Beatitudes

Sarang.

“We’re here now, let’s get going and see what’s outside”

After giving what he thought to be an introduction, Adam took a single step forward, with that step taken a dull thud reverberated in our heads as it brought us out of our reverie.

My eyes had just come back to focus as I raised my head up to look around.  I could only see that we were in somewhere like a building. Not like a building, it was a building, only it seemed like a setting from a settlement a hundred years, in the least, ahead of what I’ve ever before seen. It was a room with silver and black color design, with nothing more than a door in our sights, I looked around and saw that the other places were just as bare, ‘where the h*ck are we’

As I was about to voice my thoughts and drive out an answer from Adam, a figure opened up a sliding door to our side which I didn’t notice previously, it was like it was an integral part of the wall that someone just carved out and made it slide open like so.

The figure that came out was a male one… or at least I think that was its s*x. With a thin frame and the silver hair I could see shining from the distance as he came toward us, I couldn’t be sure I made the right judgement

“Welcome humans, my humble name is Rylein. I welcome you all to Sarang.”

He gave a short introduction of himself but despite his words he didn’t exactly seemed humble and friendly to us. The green eyes that beheld us held a deep look as he assessed us like a custom officer inspecting a suspicious possible terrorist.

After a quick silence he continued talking, “I should apologize first but since we don’t exactly have many people like you coming to Sarang from here, I have to be prudent and ask for the reason for your visit. It’s nothing much.”

I heard all he said but I still didn’t understand what exactly had happened over the past few minutes… First we encountered a fae and now, if my eyes aren’t deceiving me, we’re standing here talking to an… elf? What the h*ck was going on, I spoke to Astral in my mind.

“Astral do you know what’s been happening?”

He replied “You four encountered a fae in the forest who brought you three into a place with a spatial device, I guess he took you to an outpost of some sorts but I can’t be sure, and then he led you into a spatial device like the first one but of a more sophisticated design and range, the device was what brought you all over to this platform where you stand and are now being interrogated. As for why you’re here, I have no idea.”

“Ohh…”, after getting a brief overview from Astral I only felt slightly satisfied as I heard words that left me confused, “Spatial device… platform, what is all this.”

Silence followed my questioning as Astral sank into silence for a while before speaking again, “It was through your memories that I was able to infer all my deductions. Yet you don’t seem to know a lot even after living this long, you couldn’t have holed yourself up somewhere from birth could you?”

Hearing the question from Astral , I could only smile as I went back through my memories and skimmed around the edges I refused to remember, “I travelled through the very forest we we’re in on my own previously for seven years, before that I grew up in a small village so I never really learnt about the outside world, I only recognized the fae and this elf because we were told about them in stories when I was younger…”, the emotions and memories I kept buried deep within threatened to come back to surface, but I forcefully stamped down on it, fighting back the emotions, the little recollection and explanation I gave Astral  almost brought them out from the dark within me…

“…”

Astral remained silent after that so I exhaled a bit and acted like the question never came. As I conversed with Astral in my head, Adam was already conversing with the elf explaining our reason for visit as us being adventurers and here to explore, something along those lines, he also gave the same reason he gave the fae for being the reason why we came through the special device which he called a teleporter. At this point I realized that what we just did was something that wasn’t really accepted…

The silver haired elf gave all of us a look again after listening to Adam and then spoke up after a sigh,

“Alright… since you’re already here I see no reason in denying you entry anymore, you might as well walk out through the door-“ he said as he pointed at the door right in our front view before he added another line, “Please do note that you’ll be under surveillance and have your moves discovered… this isn’t an intended action but we elves like to make sure that nothing goes wrong, as he said that a hint of pride rolled across his face.

Hearing what he wanted, Adam nodded at the captain as he expressed gratitude to which the elf barely nodded back. With this as he retreated into the space he had supposedly came out from

Adam was calm as he watched the elf leave, after the door closed behind the elf he turned to us as his lips curved up a little bit

“Let’s go shall we.”

More like a statement than a question he said those words and turned around leaving the platform. Since we had no other option at this point we could only follow behind him as we moved to the door.

Reaching the wide door as we got close enough, the door slid back into its frame and gave us a view of the world outside…

I had to admit, even though everything that had been happening was getting me flustered, I was immediately speechless when the view of the world outside came into sight.

“Oh… damn...”

Those words were barely able to float out of my mouth as my mouth ceased to utter another word. The world outside was so vibrant I could only marvel at the liveliness in the air, the buildings in the distance stood tall and strong as most of them towered at about fifteen meters above us at the least, the skies over here were reminiscent of those in the relatively deeper parts of the forest, clean and clear, it was unlike those in the city where I got into trouble recently and was almost carted away into relative s*****y, I haven’t seen human settlements this clean and clear of pollution, although I hear the human capitals and places closer to the center of them, I’ve only ever heard such claim but this was right in front of my eyes and it was beautiful. I suddenly felt tears at the corner of my eyes, I suddenly felt nostalgia at the vibrant lights and tall brick and metal buildings, I felt like I was reminded of a place when the picture of this place entered my eyes, someplace very similar in fact. Confusion took over me as I again felt exasperated at my situation. Emotions like this had been creeping up on me for a while now and I cannot say I’m not feeling scared, I wonder what’s happening to me and I have no answers, when I asked Astral I got nothing but a vague reply as always and although I felt somewhat close to the other three, I couldn’t bring myself to mention this to them, I had already been behaving a bit weird in their presence so If I put this on the table, they’re probably going to think I’m going crazy. I fought back the tears as I tried to seem calm and composed…

Adam was staring at the sight in front and recalled memories from the past involuntarily, he had never been here before but he was already feeling a sort of comfort just standing here, his anticipation towards staying here had grown subconsciously as he smiled after a bit of reminiscing as he stared at the lands that glowed with the shadow of his past… their past…

He looked towards Isaac as he noticed the latter’s subconscious longing and a smile crept onto his face. He had noticed his friend’s confusion and inner turmoil a long while ago as he felt conflicting emotions within him, right now he couldn’t do anything to that as he silently watched him scared and confused.

All this would keep on happening until he was able to fully remember everything and regain his memory. There was nothing else to be done about it, it was why he had never really warmed up to his side and held bottles in hand while they thought to their pasts. He wouldn’t remember it anyways…

After the group stood rooted in place for a while as they marveled at the vibrant beauty of the place. Adam finally decided the pause was enough as he shook them to awareness with his words,

“Alright, enough sight-seeing, we’ll admire the rest as we move, we have things to do while we’re here before we meet her.”

Hearing the ‘her’ from Adam again brought a slight shudder to Isaac’s person as he looked to Adam 

“Adam … there’s- “, before the words could form a complete sentence he was cut short by Adam with a wry smile as he spoke.

“Isaac, I know what you want to ask. I understand what you’re feeling and going through… but I should ask you to bare it a little bit and just keep going as is. I can’t exactly answer your questions and enlighten you so I suggest you keep it in for a while…” his next words were directed to Isaac as he looked into his eyes with a deep gaze and a… knowing look?

“In time you’ll naturally learn of everything as it should be, right now you’re not ready yet… such words should have been told to you by someone else as well am I right?”

Shock filled Isaac as he stared blankly at Adam and they both looked into each other, he got the feeling that Adam was well aware of his secrets and he even understood what exactly was happening. This thought wasn’t birthed from only the gaze Adam used to look at him… what he meant when he said ‘someone else’ was clearly indicating towards someone whose voice echoed regularly in his head and was currently quiet for some reason.

Yet he felt no danger or uncomfortability… only assurance and warmth.

At this point, they were already close to the first building away from the one they came close to. Harry looked back at the walls of the area surrounding where they had come out from, the looked towards Adam with his calm expression, to Isaac with his swirling emotions and then to Hiya with an odd expression on her face. Hiya who felt his gaze on her looked to him and then saw the expression in each other’s eyes, they looked away as Harry shook his head and Hiya continued without a pause, but they both understood the other’s thoughts at the moment. What had been happening all this while had been one h*ck of crazy, ever since they had encountered Isaac in the pit, the rationality and normalcy in their lives had basically fled… Not like they were complaining about escaping from a hell hole like the pit and landing in a beautiful place as such, but they got the feeling that their lives were probably not going to be the same anymore, whether that was good or bad, they couldn’t be sure. And they most likely couldn’t get off the ride at this moment anymore.