Oasis: Zarah and Royalty

13: City of kings

He answers and I look up to the black marble like gate reaching high into the heavens and which breadth far beyond my eyes can see and once again I stand awestruck in my position at what is before my eyes, this is the most magnificent thing I've ever seen. Vixan referred to it as the gate which means it had been constructed by people, humans from Oasis and I now understand what Vixan meant when he said earth was inferior to Oasis because this right here is just a gate, a gate! And I have seen a lot in my little life time, the skyscrapers, the twin tower, the tallest building in the world and other magnificent structures on TV and some in real life, but this just put them all to shame. I cover my mouth up as I can't hold in the admiration in anymore and just like the crystal-like portal I am drawn to touch it and I reach out, but stop myself and turn to Vixan who is quietly observing my every move at me.

"You won't get trapped so you can touch." He tells me in a soft and assuring voice.

I instantly reach out and touch the gate and I feel it's solid form and my eyes close as my mind begins to wander to the creation of this.

"How do we get in?"

"We knock." His response is so simple but the gate I just felt doesn't look like one that you can just knock and the impact will be heard and Vixan may be a big guy to me, but he's very little before the gate.

I withdraw my hand from the gate and I turn to him, "How do we do that?" The gate is so complex that I know it is to him too and again I wonder if it was set way before time or if Oasians set it up as a demarcation between Earth and them because I see a gate at the entrance of Oasis but no such gates exist on earth.

"I could use the normal way humans on earth knock, which would take a longer time or I could just do this." He draws out his small blade and I step back and watch as he pierces deep into his thumb and uses the blood that comes out to draw a symbol on the wall and immediately he withdraw his hand from the gate, it begins to move and no sooner than that, it opens wide to us.

 "Was this constructed by Oasians or did it exist before the creation of time?" I asks as I take a moment to stare at the universe whose gates is now open before us.

He seem taken back by the question but that doesn't stop him from responding. "That I don't know, but what I do know is that the gate was created to keep humans from earth out as it was created to keep Oasians in."

That's not a satisfactory reply, because so far Oasisians have done everything but stay in as intended, but I will let it go for now.

"Is there an end to the height of the gate? And if yes, has anyone ever tried climbing over the gate?"

"Yes, there is an end to the gate because it's about 389 metres into the heavens as calculated and documented by the ancient climbers, but there are forces and powers that keep Oasians and intruders from earth from being able to cross over. No one has climbed over the fence and survived."

Vixan takes hold of my hand possessively and he steps in through the gates.

"How long till we get to Phoenix?" I ask, the reason for our coming slowly dawning on me.

"Soon," he replies and I look up to see troops of warriors in their white and red armour marching towards us. Their armour is the same as the warrior that tried to kill me in* the forest yesterday, "Follow my lead and what ever you do, do not make yourself known and say nothing until I bid you to." He instruct carefully and I watch him drop to his knees and raises his hands up, and I follow him and do the same even though I'm nervous and scared to death.

I gulp, glancing around at the universe that its gates just opened to us earlier and I should have known that that was a trap and not a welcoming gesture.

The dozen of warriors that march towards us all have their sword drawn out and ready for attack as though we are the very enemy about to bring destruction to their universe.

As beautiful and as magnificent as this place is, this might be the universe I die in and the truth is so bitter I can almost taste it on my tongue.

"Halt!" There comes a commanding voice from behind and the warriors stop moving and rest the hand holding their sword.

They immediately step aside from each other, creating two lines of warriors and an empty path at the end of the path I see a warrior wearing an armour almost like the rest are having but his is rather a black and yellow armour. His hair likewise is a black and yellow colour, in a straight style that falls over his shoulder like the rest of the warriors, but not like Vixan because his has been in a bun since in the morning. I place that he must be the commander of these warriors because everything about him stand out from the rest and he has this authoritative appeal like Vixan had when I first met him.

He walks up to us only stoping when he is standing before Vixan and we both glance up at him.

"Lord Vixan." He acknowledges, nodding his head at Vixan respectively.

"Sir Sade," Vixan calls back.

"I'd ask you to stand, but the word around is you're responsible for the deaths of many Oasisians warriors as well as Sir Elix and therefore wanted by the king and we are obliged to turn you in to the him as soon as we find you."

"You have been commanded right Sir Sade, and the first duty of a warrior is to follow the orders of his king without delay, so I will not ask you to go against it. I have indeed done all those terrible things I've been accused of and maybe even more. But it is because I have been exposed to the truth and I do not regret what I have done and I will do the same if I was given another chance."

I stare at Vixan speaking with so much fierceness and boldness even when he is still on his knees and I'm left in awe of him and the longing in my heart which I thought died this morning after he told me what he was planning returns, and my heart beats with every moment I spend looking at him.

"Shh," I hear from behind and I turn back and see Vixan's conscience standing behind me and immediately Vixan let go of my hand.

My eyes narrows as I look at him then back to his conscience.

"They can't see you nor can they see me, but they can percieve you if you Vixan decides to talk to you." He says, making me even more confused because I've been caught and about to be arrested.

"Vixan casted a cloaking spell remember?"

That I understand and I nod my yes to him, but pray he continues with his explanation. "The spell shields you from every eyes on Oasis for a whole day and we have a few hours before that takes effect." He elaborates further.

"Okay, what do we do now?" I get up and rub my slightly sore knees.

He takes my hand, "Stay with me, we need to get to Oasis before they do." He says and I see the warrior leading Vixan away from the gate to an already waiting carriage-like object after putting his hands in a chain like cuff. As they put him inside the carriage, five other warriors enter into it as well and immediately, the carriage closes up and I watch it elevates into the air before flying off.

His conscience is about to follow, but I don't go with him and when he notices, he turns to me with a deep frown, "Vixan knew all this before making the decision of bringing me."

Without a second thought he answer, "Yes he did, I don't know why Vixan does what he does most times cause I only surface when I'm needed but I do know this that Vixan wants to protect you and that's what he's still doing."

I feel like a very bad person going against him many times, fighting him and thinking of him as selfish when truly he's not even that.

"Look we have to go or Vixan will die once he reaches Phoenix and you're not with him." His conscience says, "Vixan is hoping you go along with this plan so the both of you will live. If you don't both of you will die."

I decide to put my faith in Vixan's plan and assure myself once again that it is what's best for the both of us and I nod and let Vixan's conscience take my hand and once he does that, he secure his arm around my waist just like he did in the forest before Vixan moved us away and he elevates us from the ground into the sky.

Just like when Vixan flew me through the portal, my face is deeply buried in his chest to keep me from looking down to the ground as he flies us through.

"How much longer?" I ask after a very long while of silence.

"We are almost there, you can look though, it's safe. " he assures and with his words, I unbury my face from his chest where it's been hidden since almost forever and I'm awestrucked staring at the flying wheels in the sky and unlike when we were at the gate of oasis, there are many people flying around like us. It is a beautiful sight to behold.

"Is this Phoenix?" I asks curiously, unable to help the curiosity anymore.

He shakes his head, "No, this is called the Pillas, Phoenix is up ahead." he unwrap one arm from around me and pointsahead to a far away city set on a tall, green hill, "That's Phoenix."

My heart melts as I behold Phoenix from afar, it is magnificent and outstanding and it would be a shame if it wasn't because the kings live there.. Speaking of the king, the soon to be king also lives there and I'm not sure I even want to meet him so as beautiful as the city is, my heart fears for the worse.

Vixan conscience must have notice the change in me because he speaks up, "You have to be optimistic, this plan scares Vixan as much as it scares you too, but he's hoping that it ends well for both of you."

I nod my head, "You're right, let's go." at my word, he once again wraps his second arm around me and flies us towards the city ahead.

I think back to Vixan who is still in chains and I already miss him around me and though his conscience is here, I know it's not the same thing. Still, I turn and I glance at the complete replica of Vixan and wonder if he knows what Vixan knows and he did say he only surface when he's needed in matters of right and wrong and maybe life and death but I still can't help wondering and I begin to speak "Vixan wants me to marry Lord Lox." I tell him and he doesn't reply at first and just continues moving us closer.

"Marriage is a strong bound and commitment and it is the highest law in Oasis and if Vixan wants you to get married to Lord Lox, he must have a great reason for it."

"Vixan believes that's the only way to save my life and parents and keep him alive."

"Well Lord Lox can't kill you if he is married to you."

"Is it wise to use my life to prove the authenticity of that theory?"

"You're scared as you should be, but like always it would be wise to trust Vixan." He answer and suddenly pauses and my heart skips a beat and I look up at him, panic displaying on my face at his sudden action. "We are about to enter into the territory of Phoenix, everything will be twice as slow, including your breath. Brace yourself Zarah."

I nod wordlessly nod, even though I see no sign that backs up what he says, but I decide to believe him since he's been in Phoenix for many years.

I look behind us and the carriage carrying Vixan is coming in from behind in high-speed but it slows down as it approaches where we are.

I feel a slow engulfment of my whole being and everything in my body reduces in speed from my breathing down to my blinking and heartbeat. This was what he was saying earlier when he said everything will be twice as slow, including time. My body feels like it's fallen into a state of paralyses and I begin to wonder why this is up and how long till our body returns to its normal active form.

I stare up at Vixan's conscience which almost takes me forever to do and I see his mouth opening but no words coming out and after a long while I hear the slow words coming in one after the other, "We-e are al-almost there Za-rah hold onnn tight."

I try to make my grip around him as tight as I can and not much longer than that, we pull through the slow path.

"What the hell was that?" I demand and I blink multiple times and drag in a long overdue breath.

"It's magical spell that protect Phoenix from intruders since it's the city the houses the King."

"How long where we in there?"

"It's not quite long but compared to your time it is approximately three hours."

My eyes widens as I stare up at him, "Three hours? That felt like three minutes!" So this shield slows everything down except time? That's a good one the more I think about it.

"We are here," he announces and I follow his gaze to behold the big, enchanting, white castle not so far away from where we are and we descend and begin to walk towards the gate of the castle once we get there, he stops moving, making me halt as well and we silently waits for what I'm not so sure of, but I do not ask as I decide to give him the benefit of a doubt that he knows what he is doing.

It takes no more than a minute before the carriage carrying Vixan also arrives and comes to a stop directly where we are. It opens and Vixan is roughly dragged out by warriors guarding him and led into the gates that leads to the castle.

As he's led away, he turns and looks at me and he smiles at me and I find myself assured that all will be well and I smile back in return.