Chapter 36- through the dangerous gates and obtaining some rainbowberries
Kushanku, the capsule for the berries strapped to on his back like a backpack for the capsule had a strap, continued towards the Fenghuang Rainbow Gate. As the Nekomata approached the two colourful statues of the Rainbow Phoenixes, their magnificent rainbow-sparkly wings outstretched and curving towards each other such that their tips nearly touched, forming an arch, and the birds themselves standing with both feet placed on the ground, he found that the statues forming the Rainbow Gate were much bigger than he thought. Across the icy grass clearing they looked the size of an average bridge back on the Land Domain but now he was closer, they were MASSIVE, much bigger than Kushanku thought. Their height must be roughly that of Cair Paravel Castle back on Kushanku's home domain, the Land, maybe larger. Their massive size and the way their arching wings curved into the blue background of the higher sky sent a wave of in trepidation coursing through Kushanku and he slowed is pace and gazed nervously at the faces of the Rainbow Phoenix statues. Back across the ice grass clearing, Alexandrite, Paddy, the Rodents and their escorts including Yan Se, Azurefeather and Cirrus looked on in angst as the metallic powder blue, grey and white form of Kushanku continued to approach the Rainbow Gate's Fenghuang statues.
"Do you think 'e'll manage?" asked Rattus nervously.
"He'd better trust in Aslan to help get through those gates," said Athos.
"I remember him having to deal with a lethal situation almost on his own once when we were kits," said Alexandrite in a low voice.
"Lethal situation?" asked Yan Se.
"We foolishly took in a deadly Nogitsune by the name of Belladonna on our way to the base of Gandalf and Seresute the First Kitsune during the Age of Winter," explained Paddy, "And she challenged Kushanku to a violent battle to the death. Although Kushanku did get some help, he had to do most of the battling on his own."
"However, Belladonna was eventually vanquished by Gandalf with his deadly foxfire," said Alexandrite.
"Belladonna?" asked Azurefeather, before a disgusted frown formed on his face, "Eek, DISTURBING Nogitsune she was."
"She was one of the experimenters involved in the inhumane experiments during Jadis' reign according to Rosa," said the lead male Red Flying Rod, "That is before the White Witch put her in charge of helping to find Gandalf and Seresute's base."
"I'm not surprised that Belladonna had managed to have a migrating group take her under their wing and eventually into Gandalf and Seresute's base," said Yan Se with no surprise, "Nogistune are INCREDIBLY sly, especially the older ones above fifty years but especially, most especially those past 100 years when they start the phase of their lives all Magical Foxes are known for: increasing the number of their tails."
"A Nekomata kit taking on a 100-plus year old Nogitsune?" said Azurefeather, "Now THAT is a total mismatch. It's a wonder Kushanku managed to avoid instant death on the spot."
"Aslan certainly was with him during his battle, I can tell you," said Alexandrite. Just then a Yellow Flying Rod's voice called everyone back to the present.
"He's near the Rainbow Gate," the bright yellow Eel-like creature with a long thin body cried. The others turned and watched Kushanku as he was by now close to the Rainbow Gate.
"Here's where he MUST be careful now," said Yan Se, "Those guardian statues of the Rainbow Gate do NOT mess about."
The bubbling pot of angst increased in fierceness in Alexandrite and the others as they watched Kushanku across the ice grass clearing.
Kushanku had slowed his pace as he neared the massive Fenghuang statues. He gazed up at the faces of the birds. Their eyes were closed but their beaks were agape, adding to the unnerving appearance of the bird statues and making them look fiercer. Kushanku then uttered a prayer to the Great Lion and began to proceed, walking at a slow pace. He gazed back and forth at the Peacock-like Phoenix statues nervously as he continued his approach. The gap between the two bird statues was clear but Kushanku was so focussed on the fierce-looking statues that he failed to realise that there was a small graveyard present at the feet of the statues. Ahead of the Nekomata, a number of white sticks and rocks, bones, lay strewn across the gap between the statues' feet, some partially submerged in the soil and sand. These bones were the remains of previous attempted visitors that were struck down by the Fenghuang statues. Some of the skeletons were fully intact and were partially buried in the sand, some wearing armour as these visitors had died while wearing these outfits. The others were in literal pieces, alongside more pieces of metal armour. As Kushanku continued to approach the Fenghuang statues, his tension rising with every step, a gust of wind ruffled his fur, especially the long white hair cascading down the sides and back of his head, making him flinch. However, Kushanku ventured on, remembering the vital reason for his being here. As he neared the gap were the toes of the Fenghuang statues faced each other, he neared one of the armoured bodies. Kushanku then turned his gaze downward but the moment his eyes landed on the mini-graveyard, his trepidation levels spiked big time, especially as a small breeze gusted through the gap, whipping up some sand on the go. Nervously, he gazed down at one of the fully intact remains of an armoured visitor and paced by it. Kushanku examined the size and shape of the armoured body and deduced it to possibly be the remains of a Humanoid, like a Dwarf or a Curupira, or a small Ape, like a Talking Chimpanzee or an Oran Pandek. Suddenly, a breeze gusted and pushed the visor of the helmet of the skeletal remains upward and revealed a pair of eye sockets of the remains' skull, their direction gazing STRAIGHT at Kushanku and sending a MASSIVE wave of fright coursing down his spine. Kushanku stumbled back in horror. His eyes were widened with his mouth agape, his white fur spiked out and every hair in his pelage (fur) stood on end such that he looked like he had been electrically charged. His two tails looked like the tails of a Fox or a Kitsune in its Two-Tailed stage (reached at age 200 Narnian years with one tail grown per 100 years after that until they reached 900) and Kushanku felt his blood's temperature plumage, his heart rate increase and the urge to hyperventilate take hold. Fearfully and terrified, he shot a frightened gaze at the fearsome faces of the two Fenghuang statues. Kushanku then began to pace back, his amber eyes saturated with terror at the closed eyes and agape beaks of the birds' faces. Across the icy grass clearing, the group looked on, their angst spiking.
"He looks like he wants to turn tail and RUN!" cried Mjölnir, his paws on his cheeks.
"No, don't let fear take hold of you, Kushanku, remember High King Peter's need for those rainbowberries!" cried Athos.
"You CAN'T BACK OUT NOW!" added Porthos.
"DON'T GIVE IN TO THE TEMPTATION TO TURN AND RUN!" added Aramis, "THAT WOULD BE COWARDICE!"
"KUSHANKU!" cried Alexandrite and Paddy together. The others also cried and yelled at Kushanku to not give in to his fear.
"Fight your fear, Kushanku," cried Yan Se, "FIGHT YOUR FEAR!"
Kushanku continued pacing back, his terror as high as the Fenghuang statues. His petrified gaze darted from one of the birds' faces to the other and he was trembling all over.
"A TRUE warrior does NO' run from FEAR!" screamed Rattus.
"And YOU, Kushanku, ARE A TRUE WARRIOR!" cried Athos.
"NEUTROPHIL HIMSELF SAID YOU WERE!" cried Porthos. Kushanku continued snapping his frightened gaze back and forth at the Fenghuang statues' faces when suddenly, the eyelids of both moved, revealing a light. That light morph-flashed through the colours of the rainbow in the exact order of red, orange, yellow, green, blue, indigo and violet and then back to red. However, this was no beautiful sight, but a sight of something FAR more terrifying. The watchers looked on in TERROR and ANGST.
"Oh-er, THIS IS IT!" cried Azurefeather.
"I can't LOOK!" wailed Mjölnir and with that, he covered his eyes with his paws and looked away. Squea'tagagn also released frightened whimpers and looked away.
"Kushanku's gonna be TOAST!" added Paddy. Kushanku continued gazing at the glowing rainbow-coloured eyes of the Fenghuang statues, his terror boiling dangerously within him. It was clear he was now on the cusp of turning tail and fleeing across the icy grass back to his group.
"RUN KUSHANKU, NOW!" screamed Alexandrite.
"RUUUUUN!" cried the Flying Rods together. The others also cried the same thing. Kushanku continued boiling with terror and the urge to turn tail and fleeing from the sight of the terrifying Fenguang bird statues and their frightening rainbow light eyes as they widened but then he looked straight ahead through the Rainbow Gate. Something else was taking hold.
"RUN, NOW!" yelled Yan Se. Finally, Kushanku's legs and tails spring into action. The Nekomata launched into a sprint and then his tails twisted and spun like a propeller, propelling him even faster. As he dashed through the gap flanked by the feet of the Fenghuang statues, two rainbow-coloured beams exploded from the statues' open eyes and met exactly in the middle of the gap. However, they missed Kushanku's spinning tails by mere inches and within seconds, it was over. Kushanku stumbled and fell flat on his face into the soft sand, his tails stopping spinning. After a few seconds, he looked up and then back. After realising he had passed through the Rainbow Gate, relief swept over him like the breeze. Cheers exploded from his group back across the icy grass clearing and the group jumped up and down and hugged each other.
"HE MADE IT!" cried Alexandrite.
"AWESOME!" yelled Paddy. The Rodent group also hugged though Mjölnir accidentally gave Athos a small shock in his jubilation to the lead Mouse's slight irritation, prompting the Lightning Pika to apologise. The Flying Rods also cheered while Yan Se, Cirrus and Azurefeather gazed at each other happily at Kushasnku's passing through the first gate. Kushanku then rose to his feet and prepared to continue to face his next challenge, the second gate which was the Riddle Gate.
The cheering group then stopped their celebration and gazed at each other in jubilation.
"I think the Great Lion was with him when he passed through that frightening gate," said Squea'tagnan happily. Then the happy air above the group calmed down as Cirrus explained the second gate.
"He's still got two gates to go," said the tall, fluffy Cloud-Man, "The next gate is the Riddle Gate and it is very different from the Rainbow Gate."
"How is it different?" asked Alexandrite.
"How does i' work?" asked Rattus. Te others exchanged looks.
"The Riddle Gate is a silvery ring arch that projects a powerful force field kind of like an Incluser barrier cast by Incluser powder but it is FAR more powerful," said Azurefeather, "If a visitor touches that field, they will suffer serious damage and possibly fatal injury."
Alexandrite and the others flinched violently at the Riddle Gate's lethality.
"Then how is Kushanku gonna shut off the force field without injuring himself?" asked Mjölnir.
"The Riddle Gate will speak a riddle and Kushanku must answer it correctly," said the first male Red Flying Rod, "It will not be an easy task to accomplish as the riddles spoken by the Gate can be quite tricky."
"And once Kushanku has successfully shut off the force field and has passed through the Riddle Gate, the last gate he must face to access the Rainbowberry Orchard Garden itself, and that is the Golden Post Lightning Gate," said Cirrus, "That gate is a giant glass dome with a golden post with a sphere on its top in the centre. The glass dome has two holes in it, an entrance and an exit but Kushanku will NOT be able to pass through that gate until he has shut off the powerful lightning cast by the sphere to the glass. Any visitor that tries to pass through the gate without shutting off the lightning risks facing a powerful and injurious, possibly fatal zap from those bolts."
"How is Kushanku gonna close down those bolts then?" asked Squea'tagnan.
"He must find seven rainbow crystal keys, one for each of the colours of the rainbow, and insert them into keyholes on the golden sides of the dome where it meets the ice hedge," said Yan Se, "But that is easier said than done. The seven keys are scattered about the field and Kushanku must search for them. Sometimes he may have to complete puzzles and even face some fears to obtain some of them."
"And once Kushanku has shut off the lighting of the Gate, he can safely enter the rainbowberry garden and pick some of those berries," said a Blue Flying Rod, "And once he is done, he must exit via a rainbow tube that will take him to that side of this field to our right."
Alexandrite and company turned and gazed at a hedge of white ice-leaves as the Flying Rod continued. "And as he does this, the gates will reset themselves while the rainbow keys for the Golden Post Lightning Gate will be re-hidden for the next visitor to gather and close off the lightning in the Gate."
"That sounds kind of challenging," said Alexandrite.
"It's supposed to be," said Cirrus, before the group turned to gaze at the Rainbow Gate, the first gate Kushanku had passed, "Since the rainbowberries are one of the nine ingredients to the exclusive Nine-Realms Potion, they are MEANT to be hard to access."
"They are also very dangerous when mishandled, such as consumed for selfish purposes," said a Green Flying Rod, "If ANY of those rainbowberries are consumed this way, they can be deadly. One previous visitor, a Dwarf, who wanted to marry a female Dwarf he was in love with, had learned this the hard way."
"What happened?" asked Paddy.
"The female Dwarf kept rejecting his advances and the Dwarf tried using some of the rainbowberries to make some sort of love potion to make her fall in love with him," said Yan Se with a serious look on his face, "And though he got what he wanted by tricking her into taking the wicked potion with the desired results, the side effects he reaped were NOT so desirable."
"The female Dwarf suffered severe and disfiguring consequences and eventually died," said a Yellow Flying Rod, "And the dwarf, heartbroken, took his own demise into his hands. So yes, misuse of those berries can reap some VERY nasty consequences."
"Any ingredient for the Nine-Realms Potion can, such as an apple from the Land's Garden of Youth granting the consumer eternal youth and other powers but insatiable greed and unhappiness for the rest of the consumer's life in addition," said Azurefeather, "Though the Garden of Youth apples are rarely deadly."
Murmurs rolled through Alexandrite's group before they turned in Kushanku's direction.
"Kushanku will be tempted to sample those berries, won't he?" said Paddy.
"He indeed will," said Yan Se, "so he MUST be careful when picking those berries from the orchard. They look and smell so good, you know."
More murmurs rolled through Alexandrite's group and they prepared to wait for Kushanku's return.
Meanwhile, Kushanku continued his entry into the Rainbowberry Orchard Garden. The Rainbow Gate was behind him and he was approaching the second gate, the Riddle Gate. As he looked ahead, he saw a silvery ring. In the centre of the ring was a transparent, rippling surface, like the surface of a lake or pond and anything through it was distorted. At first, Kushanku thought it was some sort of magic mirror but then he saw the transparent surface of the 'reflective' face. Kushanku then began to cautiously approach the gate, warty of its dangerous nature. If he were to touch that force field, he would be badly injured. He slowed his pace to a careful sneak the nearer he got. As Kushanku carefully approached the rippling force field of the Riddle Gate until he was close enough to see his reflection in the rippling force field. Then the rippling field moved and Kushanku flinched. The water-like field morphed from a flat, rippling surface and within moments, it formed a transparent Humanoid face. Kushanku gazed in surprise as that face spoke in a deep voice.
"His face is the centre of the fiery golden sun. He is gentle but deadly. He shineth in a light that is purest of gold. Thunder powerful enough to shake the Narnian air violently from his mouth escapeth. From the sight of him doth flee darkness and cold."
A confused look at this riddle spoken by the face in the force field crossed Kushanku's face at first but then the first line brought to mind how Aslan guided the migrating creatures through Jadis' winter-stricken land to Archenland's mountains: a golden Lion's face surrounded by a burning mane. That theophany of Aslan resembled a sun so Kushanku gave the answer to the riddle.
"Aslan," he told the Humanoid face and within moments, the rippling transparent force field disappeared, revealing a clear view of what was on the other side. Kushanku then carefully extended a paw to the gate and found that the force field had truly vanished and that he can safely pass through it. So he did and entered the next field. This ice grass field was larger than the field between the Rainbow Gate and the Riddle Gate and Kushanku noticed a few unusual objects scattered about the area. Ahead of him was the third and final gate to the Rainbowberry Orchard Garden itself, the Golden Post Lightning Gate. As described by Cirrus, this gate was a large glass dome with a golden pillar in the centre. Atop that pillar was a sphere and from that sphere danced countless writhing neon yellow threads spanning from the sphere to the dome. The dome had two holes with the first one visible to Kushanku but the Nekomata knew he would not be able to pass through this gate without getting zapped by the lightning in the glass dome. And he cannot fly over the hedges flanking the dome either as another protective powerful force field enclosed the garden to protect it from would-be illegitimate visitors and thieves like a security system. So Kushanku knew he had to shut off the lightning of the Golden Post Gate before passing through it into the garden on the other side, marked by a MASSIVE colourful ribbon rising and curving from behind the gate.
As Kushanku ventured through the ice grass field, he turned and saw some strange blue objects. These objects resembled trees but unlike the trees Kushanku was most familiar with which had brown trunks of bark and green leaves, these 'trees' were blue in colour and had blue trunks. These trunks branched into thinner arms as they reached into the upper sky. On the ends of these blue branches were discs and in those discs were pools of water. These strange blue trees were called sky lily trees, one of the important species of Skyland plants that were integral to many of the ecosystems of the Skylands, often forming forests when enough of them were present. Their disc-shaped tops collected water that fell from rainclouds that sometimes floated above the upper sky above the Skylands. A similar, near-identical-in-shape plant called the fiery disc tree, existed on the Narnian sun. However, these sun plants were neon orange and yellow, did not form large forests and did not collect any form of liquid in their discs. Kushanku had read about the flora of the Sky Domain and how they were VERY different from the flora of other domains, especially his home Domain, the Land. The Skyland flora were not like the Land flora in that they had green leaves and stiff trunks, like the land trees (such cannot grow up here due to the environment) and green was an EXTREMELY rare colour for the flora in the Skylands. But the most common type of plant was the sky lily tree. Then pulling his gaze from the disc-topped sky trees Kushanku turned to face the Golden Post Lightning Gate and his main objective.
As Kushanku carefully approached the Golden Post Lightning Gate, he took in the highly dangerous lightning dome, especially the massive bolts of lightning that danced and darted from the sphere atop the middle post to the glass (the Gate's overall design reminds us of a device in our world called a plasma globe). The glass dome had an entrance and an exit and through the transparent dome, Kushanku spotted what appeared to be some kind of berry orchard, similar to a grape vineyard. However, rather than growing out of the ground and as a mesh like a hedge, the rainbowberry trees grew separately and from their own pots, each pot resembling golden pots but because Kushanku was still quite some distance from the rainbowberry trees with the Golden Post Lightning Gate and its dangerous lightning blocking the way, he could not get a clear view of the rainbowberry plants. Then Kushanku turned his attention to the gate itself and began to ponder how to shut off the lightning to safely pass through the gate and into the Rainbowberry Orchard Garden. As he took in the glass dome's design, he saw that the dome's circumference contacted the ice hedges on either side. These arcs of contact were overlaid with glistening gold but then Kushanku noticed something odd about them so he went to investigate them. As he did, he saw that they had holes in them. The left post had three holes and the right post, four. These holes were coloured and as Kushanku examined them closer, he realised that they must be some type of keyhole and that each keyhole was coloured in each of the seven colours of the rainbow with red, orange and yellow being in the left post and the green, blue, indigo and violet keys on the right. Then the Tom Nekomata's golden eyes picked up a sparkle atop the hedge above right post just close to the glass dome. The moment Kushanku noticed this; he turned his central vision to the sparkle and saw a sparkling red crystal attached to a golden piece lying on top of the ice leaf hedge. The Nekomata then extended a paw to the crystal, picked it up and began to examine it closely. The crystal was like a pure ruby and was straight. It tapered to a tip and was semi-transparent. Deducing this to be one of the seven keys required to turn off the lightning in the Golden Post Lightning Gate, Kushanku rushed to the left post. As soon as he arrived at the post, he pushed the red crystal into the red slot. The crystal went into the hole and stayed in there. Kushanku flinched when he saw the lightning bolts jolt and flash red for a few seconds before returning to their neon yellow colour.
"That must be one of the seven keys," he whispered to himself in deduction, "I MUST find the other six and put them into their corresponding holes to completely shut off that lightning and access the garden for the rainbowberries for High King Peter's antidote."
Then without wasting any more time, Kushanku took off to find the other six crystal keys scattered about the mini field.
Kushanku searched as carefully as he could for the other six keys, starting with the sky lily trees and checking their trunks and branches. The first key he had managed to find was the Red Key so he must find and gather the Orange, Yellow, Green, Blue, Indigo and Violet Keys for the Golden Post Lightning Gate. After some time searching the sky trees including in their water-filled tops by using his unique two-tail spinning flying ability Kushanku managed to find the Blue Key and the Indigo Key. The former was hidden in one of the sky trees' 'ponds' while the latter was hidden in one of the boughs of the strange blue sky plants. The Indigo Key's dark blue colour matched the sky trees' colour so well that Kushanku had missed it several times until he picked out its golden holder while looking into one of the 'ponds'. Then as soon as Kushanku had found these two keys, he took them to the right post of the Gate and put them into their corresponding colour slots. The lightning in the dome flashed blue and indigo as he did this before returning to its neon yellow colour. Kushanku then returned to the field to look for the remaining four keys. He came across the Orange Key floating in some sort of transparent bubble next to some sort of large slab of rock. That rock contained some pieces stacked in a pile next to it. Kushanku tried to seize the key but he kept hitting the hard bubble. Then deducing the rock and the piles to be the unlocking device to obtain the key Kushanku set to checking the rock and piles out until he realised that this rock face and the pieces were some type of jigsaw puzzle. Immediately, Kushanku began to arrange the pieces to make a picture. After struggling with the first pieces, Kushanku finally got the hang of it and managed to arrange the first pieces correctly. He then realised that the picture pieces formed a mural of Aslan and as soon as he got the initial pieces on their correct place, he managed to speed up and place the remaining pieces in their right spots. As soon as he had finished the picture of Aslan which was a glistening gold Lion's face in a fiery mane, the bubble disappeared and the Orange Key fell onto the ice grass. Kushanku immediately seized it, darted to the right post of the Golden Post Lightning Gate and placed the Orange Key into its slot above the Red Key, making the lightning in the dome flash orange and then back to neon yellow. Next, Kushanku went to another puzzle which was also a rock face with some slabs. Next to it was the Green Key also contained in a magical impenetrable bubble and this time, the puzzle was a matching game, similar to the human game called snap. There were fourteen pieces forming seven pairs, their faces coloured, again with the rainbow colour motif (meaning there were two red pieces, two orange and so on) and Kushanku immediately set to pairing the pieces up according to their colour. At first he struggled but once the pairs got fewer, Kushanku accelerated the puzzle until finally, he managed to pair up all seven pieces and as soon as he had done this, the magical bubble popped and freed the Green Key. Kushanku took it to its keyhole in the right post of the Golden Post Lightning Gate. Just two more keys to go so Kushanku returned to the field to find them.
Kushanku soon found the Yellow Key locked in another magic bubble but as he approached it, he noticed it was some sort of passageway to the Key, that passageway being a crystalline arch coloured icy blue like most of his fur. Seeing the Yellow Key to be an apparently easy target, Kushanku prepared to approach it. However, there was a catch to obtaining the Yellow Key and that catch caught Kushanku off guard the moment he was about to put one hind foot through the arch to pass through it. Kushanku released a cat screech and rocketed into the air as a figure suddenly appeared; his tails spinning and holding him in the air. The frightened Nekomata then looked on, his fur puffed out with his head hair spiked out all over the place, his golden eyes widened and his body trembling. Before Kushanku, standing in the arch was a large figure. This figure was shaped like a giant bipedal Goat or Satyr, its curvy horns emanating from its head and rising into the air like a pair of ugly roots. It wore a robe similar to Father Christmas and its hands were long with bony, clawed fingers. Its feet were hoofed like a Goat's or a Goat-Creature's like a Faun or Satyr and its eyes were blazing red, those eyes glaring menacingly at Kushanku as he continued to hover there, seized with fear. Kushanku continued to gaze at the figure as it stared back at him evilly, its mouth sending a long, slimy snake into the air and then retracting it. This figure was one of the figures that severely traumatised the poor Nekomata as a kit during the Age of Winter and Kushanku remembered nearly falling victim to this Father Christmas Imposter several times back then. His terror gripping him like a predator's jaws, Kushanku immediately glared at a rock and telekinetically seized it with his eyes flashing neon blue and a neon blue aura enclosing that stone. Like almost all Nekomata, Kushanku possessed the ability of telekinesis but he rarely used it, instead preferring physical combat with his paws, weapons and even his spinning tails. He only used this ability as a last resort or when he is seized with severe terror. Then the stone floated to Kushanku and he seized it with his paws, the neon light disappearing from his eyes and the rock. Then the Nekomata raised the rock threateningly at the Krampus figure.
"GET BACK you VILE GOAT BEAST or I'LL SMASH YOUR SKULL LIKE AN EGGSHELL!" he bellowed gutturally at the Krampus figure as it continued to glare menacingly at him. However, it did not respond. Then Kushanku felt his nerve snap and he lunged at it with the rock, aiming for the head, a hostile grunt exploding from his mouth. However, he phased through thin air and ended up crashing onto his front in the ice grass. His rock fell out of his paws and clattered to the ground and his tails stopped spinning. Dazed momentarily, Kushanku pushed his upper body off the ground with his paws and looked behind at the arch. To his surprise, the Krampus figure had disappeared. Then Kushanku turned round and saw a sparkling yellow object in front of him. To his surprise, it was the Yellow Key, having been freed from its bubble. Immediately, Kushanku seized the key, rushed back through the arch and to the Golden Post Lightning Gate and placed it into its keyhole in the left post. The lightning in the dome flashed yellow before returning to neon yellow. Due to how similar the yellow was to the neon yellow, the colour change was subtle. Then Kushanku left to find the seventh and final key, the Violet Key. He flashed a look at the arch passageway where he had obtained the Yellow Key. That arch must be some type of magical hologram projector and based on the fact that it had projected an image of Krampus, his worst fear, Kushanku deduced the arch to be a fear-facing tester, intended to test courage of the visitors as part of their tasks in gathering the keys for the Post Gate. Pulling his gaze from the arch, Kushanku resumed his search for the Violet Key.
After some searching, Kushanku finally found the dark purple coloured key. It was hidden in the blue sky trees like the Indigo and Blue Keys had been but to his dismay, he saw that the key was right in the hive of a certain giant sky insect called the Stalker-Fly. The Stalker-Flies were each about the size of Kushanku's arms from nose to rear and resembled a cross between insects resembling flies and birds. They were greyish in colour though some were also black and bluish grey. Their heads were rounded with three insect eyes arranged in thirds around the head. These eyes resembled shining stones wedged into bluish-grey, grey or black rocks and gave these creatures 360 degree view vision, critical for their hunts. On the front of the Stalker-Flies' heads were beak-like jaws. Some of the beaks of these strange bird-flies were pointy and sharp. The beaks of other Stalker-Flies were wedge-shaped with a point on the top jaw, similar to a Hawk or Falcon, but the Stalker-Flies with this beak type were not another species. The Stalker-Flies had a thin neck connecting the head to a round body. From the body extended four jointed legs ending in two-fingered 'hands' with each finger possessing a claw critical for grasping and handling surfaces and things; and two large wings resembling a cross between a bat and an insect's. Stalker-Flies were social Skyland insectoids and their way of life was very similar to the social insects that lived on the Land Domain like bees and ants. Different castes had different jobs with scouts seeking out prey and workers doing the hunting, rearing and raising of young. Each Stalker-Fly colony had a queen which laid all the eggs that will birth new Stalker-Flies. Stalker-Fly colonies lived in the trunks of most Skyland trees with the blue lily tree being one of them. And there was a colony of Stalker-Flies nesting in the lily trees of the Rainbowberry Orchard Cloud, but they weren't just part of the ecosystem of the Nine-Realm Potion ingredient berries' exclusive area.
Kushanku tried to reach a paw into the hive to obtain the Violet Key but the Stalker-Flies, crow-like grunts escaping through their beak-like jaws, snapped their beaks at the Nekomata's paw defensively. Kushanku released a Cat wail as one of the Stalker-Flies' beaks managed to land a sharp peck to his paw finger. The Nekomata grasped his bitten paw in pain and checked the finger. A small bead of blood ran from a cut from his pointing finger where the Stalker-Fly had bitten him. Kushanku, his cut crying in pain and causing him to contort his face, then glared back into the hole in the lily tree trunk at the Stalker-Fly nest and the key as more crow-like calls emanated from the nest's inhabitants within in anger and frustration. Without the Violet Key, the Golden Post Lightning Gate cannot be shut off for safe passage into the Rainbowberry Garden. While Kushanku then entered into thought on how he was going to manage this difficult challenge, he noticed several Stalker-Flies suddenly leave the nest and fly away into the blue sky, crow-like caws escaping their sharp beaks and their large bat-like insect wings beating the air. Then Kushanku remembered the discussion with Cirrus and company about Stalker-Flies and how they were used as dumb Sky Whale hunting animals back at Asgard Sky City back in the past before raising Sky Whales as livestock became a thing. Gazing back into the field, Kushanku formed a determination frown.
"If I'm to deal with those Stalker-Flies to get that key, then I MUST find them some Sky Whale meat," he said and with that, he left. However, the solving of one problem begat another: how was Kushanku going to find a Sky Whale to source its meat for the Stalker-Fly colony? As he pondered this and nursed his bitten finger, he soon came across something. Kushanku stopped and began to examine it, especially as two scout Stalker-Flies, their long beaks emitting the deep crow-like caws, flapped and swooped around it. It was a large glass dome, similar to that of the Golden Post Lightning Gate, but it was buried into the ice grass. Through the dome was a large lump of meat. A hole in the grass was nearby and as Kushanku approached it, he realised that they were a small stairwell leading downward. Kushanku then gazed through the glass dome and realised that the large lump of meat was Sky Whale meat. Deducing it to be the food source for the Stalker-Fly colony, Kushanku descended the stairwell until he was under the field. Then he came to a large silvery grey door. He opened the door but as he did, a chilly wave of cold air washed over him and made him flinch. It was clear that this storage compartment was some type of fridge or freezer and its design reminded Kushanku of the freezer and fridge food storage compartments back at Gandalf and Seresute's base decades ago. Then ignoring the freezing air Kushanku entered into the fridge-like room and gazed at the large block of Sky-Whale meat. He then looked around and saw a large silvery blade, a cleaver, hanging from a hook from the wall. Taking the cleaver, Kushanku went to the large block of meat and began to carve a piece of it. After obtaining a small piece of meat, Kushanku replaced the cleaver onto its hook, left the room and closed it, and exited the small stairwell. However, the moment Kushanku exited the stairwell with the lump of meat, the two scout Stalker-Flies suddenly began to swoop around him, caws exploding from their beaks, the scent of the Sky Whale meat exciting them. Kushanku waved them off with his paws and proceeded with the meat lump to the Stalker-Fly nest. As Kushanku approached the nest, caws exploded into the air as more Stalker-Flies emerged from the nest and at him. Kushanku, startled by the incoming swarm of Stalker-Flies, emitted a frightened Cat cry and dropped the meat lump. The moment he did this, the Stalker-Flies swarmed all over the meat and began to feast on it. Kushanku looked on and then prepared to rush towards the nest but before he could do that, one of the Stalker-Flies flitted towards him, its long thin beak grasping a glistening purple gem; the Violet Key. Kushanku, surprised, took the last key from the Stalker-Fly's beak, the Stalker-Fly then joining its comrades on its feast. Kushanku looked on in wonder. Were these Stalker-Flies trained to protect one of the keys and had to be given food as part of the task of gathering the Gate keys? Putting that question aside, Kushanku rushed for the Golden Post Lightning Gate with the final key. He placed the Violet Key into its slot in the right post and the moment he did that, the lightning in the dome flashed violet before returning to neon yellow for a few more seconds but then the lightning turned white and finally, to Kushanku's UTMOST joy, it disappeared. After this Kushanku rushed to the entrance of the glass dome and cautiously extended a paw into the space. When he felt no damaging bolt strike his paw Kushanku; assurance that it was now safe to pass through the gate, did so.
As soon as Kushanku emerged on the other side of the glass dome, he was greeted with an awesome sight and he breathed in awe. Backing the Garden was a MASSIVE facade of colour which rose from behind the garden and into the air like a curvy curtain. The rainbowberry trees were arranged like the trunks of the grape trees in a vineyard except that their trunks did not come out of the ground but out of a series of pots. Those pots were pure gold, their surfaces glistening a sunny yellow. Within those pots was an unusual type of soil. Instead of being black or dark brown like the soil back on the Land, this soil was golden and lumpy and resembled a pile of coins. The trunks of the rainbowberry trees were brown like the 'usual' trees and the ONLY sort of trees in the Skylands to have the 'ordinary' brown trunks and their leaves were a glistening metallic green, again a trait that was rare among the Skyland trees and plants. Adorning the rainbowberry trees were long thin vines, those vines intermingling with the adjacent tree like the branches of an apple orchard but the key part of these plants were the fruits. Those fruits were small and resembled tiny glistening baubles. Unlike the bauble-like apples that grew on the trees in the Garden of Youth back on the Land, these berries grew in large clusters like grapes. Each 'grape' or rainbowberry was a single colour, one of the seven colours of the rainbow (red, orange, yellow, green, blue, indigo and violet). Flowers decorated the vineyard and orchard hybrid, their blossoms resembling pure white flakes. Metallic butterflies danced about the orchard with one metallic orange one flitting past Kushanku to his surprise. Kushanku took some more time to gaze at the beauty of the garden, relishing the sweet scent of the air perfumed by the plants, the sight of the plants themselves and their rainbow backdrop, and the pots from which they grew before resuming his main task: gathering some of these berries for the Nine-Realms Potion, High King Peter's antidote.
Removing the capsule from his back and uncapping it, Kushanku went about picking some of the berries. He knew that he should NEVER eat ANY of these berries for himself for they were poisonous and despite having 'benefits' but due to their sweet scent and beautiful appearance, it was extremely tempting to do just that. Not wanting to even sample these magical berries in the slightest, Kushanku quickly picked a dozen berries, at least one of each colour, and packed them into his capsule. Then after checking his selection and sure that he had enough for the Potion (there MUST be one of every colour of rainbowberry for the Potion in the selection), Kushanku recapped his capsule, put it back onto his back and began to look for a way out and back to Alexandrite and the others and the escorts. Suddenly, a sound and a slight shaking of the earth occurred and Kushanku flinched. He shot the Golden Post Lightning Gate a startled look and saw that its neon lightning had turned itself back on and seven glowing objects float around the dome before they scattered about the field. The seven keys must have been rehidden ready for the next visitor. Then Kushanku gazed to his left and saw that rainbow coloured tube had materialised. That tube curved from the Garden back to the starting point. Kushanku, a smile at an exit and a safe one at that was available, quickly rushed for it. On the way, his eyes caught sighted a glint which stopped him in his tracks. Kushanku turned to eye the glint and saw that it was a mirror to his surprise. This mirror was just like any other handheld mirror Kushanku had seen, including the one Queen Susan had back home. Its handle was silvery and its rim sparkled. Deciding that this mirror must be someone's lost possession and seizing the opportunity to return it, Kushanku picked up the mirror and made his way to and through the rainbow exit tube and back to the others waiting for him at the entrance to the Rainbow Gate.
As soon as Kushanku was back with the others and was reunited with them, especially Alexandrite his wife, Cirrus, Yan Se, the Flying Rods, Azurefeather and the other escorts took them back to Asgard Sky City to begin their return journey back to the Land Domain and Cair Paravel.