Ibaeran flapped through the final pages of the book before closing it and then letting out a deep sigh. That was a story unlike any other that narrated the lost history of a true legend and a hero. Ibaeran then turned to look at the window, seeing the sun was slowly rising and casted away the shadows of the night to usher in a new day. Ibaeran just sighed once more as she realized that she had spent the entire day reading the book before shifting her gaze away from her window and to the book. Her mind then began to recollect the tale that laid with the pages of the book and she did so she realized something, she and the Su Baera before her alike in a sense as just like her, he had experience the pain of loss and had suffered immensely before finally being bestowed the power of the Su Baera, they were even moment after he gained the power of the Su Baera that he doubted himself and his abilities to protect people of the four nation but despite that he was still ready and willing to fight when the people needed him.
Ibaeran then looked at her hands before she wondered to herself, if Menjikiri could push passed his fears and doubt to fight for his people to fight for his people with everything he had even if it came at a cost of his own life, why couldn’t she. Why was it so hard for to push away her fears and dare to fight for her people instead of silently submitting. She had the power, she could feel within her, flowing through her entire body but yet she couldn’t bring herself to use it.
Ibaeran looked at the book once more with eyes filled with shame and guilt before shifting her gaze away from the book. Recalling that she didn’t have much time and only six days remain for her to retrieve the Dumo Stone to her people from the king’s wrath, she decided to put into practice what she learnt from the book, recalling the words in pages of the book;
“…think about where I wanted to go, and then focus on it, the power of the Su Baera did the rest…”
Ibaeran then took a deep breath and then closed her eyes, focusing her mind on the one place she wished to go with all her heart. She then felt the power of the Su Baera flow through her entire body. The steel wings then extended forth from her back and then, with a flash of blinding sliver light, Ibaeran was gone.
Ibaeran then slowly opened up her eyes only to find herself floating about in a black void surrounded by doors that floated about aimless.
“Where am I?” Ibaeran asked herself as she took in her surroundings, wondering where she had just appeared in.
Looking at her surroundings was reminded of a page in the book written by the former Su Baera, describing one of the many worlds he had travelled to during his time as the Su Baera.
“…The world was a pitch black void filled only with door too numerous to count. This was a world every living soul would eventually travel to, for it is the last world a soul can continue to exist before e it meets its evitable end. It is called the Kiri Fe’e, the place of death….”
Ibaeran then wondered to herself if the world she was currently in was indeed the place of death. Looking around and seeing doors that surrounded her, filling the seemingly endless void with numbers so great they could be comparable to all the sands of desert. Ibaeran then remembered what the book said about the place of death and how it served as a reward for every soul that had ever lived, from the words stripped out of the book itself;
“…the place of death served as a reward of sorts for every living soul born or created, it mattered not if the soul was cruel or wicked, kind or just, from ever world and realm in existence, where souls could come to rest in a world of their own creation, where they would live and rule over their world as gods, creating their paradise. This was the fate of every soul that will eventually breathe their last, to spend the remainder of their existence in world forged by their own hands…”
This tale has been unlawfully lifted from Royal Road. If you spot it on Amazon, please report it.
Ibaeran looked around once more, seeing the trillions of the doors that surrounded her that even outnumbered the night sky before thinking to herself, is this truly where everyone goes to when they die both the poor and rich, weak and strong, wicked and kind. It didn’t seem right to Ibaeran as she wonder to herself how could this be true when they lived monsters so cruel, heartless, and selfish that they cared very little about spilling blood and causing countless to suffer if it meant achieving their goals. An image of the king flashed in her mind as she asked herself internally if even he, someone as cruel, vindictive, and heartless, deserves such a fate, to spend the rest of his existence in death living a world of his creation where he ruled and lived as a god, how was that fair for the people inflicted so much pain and misery on, lives he ruined and reduced to nothing more than a living hell, and the needless bloodshed, he didn’t even have the decency to spare his own people. Ibaeran looked at all the doors that surrounded her, silently wondering to herself, how was the existence of the place of death a just thing.
Ibaeran just sighed, deciding that it didn’t really matter, that was how it was, the place of death was a reward for everyone who had ever lived and would eventually meet death, it didn’t matter if she believed some soul didn’t deserve such reward after all she lacked the right and power to question the reality she was facing. Ibaeran at the moment had more passing matters to concern her mind with like how and why did she end us in the place of death in the first place when she was trying to travel to Kiri Dumo. Ibaeran then spotted something, something that made her eyes widen with shock upon seeing it.
“It can’t be?” Ibaeran questioned before propelling herself with a single flap of her steel to one of the doors.
The door looked like an old and worn out door that looked like it was going to fall apart at any moment. Ibaeran didn’t know why but she felt something within her upon spotting that one door in the midst of an infinite ocean of door, Ibaeran couldn’t understand what it was, though, or even why she felt it, it felt a form feeling of familiarity almost as though she was seeing an old friend for the very first time in ages. Then, as Ibaeran finally reached the door, it dawned on her on why the door felt so familiar, now recognizing the beaten up old door as the door of her former her former home during her time as slave. Ibaeran then looked at the door before her with a single question in her head, why was that door in the place death?
Ibaeran didn’t need to waste too much time pondering as the answer to the question was obvious. She only knew of one departed soul that could be responsible for that, a soul that was close to her, closer than anyone ever was, the sole reason she decided to walk the path she was currently on. Tear escaped Ibaeran eyes as she realized just who was on the other side of that door.
“Pre…Preyina” Ibaeran spoke with a heavy voice, her heart sinking from with her chest as she placed a hand on the door.
She could sense her presence from the other side of the door, it almost felt like she was calling out for her, waiting on the other side, with a heart just as eager as hers for her to open the door. Ibaeran then looked down at the door’s handle, the one who she wanted the most was just at the other side of the door and all she had to do was grab hold of that handle open. Then she and her would be together again and this time they would be able to enjoy the freedom that was denied from them from the very beginning their lives. The freedom to be together that was all the two of them always dream of and now that dream can be a reality and all she had to do to make it so was open the door.
Ibaeran’s reached for the door’s handle, heart racing with excitement and eagerness to see her old friend once but just as she was about to open the door she heard a voice echoing in her head;
“Seven days, that’s all the time I’m giving to get me the Dumo stone. If you don’t procure the stone with that time, I’ll make you watch as every single one from your pathetic race is slaughtered one by one by my hand,”
Ibaeran then stopped herself, realizing that the path she was about choose might have been the one she wanted and desire to take above all else but if she did, she would casting away her entire race to meet an agonizingly painful end in the hands of the king. Ibaeran, not having the strength to bare such a weight on her conscience, choose to leave the door closed, a decision hurt her much more than anything else could, she doubt that even the king himself could inflict a pain greater than the one felt for having to lose someone so close to her for the second time.