Threads of the Soul

Chapter 473 - 473: Very Accurate Measurements

Washington D.C. had been destroyed, like many cities, and just like many others the new had been built from the rubble of the old. Surprisingly, the Washington Monument, or as Seth called it in his head 'The Big White Pointy thing' was still mostly intact.There were some chunks taken out of it, where it looked like something had been thrown into it in a fight, but over all it was still solid and robust. The Capital building had not been as lucky, as a new building built from the literal rubble had replaced it.

This new Capital building was much larger, with metallic reinforcement along the ceiling and thick, black smoke that poured from the tall chimney stacks that sat atop this new monument. A monument of production.

It was hard to tell the purpose of other buildings from the skies, they didn't exactly have labels written on the roofs, but it seemed the American's love of grid based construction remained intact. With the New Capital Building as the centre, everything was built out in a growing circle around it.

The streets were narrow and the buildings slotted tight together, with each main road leading from the smoke spewing building to the very edge of the circle of buildings. The Alleyways between these buildings were labyrinthine, perfect for getting lost on a dark night and never being seen again.

What confused Seth, however, was the lack of people in these streets. There were plenty of houses, at least that's what he assumed they were from their modest size and structure, but there were very few people wandering around, simply living their lives.

Where the land met the waters edge of the Potomac and Anacostia Rivers, a massive wall had been constructed. Easily 2 metres thick of reinforced stone, and over 30 metres high. Or, as his new American friends would say, roughly 13 hot dogs thick and 200 hot dogs tall, if you were measuring them length wise.

Placed strategically along the length of this border wall, measuring the exact same amount of hot dogs apart from each other, there were massive guard towers that peered over the wall and out into the tranquil water. A tranquillity that was nothing but an illusion, as on the outer edges of this wall there were countless blood stains, scratch marks and dents battered into its mighty surface.

As for the Washington Channel, it had been separated from these Rivers and was closely guarded, as different water pumps and processing type construction had been placed along the edge of the channel and its basin. With most of that 'processing' being someone with the ability to control water and separate it from the nastier things that may dwell within it.

Further north, Seth could see a few plumes of smoke. But it was not the same black clouds of spluttering death that the factory spewed out, instead these were the plumes of individual campfires.

Judging by the proximity of those campfires to some very fertile and open grassland, that most likely used to be national parks, Seth surmised that they could be mines or some kind of resource gathering facility. But so far from the civilisation they had built seemed rather dangerous.

Xander lead them down, slowly gliding down through the blackened skies until they landed in the open area surrounding the 'Big White Pointy Thing' where dozens of flags were positioned in a circle around it. The flags flapped eagerly in the wind, proclaiming their patriotic love of New America.

The Flag in question had a singular golden star in the middle with red, white and blue circular strips coming off of it like ripples in a pond. Just the sight of it here, and decorating nearly every building in sight, made Seth roll his eyes.

Some things really never changed.

The eagles landed in the open area, showing respect for the historical monument in the middle. But Omelette knew nothing of such respect. To him, it was just another landing spot.

His talons dug into the stone as he used its sturdy and robust nature to bring himself to a halt. Pristine white marble crumbled from where his talons dug in, falling to the ground and shattering in a display that made all of the American's present wince in pain, as if it was them falling and shattering instead of just some stone.

Seth, Ava and Woe slid down Omelette's wing, as he extended it out like a slide, before his entire form shifted. He rapidly shrunk, his scales retreated and his wings grew fingers until what was left clinging to the side of the monument was not a Wyvern, but a small boy with devilish horns curling from his forehead.

Xander let out a pained whimper as he stared at the fresh damage in his glorious monument, before turning and glaring at the boy who was now standing next to Seth. Omelette, of course, was happily oblivious to it all as he rocked back and forth with a wide, goofy smile on his adorable face.

Seth patted Omelette's head, quickly reintroduced him to the amazed Woe and Ava, before turning to Xander with a smile.

"Now, shall we take care of the prisoner first? Or shall we do a tour first?"

"I will take the prisoner and deal with her properly, we don't currently have the facilities to hold her, but it won't take long to set them up. I just need to get in contact with the right people.

I would rather not give a tour of my city with a spy tagging along like a lost puppy, I'm sure you understand."

Seth smiled warmly and laughed, nodding his head in understanding. But in his mind he was narrowing his eyes at Xander.

No facilities to hold her... Now that was curious. Even if she was powerful, any prisoner would be kept the same. Power dampened and thrown in a cell. So if they didn't have that in place to hold her, what did they do with their prisoners instead?

He wasn't delusional enough to believe that this city was completely crime free. No such place existed. But Seth kept his suspicions to himself, Instead gesturing to the Hunter who was trying to sneak away unnoticed.

"Of course, How about you let your man here give us a tour, while you work on making our new friend comfortable."