Chapter 4 - Awakening of the Gate

For a moment, Azaros stood still, unable to move, surrendering to the awe of the vision unfolding before her.

The darkness... the narrowness... the suffocating stone walls... all had vanished.

What appeared before her wasn't merely an exit from a cave, but a birth into a new world.

Everything looked like a dream, vast, unreal, as if reality itself had decided to reshape just to astonish her.

Nintu's calm voice broke the heavy silence: "We did it."

Azaros nodded slowly, her eyes fixed on the horizon, as if afraid the scene might vanish if she dared look away.

She whispered, as though trying to convince herself: "Seems like we actually made it."

Before her stretched a jagged stone ledge, worn by what seemed like ages of relentless weathering.

She stepped toward it cautiously, reaching a flight of stone stairs carved into the mountain's heart.

They were winding, uneven, veiled with a thin layer of damp moss that gave the place a forgotten grandeur.

Looking down the stairs, a vast forest unfolded beneath her, like an ocean overflowing with autumn colors.

The leaves shimmered in hues of green and gold, glistening under the soft rays of the morning sun pouring over the land.

Dancing shadows reflected on the earth below, as if the forest itself were breathing with life.

Then Azaros raised her gaze... and her breath halted.

The world before her was not as it should be.

The sky was not merely above her.

It surrounded her.

It stretched endlessly, like an ocean without shores, as if the earth had dissolved, and nothing remained but an island adrift in the void.

"Is this... even possible?" Her voice trembled with wonder and disbelief.

"Are we on an island... floating in the sky?" She shook her head, trying to banish the madness from her thoughts, but everything around her confirmed it: "We escaped a prison... only to find ourselves in another."

Nintu's voice came, teasing: "Perhaps. But not all prisons are made of stone."

Azaros replied with a scowl: "You say that like you knew! How can you be this calm? We're... we're in a place that defies understanding!"

Nintu responded without emotion, her tone steady: "Because panic helped us no more there than it will here. And because I've learned the world's riddles run deeper than easy answers can reach."

Azaros froze, Nintu's words echoing heavily in her mind.

She wanted to argue, to demand an explanation—but Nintu's firmness held her back.

She drew a deep breath and turned again to face the endless sky: "If this is the path forced upon us, then let us see what fate has hidden ahead."

Nintu smiled: "The unknown may be terrifying, but it is where we find our strength."

Azaros nodded: "Then let's move forward."

She began to descend the steps of the ancient stone stairway, as if her footsteps whispered to her: Leave this world behind... and cross into another.

With each step, the moisture in the air thickened around her, until she reached the base of the mountain.

The breeze carried the scent of damp earth, deep and resonant, as if speaking directly to the senses, awakening a strange sense of belonging.

She made her way through the forest until she arrived at an old stone circle, half-buried beneath creeping vegetation and mud.

She paused for a moment, gazing at the circle, then continued walking until the path ended at the edge of the floating island.

There, the world seemed to dissolve into an endless sea of clouds, moving in rhythms too strange to understand, hiding whatever lay beneath, as if trying to conceal a secret yet to be revealed.

She was trapped between earth and sky.

She looked out at the vast expanse before her and smiled with bitter sarcasm: "All this effort to escape the cave... only to find ourselves stranded on a rock in the sky."

Her patience began to wear thin: "No way down. No bridge, no stairway, no path... what now?"

Nintu's voice came, calm as always, but laced with a familiar ambiguity: "Perhaps the way forward isn't something that can be seen."

Azaros furrowed her brows, thought creeping into her face: "What do you mean?"

"This island wasn't hidden by accident," Nintu replied.

Azaros brushed a strand of hair from her face with a swift motion and said sharply: "Maybe… but I don't have the luxury of contemplating reasons right now."

Then she let out a short, dry laugh: "Great. So we wait for the sky to split open and a magical staircase to appear… right?"

Nintu replied without losing her composure, her tone steady like a rock in a stream: "Not that naïve. But the path may simply not be visible yet… We just need something to reveal it."

Azaros's expression tightened, her displeasure clear despite her effort to suppress it: "And when exactly is this miraculous thing supposed to show up?"

Nintu's voice came softer: "When we learn to look properly."

Then she added: "Sometimes… the sign is right in front of us,

but we miss it because we expect it to look different."

Azaros exhaled sharply, as if pushing out her frustration with every breath, then murmured reluctantly—like someone yielding to what they loathe: "Fine… let's try it your way."

Azaros sighed with exasperation before muttering reluctantly: "Fine. We'll do it your way."

Nintu's tone took on a more thoughtful air: "There was something about that stone circle we passed earlier. I felt an energy there, as if it held a purpose. I believe the key may lie there."

Azaros narrowed her eyes: "You think that's where we should start?"

Nintu didn't respond immediately.

The silence seemed to test her certainty.

Then, finally, her voice came—soft but firm: "I don't think... I know."

"Then there's no time to waste!" Azaros declared resolutely, driven by clear purpose as she rushed toward the circle.

As she approached the stones, Nintu's voice returned, faint, as though revealing a long-buried secret: "This circle isn't just an ancient remnant. It's a gate. In my era, stones like these were used as passageways."

Azaros stopped suddenly: "You mean... transport gates?!"

Nintu replied calmly: "That's exactly what I mean."

Azaros needed only a moment before her frustration erupted—her voice rising in anger as she gestured wildly toward the stones: "And why didn't you tell me that earlier?!"

Nintu sighed, barely audible, before replying with a cold, sarcastic edge: "Maybe because you didn't give me the chance? You've been acting like you're in a race to reach the island's edge, never even thinking to ask."

Azaros ran a hand through her hair, trying to suppress the frustration boiling inside her. She took a deep breath: "A gate then... and how does it open?"

"It opens..." Nintu's answer came slowly, as if recalling a distant memory: "Usually, if someone stands in its center and recites a spell."

Azaros paused, stunned, then crossed her arms warily: "And where is that spell? Surely you know it, don't you?"

Nintu's voice came, hesitant, laced with faint embarrassment: "I... forgot. It's been ages, and those incantations aren't exactly easy to remember."

Azaros let out a long sigh before fixing her with a deeply annoyed stare: "Seriously? So we're stuck here... because of your memory?"

Nintu quickly tried to shift the subject, regaining her usual composure: "There might still be another way. The mechanism of this circle could be different. Let's look, there may be a key hidden somewhere."

Azaros exhaled in frustration, then began examining the stones carefully: "Sometimes I feel like I'm the only one here keeping things under control."

Nintu let out a soft laugh, as if trying to diffuse the tension: "I won't argue with that."

Azaros knelt down, starting to peel away moss and vines with care, like a soldier combing the battlefield for a breach in the enemy's defenses.

Her fingers moved along ancient grooves, faint engravings barely visible beneath the weight of centuries, as if whispering long-forgotten stories.

Time passed slowly, silence wrapping around them like a heavy cloak, while the air buzzed with a latent energy, like the growl of a beast waiting to strike.

Then… just as her frustration was about to boil over, her hand touched something different.

A cubic stone... smoother than the rest.

She held her breath, and gently pressed it.

The stone responded with a faint sound, as if it came from the depths of the earth.

"Nintu..." Azaros called, her voice low but charged with tension: "I think I've found something."

She pushed the stone further, and it released a clear click, like an ancient lock breaking after eons of stillness.

Then... the ground shivered.

Azaros stepped back as the earth shifted slightly, revealing an old metal handle—half-buried in the soil, as though time itself had deliberately forgotten it.

"This is the key... it has to be," she said as she stepped forward slowly, crouched, and felt the cold metal beneath her fingers.

She wrapped her hand around it: "Are you ready?"

Nintu's reply came without hesitation: "Do it. Whatever comes next, we'll face it together."

Azaros took a deep breath and... pulled the handle.

For a moment, nothing happened.

It was as if the world itself held its breath.

Then, from the edges of the island, a deep sound began to rise, like distant thunder echoing across the open air.

The ground trembled beneath their feet, and the stone circle lit up with a strange light, pulsing with a dormant energy that had slumbered for generations.

Azaros didn't hesitate, she spun around and rushed toward the island's edge, where the sound grew louder and the tremors intensified with every step.

The wind whipped at her face, tossing strands of her hair wildly around her, as if nature itself had joined in this storm of motion.

But when she reached the edge, she stopped.

What she saw froze her breath and rooted her feet to the ground.

The ancient stones, worn by time, were moving.

Slowly, as if waking from a long slumber.

One by one, they rose from the rim of the island, then began descending in a gradual slope downward.

They didn't move randomly; each one slid into place with stunning precision, as though an unseen hand was sketching its path through the air.

Azaros stood in awe.

Wide eyes, breath held, the wind howling around her, as though even the world was watching this moment unfold.

THOK!

The sound of stone striking stone rang across the horizon, a deep resonance, like a proclamation announcing the birth of something unseen for ages.

Azaros whispered, her voice filled with wonder and disbelief: "It's… incredible. I've seen magic before, but nothing like this. A bridge in the sky? Made of stone? How could something like this even exist?"

With the final stone falling into place, a resounding sound echoed, as if the entire world confirmed the completion of this miraculous construction.

Azaros took a deep breath, then looked down: "We've come this far. There's no turning back now."

Nintu's voice came, steady—but carrying a hidden warning: "That's true. But remember, these stones do not forgive those who misstep."

Azaros nodded firmly. She stepped forward, placing her foot onto the first stone. The surface was solid, yet something beneath it pulsed, as if the bridge itself were testing her.

Step by step, she moved forward cautiously. Each step was a challenge.

The wind howled around her, carrying with it whispers, ancient and faint, as though the bridge itself asked: Do you deserve to pass?

She looked toward the end of the path, where the clouds had parted to reveal the land stretching out below.

The fall would be catastrophic… But Azaros did not flinch.

She had come too far, had faced down her worst fears, heights no longer fazed her, nor did ancient magic deter her from her purpose.

As the land began to unveil itself, vast forests appeared beneath her, a sprawling green canvas without end.

Ancient trees, their trunks twisted and layered with the weight of time.

Nintu whispered, her voice like a tune from the past: "The land here is just as it was in the ancient ages… Wild. Untamed. Filled with life and death in equal measure. You feel it, don't you? There's danger in every corner… and in every shadow."

Azaros smiled, a smile full of defiance: "I've always preferred the wild places," she said quietly.

"Cities… palaces… They're all cages, stone-covered, rule-bound cages. But here…" She gestured toward the vast forests and mountains, her smile growing just a bit wider: "Here, the world is honest. It doesn't lie to you."

Nintu replied, her tone tinged with amused warning: "Honest? Perhaps. But you know, Azaros, even the most honest places still hide secrets within their shadows, secrets that no heart should trust. Never trust what lies beneath the surface."

Azaros gazed at the winding rivers carving paths through the forest below, her eyes tracing the details slowly emerging before her.

To the west, mountains rose like the teeth of a sleeping beast, their snow-covered peaks glinting under the sunlight.

As the bridge continued to descend, Azaros felt a cold breeze caress her hair, like the touch of a long-lost lover.

She closed her eyes for a moment, letting the wind carry away the weariness of the journey.

The air was pure, laced with the damp scent of the deep forest, and a faint note of wildflowers blooming somewhere unseen.

Her feet guided her unconsciously toward the shining lake ahead, where the last stone of the bridge came to rest.

The water's surface was still… Reflecting the sky and mountains so perfectly it was impossible to tell which world was real, and which was its reflection, inverted.