[Voyager]

The figure chuckled with a booming voice and gestured to the void around:

"Welcome to Hell"

'Hell?', I thought to myself, confused. There was no afterlife I knew of that could contain a being such as myself and, if my observations were correct, any of the beings that also existed in this place. I dared not open my eyes, but the myriad auras of god and beast that intermingled in this place made me fearful of what power could have possibly brought all of us here.

Before my thoughts could continue any longer, I was interrupted by a booming laughter from the figure in front:

"I kid, my friend, no Hell could keep me", he chuckled loudly, as though having played the most hilarious prank imaginable. Shaken out of my thoughts, I examined the chortling figure in front of me:

He towered over me, several feet taller, with rippling muscles that were barely concealed under a dirty, brown rag that served as clothing. His face was rugged, with stone-carved features and penetrating eyes that were currently streaming with tears of joy. A barely visible scar extended from under the cover of his garment partway up his neck onto his chin. It rippled and moved with his motions, yet something about it seemed off, as though some long-forgotten majesty was contained within that mark.

From deep within my memories, the realisation hit me: "D̸̦͍̈́ŗ̶͔̎a̸̱͊ǵ̸̭̝̊o̴̙͒n̵͇͈̔ ̷̝͘ş̵̹̂̚l̷͕̿̅a̷̩͙̿̕ý̴̻͔e̴̝̫͘r̴̺̈́ ", I whispered under my breath, in awe.

Dragons were supreme beings, whose life rating surpassed legend, into the realms of myths, where their very existence caused the laws of the world to bend, as though their presence itself was too big to fit in our world. Even an infant was capable of such wanton destruction that lesser gods feared their wrath and beings that could match them were few and far between.

The feat of having killed one was an achievement which the number of times I had seen could be counted on one hand, and even after death, a mark is carved on one's body and soul as proof of their exploit.

"T̶͍̀o̴͇̕ ̸̰̒t̴͖͘h̶̩̾ḯ̷̗n̸̠͘ķ̵͠ ̸͎͘Î̸̬ ̵̛̮w̵̠̅o̶͓͝ṷ̴̍ḻ̴̄d̴̥̀ ̷̟̃s̵̭̋e̵̼̕è̶͚ ̷̜̇a̵̭̍ ̸̖̓M̷͔̕a̵̙̕r̸̼̋k̸̲̎ ̵̺̍ọ̴͠f̸̲͂ ̶̻̑ť̵̖h̸͇̀e̴̛̜ ̵͎̂S̵͓̑l̴͎̋a̷͓͋ý̶̮ę̵̈r̸̩͆ ̵̗̃ḯ̸̤ṉ̴̀ ̶͈̔t̷̒͜h̷̼̽i̴̗͂s̷̙͌ ̸̥̓ď̷̘ȩ̴̑s̷̮̈́o̵̞̕l̶̘̃a̴͕͗t̴͔͠é̵̞ ̵̆ͅṕ̵͎l̵̨̾a̵͙̽c̷̖͐e̴̫͂.̷̢͒ ", I spoke to the figure in front of me, "I̸͌͜t̵̛̤ ̵̰͗ẃ̶͚o̴̮̅u̴̗͠l̴̲̑d̵͔͝ ̵̂͜b̷̤͐e̷͖̿ ̷̯͋m̷͍͋ỵ̴̽ ̴̡̀h̴̼͑o̵̥͌ņ̷̅o̶̡͊u̴͉̓r̸̞̅ ̶͍̏t̸͓̀o̴͍̅ ̸͚͋k̷̞͆ń̴̩o̴̟̔ẅ̷̟́ ̷͍̾y̵͎͛o̴͒ͅú̷ͅr̴̗̍ ̴͍́n̶̨͝ḁ̸̌m̷̩͝e̸̫̓ ".

The booming laughter stopped, as the figure directed his penetrating gaze towards me. I could sense the shock in his eyes, after all the ability to recognise that mark was evidence enough of one's might. He replied solemnly, in his gravelly voice, "My name is Iapetus, Titan of the West."

'Iapetus', I reminisced, 'All legends are forged in the trials of their youths, and Iapetus faced the toughest of them all'.

Shaking myself free of my memories, I asked Iapetus, "So what exactly is this place, if not Hell?".

"I could not tell you even if I wanted to", Iapetus replied, "Although you'll find out what goes on soon enough".

Just as he finished speaking, the person at the front of the queue burst into flames, as a furious shout rang out, "How dare you speak to me this way, do you know who I am? I could incinerate you in an inst-"

The poor soul never got to finish his sentence, as the indistinct figure behind the desk waved his hand lazily, without even turning his head. The blazing fire suddenly turned silent, as it swirled and rotated, compressing to a single dot before disappearing as though it had never existed in the first place.

"These people never learn", Iapetus rumbled under his breath with a sigh as the next person at the front of the queue took shaky steps forward.

The tale has been taken without authorization; if you see it on Amazon, report the incident.

He turned back towards me, before asking in a curious tone, "I never asked you who you are, you recognise my scar and even seem familiar with my name, yet I know of no being that covers its eyes as you do."

"Just an old friend of your father's", I replied, "although it has been a while since I've visited him on Gaia"

Just as Iapetus was about to ask another question, I looked up and noticed we were already at the forefront of the queue. 'Time dilation? But I cannot even sense the flow of time in this secluded area.', I thought, confused.

Iapetus looked up at the cubicle before speaking to me, "I hope we can meet again, mysterious stranger", his gravelly voice carrying a hint of finality.

I could not tell quite what he talked about with the figure, but a worn, wooden door appeared to the side, looking very out of place in the void all around. Iapetus placed his hand on the doorknob and opened the door, ducking under it without any hesitation as a ray of sunlight shone through the opening. The door itself crumbled to ash as it was closed, swept away by a non-existent wind.

At this point, I noticed the gaze of the figure fall on me, and I stepped forwards with a steady stride. Approaching the desk, it felt as though I passed through a waterfall to reveal the cave hidden behind. The void around disappeared along with all the people, replaced by a white, endless expanse.

The desk was also white, almost sterilely so, with a stack of paper on one side, and a mug which had 'Best Employee' written on it. There was an empty chair for me to sit on and so I obliged, hearing the creak of the clearly worn out hinges.

The figure himself was wearing a crisply ironed blue shirt and a red tie. His hair was slicked back, revealing his rather plain features and a nametag pinned on his front pocket read 'Jeff', quite anticlimactically.

I only made out the name Iapetus before he crumpled up the piece of paper in front of him and threw it into a wastepaper basket with practised efficiency. He took another one from the top of the stack and examined it silently before placing it down and looking back at me.

"Do you have a passport, sir?" he asked, catching me off guard.

"I'm afraid not, I just knocked on some door on a pyramid and ended up in this place", I replied slowly.

Upon hearing this, a slightly more serious countenance was displayed on his face as he once again looked back at the paper.

However, his expression soon relaxed as he read over the paper, "Never mind", he said, "someone has already vouched for your transit. I'll just need your name, date of birth and a retinal scan and you can be on your way."

Slightly confused, I asked him, "Who exactly vouched for me? Transit where exactly?"

"All will soon become clear, once I've filled out this form", he replied with a laugh.

"Ah yes, of course", I said not daring to stubborn after remembering the fate of the flame person, "However, I'm afraid my name has long been forgotten in the sands of -"

"I'm just gonna stop you right there, sir, I already know what you're gonna say 'Oh I'm so old blah blah blah I've become senile blah blah' just give me something and we can all be on our merry ways", he said interrupting me abruptly.

Taken aback by his sudden outburst I answered mildly, "I go by The Voyager and for date of birth, you can just say the first of the first".

"There we go, wasn't too hard now was it? Now for the retinal scan you'll need to remove your blindfold", he said, adjusting some sort of camera mounted on a stand.

"I'm not sure that is the best idea", I said, expecting another outburst. However, after examining my blindfold for a few seconds, his serious face relaxed and he chuckled, "Yes I suppose you're right about that one. A fingerprint will have to do then"

'It seems he knows something, perhaps this would be the best opportunity to-'

"I'm gonna stop your train of thought right there, I'm just a humble customs officer, nothing more nothing less", he interrupted once again, as though it were some kind of compulsive habit of his.

Not daring to overthink things further, I stamped my fingerprint on the paper and in return, he gave me a ticket which read 'One way only'.

He gestured to his right as he spoke and a oval gateway opened up to what looked like a bus stop in some suburb, "Go through there and get on bus 413. Show the conductor your ticket and he'll tell you which stop to get off at.", he said.

"Just a word of warning, do not get on the wrong bus, the world is vast and some places are better left unvoyaged", and with these last words he waved his hand and an invisible force pushed me through the portal.

I turned around quickly, but all I saw was the street winding away, with a solitary leaf blown by the wind across the pavement.

****************************

27th Regent, 1446

So far the maps have been accurate and we have faced no real dangers. The corrupted beasts are easily dealt with by the crew, despite a gradual increase in their strength. We will soon reach first chasm, however, and I can only hope that my preparations have not been in vain.

- Extract from the diary of S. Kyssus entry 3, Archive File #P1D9*****