"Here we are," said Keira. "I think this is the way to the temple."
The three girls stood in the growing shadow of the city wall, all equipped with backpacks of supplies for their little trip on their shared day off. It was late afternoon already, the sun was setting behind the mountains, and the clear sky above the city had a slight orange burn against the coming black of night.
Azyma took a look around at where they were, for this was a part of the city she had never had much chance to visit before. On this side of the wall were Haven's northern gardens, where giant vegetables that were taller than she was grew in ploughed rows. Herds of docile yakow grazed in paddocks situated along the stony pathways, which were flanked on either side by a singular line of small trees. It was rather pretty, and the spaciousness of it all was a welcoming change to the cramped, suffocating streets of the slums that she was used to.
There had once been two garden zones like this in Haven: this one in the northern half of the city, and its twinned counterpart adjoining the port in the south, with the western bazaar in between them. But the war had taken its toll on the southern half, polluted and terraformed by the Metal Heads beyond recognition. The northern gardens had escaped this fate but had been partially buried beneath the ruins of the fallen palace, inaccessible. But the Freedom League had recently restored and reopened a large part of it, and now it was the only green and open area in the city.
On the other side of the great wall stood the rocky foothills of the city's western mountain range, and nestled among them were several tall, metallic towers that glinted with a bronze shine in the waning daylight. This was their destination, the Precursor Mountain Temple, an ancient sanctuary that predated the founding of Haven by many generations, and could clearly be seen from several points in the city, always near but unreachable.
Keira led the way up the ramp that rose to the heavy metal door in the wall that she believed would take them through to it, and Tess followed adventurously. Azyma, however, paused at the base, looking up at the impenetrable city wall that towered so high. This would be the very first time in her entire life when she would step beyond the safety of its protective boundaries, and even though she had agreed to this, she was starting to have second thoughts as she stood here on the threshold. Long ago, her parents had always warned her that it was dangerous outside the city, and all through her life she had believed that, for it had been very true. Even if things were a little safer now that the Metal Heads were apparently driven away, she still felt like she was breaking a long-set rule, and her inner conscience held her back.
"Keira, are you sure we're allowed to do this?" she called up.
Keira, now at the top of the ramp by the opening airlock, looked back down. There were no clear signs that this area was off-limits, no guards around, nothing to stop them. "It's fine," she called back down, pretty confident that she was right. "Look, the door's opening. Come on."
Though still feeling apprehensive, Azyma put her trust in her friend. Besides, a part of her was curious to discover what mysteries lay outside the wall. She took a brave breath to calm her building heartbeat, and then made the first steps up the ramp, following her two friends. Soon the great wall swallowed her up as she made it into the airlock built within, and she jumped when the door suddenly slammed shut behind her with a loud thump. At once she felt like she had just been locked out of the city's protective bubble, and a small ripple of panic mixed with fear of the unknown started boiling in her stomach as the airlock filled with the sounds of whirring and shifting from unseen mechanisms.
"Is it supposed to be doing that?" she asked nervously.
"It's just the old security locks," Tess explained knowingly with a reassuring little smile. She'd left the city through doors such as these a few times in the past during particular missions for the Underground, but this would be her first visit out to the temple area as well, and she was quietly buzzing with excitement.
All three of them waited in the airlock for a few more seconds, listening to the locks hissing and clanking in the outer door before them. Even Keira was starting to feel a little nervous, unsure exactly what was awaiting them on the other side. Was this even the right place? Had Jak really got rid of all the Metal Heads out there like he'd once told her, or would they suddenly come face to face with one as soon as they left the city?
But finally, the heavy door shunted open, letting in a breath of fresh air once again. Feeling brave, Keira was the first to step through, followed shortly by Tess, but Azyma took it more slowly, peeping her head out tentatively. It was quiet, there was no sign of danger, no Metal Heads at all, and so she took her very first steps outside of the city, both feet meeting with fresh, soft earth.
She was on the other side. She'd made it! Excitement and pride of herself started to build inside her, replacing her trepidations, and then it was all momentarily driven out of mind at the sight of her surroundings. She was standing on a broad, grassy ledge at the bottom of an old, grey valley. Straight ahead by only a few long paces was a deep, dark crevasse which she was hesitant to approach, and the whole area was bathed in permanent shadow from towers of stone, higher even than the city wall. These were the formations that made up the rocky toes of the mountain range, and high up amid some of their pinnacles, old trees grew precariously from the stone, their roots sprawled across the rock and gripping into cracks like fingers.
Azyma mouthed a silent 'wow' as she looked around in sublime amazement, feeling very small. Tess at her side, who felt even smaller, craned her neck back so far that it nearly hurt. Keira took it all in as well, now knowing with a feeling of accomplishment that they had definitely come to the right place; it fit the descriptions Jak had once recounted to her of his visits out here, but if he was right, then they were only on the front doorstep, and there was still much more to see ahead.
She looked around for the warp gate, and found it hidden under the boughs of a single tree that grew by the wall, glowing eerily in the shadow of the valley. "Hey guys, over here," she said.
Azyma and Tess broke their circumspection of wonder and also laid eyes on the portal, gathering closer to stand in its light. Keira ran her hand around the metal rim, feeling its warm vibrations, and Azyma was particularly mesmerised by its calmly swirling beauty, like ripples in an upright pool.
"What is it?" she asked.
"It's a warp gate," said Tess in recognition. "But where does it lead?"
Keira took another look around. "There!" she said, pointing upwards.
She'd sighted another grassy ledge high atop a vertical cliff, high enough to still be touched by the sunlight, where the edge of something metallic was glinting like the warp gate in front of them. It had to be its connected twin, there was no doubt of it, and that had to be the way up to the temple.
"You ever been through one of these before?" Keira asked her friends.
Tess had, once or twice, but Azyma sheepishly answered no. She'd heard of them, but this was the first one she'd seen up close.
"They're nothing to worry about," Keira assured her. "You've just got to concentrate on staying vertical. I'll go first. Watch."
Catching a fresh grip on her bag, she demonstrated the use of the warp gate by confidently hopping straight through it. She disappeared with a flash, but moments later they heard her voice from above them.
"Yoo-hoo!"
They looked up, and saw Keira now kneeling over that higher ledge, and waving down at them. "It's alright. Come on up!" she beckoned.
Tess and Azyma looked at each other, knowing that it was now their turn to follow. But Azyma was a little afraid to approach the swirling blue void that now looked intimidating. Would it hurt? She had a vision of it all somehow going terribly wrong when she jumped through, and throwing her out in some completely different place, lost and alone.
Tess could sense her apprehension. "Come on, sweetie. We'll go through together, alright?"
She was only slightly more experienced at warp travel than Azyma was, but Azyma accepted her companionship. She let the ottsel climb to her shoulder, and then in her own time, she found her bravery, closed her eyes, and jumped forwards just as Keira had done.
A funny feeling washed over her, like she'd just stepped through the walls of a thick bubble. The ground she expected to land on did not meet her feet, her stomach felt like it disappeared from inside her, and suddenly she was endlessly falling forwards, tumbling out of control. Her eyes split open in fright, and she found herself being sucked through a tunnel of shifting, flashing blue light at high speed. It was a shock that took her breath away, and she found Keira's advice about staying vertical impossible to follow, because she couldn't even tell which way was up or down. She reached up for Tess on her shoulder, desperate to cling on to something, but the ottsel was gone.
Then, just as she thought she would lose control of herself and scream, it was over, and everything stopped. Her back hit solid ground again, knocking the air out of her, and when she reopened her eyes, she saw sky spinning in her disoriented vision. Her head felt all mixed up and her body like jelly. Then not a second later, there was another flash and a soft but surprising weight landed flatly on top of her.
Then she heard laughter, and Keira's happy face came into view. It took her a few seconds to understand that she was lying flat on her back in the grass, having tumbled roughly out of the second warp gate, only to be landed on by Tess, who had fallen out afterwards and was now sprawled awkwardly over her chest.
"Ooh, sorry honey!" said Tess, realising where she was and quickly sliding herself off, a little embarrassed.
"You alright?" Keira checked, helping up Azyma by the hand.
"Whoo..." said Azyma dizzily, back on her feet and giggling herself now. "That was actually quite fun!" She wobbled and leant on Keira until her sense of balance returned.
Tess was slightly quicker to recover, and was the first to turn around and behold what now lay before them. "Oh wow! Azyma, look at this!"
Azyma blinked away the last of her dizziness and looked in Tess's direction, and her jaw dropped in wonder. They were standing atop a high cliff which offered a truly spectacular view of Haven city.
"Oh, it's beautiful!" she gasped, seeing the city as she had never seen it before, and she took a few steps closer to the edge.
Behind her, Keira looked on too. A maze of metal rooftops sprawled out before them, illuminated by the day's waning sunbeams, and the long shadows of the mountains lay across the streets like wide, ghostly hands. From here she could see several of the city's landmarks: the frayed orange banners that had once adorned the stadium, her old racing ground now in broken desolation, and just over the way stood the prominent tower of Freedom HQ. Even she had to admit, compared to walking the grimy streets at ground level, from up here the usually drab, battered and unattractive city of Haven looked beautiful.
"Hey, look! There's The Naughty Ottsel!" said Tess, pointing out a distant but unmistakeable orange smudge at the far end of the city.
Azyma saw it too, then tried searching out her house, but the slums were such a warren of tight streets that every building looked the same, especially from up here and so far away. She may know it well at street level, but from this novel, unfamiliar perspective, she couldn't recognise anything.
Keira unshouldered her backpack and drew out a blanket. "This'll make a good spot for a picnic, wouldn't you say?" she said as she lay the blanket down on the grass.
Within minutes they were sitting together on the rug, snacking and chatting contentedly as they continued to admire the view. They remained at that spot until the sun had almost fully descended, and they rested beneath the shadow of the great wall of stone behind them, illuminated only by the shimmering blue light of the warp gate. The city started to light up as the sky became darker, and it now glimmered like a tray of scintillating jewels beneath the moon, which was slowly rising over the site of the Baron's old palace like a large, pale eye.
They could have stayed here and looked on forever, but Keira was aware that this ledge continued behind them, following the rock wall into a high valley, and she proposed they explore it further. Still munching on leftovers, they re-packed their supplies and Keira led them along the way ahead.
It wasn't far until the walls widened out and revealed yet another beautiful sight. The passage ended at a window in the rocks that opened upon a high, expansive gorge, surrounded on all sides by towering stone, and in the centre, set upon rocky, grass-topped plateaus were the ancient structures of the Precursor Temple Complex. Elaborate domes and shrines glowed and twinkled by the light of their own undying lamps, while soft streams and waterfalls flowed between them, casting a light mist into the air as they cascaded down into the seemingly endless drop. It looked ghostly yet inviting in this soft luminance, and the distinct texture of the coloured walls made it look all the more otherworldly and mysterious.
Tess and Azyma both stood amazed by each other's side as they gazed upon the historic monuments. Azyma felt the most peaceful she could remember in the longest time, her doubts and apprehensions all slipping away. All her life she had been kept behind the safety of the city walls, imagining what terrors must lie on the other side, but there was a whole new world out here that she had never known, ready to explore, and it wasn't dangerous at all. It was beautiful! How she wished her parents could be here with her now to see this. The sight of the enigmatic buildings in the distance reminded her of the bedtime stories they used to tell her as a child, stories of Precursor palaces and magical places where gentle folk could dwell in peace. It was as if those stories had all suddenly come true.
"How old are these buildings, Keira?" she asked, thirsty for more knowledge about this enchanting place.
"Maybe thousands of years old, I'd say," Keira answered. "These were here long before the city."
She surveyed the scene herself, revelling in the reawakened sense of awe she used to feel when visiting places like this as a child, back in her past life in Sandover. It was a welcome relief to know that such places still existed, and that the Metal Heads had not destroyed them all.
"But how do we get to them?" asked Tess. "Can't we get any closer?"
"I don't think we can," said Keira.
Between their viewpoint and the temples was another deep, open chasm, untraversable by any means except flight, cutting them off.
"Oh well," said Tess. "At least the views were worth the trip."
Then Keira looked to her left, towards the high rocky wall that made up the other side of this short gorge, and noticed a fissure in the stone. On their way in, they had completely failed to spot it in the shadows. While Azyma and Tess remained captivated by the temple scenery, she approached, drawing out her torch from her bag. She shone it into the gap, and could see that it formed a narrow cutting through the rocks, just wide enough to squeeze through, and there was light on the other side. Keira's hopes began to swell.
"Hey guys," she called, "I've found something."
Azyma and Tess tore their eyes away from the view to see what had got Keira interested, and they joined her at her side to look through.
"Where do you suppose this leads?" Tess asked.
"I don't know," said Keira, shining her beam of light down the walls, "But I want to find out."
Azyma and Tess, however, only partially shared her enthusiasm. They didn't like the look of this cramped little gap in the rock face, and less still the idea of squeezing themselves into it.
"You want to go in there?" Azyma asked, eying it with concern and chewing worriedly on her bottom lip. "I don't know about this, Keira."
"Me neither," Tess spoke up with agreement. "Are you sure you know what you're doing, honey? This looks like it could be dangerous."
Keira paused, and the concerns of her friends made her stop and briefly consider if her sense of adventure was perhaps getting a little too bold. But she was feeling the exhilarating rush of discovery, something she had not properly experienced since she had been a child, and it was almost too strong to resist. Tess and Azyma, born in a completely different time and context, had never known the same desire to explore and discover the world that she had; the fear and prudence nurtured from a lifetime confined inside Haven's walls were holding them back. Coming out here for the first time was already a big step for them, especially Azyma.
"But this way could get us down to the temples, or even lead into the forest," Keira argued her speculations. "You said you wanted to see it, didn't you?"
"Well… yes," Azyma agreed, and her imaginings of this enigmatic forest respawned in her mind. If it was anything like the temples, it was worth seeking out. "But... maybe we should just come back and look for it another day. It's starting to get late now."
She looked up into the blackening sky above to emphasise the fact. Though it was peaceful and beautiful here, and a part of her did wish to stay and explore further, she also felt a persistent conscience telling her that it was somehow wrong to be out here this late, or away from the city for too long.
Keira saw the sense in this suggestion, and caught an agreeing nod from Tess too. "But we've got our flashlights. I just want to have a little look before we go. If it's dangerous, or there's nothing there, I'll head back out. I promise."
They found it difficult to argue with her. When she wanted to, Keira could be very persuasive with little apparent effort.
Tess eventually capitulated. "OK, but be careful, alright?"
Azyma meekly agreed too.
Keira broke into a satisfied smile, and then turned her attention back to the crack in the wall. Torch held forward, she slipped inside. From the opening, Tess and Azyma watched as she squeezed her way through, until she disappeared around a bend and was out of sight. Azyma now took her own torch out and shone it down the passage, but it was now empty.
"Keira?" Tess called out.
"Yeah, I'm on the other side now," Keira called back faintly, "And it's all OK. Come on through and have a look. It isn't far."
Tess and Azyma looked at each other, and felt Keira's infectious sense of discovery finally getting to them. They decided to give it a shot. Tess went first, and slipped through the crack easily. But Azyma took a moment to follow. She didn't like enclosed spaces and preferred to avoid them whenever possible, but she also didn't like being alone in an unfamiliar place, no matter how beautiful it was. She had to go through.
"OK," she whispered, preparing herself. She took a deep breath, making herself as thin as possible, and then squeezed into the gap. She shuffled along sideways, feeling the bare stone rubbing against her front and back, but she didn't dare stop or exhale. Finally, the walls widened again, and she let out a grateful breath.
She looked around at where she had emerged. She was standing in a grey channel of stone, narrow enough in most places to touch the walls with both arms outstretched, sometimes a little wider, but the walls were high and almost met to touch each other. A narrow skylight separated their tops, letting in the pale glow of the rising moon, just bright enough to illuminate the topmost stones. It gave the impression of being underground, even though they were still above the height of any building in the city. A still, sheltered silence hung in the air, cut off from the night wind. The ground beneath her shoes was dry and chalky, dotted with stone fragments, some large, some small enough to hold in the palm of her hand.
A few steps away, Tess surveyed the area too, perched on a flat rock and sniffing the air, and Keira stood at the front of the group, chasing the shadows away with her torch. "It carries on down this way," she said, pointing the torch ahead, illuminating the path. "Come on."
Before Tess or Azyma could say anything, she was already moving, and they found themselves following her, not wanting to be separated. The channel made many twists and turns as it snaked deeper into the mountains, sloping gently downwards, and in places the walls closed in again to almost kiss one another high overhead. A large boulder blocked their path, which they climbed over carefully, and not far after that, they had to duck beneath another which was wedged between the walls just a few feet off the ground. Azyma looked upwards warily at the many others which were perched precariously high, some stacked and balancing impossibly. When the skylight closed in above them, leaving them only with their torchlight to guide their way, she started to feel very uncomfortable. The dim air felt heavy and claustrophobic, she feared they might get lost or stuck down here, but still Keira did not turn back, showing no signs of quitting.
"Keira?" Azyma asked sheepishly, her voice a whisper that easily reverberated off the stones. "Does this go on much further?"
"It can't be far to the end now," said Keira, though she herself was only guessing, pulled along by the enthralling sense of discovery. "Let's just keep going."
She pressed on, and Azyma looked at Tess unsurely, communicating her unwillingness. She could see that Tess was starting to have her doubts too, but the ottsel just shrugged as if to say 'well, what can we do?'. Azyma swallowed, and making sure that her torch was still clutched tightly in hand and Tess remained close to her, followed in Keira's footsteps.
After another minute of turns and tight squeezes, just as Azyma was about to plead they turn back, Keira's persistence paid off. In a shadowy cleft illuminated by a single shaft of moonlight, Tess said, "Wait. Listen. Can you hear that?"
They all stood still and silent for a few seconds. The faint sound of running water could be heard. It was coming from ahead, past a standing stone that jutted from the left wall and filled half the passage.
"Through there," said Tess.
Feeling confident optimism, Keira moved to it immediately and carefully brushed her way around it. The others followed, first Tess then Azyma, who was hopeful of finally reaching the end of this dark journey. Her hopes were brightened when she felt a breath of damp, cool air touch her face. The sound of the water grew clearer and closer, the walls widened out, and there was open sky above them again. The ground changed texture, becoming soft, moonlit grass, and then they passed the final stone into cool spaciousness. Before them they saw trees, dozens of ancient, beautiful trees whispering in the slow air, and harbouring deep night-shadows beneath their boughs. A small waterfall trickled upon the rocks on their left, spraying a fine mist through the air and over their skin, and feeding a shallow stream that wound its way between the tree roots deeper into the woodland.
"This is it!" said Keira, brimming with success, and her voice seemed to disappear into the wondrous dark. "We've found the forest!"
Tess and Azyma both mouthed another silent 'wow', utterly in awe of the shimmering beauty before their eyes, and their fears vanished. This was the first time they had ever beheld such an untouched natural sanctuary, and the difficult journey here was definitely worth it.
"This is amazing..." said Azyma, wonderstruck. Though she could not explain why, she felt obligated to whisper, like she was in a reverent space. "I never knew this was here, so close to the city..."
"Let's have a look around," said Keira. "I think I see something ahead through the trees."
They all looked ahead, and could see what appeared to be the soft glow of another Precursor building not too far away, a clear beacon in the dark. It could be a temple, or a smaller shrine, or another way into the main complex. Torches beaming adventurously, they walked on towards it, following the edge of the stream. Keira led the way, followed by Tess and then Azyma bringing up the rear in contemplative silence.
The night was fully descended now. The grass beneath their shoes felt springy and light as they walked, like a natural carpet. All around them, the air was filled with the sounds of running water, gentle wind in the leaves, and small nocturnal animals going about their business, while the tiny, golden glows of night insects danced magically over the stream, between the trees and among the flowers.
Before long, the Precursor building they had sighted loomed before them. It was a raised archway set within another natural wall of stone like a large doorway, and a light shone down from its apex. The river flowed right into it, disappearing through a channel at the archway's foot.
"Look at this," said Keira.
Curiously, she went up the low steps and stood beneath it, squinting against its glare, and the forest around her became invisible from within the spotlight. She could not clearly see what lay through it, but by listening carefully, she could hear the river flowing on again; it must re-emerge and continue its course on the other side, through this carved passage in the rock. Was it some sort of cave or tunnel?
While Tess looked up at it too, Azyma watched Keira for a moment as she stood illuminated in the light, and then turned her gaze back the way they had come. She saw the grass and the tree roots lit up by the faint beams of moonlight that shone through the upper branches like pale spectres. This was perhaps the most magically tranquil place she had ever visited, but even though she was overcoming her fears of being outside the city, there was still some feeling that remained which told her that she should be afraid. She was not used to such pure darkness, having grown up in the city where there was always artificial light at all hours, even in the darkest corners of the slums.
Then an unexplained hot flush came over her, and she tugged at the collar of her shirt. It was a warm night, with very little wind and cloud cover, and she was dressed up quite well. Or maybe it was an effect of the clean and unfamiliar forest air, making her light-headed?
She rolled up her sleeves and spoke again. "Keira, can we have a rest somewhere? I feel like I need a sit down."
Keira turned around. "You alright?" she asked from within the spotlight.
"Yeah, just feeling a bit tired, that's all." She tried faking a yawn to get her point across, but found it much easier to achieve than she was expecting.
"OK, let's go back and sit by the river," said Keira, realising now that they should probably start thinking about heading back home soon. It was lovely here, but it was getting late and she didn't want to become lost in the darkness.
They began following the water back the way they had walked. It was not long before they were back at the small waterfall again, and they felt its mist drift over them pleasantly. It was a refreshing, soporific feeling, and they sat together by one of the rocks so they could cool off in its gentle spray. It really helped Azyma to feel better.
Tess lay out flat on the rock and closed her eyes, arms outstretched. "This is just a wonderful place!" she sighed dreamily. "Right now I think I could just lie here forever."
"It's nice, isn't it?" said Keira, who was also now feeling curiously drowsy. "What do you say we turn off the flashlights?"
Nobody objected, and when the lights went out, they were left sitting in the natural ambience of moonlight, watching the night-patterns slowly shift all around them. The still air and the sound of the waterfall had already made them lapse into a suggestive state of mind, and they were all beginning to feel sleepy. But they did not have a care in the world, just sitting there in the moonlight and listening to the sounds of nature all around them.
"Strange effect this place has on you..." muttered Azyma serenely, as she began to doze.
"Mmm hmm," Keira hummed, but she'd only half-registered what Azyma had just said.
Her head was beginning to nod as well, and things were growing dimmer around her. But it was an inviting darkness, and Keira thought she could even hear faint music accompanying it, like quiet voices singing shapeless tones. This only lulled her into a much deeper trance, and without even the awareness of movement, her head met with the soft blanket of grass as she gently slumped over onto her side and closed her eyes. Within seconds, she had drifted away into a peaceful and natural sleep, as the forest continued to shimmer all around.