BOOK FOUR: THE KINGDOM BEYOND THE LAST GATE
Chapter 6: The Kingdom That Was Falling
The sky was breaking.
Not with thunder.
Not with lightning.
The entire sky was becoming glass.
Cracks spread across the crimson moon.
One by one, pieces of the city began disappearing.
A tower vanished.
Then a street.
Then an entire row of houses.
People screamed as the ground beneath them turned transparent.
Riva stood in the middle of the palace courtyard.
"What is happening?"
The First Guardian looked upward.
"Elaris is being pulled back."
"Back where?"
He pointed toward the enormous black Gate hanging above the city.
"Beyond the Last Gate."
---
A deep vibration moved through the ground.
The palace shook.
Caelan grabbed Riva's hand.
"We have to leave."
"Where?"
"I don't know."
Aren looked toward the sky.
"The Gate is collapsing."
The Last Unwriter shook his head.
"No."
"It's not collapsing."
Everyone looked at him.
"It's closing."
---
The black Gate began descending.
Slowly.
Like an enormous door falling from the heavens.
Every time it moved downward...
Another part of Elaris disappeared.
Aarvi stared in horror.
"If it reaches the ground..."
The First Guardian answered:
"Elaris will be erased."
Riva looked around.
"And everyone inside?"
"They'll disappear with it."
---
Riva looked at the people running through the streets.
Children.
Families.
Old men.
Soldiers.
They were terrified.
These people had lived in Elaris for thousands of years.
They had nowhere else to go.
Riva turned toward the First Guardian.
"Can we save them?"
He shook his head.
"Not all of them."
"How many?"
"Maybe hundreds."
Riva stared at him.
"Then we save hundreds."
---
The First Guardian grabbed her arm.
"You don't understand."
"I do."
"The Gate is feeding on you."
Riva looked at her wrist.
The crown-shaped mark was glowing.
"Because I'm the Key."
"Yes."
"If I open the Gate..."
"Elaris returns."
"And if I don't?"
He looked toward the collapsing city.
"It disappears."
---
Riva closed her eyes.
She heard the voice again.
Come home.
She opened them.
"No."
The First Guardian frowned.
"No?"
"I'm not opening it."
"Then Elaris dies."
Riva looked toward the people.
"Then I'll find another way."
---
Caelan smiled.
"That's the Riva I know."
Lucien raised his sword.
"What's the plan?"
Riva looked toward the Seven Flames.
They were gone.
Without them...
They had almost no power.
Then she noticed something.
The silver key in her hand.
It was glowing.
Not with the Seven Flames.
With something else.
A small golden spark.
Hope.
---
Riva held the key toward the sky.
The golden spark expanded.
A beam of light shot upward.
It struck the black Gate.
The Gate stopped.
Everyone stared.
The First Guardian whispered:
"Hope."
Riva looked at him.
"What?"
"The Flame of Hope."
"It never disappeared."
"It was hiding inside the Key."
---
Riva raised the Key higher.
"Then help me."
The golden light spread across Elaris.
Wherever it touched...
The city stopped disappearing.
Buildings returned.
People reappeared.
The cracks in the sky stopped growing.
For a moment...
Everything became still.
---
Then the Gate screamed.
A black wave exploded outward.
Riva was thrown backward.
Caelan caught her.
"Are you okay?"
She nodded.
But her eyes were fixed on the sky.
The black Gate had changed.
A single eye had appeared in its center.
It looked directly at her.
The older Riva's voice echoed through the city.
"You shouldn't have done that."
Riva stood.
"Why?"
The voice answered:
"Because now it knows you're awake."
---
The Gate opened.
Not completely.
Just enough for something to look through.
A massive eye.
Then another.
Then another.
The people of Elaris fell silent.
Aren drew his weapon.
"What is that?"
The Last Unwriter stared upward.
"The world beyond the Last Gate."
Riva frowned.
"That's a world?"
"No."
He shook his head.
"It's what lives between worlds."
---
A hand emerged from the Gate.
Then another.
The hands gripped the edges.
Something began pulling itself through.
The First Guardian whispered:
"Everyone run."
Riva didn't move.
"What is it?"
The Guardian looked at her.
"The reason Elaris was sealed."
---
The creature pulled itself halfway through.
Its body was covered in silver chains.
Its face was hidden behind a black mask.
And on its chest...
Was the same crown symbol glowing on Riva's wrist.
Riva stared.
"It has my mark."
The creature slowly lifted its head.
Its voice was barely a whisper.
"Because you are mine."
Riva's blood ran cold.
Caelan stepped in front of her.
"You'll have to get through us."
The creature laughed.
"I don't need to."
It pointed toward Riva.
The crown mark on her wrist suddenly burned.
Riva screamed.
Her body lifted from the ground.
Caelan grabbed her.
"Riva!"
She tried to hold onto him.
But the force pulling her upward grew stronger.
Aren grabbed Caelan.
Lucien grabbed Aren.
Everyone joined hands.
Still...
Riva continued rising.
---
The older Riva appeared again in the sky.
She looked directly at her younger self.
"Listen to me."
Riva struggled to breathe.
"What?"
The older woman looked heartbroken.
"Don't fight it."
Riva stared at her.
"Why?"
"Because the more you fight..."
"...the more it will hurt them."
Riva looked down.
Caelan was still holding her.
The creature's chains were tightening around the city.
People were falling.
Buildings were collapsing.
The kingdom was dying.
Riva finally understood.
The creature wasn't trying to take her.
It was using her...
To pull Elaris apart.
---
Riva looked at Caelan.
"Let me go."
"No."
"Caelan."
"No!"
"If you don't..."
"Riva!"
She smiled through her tears.
"You promised you wouldn't leave me."
He tightened his grip.
"I meant it."
"Then trust me."
He shook his head.
"I can't."
Riva whispered:
"You have to."
---
She released his hand.
Caelan screamed her name.
Riva rose toward the Gate.
The golden Flame of Hope surrounded her.
The creature opened its arms.
"Come home."
Riva looked directly into its masked face.
Then smiled.
"I don't belong to you."
The creature froze.
Riva raised the silver key.
"I belong to myself."
The Flame of Hope exploded.
The entire sky turned gold.
And for the first time...
The creature screamed.
End of Chapter 6