so obviously in pain had made him feel guilty.

He had been the cause after all.

Dante must have looked at her bandages for too long because Pauwna nudged him in the ribs and said, "Still caught up over how it ended?"

"You have got to stop doing that. It's uncanny!" He complained, sidling away from her elbow. Despite feeling more comfortable around her than anyone else in the world, that was too much. "How could I not? You could have dodged that blow if I were stronger. Then you wouldn't have been nearly killed."

"First things first, I don't want to hear you saying that." Pauwna moved closer and ruffled his hair. Despite growing taller she had a fair few inches on him. "You were ill-prepared for the battlefield and are, frankly, growing at an astonishing pace. It shouldn't have happened."

Dante glanced around. There was currently no one else on the deck, it was far too drafty for most, but Pauwna had said that they should always assume someone was listening. Should she be disagreeing with the First Princess without the cover of the masking artifact?

"More importantly, how do I think I felt when you did it the first two times?"

Dante had no words to refute her. She was right, he was being hypocritical. "I'd say we are even now. My times were not nearly as risky."

She nodded. "Even. Now look at the horizon, you don't want to miss this part."

He did and squinted. There was a shining shape on the horizon that they were on course to arrive at. Activating [Overloaded Senses], it resolved into a surprisingly familiar shape.

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It was the city on the door, but even grander somehow. The spires were tall and spindly, like needles that were thrust up from below. Appearing like tangled threads, many metallic bridges haphazardly extended between the towers. It was built into a large fork in the river and no towers extended beyond that, which probably explained why they built upwards. The one exception was the side of the city that faced the ocean, which had a number of more traditionally fantasy buildings around a large port.

"That's really something," Dante breathed and Pauwna nodded.

"It's not known as the Skyward City for nothing. It's supposed to be one of thirteen marvels of the civilized world. What else can you expect from the capital of the greatest empire that ever was?"

The last part was said with subtle derision and it took Dante out of it. He remembered the other part of the door mural. The horde of Ahsmati beneath the city. The spires of this capital may be grand, but they were also soaked in blood. Dante idily wondered how many nations were pillaged to build this.

They watched in silence as the city quickly approached. The ship reduced its speed until it was moving at something more reasonable. The door to the ship's interior swung open and a steady stream of people began making their way onto to the deck. First, it was soldiers, but soon Ahzi and a full double complement of elite soldiers headed by each of her attendants came out. They took a place near the offloading ramp and waited with all the others giving them a healthy distance. Sūnva and the others filtered out of the crowd and took a place at the railing a little distance away, giving them space. Sūnva gave them an odd look that Dante did not know how to place and he soon put it out of his mind.

To his surprise, the ship did not slow down as they neared the river. Dante had not immediately noticed as the city itself had caught his attention, but the river was large. He had seen the Mississipi once before his father died and this was bigger. And it was only one of the two branches.

There is no way that's natural.

The landship transitioned from bank to river with no noticeable change and continued on towards the city. The river was dotted with many, many ships — some so large that the landship had to dart around them. Their speed finally slowed to a crawl as the landship entered the city proper. The ship was to forced stick to one street, on account of its size, and even that was close. They weren't even the only ships around, each street had a sizable canal in the middle of it which was crowded with sailboats.

It's like some strange urban Venice.

As befitting the capital of a nation — and what appeared to be the main thoroughfare — the streets were very crowded. What had to be tens of thousands of people milled about, stopping at street stalls and traveling from spire to spire. They were a lot bigger than he realized, bigger than any skyscraper in Seattle. Each was made wholly from tarnished iron and had thick walls. There were no windows to be found here, only iron shutters through which light from magic lanterns could be seen. Dante felt claustrophobic just looking at it.

"I am not sure what to make of this place," Dante muttered to himself. "The camp suggested medieval, the ships look Renaissance-like at least, and this city looks damn near futuristic."

"I am not familiar with these words," said Pauwna with a raised eyebrow. "Your native tongue?"

"Something like that. I was just marveling at how advanced this city is."

"Is it different in your homeland?"

"Very. We have pursued a … different method of growth. I suspect we are good at very different things than the Sūnsians. I'll tell you more about it later."

Pauwna nodded, getting that he meant away from prying ears. "See that? That's our destination and where we will be attending the audience with the Eternal Empress."

Ahead of them was a spire-like no other. Easily twice the diameter of the next largest, it towered above them until it vanished in the clouds above. The exterior appeared to be made of solid gold and gleamed blindingly. This spire did have windows, though they were hard to make out given that they were somehow the same gold color as everything else. The outside was covered in artistic facades that reminded Dante of some of the skyscrapers in New York, though much more intricate.

Dante immediately disliked it.

It gave him chills just looking at it. This was not something that someone who was intouch with the needs of their people would build. In the buildings around him, Dante could spot rust streaking across the iron walls of the spires like a rash, trash littering the alleys, and patched clothes. The only thing that could match the splendor of what he was now pretty sure was the Royal Palace were the four next largest spires. They were located equidistance from one another and each only had a single, large bridge that extended to the Royal palace. That was all Dante could see before the landship pulled into an elliptical slot that ran the length of the Royal palace.

There was a sudden rush of acceleration and Dante shouted in alarm as they hurled upwards. He looked around wildly and realized that no one else seemed concerned. Pauwna's grin had grown and he was fairly certain that she had not told him on purpose. After a moment of annoyance, he let it go and grinned at her. He was happy that she was happy.

"Aren't you concerned about what happens if this ship falls?" Dante asked Pauwna, glancing nervously over the rail. They were already hundreds of feet up.

"Not even slightly. While these ships can't fly, they can glide well beyond the city limits. Besides, the only way these lifts will fail is through sabotage. Which would be a stupid way to try and kill the First Princess."

They were momentarily engulfed by the low-hanging clouds, which were held off by a previously invisible barrier. When the clouds retreated, it was as if they had entered a whole new world. Gone was the city, replaced by the fluffy hills of rolling clouds. The only thing visible was the tips of the four large spires and the palace, which unfolded outwards into something that he was more comfortable calling a palace. Though it was hard to catch any details from below.

The landship was propelled forward, into a dock that had been built into the side of the palace. Its wings folded neatly and the ship settled snuggly into a cradle. Soldiers hopped aboard and began tying the ship down. It wasn't long until the ramps were lowered and Ahzi disembarked towards a grand staircase, followed a moment later by a crowd of soldiers. Dante, Pauwna, and their squad were swept along. After they had exited the press, Dante glanced towards where Ahzi had left but she had already left.

"Come on, Dante," said Pauwna while pulling him away. "Ready to experience the greatest city in the world?"