Empire Builder 1: Breed, Populate, Conquer by Dante King (free e books to read online txt) 📕

Ben looked around, realizing how much there was to explore. It’d take days, if not weeks to scope all of it out. Just standing there before it all was enough to make Ben feel tired.

“Much as I’d like to explore these cellars with you,” Ben said to the women, “I think I need a wash—not to mention some rest. It’s been a long morning. Let’s meet up for lunch in a bit and discuss a plan.”

Lulu and Imogen nodded and turned to enter the cellar.

“Before you go, actually, I just want to check that you can both get back up to the ground level. Imogen, can you place your finger on the Cellar plate?”

Imogen turned and placed her finger on the plate. It lit up red, but the doors did not close, since the elevator was already at the cellar.

“I’m not sure, but I think that means the elevator will recognize you both and allow you to travel,” Ben said, feeling better that they could both get back to the ground level. He wasn’t sure if that meant just anyone could use the elevator, and figured he’d have to work out later what sort of security protocol it allowed for.

He and Melody waited for the nymph women to leave, then Ben inspected the plates in the elevator again.

Melody also stooped to read them. “Oh, I would love to see the library, just for a brief visit.”

“Why don’t you stop off there?” Ben said. “I’ll take the lift right up to the master suite. You press the button, and we’ll make sure it recognizes you too.”

Melody activated the “library” button. The plate lit up red, and the doors closed.

The red ruby surface of the elevator spire flew past them. After what felt like only seconds, the doors opened again. This time, they entered a much narrower room. Only one set of doors opened into the Library, and no space was allowed this time for a giant foyer.

Shelves of books reared up almost immediately before them. Hallways led deeper into the stacks. The shelves lined every hallway, reaching up to the ceiling, which was easily thirty feet above them. Ornate but sturdy looking ladders made of brass lined every one of the shelves. At intervals, platforms jutted out from the shelves, with comfortable chairs and glowing crystals, allowing for a bit of midair browsing.

A short distance from the elevator doors, a glass pylon rose out from the floor with a display surface. Bright yellow script blazed on a red surface.

Welcome to the Library and Archives of Benzhameen the Forgotten Ruler

A list of options was displayed underneath. Melody took to the touch surface instantly, flicking through the categories to find tomes on beasts, alchemy, arcane magic, and other topics. Nipper sniffed curiously at the glass surface, but seemed to find nothing of interest.

Ben left them both to explore. It warmed his heart to see Melody’s happy smile as she sank into her research, the rest of the world melting away around her as she sank into her reading.

Returning to the elevator, he pressed the button for the Master Suite, and endured the brief sensation of having his guts trying to escape through his pelvis. After the rapid ascent ended, the elevator doors opened. The room was flooded with daylight, far brighter than it had been on the ground.

Ben didn’t know how it was possible, but he suspected he had just reached the top of the tower, several miles above ground, in less than half a minute. The engineers of the Empire State Building would have killed for the secrets that would allow such rapid transportation without causing physical harm to the occupants of such an elevator.

Ben smiled to himself, knowing this feat of engineering was all his now.

In front of the elevator doors was a foyer, relatively sparsely furnished, with only a few reading chairs and couches. The floor was made entirely of transparent glass. Ben walked out into the foyer and could see clouds below him, and through the clouds, the forest, miles below.

As Ben walked out into the large room, he heard the elevator doors smoothly slide shut. A hissing noise came out as the glass cylinder slid back down the tower. One of the women must have needed it. Maybe the nymphs were returning from inspecting the cellars.

Judging by the unobstructed view through the floor, the Master Suite was the bottom floor of the crown, where the tower widened again. Ben could see the black glass spindle of the tower neck stretching down toward the ziggurat below. When he walked to the glass outer wall, he could see floors stretching out above him as well, each wider than the last.

The room was warm, and the air smelled fresh and felt pressurized. Ben wondered how this was possible. He was grateful for whatever magic enabled it however, as he was currently standing at passenger jet cruising altitude. The air outside would be far too thin and cold to breathe.

Ben took a moment to appreciate the view. He put his hands on his hips and gazed out over the hundreds of miles spread out before him.

This was where his empire would begin.

He faced south, where the sun was sitting in the middle of the sky. Directly below him, he could barely make out the destroyed remains of the village at the foot of his tower. Nothing recognizable remained.

The forest stretched out in every direction. To his left, the east, the forest rose up slopes which grew ever steeper, giving way at last to sheer snow capped mountains. Among the foothills he could make out the great chasm he had crossed that morning with Melody, though he was too far off to see the rope bridge they had crossed.

To his right, in the west where the sun would set, the forest stretched ever on, replaced on the horizon by a great blue expanse. Ben could hardly make out any transition from this distance,