The Oath of Arigot

"I can't believe Mother and the eight Taliks won't let me in the meeting", Arit said as she flounced out of the queen's chamber with a face paled by disappointment. She had hoped to be in the meeting with the eight Taliks of Arigot to discuss the issue about Gonzalo the keeper of the Great Gate. Gonzalo was accused of negligence. One of the Taliks had once visited the Great Gate but didn't find her there. She reported it to the other Taliks and they all went to Queen Asha to lay complains. They arranged a meeting to discuss the issue but Arit was denied entry because she was Gonzalo's friend. "I need to see Gonzalo immediately and tell her what is happening", she said, "she has to be careful with what she does". Arit scooted through the hallway that led to the palace gate. Her briskness made it obvious she was heading somewhere very important and needed to be there quickly, so Azim opened the gate for her without asking her any questions. Outside in the streets of Arigot, there were clusters of beings at every corner, selling their goods and haggling prices. She made her way through them and scuttled to the Great Gate, just at the hem of the city, beside Mount Arigot, which was the tallest mountain in the queendom. An incoming wind swished through the gate and ruffled her long blonde hair off her shoulders. The wind smelled different. She immediately finished her steps to the top of the mountain and was directly facing the Great Gate. Behold, the gate was slightly open and Gonzalo was fast asleep. Arit was stunned by the situation. She had never seen the gate ajar. It was always locked and only the gatekeeper possessed the magical key to open it. The laws of the queendom forbade any being in Arigot from looking through the gate, except the gatekeeper. The late Queen Marita, Arit's grandmother, built the Great Gate as a barricade between Arigot and the human world. She built it to stop Arigot beings from interacting with humans because of the role that humans played in the Great War of Arigot when males were in charge of leadership. After the war, Queen Marita declared humans as their enemies and forbade Arigot beings from interacting with them. Then, she turned Arigot to a queendom, and created the oath of Arigot which forbade the queen or the heiress to the throne from getting married, but allowed her to have children by any of her preferred male servants. Queen Marita assumed that getting married would cause the queen to be subservient and make her take orders from her husband, which would then create an opportunity for males to take over the leadership of Arigot once again. Arit crept past Gonzalo who was fast asleep and stood beside the Great Gate. She was curious to see what was hidden in the world behind the gate. She pulled the gate with her left hand to open it a little more. There it was: the human world spread before her eyes like a coalition of elephant ferns.The scent of this strange world enticed her. The wind that blew past her smelled different. It smelled of fresh beautiful flowers. She had never believed she would ever get a chance to see what the human world looked like. A colourful garden stretched in front of her. There was a creature moving in the garden. It looked like an Arigot being. It had one head, two hands, two legs, and two eyes, just as Arigot beings did. The creature looked really beautiful to her. It had curly brown hair, fair and radiant skin, light pink lips, blue eyes, and firm muscles. Arit was struck by the immense beauty of this creature. She stood with her mouth agape, marvelling at the beauty. But she wondered if it was actually a human because her grandmother had told her that there were different kinds of living creatures in the human world, so she was not sure of what she was looking at. Arit continued standing at the gate, marvelling at the beauty of the creature. She paid rapt attention to its gentle movements and admired how it was tending to the flowers. It had a can of water in its hands and was using it to water the flowers. The creature looked so captivating. The yellow and red of the flowers made its fair skin even more radiant and conspicuous. Then Arit thought of waking Gonzalo up to ask her questions about the creature and the human world, but she knew the implications of doing so. It would make Gonzalo know that she has looked through the Great Gate and seen the human world, and this was against the laws of Arigot. But if she didn't tell Gonzalo, then it would mean she wouldn't have another chance to see this wonderful creature once again. She was caught in the dilemma. However, she continued watching the creature and enjoying its gentle and soft movements. When it lifted its face up to the sun, it glowed. It was such a beauty in Arit's eyes. Soon, the creature in the garden started to pack its things and Arit knew it was preparing to leave. She couldn't bear the thought of not knowing anything about it, so she quickly turned to Gonzalo and woke her up. "Hey, Gonzalo, please wake up and tell me about this creature" Gonzalo opened her eyes squintingly. She then realised it was Arit who was standing in front of her. "Which creature?" Gonzalo asked. "The one in the garden in the other world," Arit replied, pointing at the Great Gate. Gonzalo's face flushed with fear when she realised that Arit had looked through the gate. She was terrified by the thought of being punished by Queen Asha for letting someone look through the gate. "Oh, Arit, what have you just done? You have endangered my place as the keeper of the Great Gate!", Gonzalo cried, but Arit assured her that she would not let anyone else know about the situation; all she needed was Gonzalo's cooperation. "Oh, Gonzalo, how alluring that creature is! I wonder what it is," Arit said. She dragged Gonzalo to the gate to show her the creature. When Gonzalo saw the creature, she replied: "It's a male human. He comes to tend to the flowers often." When Arit heard that, she pleaded with Gonzalo to let her come watch him everyday. "Oh, Gonzalo, my dearest friend, I plead with you to let me see him everyday. He is the fairest creature alive! Gonzalo hesitated a little, but then she realised that her fate rested on Arit's shoulders, so she gave in. Arit asked Gonzalo to help her find a way to fly down to the human world to see the man. She named him "Rozalis", which meant "the most beautiful" in the Arigot language. Gonzalo told her that she would have to be empowered through a powerful magic. Then, they both agreed to invite Lesi, one of the most powerful sorceresses in Arigot, and tell her to create a strong magic that can make Arit fly down to the human world. But this would mean that the secret would be known by an outsider, and it was dangerous.