"From beyond my eyes..." Airya whispered.

She was barefooted in dry desert sand that was already starting to burn her feet. She knew she should find someplace to soothe them, but the city captivated her. It was magnificent. Little pyramid among little pyramid towered over a large collection of small wagons that were placed in an orderly fashion at the beginning of the entrance into the city. People were busy running and trying to get someplace or another to complete whatever tasks they had at hand that it was as if they were one like some sort of creature.

Behind the small pyramids were larger ones that Airya could only see the widths and the tops of. Beyond those, centered in the back of the city, overlooking all, was the largest most dominant temple-like structure that Airya had ever laid her eyes on. It had to be The Vizen.

The Vizen was made of two pyramids. It looked as if they were connected with the bottom one inverted and the other set on top right-side up. Two large pillars about three times the size of the ones that held up her temple in Ausrine stood on either side of The Vizen, holding it firmly in place. A balcony was encasing the top point holding the opening to a doorway. From what Obsviden had said, that was where the Brillia's Shackled Eye was possibly kept.

"Ow!" Airya yelled out when the heated sand became too much. She lifted one foot away from the sand and then the other. Hethei sat on her shoulder, looking around, frightened and overwhelmed. She took a deep breath and let both her feet sit back into the burning sand for a second as she reached back out to Aursrine. Lifting one foot, she stepped into Ausrine's soft, forgiving grass and sat by the river to put her feet in it to cool them off.

Now Hethei looked confused.

"Don't worry. We’re going back. Did you expect me to walk through the city and up to the tower?"

He stared at her with his wide yellow eyes in silence.

She gave a hearty laugh, "I'm going to open back to that world and land in the room with the balcony." She stood up, enjoying her feet being damp and cool. Then reached out, wanting nothing more than to be high above all else. To look down at a city run with people and feel the power of being over all. To enjoy the power of her soul standing above and rising above all else, while her finger tips were surrounded by gifts from the gods. A hole formed, and she stepped through.

The sun beat down harder than before on her forehead. She figured it was because she was closer to it than she was before. This time a slight dry breeze lifted her brown hair, gently tickling her shoulders and making the strands bother Hethei. He flew off of her, annoyed, and landed on the balcony rail that she was facing away from. She turned and smiled down at the city of Nokia, proud of herself for opening a portal exactly where she needed to go. The view was breathtaking and powerful. The people far below looked like little insects that the sun glared down at as she looked down at them like a god. She couldn't imagine ruling and being loved by so many like the King and Queen were here. How did they keep so many people in line?

From how high Hethei and herself were now she could pinpoint exactly where they had been outside of the city when they had first arrived. Now she had an even better view of the pyramids that were way below that now seemed less mighty. There were several larger ones that led down to many smaller ones all misshapen and far less grand. There was a large amount of people in the marketplace where she had seen many carts when she had stood outside of Nokia. Each cart had animal skin stretched across the top blocking her view of the items beneath. She could also see that on the other side of the city on the outer edge there was a bridge across a large river with animals and trees and a large number of people marching back and forth with nowhere to go.

Hethei squawked, drawing her attention away from the land down below. She remembered what she was there for, The Shackled Eye of Brillia. She twisted around to face the opening into the top of the temple. She breathed in deeply, tasting a saltiness in the air that was already drying out her tongue as she approached the room, encountering the dark.

The inside was cooler but crisp. Her eyes didn’t take long to adjust to the dusty dark air. The smallest slits in the stone above let only the smallest amount of light into the decently large room. The air was rich and ancient, carrying an old musty smell full of power. She looked at the items sprawled on display sending vibrations through her as if begging her to touch them. Begging her to understand the things she may never comprehend.

On the angled wall was a golden plate that winked when a ray of light hit it from behind her. She was surprised that she could read exactly what it said. Close to the gods and where they belong, in the sky. It looked as if it had been melded into the wall, possibly when the room was built.

Hethei was now on her shoulder again and fluttered his wings wanting her to get going. To get done with her task and to get out of there. But it was hard for her to look past the beautiful shiny objects that yearned for her touch and try to focus on what she was looking for, a shackle that might have an eye on it. Then she saw a shackle that could only be that. The shackle itself wasn't gold or shiny like some of the other things around it besides the golden eye placed in the middle that looked like at one point it might have even been real. The rest of the shackle was bronze with broken chains hanging in just two links.

"How in the Brillia?" a soft voice spoke.

Airya turned with her heart in her throat to see a woman standing on the side of the room in the dark.

"How did you get in here?" she demanded.

Airya tried to make her out in the dim light, but couldn't. All she could see was a soft gleam of gold coming off of her, "I came here for something that I’m in need of."

"Yes, I see that you are here to steal from us. I asked how you got in here," her voice was sweet but bitter since it was laced with anger and annoyance.

"I came through where you did."

"Impossible. It’s a long way up here and I would have seen you. Or a guard would have."

Airya caught a better glimpse of her as the girl shifted her body, crossing her arms around her stomach. She was tall. Maybe she was a little taller than Airya and had curly hair that looked black in the dark, touching her broad shoulders. She had a golden headband, two golden bands around her ankles, and two small golden hoops glistening off the sun on each earlobe. Her dress was also made of a golden fabric, but more faded, with only one strap on her right shoulder.

"You don't look like you are from here. Answer me now or answer to my brother! The King!"

Airya stammered, not knowing what to do or say. She looked down at the shackle and called out to her home world, opening a hole. She made a break for it, reaching down and grabbing the cuff before heading toward her only chance at escape waiting for her in the dim dust. But a hand wrapped around her wrist stopped her and yanked her back. Hethei screeched and flew at the girl, claws ready to scratch up her face to make her let Airya go. The girl’s other hand that wasn't holding onto Airya reached up, quickly snatched Hethei's talons mid-flight, and tossed him to the side against the wall.

"Hethei!" Airya called out. The hole closed. She tried to run to him, but the girl would not let go and pulled her closer until they were looking eye to eye and nose to nose, breathing heavily and angrily on each other. Airya stared in shock and frustration. Her heart clenched and her mouth had gone entirely dry. The girl's eyes were gold. She was the Queen.

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Airya’s yellow eyes stared into her gold eyes as the Queen refused to let go.

"What in the Brillia was that?" the Queen asked through clenched teeth.

Airya assumed she meant the portal. She couldn't speak and couldn't breathe.

"What are you, and what type of magic do you possess?" The shackle got pulled from Airya’s hands as the girl stepped away from Airya's face to examine the item she had just taken. She held onto her wrist, "This is what you had come for? This is what you planned to steal and run with?"

Hethei stirred in the dark and let out a tiny, hurting hoot.

Airya tried to pull away to go to him, tears in her eyes, but the girl continued to hold on hard.

"I will let you go and see your friend after you tell me what I’m asking of you."

Airya swallowed nothing and tried to will herself to speak, "I’m Airya. Queen of The Molok Kingdom. I came here for that," she pointed to the shackle in the girl's hand, "To try to bring my people back."

The girl looked at her curiously, "Back? Like back from the dead? Because that’s the only place this thing is supposed to take you."

Airya gave a nod.

"And what was that thing you were running to escape into?"

"It was a hole to my world."

"A hole to your world." The girl tested the sentence slowly on her tongue, "You are from another world. A Queen of another world. That makes a little more sense since Queens of our world don't dress like that." She laughed, eying her tunic.

Annoyance flitted across Airya’s nerves, "And you are Queen of the Brillia. Now can I go and see if Hethei is alright?" She tried to remove her hand again, but the queen squeezed her wrist tighter.

"How am I supposed to know that you won't try and run off to your world again if I let you go? Obviously, you won't attack me since your little flying creature felt it had to protect you, but I don't know if you will run like you already attempted. My brother will want to see you, and I plan to take you to him."

"I won't leave without that," Airya answered, nodding toward the cuff.

The girl let go keeping her hand open in front of Airya's face as if to show that she held power over Airya and was the one who chose to release her. After a beat to ensure she didn't plan to grab her again, Airya ran to Hethei and fell to the floor to pick him up and cradle him. She carried him to the balcony into the light to get a better look.

He was breathing steadily as if sleeping but was wincing in pain a little with each breath. Anger seethed in Airya as she watched her poor friend in her arms. The Queen approached behind her, looking over her shoulders at the owl.

"He’ll be fine. It looks like he just got the wind knocked out of him and maybe hit his head or something. I didn't throw him that hard. I'm sure a little rest will have him flying and attacking again for you in no time," the Queen said with a lack of concern.

Airya wanted to cry, but she held in her tears. She wanted respect more than anything Queen to Queen. And she needed that shackle. She was scared of the possibility of being unable to get home with the thing she had come for, but she would not show it. She was not a little princess anymore. She was a Queen. She would do what she had to for her people. She would get home and get them back, "Take me to the King."

In the corner of her eye, Airya saw the Queen nod and then walk away, still carrying the shackle. Airya followed her back into the dim room and down a flight of stairs in one of the side walls that traveled down, touching the pyramid’s walls. The journey was long and silent except for their soft footing on each step. The staircase scratched the bottoms of her feet from random bits of sand and from the roughness of the stone. It was enclosed by two walls all the way down making it a close confinement. Sometimes there was an opening in the wall to Airya's right that probably led to more rooms or larger rooms in the structure. The only lighting, once again were well-placed slits in the upper part of the walls in such a way that light angled in an unexpected way. She would hate to think about how dark the pyramid was when the sun set even with her eyes that could see pretty well in such shade.

"We will be going into the main room of The Vizen," the Queen finally spoke, looking at Airya, who was behind her, "It’s the largest room in the middle of the temple at the end of this staircase. There is a second staircase like this one on the other side of the pyramid that leads down into the bottom of The Vizen to the outside of Nokia and to the prisons where you will most likely go,” the Queen smiled.

Airya glowered at her, still cradling Hethei in her arms.

An opening ahead forced light into the stairwell, almost blinding Airya as the Queen stepped into the room. Airya followed, squinting momentarily, waiting for her eyes to adjust.

The room was massive. Maybe the full size of the village outside of her temple. The walls slanted upwards all around them with good-sized rectangles that the light from the outside shone through, lighting up the entire room from the walls opposite the two stairways. The floor was beautiful, with swirls and designs placed into it artistically with glistening yellow stone. There were many seats of all different sizes and structures not made of stone or sticks like what she was used to but of colorful fabrics of blues, purples, reds, and yellows with the most magnificent designs and little square-shaped fabrics that held their own form. All this was placed in a circle in the middle on a large colorful red blanket on the ground that looked so soft and comfortable that Airya wouldn't have minded laying on it.

In one of the seats was a man who, when he saw his sister, gave her a noticing nod until he saw Airya come in behind her. He stood, a question forming in his golden eyes like his sisters. He was taller than both his sister and Airya but still looked close to their age. And now that Airya finally got a better look at the Queen, she also noticed they had the same dark smooth skin. His hair was dark but cut close to his head, and he had no hair on his face or chest. Airya blushed, not understanding the heat coursing through her body when she saw how muscular he was. She wondered if it was because he dressed differently than any of her people had. Her people all had long tunics covering their bodies, but he wore a long golden skirt that clung to his muscular hips with two slits that went up to his waist line to allow him to move easily. He also had golden covers on his feet.

Airya found herself shockingly mesmerized by the other things she was beginning to notice that she wasn't sure she had ever really taken in about anyone else before. His lips were dark and full, his posture tall and powerful, his jawline solid and withstanding. He had one thick golden band in his left earlobe, like his sister had in both of hers and two wide golden bands around his wrists. He looked like a true King or even a god.

"Aesha, who is this?" he asked his sister, not taking his eyes off Airya. His voice was kind but calculating.

"Apparently, a queen," she scoffed and smiled at her brother. "Dressed like that. Can you believe it?" She laughed and held up the shackle, "She was trying to steal this. We have to do something. First that man and now her."

Confusion thickened on his face and anger gently washed over his now piercing golden eyes, "You dare to steal from the Brillia?"

Airya forced down her fear like she had sworn to herself she would do and took a step forward, holding her head high, "I need it to try to find a way to get my people back."

He didn't say anything but stood there studying her, taking in her courage, "How did she get in here?" he asked his sister, not letting his eyes leave Airya.

Airya stared back also, refusing to let her stance go.

"She has some magic. She tried to escape into a hole she had conjured up while this bird creature attacked me," She pointed to Hethei in Airya's arms, "She says she’s from another world."

The King’s eyes widened, the fierceness receding to astonishment and more confusion, "A queen? A queen from another world? What is your other world's name?"

"Ausrine."

"Ausrine," he repeated.

"She honestly is harmless," Aesha spoke up. "Her creature didn't even get to touch me before I made do with him, and all I had to do was grab her for her not to get away."

"Obviously, you knew what you were after. So, you have heard of us. How? If you are from another world?" the king asked.

"I can travel to many worlds and have been gathering knowledge to find to try to bring back my people."

The king looked to the shackle his sister held, a certain sadness reaching into his face.

"I’m guessing your people died."

"Yes," Airya whispered.

"How many?" he looked up at her.

"All of them."

There was a long deafening silence, one she thought was filled with understanding, until Airya felt something grab her arms and yank her back.

“Although I understand your need as a Queen to do what is best for your kingdom, I cannot have you stealing from mine,” the King said, any ounce of humanity or empathy evaporating from his face.

She let herself look to the side to see who was dragging her backward. There were two guards on either side of her, gold plates on their shoulders. She almost dropped Hethei who she was still cradling, trying to keep her hands close together while whoever it was tried pulling them apart.

Turning her attention back to the King and Queen one last time, she thought about pleading with them to let her go, but Aesha’s movement stopped her. Airya watched as the Queen held her finger to her lips before she took it away to address the guards pulling her, “Oh. Guards, you will need to set one of the stones that we have to trap demi-gods and magickal beings. She has magick that can portal her straight out of prison if she isn’t contained correctly.”

Before Airya could shoot her a look, she was yanked entirely around. She shrieked when she dropped Hethei for a second before falling to her knees to catch him in her palms. The guards had switched sides. They dragged her up, pinching her hard until she began moving her legs with them. She let them lead her out of the room.