Chapter 352: The City of Nexus

Kai had thought his first impression of Nexus City would be the biggest one, but the longer they walked, the more the city seemed to reveal.

Gabriel led them away from the plaza and toward one of the main avenues. Sera and Lily walked beside her, while Kai followed a few steps behind, still taking in the skyline.

"This is only the central district," Gabriel said.

Kai looked around. "Only?"

Gabriel smiled. "Nexus City is divided into twenty-three major districts."

Sera turned to her. "Twenty-three? And this is the center?"

"The Central District, yes."

Kai looked up at the buildings around them. "If this is the center, how big are the others?"

Gabriel laughed. "You’ll see."

The avenue was wide enough for several lanes of traffic, and elevated trains passed overhead while cars moved below them. Glass skyscrapers stood on both sides of the road, but between them were older buildings made of stone, and the strangest part was how naturally the two belonged together.

An ancient wall ran between two office towers, and someone had built a coffee shop directly into one of its old guard towers. A group of office workers sat outside with their drinks while a Hunter team walked past them, and none of them looked up at the stone above their heads.

Kai slowed down to watch them. "People really just live around this stuff?"

"Most of them don’t even notice anymore," Gabriel said.

Lily looked offended on behalf of the wall. "How can they not notice?"

"Ask someone who’s lived here their entire life."

Lily shook her head. "If I lived here, I’d notice."

Sera smiled. "You’d spend all day wandering into restricted areas."

"I wouldn’t."

Kai looked at her. "You absolutely would."

Lily frowned. "Only if the restricted area was interesting."

"That’s exactly what I mean."

The avenue opened into a square so large that Kai stopped walking. At its center stood a stone monument surrounded by shallow water, showing several figures side by side with their weapons raised toward the sky. Behind them rose a giant circular structure that looked like a broken ring.

"What is that?" Kai asked.

"The Founder’s Monument," Gabriel said.

"The founders of Nexus?"

"That’s what people believe, but we don’t know who all of them were. The records are incomplete."

Lily walked right up to the edge of the water. "Do we know when it was built?"

"At least seven hundred years ago."

Lily stared at the stone. "At least?" She looked back at Kai. "This continent is ridiculous."

Kai smiled. "You’re starting to enjoy it."

"I’ve always enjoyed ancient things."

Sera studied the monument. "So people just built a city around all of this?"

"Over time," Gabriel said. She pointed toward the buildings beyond the square. "Nexus expanded around the old structures instead of tearing them down."

Kai looked at the broken ring again. "Why?"

Gabriel took a moment before she answered. "Because eventually, people realized that destroying the past didn’t make its mysteries disappear."

"So they preserved it."

"Most of it."

"Most?"

Gabriel smiled. "Humanity has never been very good at preserving everything."

On the far side of the square, a group of children had gathered around a small relic display while a researcher answered their questions. Lily’s steps started to slow.

Kai didn’t even look at her. "No."

"I didn’t say anything."

"You were thinking about stopping."

"I was," she admitted.

"Keep walking."

Lily sighed and kept walking, and Sera laughed. "You’ve already learned how to manage her."

"Give her a few days," Gabriel said. "She’ll find every museum in the city."

Past the square, they reached one of the largest markets Kai had ever seen, and the noise doubled the moment they stepped inside. Merchants shouted over one another, Hunters haggled over monster materials, and relic shops kept their weapons and artifacts behind reinforced glass. Stalls sold everything from monster cores and enchanted gear to medicine, clothing, and objects Kai couldn’t even name, and the smell of grilled food drifted over all of it.

Sera stopped in front of a food stall. "That smells good."

Gabriel laughed. "You’re hungry already?"

"We’ve been walking for hours."

"It’s been forty minutes."

"Exactly."

Gabriel nodded toward the vendor. "Try the Nexus skewers. They’re very good."

Kai glanced at her. "You sound like you’ve eaten a lot of them."

"I have."

Sera bought one and took a bite, and her eyes went wide. "Okay."

"I told you," Gabriel said.

Lily bought one as well, and Kai crossed his arms as he watched them. "You two are supposed to be helping me explore the city."

Sera pointed at him with her skewer. "We’re exploring."

"This is eating."

"It’s part of exploring."

Gabriel nodded. "She’s right."

Kai sighed and bought one too. The meat was smoky and sweet, much better than he expected, and Sera caught the look on his face before he could hide it.

"You like it," she said.

"It’s good."

"That’s basically a compliment coming from you."

Kai kept eating. "Don’t push it."

Further into the market, large screens displayed the latest Hunter rankings, and people stopped here and there to check them. Kai was reading one of them when he heard someone behind him.

"That’s him. The Mythal City Leader."

He turned to see a young man pointing at him while his friend squinted in the same direction. Kai sighed, and Sera smiled beside him.

The two young Hunters approached carefully. "Sorry," one of them said. "Are you really Kai?"

"Yes."

The Hunter’s face lit up. "My father watched the Second Disaster broadcast. He said Mythal’s preparation was incredible."

"A lot of people worked on it," Kai said.

The Hunter’s eyes moved to Gabriel before coming back to him. "Are you really going to Aegis?"

Kai paused. "That’s the plan."

"Good luck!"

"Thanks."

As the two of them walked off, Sera nudged Kai. "You’re getting used to people recognizing you."

"No, I’m not."

Gabriel smiled. "You will eventually."

"I hope not."

From the market, Gabriel led them into the Hunter district, where the Association headquarters took up an entire block. Through its lower windows, Kai could see Hunters sparring in wide, open halls.

Sera slowed to watch them. "They have dedicated training areas?"

"More than thirty," Gabriel said.

Lily’s head snapped toward the windows. "Thirty?"

Kai laughed. "You’re going to ask if you can inspect them."

Lily didn’t deny it. "Maybe."

The farther they walked, the more the city changed around them. The commercial towers fell away behind them, and stone roads replaced the pavement as they entered a district where ancient buildings outnumbered the modern ones. Some had been carefully restored, while others had been left exactly as they were found.

At the end of the street stood a statue of a figure wearing a strange, pointed crown.

"Who is that?" Kai asked.

Gabriel shook her head. "We don’t know."

Sera laughed. "Again?"

"You’ll hear that answer often."

Kai looked around the old street. "Does Nexus actually know anything about its own history?"

Gabriel’s voice grew quieter. "Some things." She looked toward the ruins. "Enough to know that we’ve forgotten much more."

Kai studied her face for a moment, but he didn’t press.

Gabriel led them next into a quieter district, where white buildings stood behind carefully kept gardens and the Astral Church emblem hung above several entrances. Kai recognized the architecture the moment he saw it.

"The Church district," he said.

Gabriel nodded. "This is where the Astral Church runs its main operations in Nexus."

Lily looked up at the buildings. "How large is the Church here?"

"Large."

Sera gave her a look. "That’s not a number."

"You’ll see."

People began approaching Gabriel again, but these ones didn’t look surprised to see her. They simply bowed, and Gabriel greeted each of them by name as she passed.

"You really are important here," Kai said.

Gabriel smiled. "I didn’t think it mattered."

"It definitely matters," Sera said, and Lily nodded in agreement.

Gabriel shook her head. "You three are making this more complicated than it needs to be."

Kai smiled. "Probably."

By the time they made their way back toward the central district, the sun had set. Lights now shone along the ancient walls, and the skyscrapers glowed above streets that were still full of people. Airships drifted between the docking platforms overhead, while below them, Hunters gathered in groups after their missions and families walked through the plazas beneath monuments older than anyone could remember.

Kai stopped to take it in.

Mythal had been forced to build itself around survival. Every wall had a purpose, and every defense existed because they had learned what happened without one.

Nexus had spent centuries gathering wealth, knowledge, ruins, and traditions, and it didn’t look like a civilization that had survived. It looked like a civilization that had simply continued.

Now Kai understood why Gabriel had wanted him to see the city before he saw Aegis. They weren’t going there to study a ruin. They were going to understand everything that had come before them.

Gabriel stopped beside him. "That’s enough for today."

Sera’s shoulders dropped in relief. "Finally."

Lily looked back toward the streets they hadn’t walked yet. "We haven’t seen everything."

Gabriel laughed. "You could spend a year in Nexus and still not see everything."

Lily thought about it. "...That sounds nice."

"No," Kai said. "We’re not staying a year."

Lily sighed, and Gabriel smiled at both of them. "Besides, tomorrow will be more important. We have somewhere to go first."

Sera glanced at her. "Where?"

Gabriel looked toward the Church district, where a massive central structure rose above everything around it, lit up against the night sky. "The Astral Church."

Kai raised an eyebrow. "Why?"

"There are things you should know before you go to Aegis."

Lily straightened immediately. "About the ruins?"

"Among other things." Gabriel turned back to them. "So get some rest. Tomorrow, we’re going to the Church."

Kai looked up at the towering building. For the first time since arriving in Nexus, it wasn’t the ruins he was curious about.

It was what Gabriel knew, and why she had decided they were finally ready to hear it.