Chp 2 The Gate of Truth

I start heading back towards were we came from the forest and into the city, but Maeno stops me. I look back at him and he says “Ritsuko, that’s the wrong way.”

I give him a confused glance. I mean this city is really big and all, but I know the way we came from or at least I should know. I had the map when we were coming into town. I ask Maeno for the map real quick. I grab it out of his hands and quickly unroll the map.

I look up at Maeno after finding my discovery. The map doesn’t show any exits out of the city. I look up and say “Maeno what happened to the map? It doesn’t have any exits out of the city.”

He nods and says something is definitely at work. “Let’s try going the way we came in still.” I have a good sense of direction so I know the way out of town.  I just hope we don’t get lost in here. Chief Ranga would be very disappointed in us if that were to happen.

I look up at Maeno to study his face for a moment since that always helps me calm down. I have to protect him since he doesn’t know how to fend for himself. Maeno has always been brave and I pray it never gets him into a dangerous situation. I mark his hair length mentally. It is white, around six inches, falling perfectly on his face without obscuring his eyes. It is semi-parted in the center , but not enough to fall over his blueish green eyes. His jawline is very slim, and kind of boney. Maeno hasn’t grown any for about a year now, and he stands around 6’2. He is about two inches taller than me.

After I am done I am calm and able to think rationally. Staring at his face always makes me feel at ease, but I don’t like doing it often because I don’t want him to think I am weird. I wish Maeno would stare at me sometimes though, because he never does. I sometimes believe he thinks of me as just his best friend and not a girl.

I start walking towards where we came in and the closer I get to it the louder the area is. I decide to start running to where all of the noise is coming from to see what the ruckus is about. There is a whole crowd of people standing in the road and they are just staring up at a wall that is surrounding the city. The wall is really high and I can not see the top. I say “Maeno I think we are trapped in here,” as I turn around towards him.

Maeno is nowhere in my sight. I yell for him and get no response. I head back towards the way we were coming from and see him standing in front of a shop looking in at one of the items. I walk over to him to see what he is staring at. There is a rock with engravings on it for a really low price. It has the number three on it, and the letter on it is Z. The engravings are in the form of a triangle, and at each end there is a different symbol on each of the vertices on the triangle.

He seems really fascinated with it and it was fairly cheap in comparison to everything else. That’s probably what he wants it for. The price on the stone is only thirty-five pecunia so I’m willing to buy it for him. I ask him why he wants it because I’m curious about his response. Maeno says “It is like the stone I got from Chief Ranga, and I feel like this stone belongs to me. It’s like it is calling out for me to buy it”, he says.

I pull out all of the coins I brought along with me and I have around forty five from collecting them and from my brother. This will cost most of my money, but I’d rather Maeno be happy then have a full coin pouch. I hand him thirty five pecunia and he quickly runs into the store and within about thirty seconds comes out of the store with the stone in his hand ;beaming with pride.

He looks over at me smiling about the stone and slides it into his pocket. He walks over and embraces me. He is standing close enough I can feel his heartbeat. I wrap my hands around his backside and hug him back. After around five seconds he lets go and says “Ritsuko you’re the best” with that smile that’s brighter than the sun.

I smile back at him and say “Maeno it was no problem”. Maeno remains happy pulling out the new stone out of his pocket and admiring the intricate designs on it. After a couple minutes he slides it back into his pocket and continues walking beside me.

I tell him what has transpired while he was window shopping. He looks up at me and asks “Does that mean we can’t leave?”

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I tell him “Yea, we probably can’t leave.” I decide to go and check the wall. So far I don’t believe anyone has touched it yet. We get to where the crowd is gathered and I look back at Maeno. He doesn’t seem too alarmed considering the situation we are in. I smile at him and grab his hand so he doesn’t get lost in the crowd.

His hand is warm and I wish I didn’t have gloves on so I could feel it up against my bare hand. His hand of course is bigger than mine so I can’t entirely hold on to him when going through the crowd. I make sure not to lose hold of his grip though while we make our way through the crowd because I don’t want to lose him in it and I enjoy the comfort of it. As we delve deeper into the horde of people I start hearing the conversations I hadn’t previously been paying attention to.

:A man somewhere to my right “This must be that rumor about the gods.”

:A different man around the same area “Yea, but to think they’d trap us in here.”

All around people were muttering comments about the gods return and how that could mean bad news. After pushing through many people we were at the front. Still people have yet to touch the wall and are still in awe. It’s almost like they view it as a house of cards. The slightest touch might tear it down on top of them.

However I know something that they haven’t seemed to realize yet, and that is a wall of this size would be either really sturdy or it wouldn’t be there at all which means touching it is the only way to find out which is which. The moment has arrived for the truth about this mysterious wall. I slowly start reaching out for it. My hand draws ever closer, but right before I touch it I pause.

I almost don’t want to know if the wall is real. If it is we are trapped in here, and it’s the worst news we could have imagined. Not only would there be no excess food I can’t even imagine how the towns people might respond. I hesitate a moment more and look back to Maeno for confirmation. He says “If you are unsure Ritsuko we can find out together”.I nod at him in agreement. He stands next to me and we both reach forward towards the wall at the same time.

I glance up at the wall again one more time before I finally push my hand forward touching it. The wall is just a grey stone wall that reaches up to the heavens. It really is nothing special. Maeno and I touch the wall at the same time in unison. The second I touch it, an electrical spark goes down my arm. When I reopen my eyes the area around me has changed.Maeno is no longer beside me and the environment I am in, is quite different than I would have expected.

The area in front of me is has another wall. The rest of the area is kind of grey and seems to have a dead atmosphere around me. The area around me seems to have no other life other than me and the grey atmosphere is unsettling. In front of me is an image of Maeno. I run towards it and try and grab it. Before I can even get to it a, shadow sweeps in, and snatches it out from my reach. I look around to see where the shadow went, and see a skeleton in golden armour, covered by a robe. To his right he has a sword sheathed. Where eyes should be  grey dots. After glancing over how he looks I ask the skeleton where I am at.

It looks at me and says “My name is Morte and you, Ritsuko, are in the Gate of Truth”.

“How do you know my name?” I ask Morte.

“I know you because I have been awaiting your arrival for years. You wish to hold power strong enough to protect Maeno, is that right? Regardless of cost, even if you had to kill; you would do it to protect that boy right?” I didn’t know what to respond with. If he knows me this well he must have been studying me for quite some time.

There was no point in lying, so I say” Yes, I would do anything to protect Maeno even if I had to kill. He is the only one I have in this world and he means everything to me.”

Morte makes a face that appears to be a smile and says to me “Alright, that’s all I need.”

Morte reaches out and touches my hand and on it is a skull smiling wickedly at a door. The same image appears on the wall in the area. He then whispers softly in my ear”Now that you have that mark on your hand you will be able to use magic from your gate. My magic is very powerful, and so yours will be too, within time.”

I ask him “Did someone actually kill a god and replace them?”

Morte says to me  “Every thousand years god’s start dying and need to be replaced. When time comes for this they make their presence known and spread magic out through the world. The successors of the gods are the ones who kill the gods. This time, around the first god died a little early,” Morte says. “Eventually I will be replaced too, but not any time soon” He says with a chuckle.

“Why I am here?” I ask Morte. His laugh is very dry, and crackles, but not loud in  any regard. “You reached for the gate, didn’t you?” He asks me. “You chose to reach for the truth and this is where it has lead you. Anyone who reaches for the truth will be granted a gate. You’d better be wary, the other mages will kill if they are given the chance just so that you don’t get in the way of their plans.”

I look at him and say “Well I don’t care about myself too much, but Maeno is a different story”,

Morte tells me ”There are sixteen factions. “You are from the sixteenth faction. If you do not wish for conflict between factions you need to keep your mark hidden beneath that glove of yours”, Morte tells me. I nod at this and pull my glove tightly over my hand. Morte then tells me that I’m lucky,because people can’t tell my faction based of magic type since anyone can learn any type of magic.

Morte says “I speculate this time around however, this generation is going to be fun because of your difference of opinions with Maeno. I just hope it doesn’t tear you two apart.” He cackles.  I don’t understand what he means, but I’m sure he is correct. Morte looks at me and says “I don’t have anymore time Ritsuko.” He raises his boney hand and I see a light pulse of purple light.When I open my eyes I am in the real world. I quickly pull my glove down to check and see if the mark is there, and it is.

I look over at Maeno and he has his hands in his pockets. I can’t check which mark he has. I hear a voice behind us ask if the wall is real. The wall itself is not real, but it is a boundary of sorts from what I know. However it wouldn’t keep us here if  we tried leaving. I can’t risk having more enemies of Maeno. I look back at the people and say “This wall..this wall is real.” The people start panicking and I walk away grabbing Maeno by the hand.