After two days that we spent using the forest to hide ourselves, we finally decided that we had put enough distance between us and those we had angered, meaning that we felt secure in using the old imperial road.

Leaving the forest and moving onto the road, I got my first good look at it - when we were in Yaksha, I had not really looked at it, just seeing it as an old brick road, even if it was in relatively good condition.

Now, I was really looking at it and noticed things I had not noticed before. The first thing I noticed was that there was a subtle magic permeating the road and seeping into those travelling on it. Curious, I switched on the magical vision Lenore granted me and together, we looked at the road.

And what we saw was stunning, I had sometimes thought of myself as a good spellcaster, due to my ability to create new magic out of three different elements and making it my own. There had been a few forums posts strengthening that belief, that it was something special and rare. What I was seeing below me, taught me that it was hubris.

“It’s… beautiful.” Lenore whispered in my mind, her voice an almost breathless sigh.

“Makes one humble, doesn’t it. To see what is possible.” I answered, my mind held in thrall by the image in front of me.

The magic that permeated the road was dizzyingly complex, to me, it appeared as a colourful weave of different elements, some interwoven in such a way to change their fundamental nature to create something new. It reminded me a little of the lesson the Grandmother had given me, that Ice-element I was using was an amalgamation of Water, Air and Darkness, making me wonder if the elements I did not know in the weave before me were of a similar fashion, combinations of different base-elements to form something new. Maybe there were even ways to achieve different outcomes using the same base-elements by interweaving them in different ways.

In comparison to the complexity I was seeing, my own magic and its usage was crude, barbaric even. I was like a monkey, painting a cave with its own feces, in comparison to the sheer artistry the road-builders had used in their working. I felt Lenore’s mind next to mine, and there was a hunger in both of us. We both were fascinated by magic but now we saw a masterpiece in front of us. A masterpiece of magical engineering, built to last for eons, subtle and efficient in its working. It was inspiring.

Taking a deep breath, even sticking my tongue out for a moment, tasting the air to use my own senses, not just the sense Lenore lent me. My own perception of magic was less precise but in turn, they gave me a more intimate picture and even allowed me to pick at sensations and get a deeper understanding. Now, I was tasting the magic in the air and it blew me away. It was just too complex, too intricate, for me to even begin making sense of what I was tasting. After a moment, I pushed the overwhelming sensation away, gathering my senses.

“Do you think we will ever be able to work on that level?” Lenore asked, her voice filled with awe at the working that had managed to last eons.

“Yes. Yes, we will.” I answered, filled with determination. Seeing what was possible, the sheer beauty of it making my ache, I wanted to learn more, so much more. I wanted to be able to paint the world with my own brush, to change it according to my will.

“Are you alright?” Sigmir asked, pulling me out of my thoughts and back into reality as my mundane senses perceived it.

“Yes, it’s just… The magic of the road is incredible.” I sighed, thinking about the underlying meaning of what I had seen. The Empire that had built these roads must have been incredible. And the sheer scale of it, unless I was very much mistaken, the whole road was like this, a road-network spanning the whole continent. I was certain that the road was not the work of a single spellcaster but the product of the combined working of numerous mages, all united in a single purpose.

While my mind was still awash with the experience, Elding carried me further and I felt the magic envelop me, seeping into me.

A blue window appeared and told me its effects, at least some of them.

You are under the influence of a magical effect. You are on a magical road. While travelling on it, you gain its effects. Stamina regeneration and movement-speed are increased while Stamina consumption for movement is reduced.

I was not the only one under the effect, our mounts suddenly seemed to gain a spring in their steps, each movement carrying them further and Sigmir sped up and even her bearing changed. Before, she looked like she was jogging, now it was more like a glide, a ground-eating stride that made her movement seem completely effortless.

The road also answered something I had considered in the back of my mind, from a gamer’s perspective. While travelling was relatively interesting, it got boring just as fast. If you saw the same sort of landscape day after day, it got boring. I had noticed that during the travels in the forest, it was not that the frozen landscape of the north was inherently boring but even the most awesome and magical of environments turned ordinary if you were exposed to it on a regular basis.

So, how could a world mostly on a medieval level of technology cope without resorting to lazy solutions? Sure, it would be possible to set up a service that functioned similar to aircrafts using some sort of flying monster but that would bring with it a huge set of problems. For example, why other monsters didn’t simply snack on them, the latest Highlight-reel had shown that even the major kingdoms were subject to nature and monsters if they moved into their territory. And I had no doubt that the upper reaches of the sky were the domain of flying monsters, hunting those that dared to disturb their windswept heights.

However, a magical set of roadways, built eons ago by an empire now lost in time? That allowed not just Travellers but also goods and to a lesser degree people move across large distances relatively fast, giving the players a way to experience more of the game without breaking the world.

Travelling on the road proved to be almost effortless, our mounts needed a lot less power to maintain a high pace and Sigmir was able to sprint alongside them, moving at speeds that I associated with a very fast moving bike or a slow moving car, only that she was able to keep up that pace without tiring.

We had started our day’s travel about an hour before noon and went until about an hour before dark, stopping only once to rest. The one who truly needed that rest was ironically Rai who was riding alongside me, Sigmir and Adra who used their own bodies to pace the spirit-golems we were using were just fine. By my estimation, we had crossed about hundred-fifty kilometers, an insane distance for anyone not using modern transportation. It meant that there was a lot less pressure to keep moving, at least if the road-network was as vast as I believed it to be. On our way, we had bypassed two settlements, both set a bit away from the road, undoubtedly to take advantage of some geographical feature. None of us had a need to stop and explore the small settlements, they seemed just too insignificant and boring, no even on a level with Yaksha, just collections of houses reminiscent of the Jonari-village or Adernas.

But those villages were not what drew my interest, as we moved I noticed something about the road. It was perfectly adapted to the terrain, or so I thought. However, as we travelled, I noticed that it was the other way around, not the road was built to fit the terrain. I noticed that some of the terrain-lines seemed to be a little too coincidentally perfect for the road to just be geological chance. Not to keep the road straight but to avoid large changes in elevation or direction. It seemed more like a modern highway than a medieval brick road.

Lenore and I kept our senses open as we travelled and noticed that the underlying flow of the Astral River was completely steady, without deviations. Normally, there was a slight ebb and flow of power in the surroundings, sometimes a little more, sometimes a slightly different composition but on the road, it was uniform, making me certain that either the road was following a natural feature of the Astral - the fantasy concept of Ley Lines came to mind - or that the builders of the road had not just changed the local geography to suit their needs but also the underlying, magical nature of the land.

Either way, our shared respect for the ancient builders of that road grew with each step we took.