Mt. Sensan-Ghi

Act Two - The Trail Of The Three Gates

Estavir was standing in a forest, on a road that led upwards, not too steep at first but which got progressively worse. He stood somewhere near the beginning, but was already beyond a gate he thought looked a lot like the first gate next to the shrine.

Further ahead he saw what he liked to believe looked like a second gate. It was far away, too far to be sure if it really was a gate like the shrine one, or if his eyes were playing tricks on him.

He started walking, finding himself unusually light and lifting off the ground just a tiny bit more with every step, until his feet were no longer touching the ground; regardless of stretching as far down as his legs allowed.

He was now fully suspended and felt he could no longer hold his balance and started flipping, falling to the ground face first. But his face never hit the ground, instead he felt something pull him upwards by the legs. He panicked, fought and wrestled to break loose but to no avail; he was being dragged higher and higher.

As he looked down and around he could see the mountain becoming larger and higher too, the road stretching and writhing; the two gates, now only dots on a white line, kept diverging further apart until it all stopped abruptly.

He was hanging still, and the grip on his legs loosened.

With the release of the grip on his leg he started to fall, screaming, towards the foot of the mountain, woken up by the loud shouting coming from his own mouth right as his face would have connected with the pointed roof top of the temple where he was sleeping.

Covered in sweat, heart racing from the realness of it all, he got up slowly, not feeling quite rested at all, heading towards the bathroom and the kitchen. As was promised, bread and a few things to eat with it were present on the table along with a large vat of water he assumed was drinkable.

He cleaned himself, ate, and finally visited the empty chamber again. He was surprised to see that even in the full glory of the morning sun shining through its many windows, this large mostly empty room remained dark, with the same shadows present in all nooks and crannies as they were in candle light. The wall-door remained as tightly pressed.

He left the temple and took in a whiff of the morning air, which filled his lungs with a combination of dew and pollen softly caressed by the soft touch of the sun's warmth. It was a fresh and enjoyable smell, a rare and almost empowering smell, motivating him as he walked up to the gate. He stood in front of it, a few meters away, so he could properly assess it. He could still see a soft hum of golden glow even though the gate and archway were clearly made of wood and lacquered to give a scarlet hue.

He took a deep breath, gathered his strength and will, and took the first step passing him through the gate. With this he felt his journey had started properly, not realising the journey started as soon as he arrived by the campfire. Walking at a fast pace Estavir starts down a long road that started where the gate ended and stretched ahead as far as the eye could see.

The road went on for what seemed like forever in bends and curves ahead of him, and the steeper climbs were clearly visible in the distance. The hours passed and steadily the climb was becoming steeper as the bends got longer and wider and became less frequent.

The higher and steeper tree line was making it impossible to navigate ahead now, so at this point all Estavir could do was follow the road. It was after maybe another hour that the road started getting uneven and had fewer qualities which would be associated with a road and was looking more like a path, general guideline for travellers at best. Nevertheless the path remained mostly unobstructed and in the distance he seemed to spot a fork in the road, and a figure on the ground in front of it.