Chapter 8: The Godstone

After pulling Nathan out of the hotel, Wren walked him into a nearby subway station. She led him around two turns inside, and the Greyhaven subway—supposedly packed shoulder-to-shoulder—turned wide open and deserted. The two of them were practically waiting for a train on an empty platform.

Nathan curiously checked the station map, and his face went weird. He'd never heard of a single stop on this line.

Wren, as if she knew exactly what he was puzzling over, snorted a laugh. "Quit wondering! This is the Concord's own subway, built by us. These bloodborn-only lines don't just connect Greyhaven's big commercial districts and famous sightseeing spots—they run through all eighteen of the city's bloodborn residential zones, plus there are three long-distance lines heading to other cities. way more convenient and way faster than the human subway or trains."

Before Nathan even had time to be shocked, the train pulled in. Wren took out a card, casually swiped it twice at the door, and pulled him into the car.

Apart from the two of them, the car was empty—wide, wide open. Compared with the sardine-can crush of the regular Greyhaven subway, this place would bring tears of joy to basically any commuter.

Instead of the usual hard subway benches, there were big, comfy leather sofas, and in front of every seat was a tabletop that looked like brushed metal. Once Wren sat down and set her card on the tabletop, the whole thing activated, rippled once, and pulled up an interface—it was one giant touchscreen.

When Wren took the card back, she waved it at Nathan. "This is my sigil ring. It's not just our ID—it's also a bank card for bloodborn-only banks, a transit pass for bloodborn-only transport, a membership card for nearly a thousand bloodborn-run malls, supermarkets, and shops nationwide, plus ten-odd other functions, like paying to use the subway's smart systems. These cards only start up for their owner's own vitae ripple—there's zero chance of anybody fraudulently using one. The security beats any technology humans have. They come in tiers: black, diamond, platinum, gold, silver, and standard, plus a minor's card. Mine's already silver. You'll probably get classified as a minor and issued a minor's card."

Nathan's head was about to explode—his shock was off the charts. He thought to himself: "I always figured that if bloodborn actually existed, they'd be living deep in the mountains, cut off from the world, holding to old musty traditions. Never imagined bloodborn society would be every bit as civilized as human society, with living standards and tech above ours, and institutions even more advanced. A human ID card doesn't do diddly-squat."

Wren worked the tabletop screen for a bit and said, "I set up an appointment with the Greyhaven Wardens' Office. The second we get there, we can process your paperwork."

Nathan was completely out of words.

Ten-some minutes on the train and they'd reached the Greyhaven Wardens' Office stop. As Nathan and Wren stepped out of the car, they actually—rare sight—spotted another passenger.

This passenger came down from another car. He was slightly older than Nathan and Wren, high-schooler-looking, with a face so handsome it had zero flaws—a simple white shirt, slacks, and sneakers, an indescribably clean-cut look. Leopold counted as a handsome guy, but next to this kid he was like the male version of the ugly duckling, not even worth a look. Carrying his book bag in one hand, he was reading a book. Catching sight of Wren and Nathan, he smiled faintly, gave them a nod of greeting, and strode quickly out of the station.

Nathan knew anyone riding this train had to be a bloodborn, but he still couldn't resist warming a little to this boy-next-door type of teen. Walking out of the station exit, he was even thinking that since everyone was heading to the Greyhaven Wardens' Office on business, maybe they'd get to chat a bit.

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But when Nathan realized the subway exit was actually inside the gates of Greyhaven's Old Palace, he instantly forgot all about that and got the shock of his life all over again.

Greyhaven was an ancient imperial seat that had outlasted six dynasties, and its Old Palace was billed as the number-one royal palace complex in the world. Tourists practically burst the place at the seams every single day; except in the off-season, the ticket lines were always jam-packed—so crowded that armed police had to keep order.

A subway station built inside the Old Palace—what kind of concept was that?

Wren led him around a remote corner gate and in, twisting left and right, and soon they arrived in front of a towering, majestic palace. Compared with the rest of the Old Palace, this palace was as deserted as a campus during winter break—didn't even have a single bird.

Only now did Nathan learn that the so-called Greyhaven Wardens' Office actually occupied a chunk of the Old Palace for its offices. That was high-falutin' on a whole other level.

Wren pointed at the palace and gave him the intro. "This palace is called the Cloudhall. You won't find a trace of it in any human historical record—only in our bloodborn histories. Back when the Lord of the Gilded Empire unified the Known World, he wasn't just the ruler of men, he was also commander of the myriad bloodborn. He raised the Godstone here in the Cloudhall to bless the crown. Later the Gilded Empire declined, and the Ironseal kings sealed this place up—right up until the Ironseals themselves declined and the seal was broken."

Nathan couldn't even get a gasp of admiration out. He'd run into entirely too many new things today, so he just silently followed Wren through the gates of the Cloudhall.

Once inside the Cloudhall, the first thing he saw was a divine stele reaching to the heavens. Its substance was like lapis, its form archaic, plain, and unadorned. It stood some three thousand feet tall, like a towering peak climbing into the clouds, magnificent beyond words, and its base—over three hundred feet across—was built of porcelain-white gemstone. Nathan had no idea what that stone went for; otherwise he'd have been crawling over on his knees right about now, testing whether he could knock a chunk off.

The stele's body was divided into nine tiers, carved with countless spirit birds, strange beasts, bloodborn, and fiends—every single one like a living thing. For an instant it gave Nathan the feeling that a horde of millions of bloodborn was about to smash through the heavens and descend into this world.

Nathan took an involuntary step back before he caught himself and realized he'd lost his composure.

Wren snorted a laugh. "You're actually doing fine! Plenty of newly awakened bloodborn can't take the pressure off the Godstone. There are even wimps who drop to their knees on the spot, or straight-up faint."

Nathan gave a sheepish grin and asked, "Let's go take care of the registration first. Do you need my ID card?"

Wren took Nathan's hand and walked him right up to the Godstone. "You have to test what bloodline you awakened first, then get chartered—otherwise there's no way to classify the species on your sigil ring. The Godstone is a relic that, according to legend, fell from the Nine-Sphere Citadel—the old astronomers' nine-sphered heaven, one sphere nested within the next—into the earthly world. The creatures on its body are living, breathing bloodborn suppressed by the Nine-Sphere Citadel—they just can't leave the stele, that's all. Put your hand on the stele and sense the sealed bloodborn. If you feel a blood-kin closeness to any one of them, that one's your bloodline ancestor. Get lucky, and you might even receive a lineage inheritance—an arcane method."