CHAPTER 42: ARCHITECT

Zack slowly climbed the gray stone staircase.

Torches lit the sides and each floor he reached was an endless hallway with cells side by side and stairs went floor by floor.

Each floor was the same shape. The torches were set in the same place, the dirt on the same step or on the same section of wall, but what differed on each floor were the prisoners that were locked up.

Men, women and other beings were locked behind bars and those beings slept while in their dreams they built their lives.

Zack, with each floor he climbed, controlled the minds of those criminals and connected, seeking to learn about the ruler of this divine realm... And he had learned more than he expected.

This Divine Realm belonged to the Goddess of Dawn known as the ‘Architect’ and the ‘Builder of Reality’... Elurien.

As a divine being, she was a goddess who wielded the concept of ‘Building’ allowing her to mold reality in her favor, but it was not freely as transcendentals could do, but methodically.

That’s where the title of the ‘Architect’ came from.

“Such bad taste,” Zack muttered with contempt.

He too was an ‘architect’ of sorts or so he would like to believe, and his ancient palace was built and molded to his will similar to how the ruler molded this Divine Realm.

However, the Architect seemed to have lost all sense of style and the floor constructions were simple and repetitive.

Floor after floor, each of them being the same, with the only difference being that they changed prisoners and giving the impression that they were ancient prisons.

Zack continued to climb with a slow pace and at one point, he saw a different light from above and as he climbed, an enormous hall appeared.

In the middle was a silver-colored carpet that led to the top of the huge hall. On the sides were tall pillars of gray-colored stone whose cracks, mold and dust showed age and carelessness.

On the ceiling were paintings of buildings being constructed and the recorded images slowly changed as the buildings were erected and completed. One could see the care in the etched images, but also the neglect that had been given to this site.

Zack, upon entering, walked to the back where he could see a stone throne set up in the back of this throne room and he frowned as he realized that everything was neglected.

The pillars looked dirty, dust was spread across the floor and the walls seemed to be falling down, while the throne itself was cracked and broken.

The Divine Realms represented the concepts of the Gods and in part their power. For some gods, losing their Divine Realms was like committing suicide and, in other cases, they were strongly weakened until they rebuilt those realms.

Some called it the ‘House of God’ or ‘Heaven’... Here, the gods exercised their powers and the powers themselves took forms, but this divine realm was different.

The throne room that should have been glorious was neglected. The prison looked simple for someone called the Architect and everything gave the impression of being abandoned. Not wanting to mimic an ancient and dilapidated style, but simply abandoned.

“She’s neglected her own home,” Zack muttered with a frown.

He himself had an ‘Astral Palace’, a place he could call his house and home. Unlike the gods, it was neither his center of power nor part of him, but was a manifestation of his will and Zack cared for it and remodeled it whenever he had time.

Before coming to this world, he had been remodeling his Astral Palace.

Keeping his own thoughts to himself, he followed down a hallway the traces of the force that gave life to this realm.

As he walked down the hallway, he saw different designs of towers painted in pictures hanging on the walls and at the front of each of those buildings was a figure with a paintbrush.

Square towers with magnificent windows, triangular towers, round towers and towers with different geometric shapes. The designs and styles were varied, some used nature, others were molded with more common materials and other times, lightning, water and even fire were used.

Zack stopped at a picture of a tower that looked like a cloud and stared at it, nodding to himself.

Each design had its own style and something that characterized it, and such a fact made everything strange, since those towers did not refer to the lighthouse outside, but to this divine realm.

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Why did she lose so much style? Zack walked to the end of the corridor and when he noticed the entrance, he tried to open it, but found that it was closed.

A force was pressing the entrance preventing him from being able to enter... No, what that force was looking for was that whoever was on the other side could not get out and Zack opening his hands gathered the mental force of the prisoners he had taken control of and then his own mental force.

“...”

He did not force it or destroy it, but replicated the key opening it and after the sound of the key entering, the door opened, releasing a hissing sound.

On the other side, a green garden, lit by a false sun, came into view and Zack entered noticing the small stream running through the garden and saw the flowers growing, but he focused on the figure with her back to him as she was watering the flowers.

The figure, upon hearing his footsteps, stopped and slowly turned, allowing Zack to see her.

Elurien, the Goddess of Dawn, was a tall golden skinned woman. Her two meters in height attracted attention and more so to him, who was in this diminutive form.

The woman wore a white-colored dress with engravings of cities forming and disappearing only to reform again. The white gave a marble-like feel, and the engravings looked like paintings carved in stone.

The woman wore a hood that covered her eyes, preventing him from being able to see her eyes, but exposed black lips and white locks that fell down her shoulders. Behind her was a small round cracked tower floating openly.

“Who are you?” The woman’s voice was deep and soft, with a small tinkling sound that would make mortals at a loss.

Zack was not a mortal and was unaffected by either the voice or the presence of the goddess.

“A visitor who came for a resident,” Zack said as he positioned himself five meters away from the woman.

The Architect looked at him carefully and then waving her hand. From the garden a small hexagonal wooden pavilion was quickly constructed and then inside were two chairs and a table.

“My people have let you in. I assume you are trustworthy,” said the Architect, inviting him into the pavilion.

Her people? Zack, instead of answering, looked at the small tower of the woman in the back and then at her, whose eyes were covered.

The tower was old and cracked without care, similar to what he had seen before, but the hood covering her eyes did not appear to be of the design of the dress she wore.

However, sometimes gods in their true forms represented more than they should, and this was one of those cases.

Zack floated into the pavilion and sat across from the Architect raising the chair to fit his small body and then waving his hand made a teacup and teapot appear with a tea whose flavor he remembered.

It was a show of power, and the woman showed no movement... As if she didn’t see it and it was curious, for as friendly as she appeared, she was cautious.

The Architect was sharp in sensing his power, but she also came across as blinded, perhaps seeing less than she appeared and that she could not see properly caused her to invite him more comfortably as she spoke.

“Your people have taken wonderful care of the tower,” Zack said in a friendly tone.

“They have. Even if this is a prison for criminals, I think they must live well. Some see criminals, I see residents who can change. They can build a better present and a better future,” replied the Architect, giving a slight smile.

Zack nodded, understanding the strangeness.

Elurien that was the Architect’s name and according to the memories of many prisoners, when the Tower changed the previous administration, she was the one who came.

Specifically, they changed Divine Realm and during the early days of Elurien’s administration, she ruled mercifully with the goal of criminals living well... At least that was what many remembered before they slept and dreamed of building their lives.

However, the Architect had not changed her mind about building a better present and future and for that reason in the dreams of those prisoners they were building their own lives, but the Tower showed nothing of that change.

There were no ‘servants’ or believers and it was dirty and abandoned, while the owner of it all was here, locked up, believing that outside everything was fine... Believing that her people who were supposed to be outside, were doing everything right.

Without realizing what was happening.

“Since you have come this far, I would like to know your name. Unfortunately, my servants have not notified me of your arrival,” said the woman and calmly, she pointed out. “Still, I would like to hear your case and to know who you seek. Perhaps we can come to a mutual agreement that does not require conflict.”

She deep down was wary because she sensed his mental power, but she was not submissive... The Architect was open to dialogue and did not desire conflict, though she was ready for it.

Zack, looking at the tower, moved his finger and manifested a chisel that carefully touched the tower.

The Architect shivered as if she had a chill, but did not react defensively or alarmed... Like the tea he had created, she could not see it.

Revealing that her state was more complex than he thought.

“I am Zack, the strongest transcendental of all, and sought my equal. She who was unjustly locked away,” Zack said as the chisel continued to carve the tower, closing the wounds. He looked at the woman. “I do not wish for conflict either. Finding a being who likes architecture is not an everyday occurrence.”

He didn’t care if he had conflict, but today there was no need for him to confront the Architect... Not when she wasn’t in the best state, and it seemed as if someone had affected her in such a way that she didn’t realize it.

The woman thought her servants were outside taking care of the ‘Tower’ and also seemed to think her prisoners were fine, when they were in a dream that kept repeating itself endlessly. She didn’t even realize what he was doing.

Zack created a blizzard that raised the woman’s hood, and the two of them exchanged glances.

“...”

Elurien, the Architect and Builder of Reality, had eyes without pupils or irises and what remained was a gray color with nothing in sight... She wasn’t blind. Someone had blinded her and Zack manifested his power, not aggressively, but peacefully.

Several chisels appeared in the small tower, trying to close the wounds and return to the original form, while he concentrated entirely on the eyes, seeking to get into the mind of his hostess.

Not to harm and hurt, but to heal, and he did so in such a way as to not make the woman wary.

“If you will permit me, I wish to state the case of the person I have come for,” Zack said to distract the goddess.

The Architect was in a complex state. She was conscious, but blinded and her mind was a mess with memories that were not and others sealed away.

Zack wanted to bring order or make the pieces fit together and it would take time, concentration and a lot of work... Enough to tell a story.

And when he was done, he hoped the Architect would understand that the one he sought to free was not like the ones outside portrayed her.