GRAVESKIES

Chapter 27

Ryujin covered her eyes because she and Fern had landed amidst a flare of blinding light.

They returned to the cosmic tree Fern had fallen from. Only this time, they hovered much higher than the goddess's suspended home, much higher than Ryujin had dared to reach with her wings, breaking with the claws of her will through barriers of dream and conception.

The building's front birthed a lance of light that echoed unyieldingly in the void.

A wheel of endless ramifications, the crown of the tree spurted abovehead. Ryujin could only compare its size to planet Earth, even though she'd never seen the planet from afar. They were so far away from the palace that the roots could not be seen; only stars and the stem next to which Ryujin was as tiny as an ant would be compared to her. Perched in the valley between branches, where the stem divided into thick branches, a mighty iron gated construction arched outwards with countless towers, gleaming spikes. Curved, circular towers like gigantic, constantly rotating disks of stone surrounded the building from every angle, each with a varying radius and width. Starlight shot like bullets over the spinning glass windows.

The beam of light fractured. The lights that erupted from the main body flickered out one by one, chaotically. From behind the edifice, a dark, dimensionless shadow surged up, shrunk and spiralled out of sight.

Only then Fern realized Ryujin had landed too and was floating adrift behind her. Her lip creased. "What are you doing here?" she asked defensively. The remnants of pain still contorted her face. She looked like a cornered animal, although this space more than anything else appeared infinite.

"I was trying to help, you sucked me in!"

"Get out. Now."

"I can't exit on my own."

"Fine, then I'll take you out." Fern reached for her; Ryu brashly pulled away.

"Not a chance. Not until you explain to me what just happened. Why are we back here?"

"I need to see it with my own eyes before I can make assumptions. But..." She glanced to the iron edifice, gaze hollow and mournful. "There's no way. I felt them go."

She swam through the void; taking pity on her, bottling up the concern that Fern might kick her out of the dream, Ryujin took her hand. Their fingers fit tightly together, knuckles knocking and cracking red. Ryujin powered herself with her legs too. Her wings left traces of turbulent tides. She closed her eyes and flew her though the cosmos, forehead naked and wide against the cool air. How come she could breathe just fine?

Shadows dazed over her eyelids when they filtered through between the spinning disk towers.

Their boots clacked against the doorstep. Although their landing hadn't shaken the tree by any means, leaves fell from impossible heights, as huge as the roof of General Kran's mansion, passed by the iron construction and danced downwards like they were the spirits of catfish. Sniffing, Fern ran inside and Ryujin followed. A series of corridors with tall walls of glass welcomed them; all that could be seen was an endless sea of glass and doors that nothing waited behind. White veils of grainy glamour fluttered over the walls. Light melted through the floor, silhouettes that barely looked human.

Ryujin chased Fern to the largest of the doors. Fern opened it and behind spanned a gigantic control room. The walls and panels were full of craters of all shaped and sizes where resided the same water of Fern's pool, defying gravity, coagulating at impossible angles. The walls moved constantly to reshape the infrastructure of the maze-like gallery, to expose the secrets of other cavities. Each mirror showed a snapshot of a different location: cities, forests, temples, factories of all over the world. Mountains of heights Ryujin had never thought possible. Natural phenomena she'd never imagined. The gleaming, weakening shadows were everywhere, pasted over tables, reaching out for the images. One after the other, the million different screenings buzzed into static.