Jin had always wondered what it was like to travel through a portal. He dreamed it to be like flying through the images of countless different realms until one would finally land in the correct one. Reality, however, was rather disappointing. One moment he was pushed into the gateway by Manuel, and then in the very next second, he was standing on the other side. Something was wrong though. It was as if he was standing sideways, yet gravity didn't seem to object to it. Immediately, he tried to straighten out his body, yet as soon as he did, an invisible force pulled him to the ground, onto a soft mattress.

Moments later, the remaining trio flew through the gateway and suffered the same exact fate as their friend. Jin looked at them as they walked out, then stopped, and leaned over to the side, so much so they fell over.

The entire world had the shape of a looping pipe, with the earth and sea existing on the inner walls of it. The sudden transportation caused the kids' brains to still think that down was in the same direction they were used to from home, instead of being curved about 30° to the left. It took them a few seconds to adjust themselves and fully realize that gravity was what dictated directions, and not their feelings.

They all took a moment to rest. The room that Manuel had prepared for them was filled with all sorts of padding, in order to prevent any injuries caused by the falling. As far as its size went, it was even smaller than Kaili's humble abode. The room was barely big enough for the four of them but had a rather high ceiling, which narrowed itself into a cone. The walls were painted pink and unfortunately, lacked any windows, so the only light was provided by the small chandelier hanging from the ceiling.

"We best get going," Jin eventually said after all of them had regained their stable footing. His voice was ringing with enthusiasm. This was the first time he had left his hometown. What sights would await him beyond the door? The idea got him excited beyond measure.

As soon as they stepped outside, they found themselves standing on a busy street, right opposite a tall railing. Their eyes widened as they saw so many people buzzing around, each seemingly heading somewhere else.

"Whoa! Check this out!" Cia exclaimed and ran up to the bannister on the other side of the street. All the expectations that the children had were nothing compared to the stunning reality before them.

The entire city was built into the two opposing walls of a mountain, which was split in half aeons ago, according to legends at least, by the goddess of thunder during her battle with her brother. Nobody really knew whether that was the truthful origin of the place or not, but no man of science had ever managed to find a better explanation as to why the mountain was divided. The pit in the middle was deep and through it ran a wild river, flowing down a series of rocky mounds, creating countless waterfalls. The city was then the beautiful decoration of this site of destruction. Buildings were made of white bricks with beige ornamentation, making the entire place look like it was glowing. Especially now, when the ley-line running through the middle of the tube-shaped world was illuminating it with the full glow of the noon. The light was being reflected off the facades, truly adding a divine aura to the human settlement.

The two opposing sides of the mountain were connected by a series of stairs, which seemed to move and shift, not only left and right, but also up and down. People were forming lines at specific crossing stations, waiting for one of the staircases to readjust itself and allow them free passage onto the other side. For the purposes of a more vertical movement, numerous elevators were installed alongside the mountain walls. Since the city was rather tall, spanning tens of floors, it was crucial that its inhabitants would be allowed to travel quickly and easily wherever they had to go.

The kids' mouths flew open. The entire place looked like some sort of a royal palace, and yet it was a city inhabited by even the most common of people. The quartet stood there, unable to say anything, until an unknown man approached them.

"Tourists?" he asked, pulling their attention onto himself. Like all the other locals, he looked similar to a normal human, with the only exception being countless yellow spots on his slightly darker skin. The most fascinating thing about him, however, was his clothing, which sported so many different buttons it was simply impossible that they would all be functional.

"Umm... yes, we..." Jin had trouble snapping out of his fascination. "Right! Package. We are a package. No! I mean we deliver packages! Here. For... Kaili, please, read the address."

"Ah, that's a toy," the man sang.

"Simply take walks from the boarder over there," he pointed to the nearby staircase boarding station, "and take a ride up to the fourteenth pear. See that pointy house with those four windows? That's your hop. I know the chala living there. Bit fool but good overall." The kids looked at him in silence, caught off guard by the man's rather unusual vocabulary.

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"Well, need to fly. Much luck!" He waved at them and then headed off.

"Did anyone catch that?" Airo asked, unable to recall the words.

"Pointy house with four windows is over there. And there's the stair station. So I assume we just try to somehow cross the pit and get over there?" Cia shrugged.

The others did not object to her idea. After all, their objective was to simply get there and ask if they had the correct address. That was all.

The boarding station was, fortunately, free to use for everyone, without the need to buy a ticket or anything of the sort. Such discovery was a great relief for the four, who did not really think about packing with them any sort of currency.

They had to wait in line for a couple of moments before it was finally their turn to get onto the stairs. The people around them all seemed very friendly. Some even suggested that they should hold on to the safety railing, as the staircase was about to move and could make them fall. They were all very grateful for the warning, because the moment the stairs began sliding off to the side, all four found out just how much they were scared of heights. As they finally arrived at their destination a minute or two later, they let out a sigh of relief that the rather stressful transportation was behind them. This feeling of comfort, however, was quickly replaced by sour annoyance when they realized that they would have to cross to the other side again on their way back.

The house they had to reach was relatively easy to find. One element that greatly helped their delivery was the fact that the recipient was perhaps a bit too eager to receive his package. As soon as the four kids could be seen approaching with the boxes strapped to their backs, the man ran out of his house and began calling to them.

"Hello? Hello? Here! I did the call! You have a crate for me, yes?"

Jin's eyes scanned the building. There were indeed some symbols, written on a small sign on the wall, which did look a lot like the address, but it was clear that the text had seen days of better readability.

"Yes, I, umm. Here!" Airo quickly handed the box over when the bearded elder rushed to his side and almost pressed his pointy nose against the boy's face. The long coat he wore had countless loose strings sticking out of it, which certainly did not create a very trustworthy look.

"Wait! Sign this first," Kaili pushed herself between him and the package before his bony hands had the chance to touch it. Judging by the spark of slight insanity in his eyes, he seemed to be ready to simply tear it open.

"Yes, yes! Here you have it! Now give it!" He scribbled down something that could most likely count as a signature, and then quickly snatched the box for himself. Technically, there was nothing else holding the kids there, but curiosity simply didn't allow them to leave. They wanted to know what this man desired so much.

The wrapping came undone, revealing a small ornate chest made of dark red wood and with countless metal decorations around the edges. Several orange gemstones were embedded into the top lid, surrounding a much larger button in the very centre. Everyone turned to Cia to see if she could identify it, but her guess as to what the device could be was as good as anyone else's. The old man let out the squeal of an excited child and pressed the button. The kids backed away when the box began shaking. The lid slightly opened and a bright light began shining from the inside, flashing with a myriad of colours. This show kept on going for a solid five seconds before the lid finally flew open in a flash of bright white light. A single object floated out of the container's insides. It was a sticker. A small, simple sticker with the art of the ley-line.

"No!" the man shouted. "To the flusher with this! Bad roll again! You, youngsters!" he called out to them. Shivers ran across their spines. "Tell your boss I wanna order five more, okay? Can you do it?"

They all looked at each other and shrugged. "We'll pass it on," Kaili replied.

This seemed to be enough of a satisfactory answer for the man. He thanked them and then carried the box inside with an expression that indicated that he would now go through several stages of grief. Nobody dared to ask about it or even mention the stranger again. None of the kids was willing to let this odd encounter ruin their visit to such a wonderful place.

"Should we have a wander around? See what food they've got?" Jin asked, a smile slowly widening across his face.

"Absolutely not! We have work to do. Besides, if we really wanted to, we can come here some other time no?" Kaili shrugged.

"We can go anywhere," Airo fantasized.

"Yeah. All the places we'll visit? We have a way to go back right in the basement! And honestly, I am really curious to see what the next location will be. This place is awesome, but has far too many people," Cia added her own opinion into the mix.

It was therefore decided. The group did not overstay their welcome and instead headed back towards the portal immediately. Unfortunately for them, it meant going the entire way back, across the scary stairs, and through the gateway that led to a warped sense of gravity.

"Ow... Manuel could really put some cushions around the basement as well," Kaili complained. Their return was met with more falling and loss of balance but felt far worse this time, given the cold stone floor that greeted them.

"So, where do we go next?" Airo asked and had a look at a small piece of paper that Manuel stuck onto the pedestal beneath the Cordicon. "Okay, there is no title of the next place. He said it's underground, no?"

"Yeah. Do we know the address?" Jin looked over his shoulder.

"Seems so. Now... over one hundred and twenty symbols..." the young Cloudfolk paused and it didn't take too long before the realization would spread among his friends, sharing his annoyance around.

"We have no idea where on the goddamn thing they are, right?" Kaili growled. "Goddamn that wizard!"

"Well, start looking, people. Or we'll be here all day," Jin sighed and his eyes began their dance around the surface of the Cordicon.