Chapter 33: Ray’leigh

The wall of Andor looked different from a distance, but standing directly beneath it made Rayleigh realize that he had severely underestimated the civilization behind it.

There were no visible cracks on the structure, no signs of damage, and not even a single piece of it looked out of place despite the wall supposedly being hundreds of years old.

"Damn." Rayleigh couldn’t help but be blown away by such mechanics.

The idea of the wall probably defies every known laws of physics, but since Magic was involved, nothing was ever really impossible.

Jax looked at the structure with a strange mixture of excitement and fear – excitement in the sense that he was finally free from the perilous nature of the open wasteland.

The source of his fear was nuanced.

"Come on..." Jax signaled Rayleigh. "We need to get to the entrance before night falls. Trust me, you do not want to be close to the wall when the sun sets."

They both kept walking, heading toward the direction of the supposed entrance. As they walked, Rayleigh continuously glanced from one end of the wall to the other, but he couldn’t see where it ended.

"So this entire thing surrounds the city?"

"Yes." Jax answered. "And then Veyrion and Aurelis are way beyond Andor."

"And the other two cities have walls like this?"

"Not exactly like this, but they have their own walls; the higher the city, the stronger the defenses. The walls of Veyrion and Aurelis are probably stronger and more impenetrable."

Rayleigh nodded slowly.

"So this is the weakest one?"

Jax immediately looked at him, stopping dead in his tracks. "Do not call it weak where anyone can hear you." he warned.

"Why?"

"Because Andor is still protected by the First Wall and the wall has survived beasts that could destroy entire settlements, and even some stronger beasts have failed to break through it. Calling it weak before Andorians will make you look like an asshole. No one likes assholes."

Rayleigh simply shrugged. "Okay, then I guess weak was the wrong word."

After a short while, Jax stopped walking.

"We’re here."

Suddenly, a mechanical sound suddenly came from above them causing Rayleigh to look up.

Several small objects had appeared along the surface of the wall; they looked like metal spheres, but each one had a glowing blue circle in the middle.

Jax immediately stepped closer to Rayleigh, whispering, "Do not move."

"Why?" Rayleigh asked, glancing at the circular objects up ahead.

"They are scanning us."

Rayleigh watched as one of the spheres moved along the wall before stopping directly above them.

A thin blue beam descended from it and passed over Rayleigh’s body and then it moved toward Jax.

"Return authorization required." A soft electronic voice came from the wall.

Jax cleared his throat nervously. "We have the required crystals." he stated. "Our banishment should be lifted."

"Present the crystals." the voice ordered.

Jax quickly opened the small bag he had been carrying and removed the crystals one by one.

The twenty Lesser Beast Crystals glowed inside his hands, their light reflected against his face as he held them up.

The scanner passed over them and beeped. "Twenty Lesser-Rank Beast Crystals detected."

Rayleigh was not a Mulkan, hence, he was never banished by the overseers of Andor.

Fortunately for Rayleigh, the overseers kept no record of banished Andorians. They simply discarded them. That way, Rayleigh could easily pose as an exile with being outed as an imposter.

Jax looked at Rayleigh and understood immediately.

He reached into his inventory and brought out the two Intermediate Beast Crystal. The moment it appeared, the scanner seemingly became brighter.

"Intermediate-Rank Beast Crystal detected."

Suddenly, the wall vibrated; a massive section of metal slowly separated from the center, revealing a gate hidden within the structure.

Several layers of machinery whined into place and the gate opened, revealing the Mulkan city of Andor.

Rows of high rise buildings stood next to each other, reaching as far as one’s eye sight could go.

There were probably thousands of buildings, all of which housed Andorians who were basically slaves to the system.

Rayleigh’s eyes widened as he stared through the opening.

The city stretched far beyond buildings, it also had roads, bridges and countless glowing lights; large vehicles moved through the streets while flying machines travelled between the towers.

For a moment, Rayleigh forgot about the fuel. "This is Andor?"

"Yes." Jax nodded.

Rayleigh simply stared at the city in awe.

"You’ve got to be kidding me."

"What?"

"From what you explained to me, it is implied said the poorest of your race lived here. This is basically the slum of your planet."

"It is..." Jax looked quite confused, having no idea where Rayleigh was heading..

"This doesn’t look like a slum." Rayleigh stated.

"Forget the advanced technology and look within. Do you see any greenery?" Jax pointed his finger toward the open city.

He was right. Rayleigh couldn’t spot a single green as far as his eyes could take him; no trees, no grasses. Andor was basically a wasteland made of planet. A technologically advanced wasteland, nonetheless.

"I wonder what Veyrion and Aurelis would look like then."

Several figures were approaching the gate. They were Mulkans, but unlike the settlers Rayleigh had seen outside, these ones were wearing uniforms.

One of them walked toward Rayleigh and Jax while two others remained behind him.

"State your identification numbers.

"W-we don’t have any." Jax stuttered.

The guard looked at the crystals in their possession. "Returning defaulters? State your names."

Jax and Rayleigh looked at each other knowingly.

’Names? Jax said nothing about identity confirmation!’

"Names!" The guard urged and Jax immediately answered.

"Jax’ulkan."

The guard touched a device on his wrist, clocking away on something no one can see.

"Jax’ulkan," he muttered. Then he glanced at Rayleigh "And you?"

Jax quickly answered. "He is with me."

"I do not remember asking you." the guard said to Jax. Back at Rayleigh, he continued. "I’m sure you can speak for yourself."

"Ray’leigh."