The ground was hard and my body made an unnatural splash sound. If my insides weren't hit by the arrow before, they must have turned to mush about now. At least Mia had a chance.

Mother was beautiful up close, more like a fairy then a ghost. Lights orbited her, with every movement a part of the ravine was illuminated. She was playing with the world around her.

I was surprised she didn’t go away, even when I was this close. She probably knew that I will go with her in a little while. It's a shame, I started to enjoy myself, but I was glad anyway, I have been looking forward to this for long time.

She danced again, stretching her long white arms, dancing in arcs. Now, when I was this close. I could see that she never really touched the ground, just hovered incredibly close to it.

If I could I would try to speak, try my luck, maybe she would talk to me now, but the fall didn’t exactly help my lungs recover from the wound. If anything else, it pushed the last bit of air out.

I didn't feel the pain now, only the heat. I was so warm, so wet. This wasn't anything like what I would expect.

Mother stopped dancing and turned her attention to me. Her smile slowly fading with each step, she came to me, sadness in her eyes. She brushed through my hair, although I haven't felt her touch. Then she stood up, smiled at me and waved me goodbye…

That’s when I woke up again. Around me nothing but whiteness.

I frantically searched my chest for the arrow, but there were no signs of intrusion. My lungs were fine.

I wasn’t sure where I was, but soft clouds were flying here and there and everything was perfectly illuminated. Even the big golden gate. The big golden gate…

I was yet again at the gates of Nirvana.

This time there weren't many others and I didn’t see Nataniel anywhere. So I…died? Probably.

I looked around, but it didn’t seem like much was going to change by itself, so I decided to go to the one thing I could see. The gate.

"Hello?"

Nothing. I tried pushing the gate open, but it wouldn't budge.

That’s how quickly my will to open the gate shattered.

"What are you doing?" asked a man I didn't yet know. He was muscular, big and…hairy. The closest to a bear man can become.

"Just tried to open the gate. Didn’t work."

"Good idea, I will help." the beast of a man walked to the gate. Planted his feat firmly on the clouds and pushed with all his might. For a moment, I really thought he might pry the gates open. But they stayed in their hinges.

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"Nice try. But if you can't force it open no one can."

"Hilda could. She could open anything. When I was too weak, Hilda would come and blast everything away."

"This Hilda seems awfully strong. Shame she isn't here eh?"

"I think she is already there." he pointed to the gate. For a lack of a better thing to say, I decided to introduce myself.

"Thren." I said, holding a hand out for the man.

"Urg." he said, shaking my hand with a nod.

"So Urg, do you know where we are?"

"These are the gates to the golden city. Where warrior and great men feast to their hearts content." he looked at the gate longingly.

Afterwards we talked a little. We both shared our death stories that brought us here. I told him of the bait I was and of my fall to the ravine. I decided to leave out my mother. He told me that, while not warrior-like, my death was seemingly "good enough", whatever that meant.

He died chasing a beast in the woods, his guide told him to hunt something big and inhuman, to have a trophy worthy enough to bring him here. He didn't accomplish his goal. Though he did wound the creature grievously enough that it should by all means die in time. His guide told him that that would have to be enough. Then the guide brought him here and left a little while after, leaving him. I lied to him and told him that much the same happened to me.

His life was a lot different than mine. Whereas I was living in a semi-normal town, he was living in a hunting village. Surviving from season to season. His life wasn’t simple and his scars were many.

In the middle of one of his stories, where he was fighting a black bear, that killed four hunters. The loud voice I already recognized boomed over our heads again.

"Proved scions of our time! You were deemed worthy to step across these golden gates, to the lower part of our magnificent city! Rejoice! Rejoice young heroes! For you were picked to continue on your journey to become a superare! When you look around you, you may realize that there is a smaller number of you then before, that’s because the others didn’t have your strength! Your resolve! Your power of will! Today, we will hold a feast, to celebrate your arrival, today we all rejoice. But I offer this advice to you, do not commit yourself to eternal relaxation just yet! While there is no harm to you in the city itself, there will be many more challenges and trials, before you step up to us, as our equal. Now, open the gates!"

The giant golden gates moved themselves open, revealing a city behind them. A city made of clean even white stone blocks, golden rooftops, bridges. It was intricate and complicated, but it did feel magnificent for the eyes. There were rivers and waterfalls seemingly integrated to the city architecture, living giant trees holding different houses, paths vertical and horizontal.

The lower part of the city was mostly made out of more usual stone and even wooden houses, although they weren't shabby by any means. Almost like the place and buildings held themselves to some level of cleanliness.

Urg's guide came to us and took us to a tavern, where we were each given a room to stay. The rooms were finely decorated, having two beds, a table, some chairs.

I felt a little weird about it. Not only was the apparent absence of my guide something many noticed, I felt I didn’t die a heroes death. I jumped to it that was all. I may have been a tad too excited to die. The prospect of it being heroic felt hollow. It probably didn’t even save Mia anyway.

My mood turned sour after the thought, I excused myself and got to my room. There I laid on the bed and tried to relax.

"You ambitious, you." said a voice from the opposite side of the room.

I jerked my head there so fast, my neck let me know of the discomfort. The voice was Nataniel. My guide.