The trip to the capital was in effect, short. I still thought of my own home city of Lithere as the capital in a lot of regards, but within the Empire of Shadows, that simply wasn't the case. Instead it was the old Ermathi capital in the city of Ermath, wholly unimaginative, but things were like that sometimes.

The portal connection made what would have been a weeks long trip into a short afternoon jaunt, but we still ended up outside the city proper, so I got to see it for the first time. It was sad to say but the capital was, well frankly ugly. There were clear signs of renovation here and there, but the primary architecture of the city was brutalist and plain. Decorations were all new additions, and hadn't yet spread to every corner, not in the same way.

Lithere was a city of layers. There were towers, homes, businesses, all in shapes and colors that varied in one way or another. Ermath on the other hand was a city that looked like it'd been built by a military hand. The buildings were all boxes, and aside from new construction, all uniform. There were no old art, nor places where the changes in material over the years had given a different color to the buildings.

"I hate it," I said on the approach.

"It really isn't much to look at is it?" Dras asked.

"Dras, it's in a grid pattern. You can see the lines. I'd bet they even leveled the land before they built here. Aside from the newer stuff it's just ghastly."

"The Ermathi were always a military dictatorship, but I never imagined it was this bad," Selene added in.

As I looked on I began to notice that all the surrounding fields and lands were almost the same, laid out in perfectly regular plots, all with the same basic structures. It was like the medieval version of a suburban hellscape; if it had been run by the most boring bureaucrats to ever live.

We made it through the gate with ease, as we were all clearly there on official government business and things brightened somewhat. It wasn't visible at a distance, but things were changing a bit in the city. A few buildings had murals on them, here and there a decorated sign hung, clearly newer in construction. It was still brutal, but you could see some hope in the citizens here.

We slowly made our way to a building, one that was clearly new and purpose built just for this project. I felt my eyebrows raise. With magic construction could go fast, but this was burning along at an insane pace. The building itself was clearly militarized, but also strangely welcoming. Around all the security structures there were clear places for people. Benches stood outside, and if I wasn't mistaken a few buildings were being renovated into something like a tavern.

We were dropped off at the main entrance and greeted there by a man in a decorated black tunic. That was standard enough for government workers on the job, not an official uniform, but rather trying to fit with the country's whole aesthetic of evil overlord.

"Greetings, greetings, welcome. Ah Jason, is that you?" The man said, opening his arms in welcome.

"Hey there Ron, it's been awhile hasn't it?" Our newest member embraced the man warmly. "Ah, let me introduce my team. These three are Selene, Dras, and Alana. Everyone, this is Ron, former military and the soon to be overseer of this new hub."

"How public is this going to be?" I asked after we made it through the first few sets of warded doors.

"The building giving you ideas huh? For the near future not at all, it will be a military installation, though we are trying to make it nice. If things proceed well and we can establish it, in the next decade or two your work will be made public, and it will be opened to a limited extent." Ron didn't elaborate on what we were doing, none of us did, but that declaration got more than one pair of raised eyebrows.

"Sincerely?" Dras voiced.

"This project is needed for the moment to secure and grow the empire, but surely you can see the benefit for less martial professions as well?" We followed him along a path.

"It's a wonderful idea I think, but it will change a lot of things," I pointed out. It was almost like we were the first people looking at making planes for the military, only instant travel, and nobody knew about it.

We were finally led to the innermost room. The doors to get in were massive, and nobody could miss the magic around the whole place. They could talk all they wanted about this one day being for the people, but for now, this place was military, and a massive liability if it went wrong.

As we entered though I understood that this place truly might be for the people one day. the walls were blank, but the whole structure reminded me of something like a subway station. There was a central area, ostensibly for control around which was a concourse for people to go to portals not yet installed.

It would take a day to install the first gate, most of that being all the mess of importing and setup of wards. Putting the gate in place was a rather simple action, but there was so much that had to be done around it that it was going to be a chore.

After an hour or two of discussion on what we'd need for the next day, and when to start we were taken to a nearby barracks. It was hard to tell one building here from another, as they'd not been overly decorated, but there were numbers, and the streets were gridded out with a similar system.

Selene would be spending the night in the room beside mine, while Dras was down the hall.

"Alright," I declared after seeing that the small case I'd brought was in place. "I'm going out."

"Out where?' Selene asked, poking her head out of her own room.

"To a tavern clearly. We're in a city, and cities have taverns. I want to see more of this place, because it's been pretty droll so far."

She nodded along, "Not what we're really here for, but okay. Want company?"

"Certainly, let's see what we can find."

Dras stayed behind, mostly because we didn't invite him. We were both full casters and more than dangerous enough to take on almost anyone who would oppose us. I also liked to think I had a pretty good handle on how to deal with city life after spending several years working in a tavern, but there were some issues.

"Okay," I groaned after a solid ten minutes of looking, and finding no signs of use. "How is this place even organized?"

"Maybe ask someone?" Selene shrugged, not her worst idea ever.

There were a good few locals out on the street, even as the light began to dim.

"Excuse me sir," I said, stopping a man who looked like he knew his way about. "I don't suppose you could recommend a tavern around here?"

"Um... one of the old drinking halls? Or one of the newer places?" He asked, with a slight accent.

"Let's go with a newer one," I said, getting a nod from my companion.

"Yeah, most of those are over near the barracks. Abe's is pretty good, if that's what you like." He gave us a rough address, the translation something like E-15.

The city was a giant grid, with the palace, which sad in the dead center, labeled as 'A0', from there the letters went out in positives towards the east, with a '-' symbol to indicate west, while the letters went north, or south if a '-' was in front of them. Therefore our destination was slightly north, and quite west of the palace. Incidentally the new hub was at G-18, not far from our destination. I'd been told that things could get a bit wonky with some of the new buildings, or very far from city center as well, but this was an easy place to go.

Selene was content to let me lead, something I too was quite pleased over. Most of the buildings were quiet, but as we drew near our destination I finally began to see signs of nightlife. Here and there obvious changes had been made to buildings, walls opened, and more decoration that any other place spilling out of the formerly droll structures.

'Abe's' had a big sign out front, and warm lights all along the side. Though there was no loud ruckus, there was a slight strumming coming from within. Not one to be thrown by whatever weirdness was going on I made my way to the door.