“I imagined it would be a magical place,” Rayan said as he shut the door behind him.

“It is! This is Italy!” Theia stated. Rosalia smiled as she responded cheerfully. “Our world coexists with humans and blends with them.”

“That’s good to know.” Rayan looked at Eleni for a moment before shifting his gaze around the room. His nostrils were filled with a floral almost fruity smell, it put him at ease.

A huge winery with many rows of wine barrels neatly lined up. “Sorry, but this door got us to the back room,” Rosalia said as she walked past them, pointing to a large brown door on the right.

A blinding light hit their eyes as they walked out. It took them seconds to adjust to the house they stepped into.

The walls and floors are cream-colored. Thousands of wine bottles are stored in translucent glass cabinets. The interior is a true representation of an authentic wine house, with creme and red shades. A burgundy door next to an oval glass window that looked out onto the street.

It appears quiet and clean, with three massive Kanzan trees, each with different cherry blossom flowers; one golden, one red, and one white.

Theia sensed their curiosity and told them that those trees represented the diversity of their people, and each was an actual symbol of their troops and powers.

The wine house was enormous, filled with humans and cupids; to humans, it appeared to be a fancy three-floors wine house owned by a long-lived family. It appeared mundane while also being magical and mystical.

They noticed how humans seemed to be oblivious to the creatures they were interacting with. Most cupids conceal their natural forms; even though they appear human, some of the glory of their pure and angelic features sneaks out every now and then.

The room they aimed for was at the far end of the house, on the third floor. Liam noticed a plain door on the left side of the second floor as they walked up the stairs.

Stolen from its rightful author, this tale is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings.

He stopped for a mere second and looked at Rosalia, who was leading the way. When they all came to a halt and looked at Liam, she returned his gaze. “What is this?”

Liam looked at Rosalia and waited for her to respond, but she remained silent. Rayan looked at him, then at the door that Liam was pointing to. “A wall,” Rayan stated. Camellia also looked around, but no one could see what Liam was referring to.

Rosalia then shuffled her entire body towards him, almost whispering, “How could you see it?”

Liam didn’t get what she was saying and simply said, “That’s not a wall, it’s a door.”

“You are a pure-blood Dokkaebi, right?” Rosalia asked. Liam appeared surprised, but he nodded in response to her question. “It’s not a wall, Rayan, it’s the gate to the archive Grotto.” They were perplexed and taken aback because the Grotto is a hidden portal in every realm, containing resources and history for every creature ever.

Most Grottoes are hidden for a reason; not all information is intended to be known. Few people can see and enter the Grotto, including Elders from each realm and pure-blood creatures like Liam, who was born to a Goblin family that had not merged with any other creatures or even humans.

Liam looked again at the door, an unsettling sense inside urging him to open it, to find out what was inside. Rosalia saw that look in his eyes and said, “It won’t open, trust me we all tried, even our Elders, they can see the door but can’t go in.”

“Maybe it has some sort of a demon creature that could eat you alive if you stepped inside,” Eleni said, shrugging her shoulders. A quite chuckle escaped them.

“The Grotto from my world is guarded by Maat, who is frightening enough that no one dares to approach it,” Camellia said, and they resumed their walk upstairs.

They eventually came across a large brown door. Rosalia grabbed the doorknob and pushed the heavy door. It creaked, causing her to groan softly.

They went inside and observed a garden; heaven is the only word to describe how exquisite this garden appeared.

Magically enormous one filled with rooted and large Kanzan trees that look exactly like the ones outside the house. Its roots were visible through the green ground, all knotted together and focused on one oval wooden table with rooted legs.

A bounty of diverse roses rises from the ground, displaying their lively petals smelt aromatic and soothing as they face the bright sun.

A bright sky with feathery white clouds. A chill breeze greeted them as they entered, moving through their hair, and slightly pushing them towards the table. As the breeze approached, Theia smiled. “Ciao, Cielo.” Rayan looked at her, confused. “Cielo, mostrati.”