THE GATES OF CHOICE

While Lynne, the monkey and the bird were leaning against the wall of the tunnel, sleeping, Thalia, Parsia and Fen’er were looking at the tablet with downcast expressions, angry eyes coated in the black of sleeplessness. They reached the fourteenth of the fifteen tablets, and had been stuck on it for nearly three days, uncertain of the answer.

“… why did you listen to me when I suggested we enter?” Fen’er muttered as she collapsed back and lied down, grunting.

“For the same reason we’ve been stuck here for three days,” Thalia said while wiping her eyes. “We’re stupid.”

“How can he be so relaxed?” Parsia asked as the trio looked at Lynne. “Isn’t he worried he’d be stuck here for the rest of his life?”

“I’m actually jealous,” Thalia said. “If only I could ignore everything and just sleep so soundly.”

“Alright, let’s revise it again,” Fen’er grunted, sitting back up. “Where does the Soul Force come from?”

“Everywhere, nowhere, I don’t freaking know,” Parsia glanced angrily at the tablet. “Whoever came up with this question should just go and die.”

“… he did. Which is why we’re in his tomb.” Thalia said.

“The only silver lining of this moment.”

“Hey, Lynne,” Thalia shouted, startling him awake. “Come on, spit some of your bullshit, you might stumble onto something.”

“… you still haven’t figured it out?” Lynne grunted as he yawned and stretched out, glancing at the tablet.

“If we have, we wouldn’t still be here.”

“Alright, let’s go down the logical path,” Lynne said, sighing. “First, separate Soul Force into its two parts: Soul and Force. Then, define them individually.”

“We did, doesn’t help.” Fen’er said.

“Alright, then back up even further,” Lynne said after a short thought. “The parts that make up Soul and Force – define them.”

“We did,” Parsia sneered. “We retraced all the way back to the Source itself, but the answer ‘Source’ isn’t correct, and we only have two more tries.”

“Maybe if it’s not about complexity, it’s about simplicity,” Lynne suggested. “To put it bluntly: Soul Force comes, well, from the Soul, no?”

“… do you really want to risk one of our attempts on something so dumb?” Fen’er asked.

“Well, brilliant trio, go figure it out yourselves them,” Lynne chuckled. “And let me know what you conclude.”

“Alright, let’s look at it like this,” Thalia said. “Soul Force is generally intangible in and of itself. However, despite that fact, it can interact with physical objects, Laws, elements and what not, and the aftereffects of that interaction are visible.”

“Yeah… but what are you getting at?” Fen’er asked.

“Well, aren’t Laws similar? They simply ordain existing matter by our wishes, no? Doesn’t the Soul Force do the same?”

“… so… Soul Force is just one of the Laws?” Lynne said.

“Not… exactly…” Thalia grumbled. “I think…”

“Ugh, you guys are giving me a headache,” Lynne jumped onto his feet, walked over to the tablet and wrote something on it. “There.”

“Wait! Don’t!”

“Correct. You may proceed.” the force field broke down and opened up the path forward as the trio merely sighed.

“… you wrote Soul didn’t you?” Thalia asked.

“Yep,” Lynne said. “So difficult. That’s your guys’ problem,” Lynne said as they moved forward. “Every time we’d encounter a question that was slightly dubious and didn’t have a straightforward answer, you’d still try to manufacture one because that’s how you see things. Sometimes, it’s just not that complicated.”

“… did you just brag about how stupid you are?” Fen’er asked.

“Yap, pretty much. Let’s see,” Lynne hunched over the final tablet which was the size of a human’s head and had a strange, golden sheen traveling through its surface. “What are Divine Gods? No clue. This one’s yours.”

“Divine Gods?” Parsia arched his brows slightly. “Why would the final question be so simple?”

“Maybe it’s a trick again.” Thalia said.

“Simple?” Lynne looked at the three.

“Well, Divine Gods are considered ‘ancestors’ of sorts to the Primordial Gods, and are theorized to be the first beings given sentience by the Source.” Parsia explained.

“So write it down,” Lynne said. “First sentient beings.”

“…”

“Just do it.”

“Correct. You may descend.”

“Stop second-guessing everything,” Lynne chuckled as the ground beneath them opened up to reveal a spiraling staircase leading deeper underground. “Without me, you’d have probably been stuck in here forever.”

“… stop saying things we can’t refute.”

“I wonder what the next set will be like,” Parsia said, sighing. “We barely managed to pass the first challenge after all.”

“Well, we’ll just have to wait and see.” Lynne said after which silence coated the group while they descended downwards.

The journey lasted for about half an hour before the spiraling staircase evened out and propelled them forward, through a similarly narrow tunnel, which then led them into a massive hall supported by beams. Light was scarce save for the floating spheres which guided them through a limestone-laid path.

Their footsteps echoed out into the infinite distance, and after about another half an hour of journey, they reached the path’s end. Before them stood three massive gates, nearly one hundred meters tall, each separated from another by a fifteen meters thick wall. The gate on the far left was bronze, the one in the middle silver, and the one on the far right was golden.

Each had different carvings and symbols etched onto its surface, and in front of each was a human-sized altar with a rectangular tablet atop of it.

The bronze gate had a spiraling thread coiling around a slightly bent road from the bottom to the top. At its top was a circle with a round eye within, looking up. Vein-like etchings spread out from the rod itself to cover the rest of the door’s surface, while the surface around the circle up top was slightly bent in.

The silver gate had a carving of a muscular man, his face featureless save for the chest-long beard. The man held a staff in his right hand, with a ruby crystal atop, and had several seemingly pulsating wounds around his chest.

The golden gate was much emptier, having only six intertwining circles running vertically, with the intersections between each circle being fully black.

“Wow,” Lynne exclaimed in awe as he inspected the three gates. “This wasn’t built quickly.”

“No,” Parsia said, narrowing his eyes. “Definitely not.”

“Let’s see what the tablets say.” Thalia said as she approached the altar standing in front of the bronze gate.

“To a Path,” she read out loud. “Stretching into Infinity to return back Home. Eh? That’s it?”

“Seems vague enough to me.” Lynne said, chuckling. “What about the others?”

“To a Man,” she moved onto the altar in front of the silver gate. “Growing to Heavens to return back to Earth.” she then moved onto the last altar in front of the golden gate. “To an End,” she read. “Of All to spark All anew.”

“What do you guys think?” she then turned towards the others and asked.

“Riddle?” Fen’er proposed.

“I don’t know, probably.” Parsia said.

“Isn’t it more like a choice?” Lynne said while the monkey, who woke just a few moments ago, nodded. “And those sentences are just vague explanations of what to expect.”

“Well,” Thalia said. “We have Path, Man and End. We can assume that Path probably refers to Magus Path, that Man probably refers to human’s life, but what about the End?”

“Maybe the idea of reincarnating World,” Parsia said after a brief thought. “You know, when all things return back to the Source in the World’s final breath, and then another World spawns from the Source afterwards, continuing the cycle of life.”

“Interesting,” a familiar voice echoed out inside Lynne’s mind; startled slightly, he recovered almost immediately and pretended to be in deep thought like the rest while he listened the False God talk. “Not many humans are aware of the World.”

“Hm?”

“Encompassing all realms and space in-between them – that’s the World,” False God explained. “Most of my ancestors believed that the energy being drawn from the Source is much higher than the energy returning to it. Meaning that, at one point in the future, there would be no more energy left in the Source, and the Collapse would commence – whereas all the things in the World would shrink back and collapse into the Source, restoring its original form, leading to a birth of a new World Cycle.”

“What does it matter if they know though?” Lynne asked, somewhat confused.

“Most people from realms like yours aren’t even aware of the World,” False God mused. “Yet, we have a dead Magus who clearly knew a great deal about it, and even a lost Prince who’s aware of it.”

“So, what about that third door?” Lynne asked, glancing at the golden gate. “It leads to the knowledge about this Collapse or something else?”

“I don’t know,” False God replied. “But it’s a gamble I think you should take. Judging from the descriptions of white lies ahead, the bronze gate probably leads to a Natural Treasures that would enhance your primary Origin Law. The silver gates lead to a Natural Treasure that would either extend your lifespan or something similar to that. The only gate I’m uncertain of is the third.”

“… what if the dead guy had a terrible sense of humor and the ‘End’ refers to a literal end, as in whatever’s behind that gate will kill me, hence ‘ending’ me?” Lynne asked, sighing inwardly.

“Those circles seem familiar,” the Spirit suddenly joined in on the conversation. “You should take the third gate Lynne.”

“… ah, fine,” Lynne gave up. “Hey guys,” he then spoke to others. “I’ll be going through the golden ones.”

“Eh?” the others looked at him strangely. “Why?” Thalia asked.

“I don’t know… curiosity maybe?”

“Then I’m going with you.” Thalia said plainly as she moved onto the third gate.

“It’s probably best if we explore all three,” Parsia suggested. “I’ll take the monkey and Fen’er will go with the bird. That way there’s two of us for each path.”

“Sure,” Lynne said as he moved towards the third gate, standing next to Thalia while the monkey and the bird leapt off his shoulders and went to Parsia and Fen’er; the latter chose the Path gate, while Parsia stood in front of the Man gate. “Don’t die guys.”

“I’m conflicted about wishing the same to you.” Fen’er mused with a slight smile.

“… why did I invite you along?”

“We’ll never know.”

As Parsia and Fen’er touched their respective gates, a flash of sudden, brilliant light blinded Thalia and Lynne, causing them to close their eyes. When they opened them, everything around remained the same save for the fact that there was no Fen’er or Parsia or the monkey or the bird.

“Why did you really choose this gate?” Thalia asked in a serious tone as she looked at him.

“Why?” Lynne chuckled, scanning the etchings from bottom to top. “Maybe I’m inadvertently drawn to the things that end.”

“… fine, you don’t have to tell me,” Thalia sighed, shaking her head lightly. “Just promise me you’ll stay behind me, okay? And if you mention my ass, I’ll gouge your eyes out, okay?”

“Ha ha,” Lynne laughed lightly as he approached the gate. “What’s there to talk about?” he teased as he smirked at her.

“… let’s just go.”

“Sure.”

As the two touched the surface of the golden gate, they felt an immense suction force as the light coming off from the gate blinded them. They felt their bodies contort and expand, yet miraculously remain whole, as they were dragged through a distorted space, moving towards someplace far, far away.