When Urzake appeared on the horizon, there was no mistaking it. Kai-Se had spent the rest of the journey going away from Nakashio towards the border between old Shencai territory towards the original Dansarun territory and so far, he couldn't picture the Imperial City just from the description printed into the scrolls.

So when the silhouettes of sky-high bridges, towering pagodas, and tall, gray walls came crawling past the line where clouds met the mountains, Kai-Se's jaw dropped. He didn't bother hiding his awe and when they cleared the first ring of walls around the Imperial City and entered into the sprawling city of the gods inside.

Houses weren't just houses. They were mini-palaces each complete with their own walls shorter than the walls outside the city. Two to three-story pagodas flanked each and every direction Kai-Se turned his head towards. Every once in a while, a wide grassland would peel from the main, cobbled road leading north towards the next bend of tall walls. From his place inside the carriage, he spied dappled cattle grazing in peace on the bright green grass coating the whole expanse.

Insects with glass-like wings and long bodies flitted in and out of the blades, whizzing past the window with their flocks every now and then. The rush of water flowing from either a river or an irrigation system was loud in Kai-Se's ears but even when he craned his neck or squinted his eyes to look further, he couldn't see where the sound was coming from.

Nao-Zai watched the bumble from the seat opposite him with his naturally-crossed arms but even the soldier wasn't immune to the awe-inspiring landscapes Dansarun offered. The entourage cleared the grassland and came across the second ring of walls. Just how many walls did Urkaze alone have?

As soon as they went through the metal gates after they confirmed they were the envoys sent from Xuijae, the sound of water rushing was louder now. Kai-Se's eyes widened when the carriage jostled through an engineered bridge made from concrete with small replicas of pagoda roofs arcing over it in consistent distance from each other. Below the bridge was a huge lake that could have passed as a sea inside a landlocked area. Boats with horizontal, orange sails rolled with the waves every now and then, bringing crates upon crates of goods, textile, or other supplies into the opposite shore where the bridge eventually ended.

Further out into the horizon, the sound of the waterfall was definitely louder now. Kai-Se turned towards it to watch the water spill from a silhouette of a mountain stretching from the city and out into the wild towards the rocky parts of Qin Damyung up north of the continent and into the lake traversed by the bridge.

Once they cleared the bridge, more and more houses dotted the scene, accentuated by trees with orange and brown leaves as well as an occasional unobstructed view of the bright, blue sky. Fluffy and wispy clouds alike flitted through the air, blurring most of the sky bridges creeping closer from behind another set of tall walls.

After a few more hours of traveling, they reached the last set of walls that, according to the scroll Kai-Se was reading, marked the beginning of the Imperial City of the Gods. The rest outside were just the cities of the province of Urkaze.

Kai-Se's neck hurt from craning it all the way up just as the carriage passed under one of the arches holding one of the sky bridges up. A sickening feeling blossomed at the bottom of his gut. He had never felt so...small and insignificant. A stray breeze speared past the arches and if he listened, he could swear it almost whistled.

Finally, the Imperial Palace burst into view which was a whole complex of four lesser pagodas circling the tallest building in the middle. Teal roofs shone against the blue of the sky, the red pillars holding them up reminding Kai-Se of droplets of blood. The roof shingles curled into claws painted gold done in such a way they looked like they were made of the actual mineral.

When the carriage stopped in front of the open pavilion at the base of the central tower, Kai-Se spied a row of regally-dressed men and women waiting in a neat line parallel to the width of the base. He gathered the scroll back up before he was caught researching the people hours before he met them and tossed it to Nao-Zai who started to fumble with it. He touched the side of his head to ensure his headdress wasn't crooked and dusted the front of his overcoat.

As if on cue, a servant who looked taller than an average human in Xuijae stopped in front of the window and ducked half of his body in a bow. "Welcome to the Fifth Heaven, Your Highness," he said, raising his hands twined inside wide sleeves over his head. "I trust your journey is pleasant?"

Kai-Se gave a brief nod. He could only hope the customs here were the same in Xuijae and Shencai. "The Governors are all hospitable and made sure I had a satisfying stay," he said. The door to the carriage opened as was customary when the visiting diplomat answered the first question asked by the hosting empire. He stepped out into the light, his thin, cloth slippers hitting the chilly cobblestones. Even through all the layers dumped into him, he could still feel a few wisps of the cold filter into his skin.

The servant bowed again and turned to lead Kai-Se with Nao-Zai a few paces behind past the small distance between the carriage and the array of people of various regalia and weapons out in the open. When Kai-Se got within talking distance, he bowed to acknowledge the authority of the host and the gods bowed right back.

When they all straightened, all of their faces were frozen in expressions that were neither amusement nor annoyance. It was just a passive stare, betraying nothing of their thoughts. Then, the gods turned and headed into the open pavilion where a long table and a prepared meal spread in scrumptious amounts decorated by colorful petals from flowers Kai-Se had never seen before. Everyone dropped into the cushions assigned for them with the servant guiding Kai-Se to his designated seat. From the corner of his eye, he watched Nao-Zai size up the teal-armored guards standing around the pavilion's perimeter before taking up his place a few paces behind where Kai-Se was seated.

By tradition, hands gripped the cups of tea laid out before them and raised them in the air.

And thus, the zhunxi of the century began.

Kai-Se learned that the people he met yesterday in one of the stiffest zhunxi he had ever done were the ones comprising the Council of Dansarun. Now, he, as a representative of the Xuijae Empire, sat with them on a round table debating whether blue jasmine and about a dozen other flowers and herbs were worthy to be traded with Xuijae and what the human empire had that would seal the deal with Dansarun.

There were also talks of taxes, logistics, schedules, and road construction whose contents swirled with the rest of Kai-se's attention and thoughts. Nishi, the god of wind and sky, took control of the entire discussion, occasionally pushing his spectacles up his nose as he peered down a piece of parchment where the rest of the agenda was listed. He cleared his throat. "So, the unanimous decision in opening of trade for export of blue jasmine to Xuijae is..." he rolled his hand as a prodding for an answer.

"Yes," answered almost all the gods except a woman with purple hair bobbed to her chin. From what Kai-Se could glean from the bark-like greaves of her armor or the rare flower with yellow pistils and way too many thin pink petals on her hair, she was Zumiko, the god of nature. Kai-Se could empathize with her on some level. After all, blue jasmine was part of her territory and if possible, she wanted to regulate the production more than they let her to.

"Up next in the list is the trade of teldian pelt," Nishi said. If the gods could grumble out loud, they probably would have. "All in favor of shipping it to Xuijae in exchange for..." He looked at Kai-Se, expecting an answer.

Kai-Se ran through the list in his head and picked one. "Dan-tiong plumage," he answered, his own formal tone sounding foreign in his ears. "They would make the best among us even better."

"What would we do with a bird?" Kande, the god of currency, waved his arm in the air. It's also no wonder he was apprehensive since Dansarun was about to use money to buy sacks of feathers.

Kai-Se made a show of nodding to show he was taking the god's sentiment in mind. "It would make a lovely coat to protect one against the windy days," he said. "Back home, we also use it for jewelry given that its plumage was a clever combination of red, purple, blue, and turquoise in a pattern unlike any other, even though they belonged to the same bird. Their feathers are also great quills, working well with gui-ppom ink which I heard is popular in the northern regions."

A series of nods and glances among each other. Kai-Se jerked his chin towards Zumiko who raised her purple eyebrows. "What's more, dan-tiong grow their feathers really quickly and they shed their coats twice a year so we wouldn't even need to kill them or even pluck their feathers one by one just to gather the product. It's totally harmless and even generates a few jobs inside the empire. Plus, you guys would be more gorgeous at the end of the day."

The joke that wasn't actually a joke landed in the gods' midst and from the corner of Kai-Se's eyes, he caught a small smile fighting for dominance in Misaki's, the god of rain, lips. Ah, he's on a good path.

A few agendas down Nishi's list, the gods were leaning against the table with shoulders shaking and some wiping the backs of their hands against their eyes to wipe off tears. "Oh, dear spirits, I'm glad Xuijae sent a representative like you," Gansai, the god of war and weapons, said, slapping the rosewood table and making some utensils clink. "Thirty minutes ago, I was beginning to think I'd fall asleep in the middle of the meeting."

"Well, at least you'll be refreshed in time for lunch," Kai-Se said. "There's nothing but a good meal to a person who just woke up. It's like a mother's touch."

The gods chuckled once more. Nishi cleared his throat. "Now back to the next agenda: the roads."

"We have to make sure they road all the way to Xuijae, right?" Kai-se said and the gods burst out howling. Pun jokes made An-Ri threaten to turn him into a potted succulent for the rest of his life but it seemed the gods loved it.

The sun set and judging from the darkening sky beyond the open balcony surrounding the tenth floor of the central pagoda where the trade talks took place for the whole afternoon, night time wasn't going to be long. Kai-Se hoped against all hope this meeting was just four hours long, which was the extreme limit of his energy, but it had already stretched beyond seven and it was now crawling towards its eighth.

By that time, however, the gods had relaxed significantly to speak their mind without the formality and that helped conclude things faster without the blunder of fancy words all meaning simple things. Kai-Se had gotten one of the hardest gems to sell in Xuijae to be in constant shipping towards Dansarun. Fox Tears were pearls mined from the ground and not taken from the sea. It was as common as pebbles in Xuijae but the gods went crazy at the prospect of a pearl picked up from the ground without sailing to the open waters.

When the meeting adjourned, Kai-Se's muscles were sore and his stomach was rumbling from missing dinner. The gods stood as one and when Kai-Se followed, his world swayed as lightness attacked his brain more than what he normally experienced. His chest began to tighten just as the rest of the gods began trickling out of the room and down into wherever they spent the night.

Kai-Se moved to follow through his hazy vision that was beginning to split into two, blurry hemispheres. Oh dear. He might have overexerted himself today. But that's okay. He was successful in communicating Xuijae's terms of the trading alliance. He was able to secure a market for Xuijae's goods. That's...that's fine, right?

He didn't remember staggering out of the room and into the wide balcony showing him the endless expanse of mountains, fog, and small dots of lesser roofs. He didn't remember leaning against the wall in an attempt to steady his breathing. Room. He just needed to make it into his room where he could sleep in peace and maybe gain his energy back.

He stepped forward.

Then, the lush horizon was replaced by a harsh darkness, claiming him.