Blood and Change : Prolog by James MacEachern

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Next she filled the cups from the pitcher, placed one in front of both women and then sat down on the opposite side of Kaya.
"I'm so excited" squealed Kaya in delight, "I've been tingling for days, there must be so much to see."
"Then have at it girl." Kassandra said with a laugh, Kaya's excitement was becoming
contagious.
Kaya crawled out from the pillows and pushed the tray off to the side. Standing up the young women faced the bronze mirror and shook out her arms. "Ready" she said.
"Ready" came the reply.
Kaya nodded and began to clap, the beat was constant and very quiet. Slowly the volume increased and was joined by two more sets of clapping hands. The bronze frame of the mirror started to pulse with a faint amber glow in time with the beat. The young women began to spin in a circle as the beat grew louder and the mirror brighter. Then she chanted:
"Spin, spin, O' fate and chance,
show me please, the greatest dance.
Show me please, the falling rocks,
Show me their actions, give me their talk."
By the end of the chant the mirror was glowing a solid yellow. Kaya dizzily fell into the pillows and joined her sisters in watching the mirror's clouded surface begin to move. The mists within the glass slowly parted to reveal a lazy river, on both sides of the wide waterway were lush grass lands. The view moved swiftly up stream showing rolling hills and occasional rock clusters. A fork in the river moved off into the distance as a forest appeared on the horizon. The forest zoomed toward the mirror's surface until the sister's were looking down upon it, from above the trees formed a large circle with a body of water in the center, then both forest and lakes were gone from view. As the river bent north in its course the mirror's vision continued over the hills and valley's. Roads and smaller paths crossed under the mirror's eye, some held small groups of travelers, but most were empty.
The view of the land began to widen as a great city moved toward the spectators. The sister's sipped their tea as the mirror's eye hovered briefly over the city. "Attilus, I haven't been there in ages" said Kaya.
"It hasn't been their ages, it's only three hundred years old, now be quiet." Kassandra replied sternly as she gazed at the city.
Attilus was eight sided with thirty foot outer walls that were eight feet thick, at the center stood a majestic palace surrounded by three circular walls of the same dimensions. North of these walls, large houses stood grandly upon well-tended lawns while to the south the buildings were concentrated into two areas. Another wall, again thirty feet tall, enclosed everything in a large square. The squares only gate was in the south wall and led into a huge park. Paths wove there way south, through gardens and over ponds and sometimes off into little hidden nooks and corners. A great market square lay south of the park, booths were laid out in rows with the occasional gap which led to new rows of goods and services. From above it looked very much like a maze unless you followed the main path out of the park which cut the great market cleanly in two and led into a spacious courtyard which separated the marked from the main outer gate.