They flew through the night and arrived in the farming village in the early hours of the next morning. Matthew lowered his airship over a fenced field, and when the horses’ hooves touched the grass, he cut it loose. It went mad at first, running this way and that, but one of the farmers soon calmed it down enough and removed the rope. The merchant too was relieved to be back on solid ground, and he thanked Arvin’s crew before they left for Seatle.

By lunchtime, they saw the half-open gates of Seatle stating to become visible between the descending mountain ridges before them.

“Is that Seatle?”

“Yes. That’s Seatle,” Arvin replied to Breanna, who had never ventured out to it before. The land below them was rugged and it seemed to twist from all the small hills at the base of the mountains. Cut into the land was a hole, where two great, horizontal metal gates were half-open.

They were all quiet as they each closed their gas vents and descended into Seatle. Arvin was the first in and the lantern on his airship lit up a small area around him. The top tiers had been the last to be affected and you could still make out some small, half-dead plants. Jewellery was sat on sad-looking chairs and tables, while some pieces were still attached to the skeletal arms and necks of the people. There was no dust on this layer and none had come to steal anything, for this was a graveyard without the dirt or the headstones. Not many people would take goods directly off a skeleton.

They descended lower, and the air became foul. Arvin pulled up his snood, that was around his neck, and used it as a mask. The others followed suit. As they descended lower, the tiers became darker as of all the electrical lights had failed a long time ago. Monti drifted close to the glass wall, which had shattered in many places, allowing him an unsettling look through at dozens upon dozens of skeletons. Some of the skeletons had books in their hands, while others were lying down, and a few were lying half-way out of doorways.

It was hard not to fall into the deep silence that lay upon Seatle. Breanna wanted to ask what the cause of death had been for all these people, but the atmosphere weighed heavy on her and reminded her that she shouldn’t speak. Lower they went with each tier being the same, with no sound, or decay, or animals. Seatle had been a dark and cold graveyard for many lifetimes, but not forgotten by the people above ground.

Arvin reopened his gas valve and he began to rise, allowing his crew to gather around him at the start of the entrance to the mines. He took out a strip of paper and dripped it into a bottle, only opening the top wide enough to get the paper in. The liquid in the bottle began to glow pink before Arvin removed the paper and closed the lid. Flames danced on the top of the liquid in the bottle briefly, before they died away: but everyone’s eyes were on the strip of paper. As soon as Arvin had taken it out of the bottle, it had been engulfed with a pink flame. They watched in awe and sadness as the chemical reaction caused the flame to burn brightly, lighting up the space around them. Arvin then looked down and dropped it. They watched as it fell sand as it descended deeper, the flame only seeming to grow. As they watched it, Arvin looked at Monti and they began rising back up.

Ten minutes later, they were all back up in the open air and everyone was quiet. Arvin looked at Breanna, who’s gaze was fixed on Seatle.

“Exopharameia bethoate. It burns with a pink flame when mixed with whale oil. It’s deadly to humans.”

“They were killed by a chemical?” Breanna asked.

“After they permanently locked their gates, they still had ventilation from the surface, but not as much as before. Fumes drifted up from the mines, and the air became poisonous,” Monti explained.

“Are we ok?”

“Yes. We weren’t in there long enough for the gas to have any long term effects, and over the years fresh air has mixed with the chemicals and dispersed them, meaning that the air is not as deadly as it once was.”

“How do we know what happened?”

“A journal was found by explorers from Lila when they went to investigate. When Seatle closed their gates all those years ago and engaged the permanent locking mechanism, it made the ground shake and everyone knew that something was wrong. Lila kept in contact with them, but after a while, they went silent. A group of explorers were sent deep into mine in Lila and they entered Seatle through a series of unexplored caves. When they came into the city, they found that everyone had perished. When they up to tier one, they tried to open the gates. Their journal detailed the mechanism, but they still weren’t able to get it open. When they returned and told others of what had happened, they called aeronauts in to try to get the gates open, but it was of no use.”

“Cities’ gates are like eggs,” Monti continued. “They are almost unbreakable in the vertical axis but vulnerable in the horizontal axis.”

“How are they open, if you can’t break them through the vertical axis?”

“It was an earthquake. There was a major tectonic shift and the earth shook, dislodging the gate’s mechanism.”

“And they closed it because of MA?”

“MA wasn’t around then. They used to have a good relationship with us, and we would help to train them in observing the weather and analysing weather patterns. Our relationship faded over time, however, and the harsh weather from the mountains saw them closing the gates for longer and longer periods. At some point, they lost their connection with us and became afraid. Having the gates open was deemed too risky, so they closed them, forever.”

“Most cities don’t know that Seatle is real, so they don’t take the threat of permanently locking their gates seriously. Risk is not the main threat to life, and Seatle just proves that locking yourself away from the world can be as dangerous as being reckless,” Arvin said and Monti glanced at Matthew.

After a few moments, they turned their airships north and began their journey back to Ansora.