《The Infinity Helix》 The Case Begins...Again The citizen ran through the streets bumping into pedestrians but not seeming to notice. Pieces of paper would fly from the large stack he was carrying. He also did not notice, as he never did, the occasional spots of moss or rust on the metal walls, metal sidewalk, and metal buildings on his way to work. Junior Detective and public servant Stelvin Solartis started out having a peaceful morning. He arrived at the station late as usual. The schedule was rather slow. Besides a few minor cases, nothing too interesting drew his attention. He continued his normal routine, which included leaving his office for a brief coffee break at 11:00. He chatted with a few coworkers, then came back to his office with a large cup of coffee and two donuts, sat down at his desk, and turned on the television. He had only finished half of his first donut, and was taking his first sip of coffee, when he choked, then spit out the coffee all over the files of the minor cases in shock. He knocked over the coffee mug holding the remainder of his coffee when he tried reaching for a napkin, making even more of a mess as he tried to pay attention to the broadcast. He only cleaned about a quarter of the spill when he stopped to pay attention to the television continue. "A new update has been made on the famous Eleenya Cosmosteeya case, a case we have heard nothing about for years. All we know at this point is that an undisclosed citizen has given information to the authorities that could lead to her findings." They were reopening the case. This excited Stelvin as he was tired of the smaller cases he had been working on for the past 3 years. He saw this as a chance to prove himself and perhaps be more than the B team in the detective department of the police force. The Eleenya Cosmosteeya case was a tragic case indeed. The case began a little more than twenty years ago. Eleenya Cosmosteeya, who lived in the very top layer, the layer with the lowest level of crime, was snagged by a group of masked individuals (the detectives guessed they were male, but this is about all they could reasonably conclude from the footage). This tale has been unlawfully lifted without the author''s consent. Report any appearances on Amazon. As Eleenya was being carried off, they were pursued by the police. The cameras were able to track the individuals for a while, until the individuals reached around the eighth floor down from the top floor where Eleenya was first taken. Eleenya''s kidnapping would kick off a series of kidnappings that would continue to the current day. What made the case so much of interest was it was the only case where the kidnapping was recorded. There were no cameras past the eighth floor of the city. A large amount of the population lives down there, but the activity past that point is little known. It is either deemed too dangerous, or a waste of resources for the authorities to know much of what goes on past that point. It is estimated that there could be over 1000 floors in existence down from the top floor, though no one knows for sure. There was an endless amount of ideas the people above had. The people above truly had no idea what lay below. Some theorized that perhaps there were entire communities of different cults, worshipping something different depending on the community. Some citizens above even speculated that there were entire cities whose only inhabitants were robots whose minds operated independently from any controls. As Stelvin reached for the second donut, he continued to fathom what it would be like for his career if he could be put on a case like this. Many thoughts crossed his mind so much, that he forgot about the spilled coffee all across his desk. Stelvin knew one thing was for certain. The case was to be opened. He wondered a few things though: One, what is this "information" they described on the news that has been reported to the authorities? Two, who is this individual that came forward with the information? Three, why did this individual take 20 years since the crime occurred, and over 15 years since the closing of the case to come forward? And four, would this information be helpful to solving this case? Captivity The character woke up nauseous, with their eyes opening slowly. Their hands were tied while being pushed forward in a chair of some sort. The wheels made a loud creaking sound. The captive one noticed they were moving at a quick pace down a long, but narrow hallway with pairs of doors facing each other about every 20 feet. There were dim flickering lights evenly spaced in between each of those, as far as one could see. The captive one had no idea where they were. They had little memory of anything from what could have been a few days at the least. The character had a few memories, but the memories were unclear nevertheless. They could not tell dreams from reality. While sitting there, moving forward in the endless hallway, the captive individual suddenly came to a conclusion. Even if the one of the recent memories were real, then the unknown figure was not at all surprised they were here, and guessed that they would probably be questioned.Unauthorized use: this story is on Amazon without permission from the author. Report any sightings. What made this whole situation even more mysterious is that they did not feel they were just making educated guesses as to what was happening, but that they felt like they had already lived through the present situation. Perhaps these details described so far are a bit difficult to understand, but with more context, more will soon be revealed Once these thoughts quickly passed, and it was clear the captive one was awake, a few startled sounding voices from behind began to mutter something to themselves in a whisper. A kind of sheet was thrown over the captive one, blocking their vision. A few seconds later, a syringe was felt in their arm, then relaxation was felt, then sleepiness... The Layered City Natovis, nicknamed and better known as "The Layered City", had seen better days. The famous and unsolved Eleenya Cosmosteeya case from twenty years prior had really shown light on just how bad the situation was. The fact suspects were able to go all the way to the top layer, simply kidnap someone and swiftly make it to safety infuriated the public. The situation was being recorded the entire time by the numerous cameras in the monitored areas. What was even mo---------??¡ì¡ì??¡ì¡ì??¡ì¡ì??¡ì¡ìATTENTION, WARNING, ATTENTION, WARNING. STOP READING THIS INFORMATION FOR WHICH YOU ARE PUTTING YOURSELF AND OTHERS AT RISK, THE INFORMATION THAT IS BEING GIVEN TO YOU WAS NOT OBTAINED IN A SAFE WAY. THE VERY FACT YOU KNOWING THE INFORMATION PUTS PAST, PRESENT, AND FUTURE INDIVIDUALS AT RISK. GO BACK TO YOUR LEISURE ACTIVITIES, STOP NOW. I CANNOT FURTHER ELABORATE, I AM RUNNING OUT OF WORDS TO SAY IN MY BROA---------??¡ì¡ì¡ì??¡ì?¡ì¡ì?¡ì¡ì?¡ì¡ì?? Despite this, the authorities still could not stop the suspects. What made things worse is over time, the lower levels at one point became virtually ungoverned in the city''s history, showing just how much the governing bodies had declined. Some claim that there were once days when the entire city, and all of its unknown number of layers were governed and were governed well. People in the higher levels may be able to describe what goes on a few levels past the ungoverned threshold of areas. Some may even visit the areas regularly. However, as one went further down, there were fewer and fewer accounts of what it was truly like to be on those levels. What most people did know for sure was the areas were virtually non-tracked. Other than the mystery of the other layers of Natovis, the other mystery was how this city was even built. In the oldest existing records of humanity, the city already exists, and even in those records is largely in a developed state like it is now. The city was built of a forgotten material lost to time; a material able to support such an impressive structure for what seemed an infinite amount of time. More durable than tungsten, lighter than titanium, at one time more plentiful than steel, the material was not made anymore. No one knew how it was made, or where it came from. All people really knew was that it was valuable now.A case of content theft: this narrative is not rightfully on Amazon; if you spot it, report the violation. According to ordinance 1000973, from a century prior, the city would have the right to remove a certain percentage of the total material from the city infrastructure and sell it to raise much needed funds. The material would be extracted, replaced with steel, and sold off to foreign governments around the world. This percentage seemed to grow incrementally every few years. Much less is known about the structural integrity below, but in the upper levels, as infrastructure is built, repaired, or replaced, this strange durable material is replaced entirely by its most similar available material, steel. The techniques to build fantastic structures, like Natovis, have been lost to history. At this point, one might wonder what was not declining about this place, and what this civilization did actually know. Natovis, and much of the rest of the planet, can reasonably be concluded to have been a prosperous place for the longest time, then began to slowly decline. There was probably a war that involved the entire world. Natovis likely would have been able to get by somehow relatively undamaged from this conflict, the damage for the long term would already been done. Then the decline would have continued to a point where record keeping would have ceased to exist. At this point in history, the science, more popular than ever today, speculationism would have had its roots, but that is a story for later. The civilizations across the planet would have also been prosperous, but Natovis no doubt, would have been a world leader. They would have had other sophisticated technologies, and a diverse economy. The industry that still existed, and still prospered was steel. One of the few industries left over from these unknown days and would do better than any other was steel. It was the most plentiful material around, both produced down on the 5th floor of Notavis, and imported from one of the two moons by Celestial Mining and Logistics. They would have been a culture obsessed with the stars. There is even evidence of attempts of individuals trying to break out of the Bouldersphere, a spherical asteroid field surrounding the planet and it''s two moons. There would have been a massive interest in the Outer Lights, a series of celestial objects beyond, but this is also another story for another day, and in time will be revealed as it is significant to the narrative. Now, that is enough detail on this once great civilization for now, of which more will be revealed soon. Hopefully, there is now a better understanding of how the disappearance of the greatly missed Eleenya Cosmosteeya was actually the beginning of a crumbling nation realizing it needed to fix itself, rather than continue on its current path. City Hall The scribe did the best she could to record everything that was going on in that giant city hall that historic day. It was a city hall so big that the room the meeting took place in was the size of a stadium. The city hall meeting ended up being rather chaotic, but she did feel she was able to extract the most important information. The following meeting was also televised on broadcasting systems across Natovis but it would have been too hard to discern the most important parts. It likely would have looked like a mob of people yelling at each other in the point of view of people watching their screens at home. Unless everyone quieted down and let people speak one at a time, (which barely happened), no one would be able to tell what was happening. The following takes place about twenty years before present day, a few weeks after the kidnapping of Eleenya Cosmosteeya and the other mysterious disappearances had first occurred: There was a city hall called over the kidnapping, and the sudden rise of disappearances that followed. It was rare for Natovis to hold these events anymore, events once held routinely to get feedback from the public on what the course of action should be in response to significant events. The Head City Manager, Mr Downwell hit his gavel several times so the sound of the crowd would die down. Chatter among the crowd continued for about 30 seconds before ceasing. It was the city manager''s job to address the public concerns of the recent events. With only a few stragglers whispering to each other, the City Manager began to speak. "Everyone in attendance knows why they are here and why they are in attendance. Some of our fellow citizens, in separate instances, with relative ease, have been snatched by some unknown individuals likely from the levels below. Whether you are here because you are concerned for your own safety, or just here merely out of respect for the kidnapped victims, I can assure you that the situation is under control." This very statement seemed to annoy the people. The authorities clearly did not have this problem under control. Citizens were literally disappearing every few days with no evidence besides the footage from the kidnapping of Eleenya Cosmosteeya. The crowd erupted again and this time their noise could not be controlled. Now that public attention has been drawn towards the Eleenya Cosmosteeya case, there has already been a surge of speculation on who could have taken her and the others that followed. The public''s knowledge is likely from a mixture of legend, secondhand accounts, and outright guessing. This case really caused people above to rethink what may lie below. There were an endless number of camps of thought on what should happen in response. There was so much detail in this portion of the city hall, much of it is not even worth discussing. Here is a summary of the prevailing courses of action discussed however: The most common response was to invest in technology. This camp proposed to install more cameras around the city to reduce the amount of incidences from happening. The most common objection for this popular proposal was that there were already a lot of cameras throughout the city. Even though there was footage of Eleenya Cosmosteeya being taken, there was not even one other incident that was recorded on the city cameras despite there being regular disappearances every day. The next camp proposed hiring a massive police force to patrol the upper levels. Similar to the proposal to get more cameras, the objection to this was this question: why are the existing officers not witnessing any unusual events? Aside from the one officer that saw Eleenya being taken, then quickly told the police force know so they could bring up the live footage, there was not one account of criminal activity relating to these disappearances. Surprisingly, the third most common camp proposed to not do anything. They did not see the crimes as a problem, as they were isolated incidents. This camp would not age well as time went on. Find this and other great novels on the author''s preferred platform. Support original creators! After the first three proposals, there were some more that still had a decent number of supporters or just simply got a lot of attention from the public and the news. The fourth most common idea came from the ex-military man who would later be nicknamed "The Adventurist." After the city hall took place, he would effectively become a celebrity to the public and despite his ideas not being popular, would gain a loyal following. Most of the public was invited to the city hall meeting and many still watched it on their broadcasting televisions at home, so everyone saw just how eccentric this individual was in both his ideas and the way he composed himself at the capital house of Natovis. The individual proposed to send a large armed force down to the lower levels and confront whoever was committing the acts. He said this would also give an opportunity to re-explore the mysterious areas below, potentially regaining authority over the areas. This idea of sending the military down there would have been more popular, if there were not two main objections: one, no one knew who did the crimes in the first place. Therefore, no one knew who to go after in the first place. And, the second objection, is the lower levels are a vast place. People had no idea how big it actually was, but many estimates say the amount of floors could be somewhere in the thousands. How the authorities would even get the resources to be able to do this was also unanswered. The fifth most most common group suggested to hire a private investigator of some sort to go down there and see what clues or evidence they could find, then a more proper decision could be made. The largest objection to this proposal was there was already very little evidence to go off of. The evidence that the authorities do possess was just footage of her being taken and carried all the way down to the lower levels. All that is known about the criminals who took Eleenya Cosmosteeya is that there were 5 of them, they were humanoid, and wore full black body suits at night, covering every part of themselves, even their eyes. The final camp was the least popular and gained the least attention from the public. The final camp was the quietest and had just a handful of people. They believed in some type of combination between the proposed actions. This also was the camp city managers would ultimately go with. The head city manager, after the city hall, leaned over to one of his colleague city managers, put his hand up blocking his mouth from others seeing him speak. He whispered to one of his colleague city managers that one of these meetings with the public would never need to be held again. There is much more detail to go into, but ultimately the plan would fail because everything was attempted to a certain extent instead of just one or maybe two proposals getting all the resources and effort. The authorities would ultimately close the case due to a lack of leads and evidence. The authorities would pull resources to the programs proposed in the city hall because the programs were not getting any results. They officially closed the case on the five-year anniversary of the kidnapping of Eleenya Cosmosteeya. The disappearance of people from the upper levels would continue. What made things even worse is that these criminals, suspected to come from below, would become more savvy at these crimes. The Eleenya Cosmosteeya case is the only one of these disappearances that has even been recorded. When the authorities allude to the other kidnapping cases to the same suspects, that is really just an assumption. There is no evidence, the people merely disappear. And so, this city hall was what the environment was like when the case had first begun. This city hall that took place was what people''s response to the such unprecedented events in known times. This meeting also shows why it was so significant to the public when the case had been reopened twenty years later due to someone giving a piece of evidence to the authorities that was obviously enough to make authorities want to reopen a case many people would argue had initially been closed far too early. Main Flaw Arturian Noble the second, adopted son of the late and Great Arturian Noble, was taking a walk on the upper level very late at night. He was walking in his usual composed, gentlemanly, prince like dimeanor with his hands behind his back. His father was the majority owner of Celestial Mining and Logistics, and his father was a high profile figure in Natovis and abroad. Despite these things, Arturian II was actually more well known for something else. This may be a bit of a digression from the plot, but may be worth explaining anyway. Arturian had a bit of a weakness, or what many would consider a weakness. He was a huge Speculationist. Readers may be confused or unfamiliar with this term, but may have a better understanding of it if explained this way: Speculationism is most closely related to what some readers may call a "conspiracy theorist". After his long walks at night he did not just merely go to bed. He would stay up and tune in to late night broadcasting. He regularly calls in to late night broadcasts, the most famous being the Allington Shamway show, giving his thoughts on all of the latest speculations. There were many popular theories at the time, here are a few: The Automaton Dwelling theory, the theory that past a certain point in the lower levels, there were entire vast cities governed by robots and had only robots as citizens.If you spot this narrative on Amazon, know that it has been stolen. Report the violation. In the past Giant countryside theory was discussed in length, the idea that giants occupied the countryside outside of Notavis and would kidnap citizens, sacrifice the men, and take the women as wives. Discussions relating to theories like this can really go into detail. Some of the audience would call into the show would discuss their first hand encounters with whatever the topic of interest was. Some would come onto the show and they would show "photo proof" of their claims, or would show recorded "audio". There were three types of listeners. People who would listen to these programs. There were those who would listen because they truly believed these things, there were those who would tune in for entertainment, and some would listen because of a combination of the two. The most provocative of all of these speculations, but also the one that drew the largest audience as of late, was the authoritarian snatching theory. The theory outright blamed the government for being responsible for these mysterious disappearances taking place in Notavis. The theory mostly accused the authorities of snatching up its citizens when no one was looking, and sell them to one of the rouge states somewhere across the world for a high price. This would also be a way for the authorities to have one less mouth to feed. Most of the time the listeners to shows like these were a little say.... alternative to put things nicely. When a well known figure like Arturian Noble the Second is calling in to a program, it would give the ideas a huge appearance of credibility. So that is the digression of describing Arturian''s love for speculationism, now to continue with the narrative. Continuing the Walk Arturian was out on his usual walk. That seems to be where the narrative left off. Arturian often walked at night because he enjoyed the atmosphere at this time. The time was so late, that the city lights had turned off for the night, but Arturian was well adapted to the darkness. This is not to say Arturian is some sort of fictional character who can literally see through darkness, similar to perhaps a vampire. He is just used to being in the dark because that is what he enjoys. The season was winter, his favorite season. As he walked along the path, he liked to listen to the sounds of nature ranging from the crickets to the blowing of a breeze. The Crickets chirped year-round for some reason in Natovis. Though Arturian liked all of the listed things, they did not compare to the stars. Tonight''s gazing conditions were optimal. The sky was clear, which was rare these days as normally there was a haze in the air. Both moons were full tonight and Bouldersphere could be seen with perfect clarity. The Bouldersphere was a thick layer of asteroids surrounding the planet and it''s two moons. It was not like the typical rings around another planet, or asteroid belt that may be seen in between the planet''s paths of orbit around the sun. The Bouldersphere was a cluster of asteroids that formed a thick spherical dome around the planet and the two moons. The asteroids inside the belt range from being the size of a golf ball to the size of a moon. The sphere was a unique sight indeed the entire planet could see.Enjoying this book? Seek out the original to ensure the author gets credit. The Outer Lights could be seen beyond the asteroid cluster. On an exceptionally clear sky like tonight''s, their light could slightly light up the surface of the home planet. Arturian was aware of the mysterious disappearances and the risks of walking alone, despite him knowing this, what he would witness next-----------------------------¡ì?¡ì¡ì$%$?¡ì$?¡ì?¡ì?¡ì?¡ì?%%%¡ì?¡ì?¡ì?¡ì?? I HAVE ALREADY WARNED YOU, CEASE TO READ WHAT THIS SO CALLED "NARRATOR" TELLS YOU. YOU KNOWING THE INFORMATION CARRIES SIGNIFICANT RISK. I CAN ASSURE YOU MY INTENTIONS ARE GOOD AND ALL YOU NEED TO DO IS STOP. THE MORE YOU READ ON THE(#92:)¡ì%%%¡ì¡ì??¡ì?¡ì?¡ì%%%%¡ì?`----- Arturian could see a silhouette in a humanoid shape running through the open field section of the park. It was normal to see someone going for a leisurely run even this late, but this "runner" was running in distress as if they were being pursued. Then five seconds later, there they were. Five silhouettes of humanoid figures followed. The leading figure and the other five that followed finally got to the end of the open field, and into the more urban section of the streets. The leading figure ran into the first alley upon entering the urban areas and the other figures continued to pursue. Arturian saw the whole thing. He followed out of curiosity. He reached the alley after jogging over for about 90 seconds. He walked through the alley himself. As he slowly moved through the alley, a very long straight alley, dark enough for even him to barely see, he finally stopped. Arturian was about 15 feet from a wall. He reached a dead end. The Council A session of city hall was happening again after twenty years.... sort of. The meeting was being held in response to the authorities reopening the case of the missing Eleenya Cosmosteeya. It was also being held due to the sensitivity and controversy surrounding the incident in the past. What made this meeting unique, other than the fact a meeting was being held at all, was there were only 12 people at this meeting, all public servants. Of those 12, four of them were assistants, one of them was a scribe, and one was the head detective of the police. The rest were city managers and the head city manager. The head city manager is the same city manager from the city hall twenty years ago, the city hall that was known to be a failure in its aims to solve the Eleenya Cosmosteeya case and prevent subsequent crimes from happening. Noone had spoken for at least 15 minutes. The room was quiet, but even small noises made would carry an echo, and would be louder than normal. All members sat in their chairs in a circle quietly. All that could be heard was the scribbling of the occasional pen on paper, people adjusting in their seats, an the clock ticking. The clock showed 17 minutes past 2:00pm. The meeting was supposed to start at 2:00. There were actually supposed to be 13 members attending today. The door slammed open, hitting the wall hard. Stelvin Solartis stumbled in with a massive stack of papers in his right hand, being held against his chest. In his left hand he carried a donut. It was a big donut. The whole room was now completely quiet and everyone stared at him. The only sounds came from Stelvin. The door closing behind him, each time he stepped to get to his seat, him throwing down the massive stack of papers, plopping down into his seat. Each of these things made such a loud noise in the massive, largely empty room, the room with so much of an echo. The sound of him biting into the donut could also be heard. Stelvin could then feel everyone''s eyes on him, so he stopped. The Head City manager began the meeting. The meeting continued discussing some topics that were not important to mention. The council then got to the Eleenya Cosmosteeya case. This novel''s true home is a different platform. Support the author by finding it there. The following sums up what mostly went on at this point in the meeting. The reopening of the Eleenya Cosmosteeya like mentioned before, drew massive public attention. It was unique because it was the case that had some evidence, albeit a very small amount to the point they closed the case and left it unsolved 15 years ago. Everyone in the room had either experienced firsthand or remember the public''s perception on the city hall from Natovis. The public''s had a negative reaction claiming there was insolvency within the governmental authorities. But who could blame them really? None of the proposals brought forth by the people to either solve this case, or to stop these kidnappings from happening all over the eight upper floors ended up working. To this day people had been disappearing every day with no trace, and no new leads for the case were found. That was until today. So this is a large part of what was discussed in the meeting when the case came up. It had been announced that someone came to the authorities with information involving the case. Bureaucrats within turned out to have Already vetted the individual. The authorities claim this information was enough evidence to the point they already reopened the case and would soon brief the detectives in the police force. The authorities say the citizen had said they still have more evidence. The head city manager then stated: "The authorities say they will be referring the case directly to city detectives. The unknown extraordinary individual has already agreed to meet with city detectives directly for further questioning. Now that we have that matter discussed, we also have the two secret proposals that we must...." After hearing the head city manager say these words, Stelvin did not listen to anything else. He paid no attention to any further details, even ones that probably are worth knowing. Stelvin realized he would have a role to play in this high-profile case. Stelvin probably should have listened more after this news was announced in the meeting however. Instead of tuning everything out and thinking of himself as some high profile detective now, he should have been paying attention to the next two parts of the meeting. These two proposals would ultimately become official policies by the end of the meeting. The first part would be controversial for Stelvin, the second part would be controversial for everyone in Natovis. Exiting the City Hall There was a large crowd of people standing in front of the city hall protesting the holding of a city hall meeting with no public involvement. They were rioting over the fact that decisions would be made impacting the city on such a high-profile topic by just a handful of bureaucrats. The time was 5:00 pm. There was a light haze in the air in Natovis this late evening. There seemed to be a light haze about a third of the time in the layered city, and clear skies the rest of the time. Two things were odd about this weather. First off, if any citizen was asked, any citizen would say their grandparent would tell them there never was any haze in the city. They would say there were always clear skies day and night. The second odd thing, actually pointed out by the meteorologist on television, was the fog showed exactly 30 percent. The meteorologist is someone who has also disappeared within the last 2 years. This disappearance was another failed investigation by city officials by the way. Speaking of the air. These days the pollution in Natovis was also rather heavy. This also was strange because with what records that do exist from many years ago, there was almost no pollution. Those accounts likely come from a time when there was massive industrial production in Natovis.This story has been taken without authorization. Report any sightings. A reporter stood in front of the city hall. "And so, another historic session of city hall has taken place. It was historic because the officials did not have any of the public attend. The Meeting only comprised of administrators and other public servants." The reporter continued more of her broadcast. As she was doing this. The massive 25 foot tall and 25-foot-wide doors in the front of city hall swung open. The public servants, the ones in the meeting, all walked down the stairs at the same time. The stairs were the width of the entire city hall and went over 600 stairs down. She caught up to the Head City manager as he was walking out."Mr. Downwell, Mr. Down well, there are reports of the City hall today making an undisclosed, but pivotal decision on what to do about the mysterious disappearances of the citizens on the upper floors of Natovis. Will you be able to inform the public on what these decisions are?" Mr. Downwell was not going to answer that question. Answering this question now would not be safe, and the public would know in some time anyways. The Head City manager, surrounded by armed guards, did not say a word, completely dodging the reporter. As he walked away, the camera zoomed in on him. Mr Downwell walked on in through the crowd of angry citizens as the guards created a parameter in front, besides, and behind him. The Greater 97-Year-old Arturian Noble the greater was riding in his private ship from the Second moon back to The First Moon. At the moment, he was thinking about his youngest son Arturian Noble the Second. For a lack of confusion for the reader, the dad will mostly be referred to as Arturian Noble the Greater, and the son will be called Arturian Noble II or the younger. Arturian the greater while sitting in the passenger seat, watched the stars just like his son does as he flew through space. Also just like his son, he had an obsession with space and just how vast it was. He looked in the other direction as he flew and got a good look at Isova. He looked more closely and saw Natovis, the layered city. It was such an impressively large city, that it could be seen from space easily. Even though the ship would not reach its destination for a while and was far from the planet, (his eyesight was not even that great), Arturian the Greater could see a massive grey blob on Isova, probably taking up a third of the visible side of the planet. The rest of the planet was mostly made up of various browns and tan colors, and a small but not negligible amount of blues and greens scattered around.Did you know this text is from a different site? Read the official version to support the creator. Arturian the Greater was sharp. Even at his advanced age, his mind was as quick as someone in their early twenties. Not only were there not that many smart people alive anymore, but there were not many old people alive either. The official statistics on this are rather incomplete, but if one goes to Natovis itself and ask around, or look around, they will find there are not many people that are alive into their early 60''s. He was a famous man. Arturian the Greater is likely best known for being the majority owner of the Celestial Mining and Logistics Company. They were known for their massive mining operations throughout Isova and the two surrounding moons. They would also operate in some of the larger asteroids closest to the inner edge of the Bouldersphere, though this was rather dangerous. Their distribution network was also huge, bringing massive amounts of materials, the largest amount being steel, to the layered city and abroad. The other thing that drew significant interest to the company was the fact the ships of the great fleet of the Celestial Mining and Logistics Company, besides the military, were currently the only known ships that are in space. The ships of the fleet are maintained very well, and no one really knows how they were made. They were also made of the strange dark grey material discussed earlier, the material that much of Natovis is made of. And so, Arturian the greater continued to fly closer to The First Moon and thought about his past and some of its significant events..... Romance and Tragedy Arturian the Greater had quite the family. He had many brothers and sisters and countless first second and third cousins. He also had 20 children. He met a beautiful woman at the age of 20, fell in love, got married and had a few children together over the course of a decade. Then as Arturian the Greater started to become famous, they drifted apart. Arturian then started to meet other women, at first secretly, then his wife started to figure out about it. They began as isolated incidences, exceptions to the rule, but then a few months would go by, and he would meet new women again over and over. They officially split up after being together for ten years and married for eight. After splitting up, Arturian would continue to meet new women and occasionally having children with them well into his 60s. Arturian the Greater later on, after he had become quite successful, thought back long and hard, realizing who he really loved. At the age of 64 he would end up finding his original partner and remarrying her. They lived happily together again, but this would not last long. One day, Mr and Mrs Noble were riding in their car and were on their way to their favorite restaurant. It was a long vehicle and they rode in the passenger seats behind their driver. They were on the third level of Natovis, approaching a bridge, one that crossed over a large gap, a gap that led far down into the unknown levels of the Layered City.You might be reading a stolen copy. Visit Royal Road for the authentic version. Before getting to the bridge, Arturian the Greater saw an old friend walking on the sidewalk. Arturian instructed the driver to stop so he could get out of his car and talk to his old friend. After the friends caught up, and Arturian said goodbye and turned to go back to his car. His old friend stopped Arturian, and told him about the new and rare hover vehicle he purchased. Apparently three times the speed of a car, He offered to fly Arturian and his wife to their current destination in the Hover vehicle. A technology like this was a technology Arturian was into and wanted to check out, even if the total trip might have been a little longer since they still would have to walk to the house first, which was somewhat out of the way. His friend''s home was just four blocks away but was located in the other direction of where Mr. and Mrs. Noble were headed. Mrs. Noble was less interested and declined her husband''s friends offer, and said she would just meet them at the restaurant. The car drove off. As Arturian the Greater and his friend started to walk down the sidewalk, chatting like old times, there was an explosion. Arturian turned around, and the bridge was completely gone. There were pieces of the car lying on the ground on the edge of the abyss. Ambitions Ended And so Arturian the Greater grieved the death of his wife at the age of 67. Shortly after her death, he discontinued the famous Prospecting Project, the project to escape the Bouldersphere, the spherically shaped, thick layer of asteriods that surrounded Isova and it''s two moons. Once escaping the Bouldersphere, He had wanted to get to the Outer lights far in the distance, the mysterious series of glowing celestial bodies. They could be moons, planets or Stars. They greatly interested Arturian the Greater.Reading on Amazon or a pirate site? This novel is from Royal Road. Support the author by reading it there. But it was simply not worth it. He had already repeatedly ignored the public threats by the leaders of the Coventant of the Fallen Comet. "Just look at the death of a loved one ignoring them led to" he thought. Being threatened by a terrorist organization normally would not be enough to stop Arturian''s ambitions, but he had a massive family, and therefore a massive amount of potential targets for an evil organization. His plans for the future to explore the Outer Lights would be thwarted and he would never pursue them again. Reflection Before the disaster, Arturian the Greater only had about a little longer than a three-year period where he was happy in a relationship, besides the initial years when he was with the same woman all the way back in his 20''s. Less than six months after his wife''s death, quickly approaching the age of 68, Arturian the greater had a few sudden realizations. One of these realizations was he had not put anytime into raising his children. In other words, he himself knew, and as his wife insisted near her death, Arturian Noble the Greater was a brilliant man, yet never reflected his best self onto his descendants. Just about all 20 of his children were spoiled brats, constantly asking for money, then coming back again and asking for more. His first few children born of his first and only wife were a bit milder mannered and humble than the others, but were brats, nonetheless.Stolen from its rightful author, this tale is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings. His descendants lived the high life of Natovis and would attend lavish parties He came upon another realization. He had suspected before, but now confirmed, the women he had gotten involved with over time did not do a much better job at raising their children and were also always asking for money. He still considered them not being raised well over time to be mostly his fault. The third and final realization Arturian Noble the Greater had was he now knew he was not young. In fact, he realized he was not middle aged. Actually, to think further, he was older than the average lifespan of Natovis, and probably all of Isova. He had to turn this around. Ensuring Legacy Arturian, after this self reflection on how he had raised his children first led to him to a few attempts to try to fix the situation. Getting with another woman and having more children, then raising them right this time was out of the question after the tragedy that occurred earlier in the year. His next attempt was attempting to spend time with his children, and teach them his ways. This attempt was not successful for two reasons. First of all, most of his children were already adults. This is important because it means they were not impressionable like children are. Some of them even had families of their own. In other words, his children likely already were who they would be for the rest of their lives.This tale has been unlawfully lifted from Royal Road. If you spot it on Amazon, please report it. The other reason why spending time with them did not work was because they liked the lifestyle too much. They were never taught to compose themselves or to be polite. They were too into either having the best things in the moment, or attending the next party everyone from Natovis'' upper echelon of society would be attending. This led Arturian the greater to look into adopting a child. The problem with this idea was that there was almost no adoption in the upper levels of Natovis. The population was in decline up there. But rumor had it there were plenty of orphans in a certain rouge state..... Adoption From a distance away, the five-year-old daughter of Rodnivus played ball, and occasionally would turn to watch and admire her father the simple farmer till the fields of Cebilastan. Though working in the fields was technically work for Rodnivus, he actually enjoyed the work. He would probably do the work just for fun or do it as a way to relax even if he did not make living from it. That was how much he enjoyed being out in nature. She then looked in the other direction at the massive city of Natovis. From the countryside, from several hundred miles away Natovis looked like a large metal wave. When standing outside of it from far away, the city looks how a wave looks to a surfer when they are about a tenth mile away from it, able to see the wave from their very right peripherals to the very left. Cebilastan was one of the rogue Nation states that surrounded Natovis. When one thinks of the word rogue, they think of a state that is maybe dangerous, uncontrollable, or completely run amok. Though there were rouge states that met these criteria for sure, Cebilastan was called a "rogue" state only because it was independent from the City of Natovis. It was a fairly peaceful, mostly agrarian society.You might be reading a stolen copy. Visit Royal Road for the authentic version. They were also a very religious people. The majority of their population were members of the Covenant of the Outer lights. Nearby was the Steplathon, a magnificent structure primarily where religious ceremonies were held. It was the most extraordinary structure for several hundred miles. Within the Steplathon, an orphanage was also held. Arturian Noble the Greater long admired the people of Cebilastan for their pride in their hard work. As the daughter continued to watch her father till the fields, she heard an engine, then she saw a magnificent ship hovering above her father and slowly lower itself onto the land. The ramp underneath the ship opened up and a figure in a long cloak walked out. Rodnivus stopped what he was doing, and jogged over to meet the figure, and shook his hand. She watched with curiosity as her father then ran over to the Steplathon, while the figure stood outside of the ship appearing to wait for something. About 5 minutes later, Rodnivus would come out of the building carrying something wrapped in a blanket in both hands. It was size of a large bag of potatoes. He walked back over to the figure, bowed, and handed him the object. The figure waved and walked into the other direction. The ramp closed, then the ship flew away. Rodnivus'' daughter sat there confused wondering why someone would come all the way out here for a bag of potatoes. Waiting Stelvin at the police station waited in his office eagerly staring at the clock. Stelvin, along with the head detective, would be interviewing the mysterious figure that gave information to the authorities that lead to the reopening of the Eleenya Cosmosteeya case. Whatever this information had been was still not yet released to the public or the detective department. Today was three days after the City Council meeting, the meeting made up of only the public officials. In this meeting, the head City Manager had told the detectives the unknown figure had agreed to further questioning, and the authorities set up an interview. While sitting there watching the clock, Stelvin thought of some things he had not thought about previously. They were things he had not thought about ever since he had heard about the reopening of the Eleenya Cosmosteeya case. He wondered why there almost seemed to be an entirely separate entity within the Authorities that knew things he and his colleagues did not. He also was wondering what this unknown piece of information was that he kept on hearing about in the news and why the department is not being told immediately. Lastly, he wondered why this "entity" within the authorities even had the ability to go into the records of old cases and reopen them before there was any knowledge of the detectives. This story has been stolen from Royal Road. If you read it on Amazon, please report itStelvin was so deep in thought relating to this subject that when he finally looked at the clock again, he realized he was late for the questioning with the individual, the one set up by the authorities, by about ten minutes. He ran across the police station and made it over to the interrogation rooms. Stelvin found the correct room, went inside, and saw the head detective waiting alone. He gave an annoyed look to Stelvin. Stelvin quickly walked in and sat down next to the head detective 20 minutes past the hour. Stelvin being so late ended up not being a problem. The two sat there waiting together in the interrogation room. The head detective would page the secretary up front at the station about every 10 minutes just to make sure the unknown individual never came by and to make sure the individual did not just simply lose their way. By the end of the hour, they decided no one was coming. Stelvin of the two was the first to get up and leave the room. He began to think again about how strange this process was. - He did not understand why the mysterious character would go first to the authorities as opposed to the police. - He did not know what this piece of "information" was to help the case. - He did not know why this piece of information, even to this day still was not either told to the public or even the police. - He had no idea who this unknown figure was. - He wondered why they did not show up and where they were now. Sudden Thought After what had happened during his regular nighttime walk, Arturian Noble the second''s mind was in disarray and had been so for about three days now. He did not know how to act. The other night he was almost certain he saw five figures chasing after one slightly faster figure. He saw them chase the one into an alley in the night. When Arturian the second followed the event of interest into the alley, he walked all the way to the end only to find a dead end, and no trace of what he sworn he had just seen. Three days later, and Arturian still did not know what to do. He had no evidence of the incident occurring. He did not want to look like a fool to the police or the public making a claim of witnessing an event that may end up not being real.Unauthorized reproduction: this story has been taken without approval. Report sightings. How would he prove the occurrence of a potential crime to the police if he told them his account. After that thought, he suddenly realized there were cameras all over the upper floors, so the authorities certainly would have recorded footage of the event happening. Arturian Noble the younger then swiftly called for his driver and went on his way to the police station. Truth The weather was rainy. There were puddles scattered all over outside on the road. The wheels went through a puddle and splashed all around. The tires screeched as the car had stopped. Arturian had arrived at the front of the police station. His driver opened the car door, and he stumbled out the vehicle. He began to hurry over to the entrance of the police station eagerly and tripped a few times along the way. With Arturian''s mind being occupied by a mixture of stress and excitement, his normal well-known composure was completely gone.Enjoying the story? Show your support by reading it on the official site. The two employees occupying the front desk saw him coming before he even entered the station. They watched through the front window his clumsy stride wondering what this was all about. Before Arturian the second entered, one of the two laughed and joked "here comes Arty again! He must be rushing over so he can share another one of his award-winning stories!" Other employees, even officers, heard the two at the desk talking and began laughing as well. Some even came closer to the front desk so they could listen and be entertained by another one of Arturian Noble the Second''s famous works... Joke of The City Despite being the son of one of the most respected and famous people in Natovis and probably all of Isova at the time, Arturian Noble the Younger was a bit of a joke. It was well known to the public that he was a Speculationist, always subscribing to the latest theories in the "science" of Speculationism. To make things worse for Arturian the Second, this would not be the first "sighting" he would be reporting to the police. Arturian was well aware of the public opinion of himself and the countless number of times he had come here to report an incident, only to make a joke of himself. But that did not matter. He knew this time truth was on his side and had some valuable information that he could prove. He knew where the mysterious incident took place and that there were cameras in that area.Unauthorized content usage: if you discover this narrative on Amazon, report the violation. Arturian Noble the Younger finally entered the front door. When he got to the reception breathing heavily, he looked down, put his hands on the desk, and rested his weight on it he blurted out nervously while trying to regain his breath, "I have an incident to report from the other night". One of the two employees at the front desk was still looking at him. She said nothing, clicked her pen, and hovered it over the official incident report sheet, getting ready to write. Normally when a citizen comes into the front to file a report, one of the two employees at the desk are involved. The police station normally remains loud and everyone goes about their usual business. The room was completely quiet watching him intently. At least 20 people of various staff in the station were watching in interest at this point. One of the officers even brought popcorn. Arturian began to speak.... The Tale "While I was on a walk through the park the other night, I believe I witnessed an individual being pursued into an alley and taken by five individuals." That is what Arturian Noble the Second should have said when describing to the police his account of the incident. This is what he actually said when he stormed into the police station after regaining his breath and his composed, princely way of speaking returned: "So I began to prepare for the treacherous journey that lay ahead. The vast outdoors would be expected to be slightly chilly, though no one knew beforehand. In preparation for this, I would wear layers, and put on a light jacket in the event the predictions of the elements by the This content has been unlawfully taken from Royal Road; report any instances of this story if found elsewhere.experts would be wrong." "What made the journey even worse, and even more uncertain was the coming of a mysterious effect they call the "wind chill". It is something you never could predict the severity of. You could only figure out its effect by experiencing it firsthand." "And so, I gave my salutations to the residents of my shelter from my dearest family members to my dearest assistants. I stood at the entrance recollecting my accomplishments in life and rethinking regrets. I opened the door and was off on my journey." "After embarking on my journey, I walked through the long perilous road. The road led to a vast park in the center of Natovis. The night was clear as was unusual in these parts nowadays.... Report Arturian finished his story. That was Arturian Noble the Seconds description of the event. After the story was finished, the entire room remained quiet for about five seconds. Then the entire room started laughing. The one at the front desk had stopped writing well over a minute ago. Noone took what he was saying seriously. After about a minute of finishing the story, all of the spectators in the front room had left with some smaller laughs still being heard among separate smaller groups as they headed back to work. After about another minute, Arturian and the two employees were the only ones who remained. One of the two then said "Thank you for your description of the incident today, Mr. Noble. A report will be filed to some of our finest and will be investigated accordingly. Have a great day!" That was not enough to get Arturian to leave. Arturian stood there and insisted on them at checking the cameras. The employee at the desk merely stated she would have an officer look into it, then wished Arturian a great day again.If you encounter this story on Amazon, note that it''s taken without permission from the author. Report it. This was still not enough to get Arturian to leave and the secretary could tell. He insisted this time to go to with an officer now to take a look at the cameras in the surveillance room. She stared at Arturian, rolled her eyes, then finally paged someone. An officer a few minutes later came to the front a motioned Arturian to come with him. As Arturian walked away with the officer, he heard the wrinkling of paper as if it were being formed into a ball, the sound as if it hit the bottom of a metal trashcan, and the sound of the secretaries high fiving as if one of them had made a shot from far away. Just as a slight correction, not everyone actually had dispersed after Arturian told his story that day. There was actually one more person around the corner who stuck around listening for just another minute more before going back to work.... Cameras Arturian and the officer walked through the station, headed to the surveillance room. It was the room with all of the footage to the cameras across the city. When they got to the door to the surveillance room, the officer pulled out his huge ring of keys. When he found the key after looking for two minutes, he put the key in the knob and turned the key all the way around. 5 or 6 different movements could be heard inside of the lock before it unlocked. They entered the room. As they entered, the room was mostly dark, but looked like it was the size of a kitchen. The officer flipped on the lights. Each of the lights in the vast room turned on one at a time. When the lights were all on, the room was the size of a ballroom. To say this room was old would be an understatement. About one in 10 of the various thousands screens, including the ones still operational, had cracks in them. Up against one of the walls in the room were thousands individual screens. Each screen represented a point that a camera could see. Each screen refreshed every ten seconds or so witha new viewpoint. Only a fraction of screens, all the way to the left corner actually displayed something. Each unoperational screen represented viewpoints of the parts of Natovis that were no longer governed. To infer that the entire wall lit up at one point in Natovis'' long history, when many more of the levels were governed.The author''s narrative has been misappropriated; report any instances of this story on Amazon. The officer knew which screens represented where in the city and knew how to find the various times in the footage. Arturian described where he saw the incident and about what time he had been seen it, so the officer did some tweaking. The officer eventually did some tweaking on the controls, and on one of the screens, Arturian could be seen walking casually in the footage. In the footage, Arturian clearly appears to see something. He is watching something in the park. He then seems to look at the first alley by the park. He then jogs over to the area as if he is curious and pursuing something. The officer then adjusted the screens and zooms them out so they could see to where Arturian was looking in the footage. They were able to confirm what he was looking at. In the video footage on the screen, Arturian Noble the Younger was seen looking at nothing. The Announcement As the reader may remember, the council in their private city hall made two decisions in private as a response to the continued mysterious disappearances throughout the upper levels of the Layered City. Today is the day the two already approved proposals would be announced on public broadcast and would go into effect. They are both meant to curb the level of crimes on the citizens of Natovis, and to attempt to find the source of the problem. Why it took a decade and a half, as well as the reopening of the Eleenya Cosmosteeya case to actually try to take action again, no one could tell. A City Manager that really was of some spokesperson role, walked on to the pedestal. He gave a few updates and details on various subjects that are not important. He then got to the announcement of the two policies themselves.Stolen content alert: this content belongs on Royal Road. Report any occurrences. "....so, the council has elected to hire a private investigator to look into the case at hand. The investigator will start where the previous investigator from almost two decades ago left off..." One of the proposals of the public city hall from 20 years ago, back when the disappearances of citizens in the upper floors began, was also to appoint a private investigator to look into the Eleenya Cosmosteeya case and the other disappearances to attempt to find leads to potentially solve the mystery. The investigator had failed at his assignment miserably, however. He likely traveled down there and made it downward dozens of layers. From being leaked to the press somehow, reportedly the Authorities were able to recover a journal of his somewhere, but that is all the public knows. The city manager then began to go into the details of the second proposal that would be taking effect very soon. "....In order to mitigate the number of disappearances and other crimes in the meantime while the authorities work to solve what is causing the problem and how to stop it, we will be instilling a curfew indefinitely...." The Other Annoncement The people of the upper floors of Natovis were surprised by the announcement of an indefinite curfew they just heard. The City Manager continued: " ...so with the magnificent technological advancement and experimentation of our city managers over the last several decades, we are glad to announce that we will be able to encourage the citizens that might think twice about following these guidelines." Noone understood what this part of the announcement meant, so it was disregarded altogether. The spokesperson went on but the remainder of what was said was either too long to go into detail about, or was not important to take away from altogether.You could be reading stolen content. Head to Royal Road for the genuine story. The Citizens of Natovis were clearly upset about the announcement of an indefinite curfew. In fact many would take to the streets the next day. The citizens were largely unarmed, but many were ready to brawl with the authorities when the force was sent out to stop them. Deadly force was never employed to stop the rioters, something that has been seen to stop a riot of this size in Natovis. A few officers were bruised, a few windows were broken, but not much more than that ended up happening. Then came the mist. At the 4:00 o''clock hour, a thick fog suddenly began forming throughout the upper floors of the city. By 4:10, no one could see 2 feet ahead in front of themselves. By 4:30, the crowd was dispersed completely. Many of the advanced futuristic technologies in Natovis were forgotten over the centuries from hovercrafts to impressive building techniques, but there was technology that had advanced: Controlling the weather. Thinking in the Mist About a week after the mandatory curfew was instilled, Arturian the Second was in his home thinking. He was distraught by what had happened at the police station and how ridiculous he looked to everyone. He had not been outside since then and paid no attention to what was going on. As he sat in his armchair thinking about what he could do about his recent humiliation, every one of his windows in front, beside and behind him, were obscured by a thick mist. Very often, Arturian would not pay attention to the important things when they occurred, but he would at least would normally notice the events with the curfew when he would go on his regular nighttime walks or was listening to his late night broadcasts. He did none of those things.Unauthorized content usage: if you discover this narrative on Amazon, report the violation. Covenant of the Fallen Comet The Covenant of the Fallen Comet and its religious elites were excellent record keepers. There were entire libraries that contained information dated back from thousands of years ago. Much of the information is even from before Natovis was even built. This is how the cult came to be in their history. They were originally a warrior people who fought with swords, spears, shields, and armor. One day when their warriors were in battle fighting the enemy army, an enemy with a superior force, there erupted a massive storm of meteors in the sky, hitting warriors throughout the battle. Amidst the meteor shower, the warriors continued to fight on. As the storm of meteors came crashing down, among them a massive meteor ten thousand yards in diameter came crashing down. It smashed into the enemy army, wiping out the majority of the remaining enemy force.This story has been unlawfully obtained without the author''s consent. Report any appearances on Amazon. The asteroids from the sky intervened to help the warrior people to win their battles. In return, the large rocks in the sky surrounding all of Isova and its two moons must be respected and honored. The meteor remained there on the planet outside of Natovis, and became a religious site. It later was retrofitted into a temple by some of their engineers for members of the warrior people and other followers. It remains occupied and in use to the present day. At one point in their history, many of their people moved into Natovis when it was built, but there is little known of those people by the upper levels, except for some of the public threats that are made and sometimes acted upon. Most of the public knowledge of the Covenant of the Fallen Comet present day are of the members that remained in the countryside in the region where the meteorite lays. This is also categorized as one of the rogue states that lay outside of Natovis. Layer ????? Water dripped. Down below, upon a far beneath level, deep into the Layered City sat Brother Patrich Radnivspecs. He sat in his throne made of stone. He could certainly afford to have a Throne of a Precious metal or gemstone, but this large chair was used by his ancestors from thousands of years ago even before they had moved to Natovis. This layer of Natovis had not been seen for centuries by anyone living in the upper levels, aside from the occasional unlucky wonderer that found themselves down there, and the occasional confidential diplomat sent by the authorities. Like all of the levels that lay below the eight upper floors, the authorities had no jurisdiction over the layer. Brother Radnivspecs pounded his large fist on the arm of his chair yelling to his servant "Kevilnecs, I am thirsty, get me a drink!" Kevilnecs scrambled to leave the room and go prepare the leader''s favorite drink. Radnivspecs was the top religious leader of the infamous Covenant of the Falling Comet. He effectively was also the king of this floor. Though he was brutal, to his credit, unlike the authorities of the upper floors, Radnivspecs had an excellent hold on his domain. Radnivspecs waited for his drink. He thought to himself "Kevilnecs is taking even longer than usual, where could he be!". He got bored and decided he would punish his servant later. He got up, stretched a little and listened to some of the public broadcasting from the upper layers. Just as it had been on today''s broadcast, the story of the "curfew mist" had been all over the news the past week. He did not think much of it as it did not affect them on the lower levels.The story has been illicitly taken; should you find it on Amazon, report the infringement. Radnivspecs then went to attend his weekly meeting with his druids, the top administrators of this layer of Natovis. Most of the things discussed on the meeting were just issues that came with daily governance, nothing too interesting. He headed back to his castle and sat back down on his throne to rest. Kevilnecs came in with the drink Radnivspecs had demanded earlier this morning. The servant timidly brought the drink over on a tray. The leader picked up the glass, took a sip and said "Ah, Kevilnecs you have done it again! You make the finest Two Moon cocktail in the realm!" He took another sip. Strangely, despite Radnivspecs known brutality, he never seemed to actually punish his servant. He always said he would, but he never did. Kevilnecs was a slow and lazy servant, yet the leader had kept him all of these years. It probably had to do with a mixture of Kevilnecs being the servant of one of the king''s ancestors, and Kevilnecs being extremely loyal, not saying word about any of the scandals his king may or may not have been a part of. Radnivspecs then realized he had not caught up with his good "friend" in a while. He walked to the prison, not too far away from where he resided. Once inside, Brother Patrich Radnivspecs walked down a long, but narrow hallway with pairs of doors facing each other about every 20 feet. There were dim flickering lights evenly spaced in between each of those, as far as one could see... The Ball Even above the very upper layer of the Layered city, lay the Upper Dome. Despite now being covered by a thick fog, it was quite a sight from the outside of Natovis, but it was even more impressive to be on the very top and look down on the city. The tower climbed above even the largest skyscrapers that lay in the city. The structure was a tower in a cylindrical shape. On top of that cylinder was a massive flat circle where events would be held. On top of that circle was a large glass dome. While sitting at the large, long table, conversing with the administrator next to him, Arturian the greater''s assistant Mr. Aldenstrung could hear Music from string instruments in the background. He heard glasses clinging together, the sound of laughter and conversation among smaller groups of people throughout. There was a large party taking place or more commonly known in Natovis as a "ball". Held by "Prince" Vanderton, a few of these parties were held every year and were sought after by the most prevalent in society. He was not at all a prince, but it was what he was nicknamed from being intertwined in so many of the prevalent members of Natovis. How he could even afford these parties no one really knew, everyone just knew he was super wealthy. There was a pretty good chance he was a smuggler of some sort. The other thing people could reasonably guess was that Vanderton was eccentric. It was rare to see a butler actually take part in these famous parties, but due to his master''s high profile and popularity, Mr. Aldenstrung was treated, partook and acted as if he was a member of the most elite of all of Natovis. Most of the people attending the ball were government administrators, business leaders and even some leaders of the rogue states that surrounded Natovis. There were also some religious leaders that would attend.If you spot this narrative on Amazon, know that it has been stolen. Report the violation. Other notables that were there were many of Arturian the Greater''s family members. This included his children, cousins and even some of the women he had been with in the past. The most notable however was Arturian the Younger had not been invited to the ball. Mr. Aldenstrung was a good talker, but he was even better at listening. He was skilled at listening in on many conversations at once. From across the table and 3 seats to the right Aldenstrung could hear the conversation between one of Arturian Noble the Greater''s sons and one of his daughters. They were discussing the quickly spread news that Arturian appeared in the past week. "Did you hear about Arty going to the police station this past week?" The daughter asked. "Delusional as always! He likely just wants attention or perhaps he is trying to come up with another one of his speculation theories. It''s a wonder why father adopted him in the first place." This surprised Aldenstrung when he heard this. He always knew Arturian the Second was never liked by his siblings, but he did not know it was this bad. Oddly enough, these two siblings were ones he considered to be some of the kinder ones. He wondered how the other relatives felt About Arturian II and his recent public embarrassment. The two started to say more: " I hear father does not even say anything about Arty''s absence from-----" Vanderton came on to the announcement device: Hello everyone, thank you for coming tonight" He said a few words then got back to the reason for him coming onto the microphone. "I present to everyone the guest of honour this late evening! Everyone, this man is exceptional and hard working, yet has made time tonight to be here. The one and only...." Arturian Noble the Greater himself walked in to the main entrance. The Ball Continues Most of the cheering had died down for Arturian the Greater. As the guest of honour was greeted by many of the attendees, shaking the hands of some, and hugging others, Mr. Aldenstrung could hear the music in the room play in a slightly more intense manner. The individual conversations throughout the massive space of what is the Upper Dome also began to get louder. It would be too difficult to hear any individual conversations for now.You might be reading a stolen copy. Visit Royal Road for the authentic version. A few minutes later, Mr Aldenstrung could now barely even hear the administrator he was conversing with 3 feet away from. Some guests danced to the strings that played. The guests wore the latest fashion of the upper floors of Natovis. The women wore the some of the most beautiful dresses with vibrant colours. Bright colours were the most stylish right now. Bright yellows, oranges, reds, and blues could be seen moving elegantly throughout. The men could be seen wearing the most well fit tuxedos and suits. Believing the Witness In the evening, Stelvin sat across the kitchen table from his wife. The broadcast radio came on discussing the current events. After about 10 seconds, without saying anything, Stelvin got up and turned the device off. They both ate in silence, mostly because it was apparent to his wife that he was not in the mood to speak. Like Arturian II, Stelvin did not pay much attention to the announcement of a curfew or the announcement of the thick mist that would cover the upper foors of Natovis. What he did think about most of the citizens in the city did not think about. It was another announcement that had also been made that Stelvin payed attention to, but was overshadowed by the curfew and the mist. This was the decision to hire a team of private investigators to continue where that one private investigator had left off who had gone missing. The one who had gone missing was the investigator who had been hired over twenty years ago after that city hall with the public. A few years into the private investigators work, the authorities lost contact with him. The two sitting across the table began to have a conversation. They talked for a few minutes "...then the project started too.... but at least things went relatively well...after that my boss congratulated me and...". Stelvin started out listening and paying attention, but after a few minutes, he was only listening. He was really too occupied by three thoughts.This novel is published on a different platform. Support the original author by finding the official source. The first thought was about his career. Stelvin wanted to be a part of this case very much, but it seemed like the authorities private professionals to take over much of the hard and respectable work that he would see himself doing. The second thought was his anger at the police after their reaction to Arturian Noble the Second give his a account of events witnessed to the police station. As he stuck around a little longer than the other staff that day at the police station, he watched Arturian the Younger and decided the way Arturian II was being treated was not right. As a police force that cannot prevent it''s own people from being snatched or even solve any of these mysterious crimes, Stelvin did not feel they should be dismissing potential evidence, or making fun of people who come forward with evidence. Stelvin agreed that Arturian could be a little strange at times, but actually did believe Arturian was genuine in his belief of seeing some unknown figures running after someone late at night. Since at the very least he thought Arturian was trying to tell the truth, Stelvin thought the best thing he and his colleagues could do was believe the Adopted Son of Arturian Noble the Greater. The third and last thing Stelvin could not stop thinking about was the interview with an unknown "witness" that never happened. There was something clearly wrong with the whole thing. The fact they never showed up and the police never heard any further communication regarding the matter was unusual. All three of those things are also reasons why Stelvin had begun to realize how insolvent the authorities are in governing the eight upper layers. All of these feelings were held by Stelvin even before he took much notice of the curfew or weather policies, which were things that would also probably prove his point. Stelvin then thought of a great idea. While the two continued to sit quietly, Stelvin suddenly stood up and put both of his hands in the air yelling" That is it, that is the Answer!". His wife stared at him with her spoon still in her mouth in an annoyed way. He then ran to his office room in his home.