The low hum of the ventilation system and cooling devices echoed through the equipment room. Ancient lighting fixtures dispelled the darkness underground. Rows upon rows of neatly arranged storage lattices stood in the center of the room like orderly bookshelves. Dim light flowed between metal and crystal, accompanied now and then by pleasant vibrations. Ophelia's gaze swept across these storage lattices, already several centuries old, as though she were looking upon history frozen within crystal.
This was the shallow underground zone of the Azure Well. Directly above it lay the subway network of the Old Imperial Capital, while below it was the first layer of composite armor surrounding the underground fortress.
Many years ago, this place had been part of the Azure Well's control hub. These storage lattices were used to record the vast amounts of data generated daily by Gondor's energy hub—relying on a single energy hub to transmit magic power to countless cities and towns across the country had been an enormously complex undertaking. The Azure Well had supported the Gondor Empire, but it had also bound the Gondor Empire in place. People could not free themselves from their dependence on the "well," nor could they transform this natural planetary source of power. Thus, once development reached a certain point, they could only keep refining the existing systems, endlessly subdividing and adjusting the limited ley lines. The result was this immense underground control hub, along with recording and calculation centers that operated day and night without rest.
In fact, the underground fortress Ophelia now occupied had once been nothing more than part of that control system.
Seven hundred years ago, that great explosion destroyed everything in the Gondor Empire. The Uncontrolled Magic Power surging from the Azure Well burned down every town and village in its path, leaving