The gate to Arkaros is made of stone, broader and thicker than the others. Hundreds of symbols are ingrained into its surface. The last time I was here I tried to figure out what they meant. I don't think I've ever seen them, not in the living world nor here.
Sun is already standing in front of the small stairs.
"There you are, I was wondering if you decided not to come."
"I'm here now."
"That you are," she says and climbs the five stairs that leads to the ancient gate. "If you plan on visiting Arkaros this is the only way. All the others are closed."
She gently lays a hand against the gate and runs it down the symbols.
"I cannot use my own gate stone?" I ask.
The symbols start glowing in a jade color.
"No." she removes her hand from the gate. "Like I said, all ways – from and to Arkaros – are closed off. They closed them about a hundred years ago, to make sure that uninvited guests stay out of the sky's city."
Sun opens the door and we're met with a beautiful, shining light. It moves around the same way the darkness does in the other gates, it makes me forget everything I was going to say. Sun must have seen it hundreds of times. She simply turns to me with a smile and says something about my mouth being open, before I can gather my thoughts and say something that wouldn't be flabbergasted mumbling, she steps through the light. I remain in the corridor for a few seconds of awe. I close my mouth and follow.
Sun stands on the other side and behind her is a long white bridge that stretches out over the sky towards the gigantic gates, behind lies a city surrounded by tall walls. From where I stand, I can see a few towers peek up from inside of the city. The other thing I notice is that the Arkaros' walls are surrounded by another well. It doesn't look like the one in the Eleven or the Oak, but it has more similarities with the Eleven. Yet, there's no tower and the well itself is embracing the walls, it never reaches the bridge but end a few meters away from it on each side, like an open circle. The liquid isn't running down from above the sky nor is it coming from inside of the walls, it spills over the edge of the circle and falls down below the floating city – and continues downwards, beyond the clouds. Both the Oak and the Eleven has doors, but here I cannot see a single one.
We're standing on a platform with eight doorways, one for each guardian and the eight one is likely for the creatures. They have no doors and are all showing the same dark whirling I've gotten used to. The one I came out of has a floating symbol of a chamomile, and it's likely Sun stepped out of the door with the crescent moon that – just like the chamomile – is floating a few centimeters above the doorway.
If I had seen a painting or a photograph of this place, I'd say that this is how I'd imagine heaven. But we're not in heaven. We're in the Realm of the Dead. Most of the religions I'm aware of has always depicted it in darkness and underground. Here we're high up above the clouds with sunlight, not at all the same gloomy and dark place that it usually is depicted as.
I have to convince myself that this place isn't terrifyingly beautiful, that it's not the core of the Realm of the Dead, or the capital as Cerberus had explained it.
Sun is standing at the end of the stairs waiting.
"You look impressed."
I had likely not gone into the city myself if Sun hadn't brought me with her, I would have gone back and pretended shapeshifting wasn't an option. It feels like the city will devour me whole if I even put a toe behind the gigantic gates.
"After a while Arkaros will feel like any other place." She observes the city on the other side of the long bridge. "You'll notice there's not a big difference compared to the other worlds in the Realm of the Dead."
It takes a few moments before I can force my legs to move and follow her towards the bridge.
"Has Rampion gotten used to it?"
He's the youngest I know that has been in Arkaros, I want to know how long it would take to become used to this.
"Rampion is detached to a certain point."
"What do you mean?"
I take the first step onto the large bridge.
A soul wanderer passes me – one that I've never seen before – and nods as a greeting when I meet her eyes, I do the same gesture.
"He's tired of these worlds, tired to be stuck in that atrocious costume," she says.
"Yet you make fun of him as quickly as you can," I mention, it doesn't come out as loud and confident as I'd prefer.
"Have you met him? He can deal with it. And the few times I go too far I apologize."
"Okay, so what do you mean exactly? You said he was detached and tired. What does that have to do with my question?"
Sun sighs. "He's so exhausted that he doesn't care about anything, except feeling something. It doesn't matter what, hence the reason why he eats those disgusting balls. A city like this he couldn't care less for."
I've felt that feeling before – it forces itself in and the desire and longing becomes unfathomable and unhealthy. It doesn't matter what you'll feel as long as you feel something – whether that is pain or pleasure. I wanted to submerge myself in the well when I felt its sorrow. Here there wasn't the same feeling from the blue, gleaming liquid. Nor was it close enough to touch even if I'd lean out from the bridge.
"How did you meet him?" I ask.
The city looks much bigger now, an unpleasant feeling settles in the depth of my stomach.
"I saw him fight with one of the beings in the Eleven."
She chuckles at the thought.
"Did you stop them?"
She scoffs. "What do you think? It was one of the most interesting things I had seen in weeks. One of those little hairless beings that barely reach up my waist called him something crude. He didn't care of the world, or the rules of these places that doesn't make sense half of the time. Yet that little creature was able to rile him up. The few times I had seen him he was like a walking corpse stuck in that childish costume. It was like he came to life again, simply to refuse that little imp to speak condescendingly to him."
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"I have a hard time to see how that turns into friendship."
"Well, I didn't want a friend at first. I was bored. I hadn't had someone I could call a friend for fifty years. All seemed bleak and boring in comparison. But Rampion didn't. I hadn't expected a friend, nor someone that I cared for. Not since the Raven."
I observe the gigantic gates that are thicker than a meter. The buildings inside are just as white as the walls, most of them are oval with beautiful stained-glass windows. Large parts of the streets are made of glass. Underneath floats turquoise water. It's different from the thick blue liquid of the well.
Gargoyles with spears in one of their hands stand on each side of the gigantic gates on a pedestal, the tip of the spears is shining in a black, hollow color.
"Hold on," Sun says and grabs me roughly by the arm.
Before I can ask what she means the gargoyles are moving. They approach us with slow, loud, and dragging steps. They had looked small next to the gates that has to be over thirty meters tall, but when they stand in front of us, they look closer to three meters. Their eyes are glowing with the same orange color as Varg's. They look at us in what feels like an eternity, before they go back, just as slow, to their places on their pedestals. The spears in their hands point in towards the city instead of upwards.
"Come," she says and her grip around my arm is as tight as before, while she pulls me towards the city.
One of the Gargoyle's eyes have stopped shining and it look as still as it had been before – like it hadn't at all left its pedestal just a moment ago.
"What the hell was that?" I ask once we reach the parts of the streets that are made of glass.
"Gargoyles," Sun answers and lets go of my arm. "They're Arkaros' guards, they were brought in when all doors but the ones we saw were closed. There's no need to worry about them, they did let us in after all."
"And if they hadn't?"
Sun looks at me with the familiar smile. "We would likely have faded away. Or something along those lines."
Had I not felt that feeling when the shattered soul pushed its nails into my throat, I'd question it. Now I know there's truth behind her words, no matter how amused she looks by my question. We're not immortal and our soul is just as fragile as our bodies when we were alive – if not more.
"There's no need to worry. They're never wrong, and they're here to protect us as well as Arkaros."
Protect us from what?
"Where are we going?" I ask and try not to think of the black shining tip of the spear.
Sun points to a narrow street that leads into a labyrinth of dark alleys made of white buildings. They're not oval like the one we saw by the gate, these are mostly rectangular, with some white peculiar, complex shapes. The streets are not made of glass and are hiding the turquoise water underneath the city.
"The market. I have an errand there."
She leads us into the alleys, the streets are so narrow that we have to walk in a line. It lays entirely in shadows and when I look up we're under two complex buildings built into each other. After a while we've turned and changed directions so many times I have no clue how to get back.
When we finally reach the end of the alley, we walk straight into a market that makes the one in Eleven pale in comparison. Market stalls of different colors stand on each side of us, its street is crowded with thousands of soul wanderers and creatures. Red lanterns show us the way to a pair of red stairs, leading up to another floor of market stalls. In the air floats yellow and red lanterns that sway back and forth. A clear night sky extends above us, even though it had been daylight outside just a few minutes ago. This whole place is magical and beautiful. It doesn't feel strange, not like a dream nor like it shouldn't exist. I'm not sure why this place is different. While the Eleven have a flashier feeling to it, there isn't that much difference between them.
Sun steps into another crowd, I'm careful not to lose her behind all soul wanderers and creatures. I cannot imagine what more than half of the goods for sale are, they're just as strange, if not stranger than everything else here. Sculptures of peculiar creatures or structures, stones, fruits, golden or silver objects. Some of them is covered in transparent veils and fabric.
Sun is walking with purpose, not paying attention to anything but whatever she's supposed to do here. Once we've walked in silence for ten minutes, we reach another pair of stairs leading us to the third floor. The same lanterns dance in the air on the platform. I'm eye-level with them and below lays the first floor and the second floor's lanterns. Sun grabs my arm pulling me to another market stall on the other side.
A creature with snow white skin stands before us. Its small eyes have the same eye color as Emma. It feels unnatural to see human eyes on a creature that is far from humane. It moves its batlike nose nervously when it looks up at Sun. She places three leaves on the market stall's table.
"Leaves from the forest with many faces," Sun says.
The creature eagerly studies them. With a grunt it quickly gathers the leaves with its overly long fingers. It organizes them neatly, the biggest one in the middle with the two smaller on each of its side.
"What was the answers to the question?" it asks.
"They said he was sleeping."
The creature blinks with its narrow eyes. "So not faded."
"Not faded, but a deep sleep. The faces said it was only a question of when he'll awake, not if."
The creature smiles and bows.
"This was no favor, being," Sun says.
It bends down and searches through the market stall while Sun waits with her arms crossed. The creature lays its claw-looking hands on the table and peeks up with its pale face. The mouth is open in a large smile. I can see a line of small sharp teeth that reminds me of Sixxteen.
"Here, here," the creature snorts, it straightens its crooked back.
It moves its hand away and two trinkets, that looks like a spider's web of iron with a gem in the middle, lay on the market stall's table.
"Perfect," says Sun and picks up the two trinkets, they disappear from her hand the moment they lay in her palm.
She quickly turns around and heads towards the crowd again. It carefully picks up the three leaves. I give the creature a nod and it answers by blinking with its all too humanoid eyes. I follow Sun back into the crowd of soul wanderers and creatures.
"What was that?" I ask.
"A deal of a sort."
She extends her arm slightly, one of the trinkets shows up in her palm. The floating lanterns next to us mirrors itself in the red jewel placed in the middle of the web.
"What kind of trinket is that?"
I stare at it before it disappears from her palm again.
"It's for communication. If you had the other trinket, we'd be able to talk even if we're in different worlds."
A magical phone with other words.
"And what use does that do, when you can easily just travel through a door?"
"Aren't you curious, Orchid," she says with a smile. "I guess there's no harm in telling you. You cannot use the gate stone in every world. I thought it could be handy if you need to talk to someone who's not in the same place as you. You'd be surprised how often the guardians send us out to do different kind of... errands in different worlds."
For a moment I almost ask what these errands would look like, but I have a feeling it's best to leave it alone.
"When you spoke to the creature about the deal you mentioned something about a forest with faces?"
"The forest with many faces," she corrects me.
"And what is that?"
"A forest with speaking trees. Many beings believe they are the truth and destiny's prophet or something. Quite laughable, considering they've been there for barely two years. They prattle on about all kind of things when you visit the forest. It was worth going there if I could get my hands on the iron webs."
I can hear music play further away. It doesn't sound as sad as the moon trees' melody, but it has a similar sound that fills the entire air with vibration.
"She wanted me to ask about one of the kings."
"The Realm of the Dead have kings?"
She gives me a haughty glance. "No. It's no more than a legend. It is said that there were three kings that was no being nor guardian, nor where they soul wanderers. The legend claims they all died."
"The trees said he slept," I say.
"Yes, but the trees have existed for two years and speaks rubbish. The leaves have no meaning, it's just a bunch of rumors they believe in without a single thought."
Sun leads me down stairs to another alley that seems just as confusing as the first. We leave the market behind and go through narrow streets, leading us further and further into the city. Once we reach the outside of the alley labyrinths, I notice that it's light again, and the sun is high upon the sky. On the other side of the broad streets lies a gigantic building with the appearance of a gothic church. Surrounding it is a white fence with sculptures of strange creatures with large ears. They remind me of bats without wings. On the other side of the fence there's a garden of large flowers and trees whose leaves are as white as its trunk. On the building's walls climb faded green vines up against the stained-glass windows.
"A church?" I ask when Sun leads us to the broader, white streets.
"That is no church. It's the library. Shall we?"