The gods and the warriors went with us to the main hall of the castle. It was filled with the gods. The other gods were nowhere similar in appearance to the barbaric gods. Many of them wore great sparkling crowns and there was a certain grandeur in them as though they had not come to battle but for a celebration. Even their clothes were lined with jewels.
The barbaric gods thanked the Alliance for coming to rescue them.
“We have vanquished all those who were outside,” one great god said, who was carrying a majestic staff of gold. “The dome has been destroyed.” I reckoned that the evil Mintuk was dead too.
And then the god pointed at me and the others with the end of his staff. “I hope these humans were not involved in taking over your castle from you?”
“They weren’t,” the three-eyed god said.
“Good,” the god with the majestic staff said, “however, we the Alliance must tell you something. You are the barbaric gods and it is in your nature to be careless. It is good that you are careless. It is important for maintaining a certain balance in the world. All the same we must stress that it is a good habit to take precautions. Humans taking over a castle of gods is ultimately a shameful thing. Your carelessness is appreciated, however do not let it become the reason you lose your castle to humans a second time. I hope you understand us.”
“We do,” the three-eyed god said with a small nod of humiliation. “This would not happen again.”
The god with the staff smiled a radiant smile. He hit the end of his staff on the floor. A wave of pure energy rippled from it in all directions. All the debris in the castle disappeared and the walls became as though they were in prime condition. The great main door that the gods had themselves destroyed reformed from all the broken pieces. And then the Alliance left. We thanked the barbaric gods for believing us and then the five of us left the castle too. We saw the season control device lying at the base of a tree not far from the main door of the castle. I reckoned even the ability to create different temperatures had not saved Mintuk from the gods.
Leaving the castle grounds we wandered about the solid clouds of the heavens for nearly five hours. My magical carrot did a good job of keeping our hunger at bay.
“We must be going around in circles,” Ian said, “the last time we covered the distance from the great bamboo to the castle of the barbaric gods in just two hours or so!” On the bright side we had avoided coming in contact with any of the monster apes. I was certainly not looking for any kind of a fight, especially after all the events that had taken place in the castle of the barbaric gods.
Stolen content warning: this tale belongs on Royal Road. Report any occurrences elsewhere.
And then we finally reached the Bamboo to the Heavens. Seeing the Bamboo we were filled with fresh energy. We could now go back to earth!
***
So it happened that for the next few days we travelled across the barbaric realm. I took the form of the monster rabbit and gave my wives and Ian a ride on my back. When we finally reached the part of the forest where the Lazaki mountain stood, we saw that the Lazaki had still not finished rebuilding their houses and the fort that I had destroyed. I recalled catching a glimpse of Ramda the day when I had gone up the mountain to save Rozy. I hoped he was okay.
The Lazaki all stood out of their broken homes and looked at me with fearful eyes as I passed their hill. I went all the way to the Well to Everywhere. There I transformed to human.
I looked down at the well.
“I hope this can transport us to my kingdom?” I found myself asking no one in particular.
“It’s the Well to Everywhere,” Ian said with a smile. “I reckon your kingdom falls in ‘everywhere’?”
“The heavens are not included in everywhere though,” Rozy commented.
“Let’s all join hands and leap into the well together,” I said. My wives joined hands with each other. I caught Dani’s hand and then extended my other hand towards Ian. Ian however hesitated.
“I do not know if I want to go with you,” he said.
“But why?” I asked.
“Most of my life in the surface world I have been in the barbaric realm,” Ian said. “This place is my home away from my subterranean home.”
“But you have nowhere to stay here,” I said. “I insist that you come with us.”
Ian shook his head however.
“I have the forest to stay,” he said. “Do not get me wrong, it’s not that I do not want to go with you. It’s just that I would like to stay here.”
“Well,” I said, “in that case it is your decision. The village of Slia’s father is in the barbaric realm and from time to time I would come to visit it. I hope that we will meet again.”
“We will,” Ian said with a smile. “It’ll be a while before I return to my subterranean kingdom, so I do not doubt that we will meet the next time you come here.”
My wives and I leapt into the well. I asked the well to take me to my chamber in my palace in my kingdom. We fell down the well. My heart was beating fast. I couldn’t believe that we were finally going to be home after so many days.
A hole appeared at the bottom of the well and through it well fell right in the middle of my chamber. The servants had tended well to it. It was clean and tidy as before and yet no things were out of place and were exactly as I wanted them to be in the room.
“We are back!” Lia cried. She, Dani and Rozy leapt in joy. Only Slia looked about the room, as though she felt she was a foreigner. I went and embraced her.
“This is my castle,” I said to her, “and from now on it’s your home too. Now give me a smile!”
Slia smiled and the rest of us cheered.
Suddenly there were knockings on the door.
“Who’s in there?” the gruff voice of a soldier said. I went to the door and opened it. The soldier’s mouth dropped open.
“Your majesty!” he said, his eyes wide. He looked at the corridor in confusion. “But… but I was here all the time, I never saw you come!”
“Well… I found a short cut,” I told him with a grin. “Now go declare to everyone that King Rabbi is back in his kingdom!”
The End… for now