Chapter 367 - Day MDCXXXI, Part I

I woke up around midday, but at that time I had no idea since there was no indication of the day-night cycle in Loistavadvaar. I stumbled out of the building, pulling some food from my vault, which I quickly stuffed my mouth with, then a thought occurred to me, that I didn't even drop the anchor in this place, so I did just that.

Then I went to the building the strange alien was occupying.

- Welcome, Peter - he said to me as soon as I appeared at the entrance.

He was studying one of the papers.

- What are those? - I said, pointing at all the books illuminated by the silver light from the outside, making it past the walls.

- This is all poetry of Bahumdabars. My favorite. Did you know that they never actually discovered written language? They got the idea from Xuvi during one of the first encounters with them. At least that's what their mythology says. Shortly after anything with text written on it became sacred for them.

- That's... Interesting. I was curious because I never suspected them to be using paper, or making books.

- The form of a book is surprisingly common, but this actually is not paper - he said while presenting me the scroll he was reading from. - It's a mucus of an animal living on its home planet. Mixed with pigment to make the color, and then dried. But you didn't come here to talk about the history of Bahumdabars, nor about the literature.

- Maybe another time, but right now I did come here with something different in mind...

- You want me to send you and Will back to earth. Good. I will do that.

- No, I was actually thinking of bringing him here and letting him know the plan.

- That's...

- Nonnegotiable.

- Can you explain to me why? - he put the non-paper down.

- Because he deserves it, and if I'm gone, he is the second strongest. So if you want somebody to pick the banner after me, that would be him.

The Great One went silent for a moment and then nodded.

- Bring him here then.

I went outside immediately, and shadow walked to my room after few steps. It was surprisingly shocking to appear out there. The scenery of a dark room was so different from the ones I was used to, that I needed a few seconds.

After collecting myself I went out, hunting for Will. I finally discovered what time, more or less, it was. I looked for him in his room, but he wasn't there, then I went to the academy. Hoping he is not out hunting, but taking care of his newly picked up duties.

He wasn't in the area where two groups clashed against each other with wooden weapons, training before the hunt. He wasn't further in the complex were in a long plaza, that evidently used to be a street, a bunch of people trained archery under Nadzieja's tutorage.

She was so focused on her students, that she didn't even notice me. It was better this way. I was already seen by many, and from a bunch of them even turning after me, as I passed by, I could only gather that it was public news that I'm not around.

I finally found him after asking around a bit. He was in the main building, in his own little office, buried in papers. He jumped as soon as I appeared in the open door, and a big smile crawled on his face.

- Peter! Holy shit! You are back!

- Not for long. A lot has happened, and I actually came to take you with me.

- With you? I... We decided to go with a new politic about the hunting grounds, classify hunters and...

- And you are buried under work, but I don't care Will. This is way more important.

- Ok. I'll just write a note, and let's go.

I nodded, and he quickly wrote few words, then left a piece of paper on top of the pile. Then I shadow walked with him straight to Loistavadvaar.

- Holy fuck... - escaped his mouth as soon as we appeared there. - What is this place? Is it...

- Loistavadvaar, the city of gates - I interrupted him.

- So you made it... - He rapidly turned back to me - Don't tell me something happened and we don't have way back to earth after all.

- Yes, William, something happened, and he doesn't have the way, but I do - came from the side, from The Great One who was approaching us.

- Who is that? - whispered Will.

- I'm the one known to you as The Great One, and according to Peter's wishes, I will explain to you why you have been brought here, why all of you were. Then I'll let you see your family, but for an open path back to earth you will have to wait a little bit longer.

Will was shocked, he couldn't decide on which one of us he should look at. Alien waved his hand, and we were no longer in the open, but inside the building filled with books. He sat on his spot, and with a gesture invited Will to sit in front of him.

I, on the other hand, just walked out. This was something Will had to do on his own. I couldn't just stand there and silently influence his reactions just by my presence. He had to go through the anger and frustration by himself, to truly understand what he thinks about what happened. I didn't want him to agree just because I did.

I spend some time walking around and looking through portals. Admiring the architecture out there. It was beautiful, overwhelming even sometimes. There was always one common thing. The love for plants.

Everything else could change, but there were always few gardens present. Smaller or bigger, but at least a bunch in the small piece of landscape I could see through the gate.

I really wanted to go there and have a look. See what those places were about.. My inner explorer and adventurer was excited by the visions of roaming through new lands, where human feet never stood before.