Chapter 8. The Real Realm and The Demon Gate

The forest and the darkness of it were getting thick and thicker as Advik and the company were going more and more deep in the outrageous forest. He thanked God to have those two with him or he wouldn't have come this far on his own. Alone in the woods without any light, he would have fallen somewhere on the land just right after taking one step. The red moon was glittering there but the light of it was blocked by numerous tall and thick trees which stood there. 

The three of them were slowly walking in that dark-isolated land for some time. Advik thought that it must have been a long time since they started their journey. However, he didn't know what time it was so he asked with an energetic expression on his face, "Hey, Mr. Fireball, how much time has it been since we started walking?"

"Ten minutes, only," the Fireball gave him an on-point reply.

"Only ten minutes? Don't joke! I think I'm walking for hours and you say only ten minutes! My legs will fall apart if I walk this much in a day," Advik complained. The Fireball and the Firefly didn't stop. They just chose to quietly listen to him and fly ahead. Advik pouted and angrily stomped his legs while walking a bit behind them.

The Fireball was bothered by his childish behavior, so he stopped and said in his usual authoritative yet gentle voice, "We cannot stay here but we will find a place for us to rest. Hence, right now just endure the pain."

Advik beamed and nodded in reply. The only things which were guiding his path were those two. Even though he was dead tired he was still smiling looking at them from behind.

He unexpectedly giggled when he saw them lead his way, a longing covering his eyes. I was just dying a while ago but when I opened my eyes it suddenly became almost two thousand years since my death. I always wanted to live a simple life but that… just remained a dream. Now, here I am, trying to escape from this unknown place. I was always afraid of death and now I'm a soul who is roaming in this horrible forest. I think a good-happy life was always something out of my reach.

Walking in that eerily silent place made him remember and think about some things he would've never thought about at all yet his mind and heart wanted to remember all the things he had forgotten.

Advik was lost in his own world but he woke up when the Fireball abruptly called him to hide behind a tree.

Reflexively he immediately hid as soon as he heard the Fireball, questioning, "Hey! Now, what happened? Why am I hiding again? Really... I have to hide even when I am not a thief anymore!"

The Fireball and the Firefly also hid behind the same tree, "Shhh... Stay silent for a while if you want to enter the Real Gate of the Realm."

Advik made a ludicrous and a bit confused face when he heard the Fireball talk about the Gate, he grimaced and said serenely, "What? Another gate? Really... How many gates do I have to encounter in a day? Why are there so many gates?" 

"Shhhhhhhhhhh....! Be quiet!" The Fireball and the Firefly came very close to his face to shut his mouth. The Black Fireball whispered, "Try to look at the Gate, it is the Real Gate of the Realm."

Popping out his head from behind the tree, Advik glanced at the Gate. The Gate was as big as the last gate he saw but there wasn't any guard around it, thus he carelessly said, "Oh! There is no need to hide, we should just open the gate. There is no guard either. Let's go, now I'll lead the way."

When he was going to step ahead, the Firefly and the Fireball grabbed his shoulder from the backside. He turned his back and he asked, "What happened? There's no one out there. We can easily slip away."

"Do not be reckless. Be extra careful when there is no one in a place where it should be someone, always remember this. You are a thief, so how can you be carefree in a situation like this?" said the Fireball.

Narrowing his eyebrows he questioned, "Did I ever tell you that I was a thief?"

"You were talking to yourself a while ago. I just heard it by chance," the Fireball answered neutrally.

The Firefly was also jumping high and low in midair as though it was also nagging or scolding Advik. He looked at it and chuckled, "You also want to scold me for my recklessness?"

Nonchalantly yet in an ordering tone, the Black Fireball said, "Focus."

"Oh sorry," Advik's eyebrows scrutinized as he scratched his head before speaking again in a worrisome voice, "Eh, then you mean there is someone out there?"

"Yes, there is someone out there who can be a big problem for us." 

Advik again glanced at the Gate to see and examine, "There is no one but now I think there is some kind of energy here, a demonic energy!"

"That is right."

He turned in the direction of those two with a speechless and awestruck face, "Seriously… God! How did I not see or sense it before? There is someone there, more like the Gate itself is that someone! Right, Mr. Fireball? Can he hear us from there?"

The Fireball, "Correct. He can hear us because he is a superior demon although he cannot harm us in any way as a result of his state."

Advik lightly hit his forehead in a bit of frustration on himself, "How I didn't notice it before! Stupid me and my eyes!"

The BLack Fireball said in a warm and comforting tone, "Do not punish yourself for a small mistake. You have been through a lot lately thus your mind was just not stable to see all these things. To notice dark or divine energy you need to have a stable heart and control of your mind and you are not in a condition to do that." 

Advik smiled, "Thank you." He thought that it was the first time someone didn't blame him for something. "Even though I don't know you two that well, you are still helping me. I don't know what your real intentions are yet you are giving me a very warm and family-like feeling, so I don't mind your company, I think."

The Fireball remained silent hearing Advik's words but the Firefly was jumping with joy, it was very happy hearing all that conversation like it understood every word of what they said. It flew and landed on his chest, close to his heart. He was surprised but soon he felt that the Firefly was hugging him so he closed his eyes and put his hand gently over the Firefly, "Thank you too," he smiled. After some second the Firefly left his chest.

The Fireball called again in a low voice, "…Okay, listen to me, child. That huge Gate ahead of us is a Demon. Well, he used to be a demon with a human-like body, however, he was captured by Emperor Agni who turned him into the Gate as a punishment when he tried to escape from the prison of the palace." 

Advik looked at the Gate again and spoke, "Oh, if he had a human form that means he was a powerful demon," looking back at the Fireball he continued, "but whether he was a demon or not is not important to us."

The Black Fireball sighed softly, "Yes, it is not. The problem is that that demon is still extremely powerful and it could be a problem for us."

"How?"

"We cannot go through it if it does not give us the permission to do so."

"Is that so? Hmm… do you know anything about his past life, maybe some information about him can help us," said Advik, narrowing his eyebrows.

The Fireball was silent before it replied, "Yes, I do know." 

The Fireball explained, "He has been an exceptionally powerful demon ever since he was born. There was no one as strong as him in his clan. For him everything was easy and there was nothing he could not obtain with his power. He was so strong and loved by everyone that soon he lost all interest in everything he did. However, one day he accidentally found something that he could never get tired of and that was a book of riddles made by his grandfather who was a riddle writer who gave up on his family, clan, and responsibility for his passion.

"His grandfather died years ago but he left his books of riddles which became friends for his grandson. From that time onward the kid also emerged himself with those books, never letting them out of his sight even for a second. Inspired by those books of his grandfather he also started to write riddles of his own. It was the only time he was happy but soon his father who was the leader of their demon clan found out about his hobby. He burned down all of those books, even the one written by his father and son because he was afraid that his son would disgrace their family if anyone found that the only son of their family was writing some useless riddles instead of polishing his sword arts--just like his late father.

"That incident made a tremendous impact on his young heart. The little kid was so furious with his father and his family for not understanding his small dream that in a flash, he destroyed his village and family with his abnormal cultivation. He was still lost when some gods and Emperor Agni surrounded him to imprison him for his deed. He realized what he did but it was too late to correct what he did. His Majesty imprisoned him immediately. Days became weeks and weeks became years and years; decades, yet he stayed in the person.

"Guilt and sorrow had been eating him alive in the prison but fortunately, he found some books of riddles in the library of the prison. Those books helped him find his love for riddles once again. Therefore he tried to escape from the prison to become something while doing what he loved and cherished the most. But His Majesty found out about his plan and in the heat of the moment turned him into the Demon Gate as punishment for trying to escape from the prison. Since then he has been stuck here as the Demon Gate."

They all were still hiding behind the huge tree, Advik quietly murmured, "Okay, so that was his past but it did not give me any good information about him." He looked at the Fireball in aspiration, "Do you know any of his weaknesses, something, anything which we could use against him?"

The Fireball sighed looking at the guy who was overly excited to meet the demon Gate, "The Emperor Agni has ordered him to protect this realm at every cost. He had to do what the Emperor ordered him to do even if he did not want to. However, he has some grudge against the Emperor for locking him up in that horrible place, hence, once in a while he lets some people or anyone come in or out through him if they offer something unique or precious to him. Although you still have to solve his riddles which are hard to crack, nevertheless I think we can find the answer for his riddles. And we have to listen to his riddles no matter what because he loves to recite and create riddles."

"What a character!" was the first line Advik said after hearing the whole story, he rolled his eyes. He thought, How can I always encounter people like him?

The Fireball chuckled slowly and replied calmly, "Yes, he is something but he has his reason to be like that and for doing what he did. Be careful because he is a demon, a greedy demon after all."

Advik smiled, "Everyone is greedy, don't you think?" He looked down at the ground with deep-unfathomable eyes, still smiling.

The Black Fireball called out to him and he abruptly shook his head to not feel what he was feeling. He looked up and answered, "Ah…Yes, now what can we do? Face him head-on? Haha."

"Unfortunately, that is the only option we have." The Fireball said and flew in the direction of the Demon Gate. His eyes widened in surprise when he saw the Firefly also follow the Fireball, leaving him behind as the two floated some meters ahead of him.

"Hey, wait!" Walking behind the two he asked calmly, "So what's the plan?"

"There is no plan," nonchalantly said the Fireball. "We have to solve his riddles. If we solved them he would let us go but if we failed then we can never come here again, this is the only condition he has. And he only asks one riddle from a person. That means there will be three riddles for us. Prepare yourself, Child." 

While having confusion build up in his mind Advik wanted to ask how the Firefly is going to answer the riddle but he didn't ask because he had other things to worry about. He was amazed by the fact that a Fireball knew so much about this place, so he just asked out of curiosity, "Umm… hey! Mr. Fireball, how do you know so much about this Realm, and why are you helping me?"

"No reason behind helping you. I am just doing what my heart is telling me to do and I have been living here for many years, thus, I know numerous things about this place--even the one which is unknown to most of the people here." A neutral but straight answer he got from the Fireball yet to him the reply seemed to be truly honest. Hence, he did not ask anything further and chose to quietly follow them.

Soon they arrived in front of the Demon Gate.