A City in the Sand

Elizabeth walked briskly towards the next lighthouse, very aware of her new companion a step behind her, his head on a swivel as he tried to see everything at once. It would probably be a while before she was used to Abel, they had only been walking together for a few minutes, but she could already tell he would most likely cause her some problems. For now she would at least try to get him to walk normally.

"Could you please stop that?" She finally asked, irritated.

"What is the problem Miss Elizabeth?" His eyes immediately snapped round to meet hers. She found his empty, blue stare slightly unnerving, but she had to get him sorted out before they entered a new world, else he would most likely cause an incident.

"That." She gestured to his feet, hovering about an inch above the ground. "We're about to go into a new reality, filled with normal people." She paused, hoping in vain he would get what she was hinting at, but he just continued to stare at her. She sighed, already getting stressed. "Normal people don't float, they walk."

"Ahh of course Miss." His feet dropped to the ground instantly.

"Stop calling me Miss, Elizabeth is fine." She snapped. "And try to blink more, humans blink a lot. If you give it away that we don't belong in a world, it'll make getting out a lot harder."

She was beginning to regret letting him follow her, but, as she watched him kneel down to inspect the rough wooden planks they had been walking on, she didn't feel any danger of malicious intent coming from him, only curiosity. She reminded her of herself when she had first left her tower, although he was a lot less energetic than she had been.

She walked the last few feet to the lighthouse, taking a seat on its stone steps she called out to him.

"Abel, come here for a moment."

'Well, that's a start.' She thought as he got up and walked normally towards her.

"Through this door is a whole different world, very different to this one or the one you came from." She explained, gesturing to the great metal doors behind her. "In this world there will be a large city, and in that city there will be a man named Comstock. We are going to kill this man." She paused, waiting to answer any question he had, though she wasn't quite sure what he'd ask first.

He gazed into space for a second, apparently thinking the same thing, before asking his first question.

"How do you know there is a city on the other side?"

Maybe not the most important question, but it was easy enough for her to answer.

"There's always a city, always a lighthouse. It's a constant, what the city will look like and where it will be are variables. Every world has its own constants and variables."

He stood for another second. "The Luteces told you that didn't they."

Elizabeth was shocked the Abel knew this, and then she remembered he had looked into her mind while she was in his world.

"Yes they did." She continued her explanation of her plan. "Once we're through, we'll start gathering as much information on Comstock as we can. Then, after a few days, we'll sneak into his home and kill him as quietly as possible. Once that's done; we'll leave that world and return to this one. Do you understand?" She leaned back to look up at him, resting on her elbows as she waited for him to respond.

"Why must we kill this Comstock?"

It was the question she had been dreading.

"It's because he is a very evil man." She hoped he would be satisfied with that, to no avail.

"I understand that the original Comstock you encountered was indeed evil, but does that mean that all Comstocks, across all worlds, are the same?" He responded immediately.

It was true and she knew it. In several worlds she had encountered versions of Comstock who had committed no great crimes, and she had never found evidence that they were truly evil. Was the mission she had given herself really helping all the worlds? Was she doing the right thing?

No, Elizabeth shook her head to clear her mind. Good or bad, the only way to break the endless cycle that every reality was stuck in was to kill the Comstocks. She knew this was the truth, but she didn't know how to explain it to Abel.

"I can understand if you do not wish to answer Miss, I know it weighs heavily on your mind." She found his voice strangely calming, it helped settle her mind.

"I told you not to call me Miss." She replied, sighing. "Come on, we'd better hurry up."

"Is there really any need to hurry Miss. I don't think time really matters when we are travelling across worlds,"

It annoyed her slightly that he was right. She got up and stepped towards the door. Abel was there before her thought, as she approached he held it open for her.

'Well, at least he has manners.' She thought.

The second she crossed the threshold she was overwhelmed by the change in scenery. Instead of a calm blue sea, she was standing in front of a lighthouse surrounded by sand as far as she could see. The sun beat down on her from a cloudless sky, causing her to squint and sweat instantly. From somewhere behind the lighthouse there was an almost deafening noise, it sounded like old machinery for the most part, but every few seconds that was punctuated by a tremendous crash.

The soft thud behind her was barely audible, but it let her know Abel had come through as well. She turned to him, ready to give him instructions and only slightly surprised that he was just as composed as he was a moment ago, when she caught some movement out of the corner of her eye. She edged round the lighthouse to get a better look, stopping in her tracks when she saw what had been moving.

A massive grey wall stretched for miles either side of the lighthouse. Looking at it closer she realized it was not a wall, but a gigantic living creature, its flesh thick, grey and rough. At random places along its body it had great patches of leather and brass attached, with what looked like doors and walkways attached to them. One of its many massive legs swung through the air in front of her, it was thick enough to crush a small house.

Abel's voice suddenly snapped her back to her senses.

"Is that the city you mentioned up there Miss?" He asked, pointing up to the top of the giant animal. She craned her neck up to look at what he was pointing to, noticing that, while the creature was very long, it was completely flat on top. From its back she could make out regular shapes sticking into the sky. A small lowered platform was slowly approaching the top of the tall, thin lighthouse; it looked like it was made to be level with the lighthouse. It was probably made to enter the city.

"Come on, we'd better get to the top" She told Abel as she entered the lighthouse. He joined Elizabeth as she started climbing the long wooden staircase up to the top. It was slightly cooler inside, but she still found the ascent tiring, and she was soon out of breath. She glanced over the thin rope that acted as a handrail, they had already climbed a good distance but, as she looked up, they still had quite a way to go. Elizabeth wasn't confident they would reach the top before the platform passed, she just couldn't move fast enough. She turned to Abel, starting to get angry that he barely looked out of breath; he hadn't even broken a sweat yet.

"Are you okay Miss Elizabeth?" He met her gaze. "You do not look well, do you require some assistance?"

She was about to lose it with him, but, as she opened her mouth to give a very unladylike response; he stepped forwards and put his arms under her back.

"Please put you arms around my neck Miss." He instructed her as he lifted her off the ground. "We shall be at the top momentarily."

Elizabeth was completely lost for words, they had only just met, how dare he think he could just pick her up. He should have at least asked first. She was furious, but she linked her arms behind his neck anyway. If he felt any strain from her weight, he didn't let it show.

'Well, it is easier than climbing, and quicker.' She thought to herself as Abel continued up the stairs, much faster than she had been going.

She got him to put her down just before they reached the top, they had gotten up there in mere minutes, they must have beaten the platform. Elizabeth climbed the last few steps and pushed open the small wooden door onto the roof. The light of the desert blinded her again so she stood for a second to let her eyes adjust. When she could see again she noticed a short scaffold jutting out towards the city, it was crowded with people, all dressed in rags. There had to be at least 50 off them, all crammed on there. She looked to the side of the massive animal to see how far away the platform was, noticing that it would be level with the scaffold shortly. Now it was closer she could see a crowd of people were huddled on it as well. Some were clearly guards, judging from the way they stood, but most simply looked like they were waiting for something.

The air was suddenly quiet as the platform drew level with the scaffold; it took Elizabeth a minute to realize this was because the great animal that the city was perched upon had come to a stop. Now that the platform was much closer she could clearly see the people she had seen before. There were 12 of them, 5 were guards, wearing bronze armour that gleamed in the sun. They carried long spears with strange mechanisms set into the shaft. The rest were all talking excitedly, they wore loose robes of brilliant colours, the men only had them hanging off of one shoulder. Behind the small group was an ornate display that seemed to be carved out of marble, two pillars held flaming torches up, illuminating the flat sheet of stone between them. She read the letters carved deeply into it.

WELCOM TO HEAVEN, WELCOME TO ELYSIUM.

She gathered that was the name of the city.

"Does Elysium not also mean heaven?" Abel whispered suddenly over her shoulder.

"Yes, it does." Elizabeth replied. "How do you know that?" She asked, remembering that it was Abel asking.

"I know what you know, Miss." He stated, as if she should know this by now. It seemed like every time he spoke he did so just to irritate her.

The group of people on the scaffolding they were standing on had started shuffling forwards onto the other platform, forming a rough queue in front of a low stone table. Behind the table sat one of the robed people, she was quite plump, and was smiling with genuine joy at the cloaked figures before her. As they approached she handed them sheets of paper and pointed them to one of the guards, who then directed them down a narrow wooden bridge and round a corner, into one of the doors set into a great leather patch.

Elizabeth and Abel waited at the back of the queue, slowly shuffling forward until they reached the woman's table.

"Hello, and welcome to Elysium, a place where the pain of life is forgotten." She spoke with an unmistakable British accent. "Are you travelling together?"

"Yes" Elizabeth blurted out, before Abel could open his mouth.

"Very well, please take these papers and follow the instructions of the Hoplites." She handed them a thick wedge of paper and directed them towards the guards Elizabeth had seem earlier. "Goodbye and good luck to you." She gave them a massive grin.

"Thank you."

Elizabeth grabbed Abels arm and pulled him in the direction she had been pointed. As she approached the guard he raised his arm and directed them across the wooden bridge. Now that Elizabeth was closer she could examine the guard more closely. What she had assumed to be bronze armour from a distance was in fact part of its body, its skin growing over the metal plate sunk slightly into its chest. Its face was another piece of bronze, moulded to look like a Greek statue. A weak flow of air could be heard passing through the empty grin where its mouth should be. The spear it held was slightly thicker at the base, the mechanism set into its handle appeared to be a trigger. She thought they must be some type of firearm.

She hurried on, not eager to upset the metallic soldier. She stood before the small metal doorway with Abel, clutching his arm tightly with anticipation.

"Well, Miss Elizabeth, shall we go in?" He asked, stepping forwards and opening the door.