OtH 1.14 - Invisible Geometries

And another chapter today, hooray!

It turned out that there was a door in the outer wall Aarick had failed to notice.

Normally he would have considered this a failure of perception, but he would have given himself a break for two reasons. The first was simply due to the sheer amount of other things he had been focused on. When someone’s entire worldview was busily upending itself, that tended to happen. The second reason, which would have been enough to obviate any sense of failure all on its own, was that the door looked exactly the same as any other section of the outer wall.

It had no handle or hinges. No sign of creases where the door would fit into the rest of the framework, just more glass, stone, and a magnificent view. So, naturally, he was rather surprised when Reodan said that they could get to the first part of the gardens by exiting through the outer door.

A patio, of sorts, broad and made of the same solid white stone, was clearly visible right outside the room. It had walls that framed the view. It was immaculately clean and ended at a waist high wall.

Aarick hadn’t thought much of it, distracted by the view and all of the knowledge and implications that came after.

And, even now, assuming that there was a way out onto the patio, he didn’t see a way to go anywhere else.

It’s probably invisible too.

Reodan had gone over to a section of wall that looked identical to every other section. The only notable thing about it, now that he knew to look, was that Aarick could see a pathway made by placement of the furniture.

Does he just know the design of the building that well, or can he see it with some kind of qi sense? It could easily be the first. I wonder how long he has been living here? Is it rude to ask something like that? Might be rude to ask about it because it tells something about someone’s level of cultivation.

I should probably ask before I am supposed to know better. Something to do later… assuming I remember.

“You will need to unlock the door, sir.” Reodan said.

He pulled the thin slip of gold from his pocket, looking at the area uncertainly.

“I don’t see a matching gem to touch,” he said, his brows furrowed.

“Ah, my apologies, sir.” He replied with a small bow. “The suite was attuned to you and the key when you used it earlier. From now on you need only think about unlocking or locking the door while touching it. The key can be left in your quarters if you like.”

Sure, magical signatures attuning to the locks, why not? Not to mention some intent based magic, or straight out mind reading. If I think about The Eldritch while opening the door will I corrupt it?

Well, I already found out that souls were a real thing today, so why not add some more to that. Well… Lurona already said something about only me being able to build the seal to target my parents because I know them. I was a littledistracted by the thought of reaching out to them, so I guess I missed the obvious implications…

Crap… I’m zoning out again.

Sheepishly, he reached out his hand, thinking at the door to unlock.

As the door entered into range of his new found qi sense, he could feel something different than what see was seeing. And, an instant later, before his hand had gone any farther, a section of wall shimmered, revealing the doors.

The doors were not much different from the wall. They were double doors formed from the same perfectly white stone. The sections around the outside of each door were thicker, but the interior was the same pattern of thin stone strips framing sections of clear glass, just slightly smaller to accommodate the outer section. The only real difference was a plate of dark metal on each door that gleam from its fine polish.

Looks like the same metal that the handles to the other doors were made of. Probably supposed to push on the doors there to open them.

He pushed on the doors, heading out onto the patio. A cool breeze brushed against his face, and scent of clean air filled his nose. His appreciation of the sensation was interrupted when he noticed that the patio had furniture, which had been completely invisible from the inside. His left eyebrow twitched.

Sure, why not?

He ignored the furniture for now. He wasn’t sure he could muster up the energy to be surprised again. Patio furniture that was only visible when you were on the patio was pretty tame comparatively.

Should be able to find another illusion with my qi familiarity. Once I was in range it was obvious that the physical and the visual were not matching up with each other.

Of course, my range is pretty small, so it’s probably faster to just let Reodan show me how to get out.

At some point the door had closed behind him and Reodan had blurred forward.

Need to get him a bell or something. Though it probably wouldn’t help. I don’t even feel any air displacement.

Reodan indicated the left corner as the position for the stairs, and waited to the side for him to approach.

As he got closer to the railing, he could see a garden below. Mostly he could see the tops of trees. Judging by the height of the railing, the garden was kept at height were it wouldn’t be visible from his viewing room.

I guess that would ruin the view. Wouldn’t want to see a beautiful garden or anything… Or maybe that’s what the patio is for. Admittedly, the top of the trees is beautiful, but I am guessing they are more intricate below.

Even before he had fully reached the corner, it blurred away, revealing a small square of additional stone and a set of stairs leading down and to the right.

He walked down the steps, which brought him down about twenty-five feet. Gradually the garden opened up to his sight as he fell beneath the level where the trees blocked his sight.

At the bottom of the stairs he turned to the left and walked out into the gardens. The path he was on was short and ended with a larger path that moved parallel to the outer wall. Which, now that he could see the larger path, was apparently curved inward.

The gardens could be used to teach geometry.

Perfect circles of dark rich earth framed the base of each tree. Outside that were rings of other plants, hedges and flowers blooming in profusion. The sweet smells competed for his attention as he began to step into the garden, the path the same white stone.

Nothing was out of place. Each patch of flowers gave way to the next with no over lap. Lines, stripes, and zigzagging patterns contrasted the colors of the flowers and the subtly different greens of each plant.

The few plants with leaves of other colors acted as centerpieces, the rest of the pattern drawing the eyes and contrasting in harmony so the yellows, pinks, and blue leaves would show their best against the background.

Aarick was not an expert at art, but he knew at least a few principles. It was a common talking point among the rich or powerful. Usually it was just another way to demonstrate their superior taste.

Yep, I can see fractals in the designs.

Has the person who designed this has been doing it for hundreds of years?

Aarick wouldn’t be able to tell if the garden was a masterpiece or just a rote piece of work churned out as yet another design in a series of never ending flow.

The trees had been shaped into perfect arches, the precise geometries replicated again and again with each plant. It was beautiful, but the sheer precision of it actually turned him off to it a bit.

I don’t think I have ever been in a more artificial garden that wasn’t made of plastic.

Lurona seems to really like her precise geometric patterns. I quite liked the mix of flowing patterns and geometry in the interior of the building, but it becomes too much when it is applied to the plants.

Honestly, just allowing a little bit of imperfection would make it much better.

Reodan was following him as he walked through the garden, he had looked behind him to check. The fact that the stairs had become invisible after he had left them had evoked no more than an eye roll.

I wouldn’t be surprised if there are invisible gardeners who work on this place. Wouldn’t want to mar the perfection with the sight of people working on it, after all.

Aarick enjoyed what he could of the garden. The shifting light from the leaves blowing in the gentle breeze and the scent of the flowers were pleasant enough on their own.

“Is this,” he waved his arm out to indicate the garden, “a common style? The precise geometry of it all?”

“No, sir,” Reodan replied. “This style has been out of favor in the Imperial Court for several dozen millennia. Lurona, however, heavily favors the style.”

“You don’t say,” he muttered under his breath. “Do most nobles follow the fashions of the Imperial Court then?”

“Yes, sir,” came the reply. “The God-Emperor usually changes their personal style every ten thousand years or so. The court rapidly adapts to follow suit.”

Aarick was tempted to ask why, but the answer was self explanatory. Politics. People would ape the Emperor for any number of reasons: To try to appeal to his sense of fashion in the hopes of receiving favor, to show their sophistication, to imitate his power, and so on. And once it became an established trend it would become expected. Any other nobles and wealthy people would all imitate the style.

Does the Emperor enjoy watching the whole court panic and change styles every few millennia? Or maybe they don’t care at all, but get tired of wearing same style after a while.

Honestly, that would be the only thing that I would like about fashion.

Wonder if her taste in fashion is one of the reasons Lurona volunteered to watch over the creche?

“Ah,” he said finally. “Are any of the other gardens different, or are they all like this?”

“The lower gardens are much the same, sir,” Reodan replied. “However, the gardens immediately surrounding Lurona’s tower are designed with a higher qi concentration. The plants there are more interesting, though the style is much the same.”

Magical plants? Yes, please.

“Can we go up to see those?” he asked, a hint of his excitement seeping into his voice.

Reodan hesitated for a moment before answering.

“You should be able to view them from the outside without any issues, sir,” he finally replied. “However, sir, the qi levels in the interior may be dangerous for you. If you didn’t already have some degree of qi familiarity, I would advise you staying out of the garden entirely. We will need to proceed with caution if we enter the garden.”

Hell yeah!

Potential danger weighed itself against magical plants.

Aarick would like to say that there was a careful deliberation of the pros and cons inside his head, but the truth was that the logical part of his brain would bring up objects only to be shouted down with repeated cries of ‘Magic!’ until it finally admitted defeat.

“I would very much like to see it,” he said.

From there he followed Reodan’s direction to continue walking until he reached one of the corners of the garden.

The corner was considerably sharper than ninety degrees, and his mind briefly considered what the shape of the building was like, before it was dismissed in favor of a magical garden.

Another invisible stairway entered the corner leading upward, and he walked upward, ready to see the garden.