The Thousand Treasures Pavilion was the crown jewel of the Heavenly River metropolis. A huge, nine-story pagoda built from dark hardwood, glazed azure roof tiles, and banded star-bronze pillars that rose eighty paces into the night sky.
From every roof edge of the pagoda hung strings of golden wind-chimes that chimed in delicate, polyphonic harmonies with every breeze, their music masking the subtle, constant hum of the defensive formation arrays embedded in the building’s foundation.
At the entrance to the grand foyer, six-foot star-iron fire bowls burned aged ambergris and sandalwood. It filled the marble halls with a heavy, intoxicating perfume that spoke of hundreds of years of piled up mercantile wealth.
Lin Tao and Tie Shan walked through the grand double doors of embossed brass. Their iron-shod boots struck the polished black green jade floor with rhythmic, unbending power.
Inside, the grandeur was breathtaking.
Tiered balconies of carved rosewood rose toward an open central atrium, supported by twelve massive star-iron columns inscribed with Precursor trade runes. In glass viewports along the walls, legendary treasures were displayed upon beds of white silk. Ancient flying swords forged from sky meteorite iron, three-thousand-year-old ginseng roots shaped like sleeping babies, and sealed jade bottles containing the packed venom of deep-sea serpents.
