Doors To Utopia

Chapter Two

Path of Snow

"Back two years ago, Arkarium cast a horrible spell upon a portion of the Temple." Rhinne's voice echoed off the crisp green and white marble trim. She held Evan's hand within her own; he dismally noticed that his was so small that her fingers could encase the entire hand. The boy was so small; it just further pushed him into believing that he couldn't help this situation. But he listened to Rhinne anyways. "He created an illusion—a dream world in which Empress Cygnus had been possessed by the Black Mage and the world had fallen to the Blackwings. It was a perfect illusion. Everyone who walked into it was convinced it was reality, not a dream."

"That's horrible. It sounds more like a nightmare."

"It was. People died because of it." Evan quirked an eyebrow; they died because of a dream? That seemed unlikely. His mother had always said that he couldn't do such a thing. "It sounds irrational, I know, but recall that these are technically ILLUSIONS. Just illusions that feed off your hopes and dreams…as well as your woes and fears. As they are technically spells—powerful ones—they can actually hurt you. These dream worlds are genuinely dangerous."

"And I'm still going in?" Rhinne smiled, but looks troubled.

"I'm not comfortable with it either, Evan. But as I said…you don't have a choice anymore." Rhinne pushed him gently into a circular room. Looking about, he saw rows upon rows of elegantly carved doors; they moved around slowly and faded behind each other. Some disappeared entirely. There had to be millions. Evan didn't even know the Temple of Time was big enough to hold this sort of place. He then looked upon four doors sitting solidly in the middle of the room; they were tightly gripping the marble floor and had eerie auras that chilled Evan's soul. Pushing away from Rhinne, he tightened his grip to Mir's snout instead.

"What is this place?"

"It is the place where all dreams intersect." Rhinne replied. She gestured around, a sweeping motion to display the sparkling, hazy atmosphere so familiar to…Evan started. It was familiar to the haziness of his dream. Except it was far more powerful, it was far more weighty upon his mind. He could almost feel himself falling to sleep until Rhinne smacked the back of his head and smiled apologetically. "I am sorry, Evan, but you cannot fall asleep here. It's risky, and you have a job to do."

The brunette directed his gaze to the middle of the room; the creeping aura of the four doors kept directing his gaze straight back to them. "T…those are the doors, aren't they? I mean…Arkarium's illusions. Uhm…where my friends are."

"Yes. He has taken hold of this hallway. It troubles me, really." Rhinne frowned. "Last time he did not get this far into the sanctuary of dreams. He has grown in power and further surpassed our barriers—this place is far more dangerous to tamper with. I dread the idea of him being in here and manipulating the energies here. And unfortunately, that seems to be what he has done to your allies."

"Can you do anything about this?"

Rhinne sighed. "Not at the moment. At one time, I suppose I could have, but…my energy was badly drained in the effort to seal the Black Mage. I know it was for the best, but it took so much out of me…no, I can't do anything. Really, at this point, you and your allies are the only people who can do anything about Arkarium and the Blackwings. The only people who can fight against the Black Mage, and against the power that has been presented."

"But…I don't really have my own individual magic." Evan admitted. Despite his words, he stepped forward to run his hands down one of the eerie doors; it was morbidly entrancing. Gazing across them, he saw symbols on each door. A rough, crackling heart flanked by wolves, a slew of roman-esque triangles and grape-vines, a vivid raven symbol, and a pair of wings with different colors. On the furthest end, he saw the crumbled remains of a fifth door. Evan shivered when he realized that door was likely intended for him.

Rhinne took his arm and pulled him over to the door on the far left. It was the one with the carved heart and wolves. Evan stared at it; when he reached out to touch it, he felt a chilling wind that rushed through his blood. His fingers withdrew like they had been burned. Rhinne laughed bitterly and touched the door herself. She didn't as much as flinch; the woman had dealt with far worse in her lifetime.

"This door is the dream world of the strongest warrior in recorded history." Rhinne explained. Evan didn't say a word. "She was renowned. She had everything, and used her all to fight against an oncoming force that could easily destroy the entire world. And yet she does not have a single memory from those long past times. It seems like it would be a very unpleasant life to lead, doesn't it?"

"I think Aran is usually a little sad. She doesn't like to show it, though." Evan replied quietly. "I…figured it was because of the memories thing…"

"Correct. Aran is a very stoic woman and a very strong woman with a strong will…and a strong desire for her 'perfect dream world'." Rhinne explained. Evan listened obediently. "Aran's primary wish in life is to be free of her curse. To have her memories. In a way, she wishes to return to the past because that's where she truly existed. In this modern day, she's merely the ashes of the mighty warrior of old. She is literally nothing but a shadow of a long lost and erased memory. Nothing exists to tell her who she is, why she exists, how she became powerful, and why she fights for what she does."

"That's…kind of sad…"

"It's very sad, child." Rhinne squeezed Evan's shoulders. "But…you shall go to Aran first. Her dream…it will be the least powerful. Her desire is strong but the illusion won't be as powerful because Aran does not believe her own mind anymore. She doesn't trust herself. You must make Aran trust YOU over her illusionary dreams. Do you think you can do that for me, Evan?"

"I…I…" Evan faltered. "I don't have a choice."

"I'm afraid not, child." Rhinne took his face in her hands, nails ghosting over the slightly tanned skin. Evan looked up at her curiously and the goddess placed a kiss on his forehead. "To you, I give the luck of the Goddess and the power of Time. Take my journey, and be blessed with my power…do not lose yourself. I will guide you as well as I can, which unfortunately will not be as much as I would hope to."

"What…?" Evan gasped when he felt something small on his head. It felt like small, bare feet. Rhinne plucked the miniature woman off of Evan's forehead and presented her to the boy. He held out his hands to let the little creature patter onto his palms; she was a small, winged representation of Rhinne with much shorter hair and a robust physique. She held a large hourglass in her tiny fingers and smiled brightly. "Who are you?!"

"Her name is Kairos." Rhinne explained. "She is a portion of my spirit and my magic embodied into a compact size. She has no hope or aspirations, just instructions and base knowledge. Kairos will be going into the dreams with you, for I cannot. She will act as a sort of guide and companion—remember, you must go unnoticed, so…" Rhinne smiled weakly. "…the dragon must stay here, I'm afraid."

"What?! No! Mir comes!" Evan yelled.

"NO, Evan. He cannot. It is hard enough to infiltrate a dream with one person. Two conscious beings would result in the dream actively recognizing your presence and pursuing you." Rhinne said sternly. Evan shrunk back. "Kairos can go with you because she has an almost invisible presence—she doesn't have even the slightest dream or aspirations so the illusion can't notice her. You will go detected, of course, but you are smaller and less threatening. Mir is large, noticeable, and proposes a clear threat to the illusion. The dragon STAYS HERE."

"B…but Mir…" Evan protested weakly. Kairos climbed onto his shoulder and patted his cheek comfortingly. "Mir's part of me…"

Mir pushed his snout against Evan's face with a bitter smile. "I'll stay, Miss Rhinne."

"What a good beast you are." Rhinne crouched down next to Mir's snout and leaned on his beak. "You can stay here with me. We shall have fascinating discussions, I'm sure. I wonder if you are as bright as Afrien was? I loved that dragon, he was such a DELIGHT to be around."

"Miss Rhinne…" Evan said uncomfortably.

"Oh? Oh. Yes, of course. Kairos, lead him into the door." Kairos pulled Evan's hair gently and gestured towards Aran's freezing door. The boy hesitantly walked up to the door; idly, he peered around it to see nothing but air. Evan supposed that was a given. This was not ordinary place, and thusly it made absolutely no sense to him. But at this point in time he just had to go with the flow.

Slowly, he reached out and turned the stone knob of the ancient stone door.

The cold wind hit him like a slap in the face. Evan was immediately knocked to the ground. But instead of hitting the hard marble stone of the Temple, he found himself buried to the torso in pure white now. With a shriek, he jumped to his feet to hug his body; it was freezing here. The boy looked around frantically until Kairos tugged his hair again. This time, the little goddess seemed rather impatient.

"There." She said. Her voice was high, but sweet as honey. It was surprisingly soothing; Evan assumed Rhinne had intended this to be so. Slowly, he broke from his thoughts to look beyond the blizzard that was gathering around him. It had struck so SUDDENLY, like nature itself was trying to fight against the boy.

That might be it. Rhinne did warn me that I wouldn't be welcomed.

…Ah well.

Evan trudged unhappily up the hill as he rubbed his arms with his hands. If he hadn't been constantly reminding himself that this was an illusion, than the boy would have been completely MISERABLE. But he perked up quickly as Kairos pointed out lights in the distance—the closer he got, the warmer he felt. Evan didn't care what was over there; the canopy of huge trees and the lessening flow of snow were too welcoming. He broke into the clearing with a gasp to gaze around.

There were slews of people with tanned skin and hair of many colors—all colors, colors that Evan didn't even know could exist in hair. They all wore surprisingly minimal clothing despite the weather—he assumed that the large bonfire was their solution. Various constructs littered the mounds of snow behind them as they ate and partied. Evan smiled warmly; this was a party? He didn't know stoic Aran would have ever been okay with festivals and parties. They seemed too…frivolous for her. Then again, Evan didn't really know anything about how Aran probably really was.

And there she was, sitting in a large chair.

She didn't look like the woman that Evan was used to seeing, though. Aran seemed tiny—she had shrunken to the form of a child with short trimmed white hair, free of her gifted feminine assets and tremendous height. Next to her sat a boy with similar white hair, loosely falling around his aqua eyes. Both of them looked extremely bored. Evan remembered briefly that Mercedes had mentioned Aran having a twin brother that often was training. Not that Aran did anything else herself…

Evan strode into the crowd and ignored the looks he was receiving. He looked odd among these people. They were all dark in tone and looked at him like he was an abnormality. Among them, he probably was—a pale snow child. Evan figured he looked like a ghost or something akin to that. Aran's youthful blue eyes had narrowed in on him and she watched as he approached with Kairos in tow. The closer he got, the younger she looked. The white haired, tan girl couldn't be older than five.

But why?

"Who're you?" She demanded, smacking her hand on the arm of her throne. The twin next to her nodded affirmatively. Evan raised a brow at both of them; this was not like Aran at all. She didn't act so immaturely. Then again, she usually wasn't four foot three either. He figured it was some effect of the illusion. But why a child…?

"My name is Evan." He announced, holding out his arms. Kairos giggled and copied him. "I come from…uh, a foreign place very different from here. I came to…uh, explore your traditions and culture?"

Aran stared at him calculatingly; he could tell that under that child form, her brash base intelligence still remained. She still knew how to be suspicious, even towards another child. But to Evan's advantage, she nodded slowly and raised her hand. All the adults went silent and backed away from her. Evan shuddered a bit; who knew what she could do? Even as a child, Aran had a threatening aura about her…

"What do you want to know, weird kid." Aran's voice was crisp now; her mature adult side was shining through. Evan could hear the real woman under the child form. He still couldn't figure out why she had shrunken, but…at least she wasn't going to try and KILL him. That had been one of his foremost fears when it came to Aran—she was powerful and could injure the most powerful man with the flick of her finger.

"I said my name is Evan. And I said I came here to learn about your culture." Aran snorted at Evan's words, then leaned over to her twin's seat and smacked his arms a few times. Evan was surprised; Aran apparently had a bit more power than her twin brother.

"Get away, Arrian!" She snapped irately. The boy stuck out his tongue but obeyed as he slinked over to a crowd of children. They were decorated in jewels and showed signs of prosperity, but seemed to not have high standing over Aran's twin. They immediately seemed to float into a follower pattern. "Hey weird kid! Come on and sit in Arrian's seat a'fore I change my mind and kick you out!"

Evan obediently sat down next to Aran and she smiled broadly. "So. What do you want to know, weird kid?"

"Ah, uhm…it's…uhm, it's Evan." He mumbled. "I..I guess I was kind of wondering why you're so young now."

"Now?"

"Just…why you're so young? You seem to have a lot of say over these people." Evan said hurriedly. Aran went quiet for a second, kicking her chubby legs back and forth against the hard wood throne. "Aran?"

"Dunno how you know my name." She said sharply. "Never introduced myself. But anyways, I have say over these people because my mother and father left for a little while. They left me in charge."

"They left…a five year old in charge…?"

"Children are very sacred and holy in our tribe. They are treated with utmost respect. Since I am the child of the real chiefs, I get more special treatment." Aran shrugged. "I didn't ask for it. I just want to learn how to use the weapons. They never let me touch the polearms. But I'll manage it someday, I think."

"So…children are…special here?"

"Mm hmm…in our world, mature life begins at age three…" Aran tossed an odd looking black fruit into her mouth. "Childhood is where memories truly begin. It's where we all really go back to for comfort…"

Childhood is where memories truly begin.

And suddenly, it all made sense to Evan.