Page 53 of Dark Fae's Destiny

We’re still only seeing pieces of the city, even now that we’ve entered it; as if even reality inside the city itself was broken beyond all ability to comprehend, the streets seem twisted in the mist, out-of-order with anything I know in the Twilight Realm.

I find myself turned around now, countless times, though we’ve taken a straight path. Where I thought we had entered the west side of the city, we now seem to be in the east quadrant, then on the outskirts of the far north. The place where we entered this broken Realm should have been right under the city center; instead, it portaled us to the outskirts, to that overlook, rather than where we should have wound up.

The time of day seems to be changing here, too. As we become disoriented yet again, I feel as if the color and temperature of the grey-blue light has changed from a slow sunrise to a deep twilight, as a cerulean hue darkens the skies above. As we take another few steps, that color darkens again—suddenly, I feel like it is full night, perhaps even midnight, or whatever version of night still exists in this place.

As we see a gargantuan version of the Palace of Light rise before us now, those luminous silver-gold vines and trees absolutely demolishing the front quadrangle and long drive, Lucca inhales. Then we move another step, and we’re suddenly right in front of my own Red Letter Hotel Florence, the color of the light returning to a dawn blue-grey-pink.

Lighting up this version of my home, written all through with gold.

“Portals.” I understand as I blink. “We’ve been walking right through portals this entire time… and we haven’t even felt it.”

“The light, the skies, the streets,” Lucca blinks also, as he gets it. “It all changes the moment we walk into another Nexus Realm. As we’ve been walking, we’ve moved into different versions of this city that are all somehow the same, over and over.”

“It’s as if whoever ruined this place tried to salvage it countless times.” Ariana gazes at the Red Letter Hotel Florence with us, which is, but it isn’t. “As if they tried to resurrect it from its brokenness by moving it to the nearest, un-ravaged dimension, time and time again. Only to find that version of the city was ruined, too. Irreparably, by whatever happened.”

“Whatever killed this place killed all versions of it in its closest-vibrating dimensions.” I understand now as I take in my home, that is not. “The Twilight Realm and the human world are further dimensions away from this resonance. Somehow, they were not affected by what happened here.”

“Allowing Staphylogenes and Iris to build again, somewhere safe. And establish a new version of Florence, unscathed by whatever calamity killed this place.” Ariana gazes around. “I feel it here… the origin of light, artistry, and song that is Florence. Even in the human world, it has a reputation; a feeling of art, beauty, and music other places just don’t have. It’s a place that glorifies in the beautiful; this city must have been incredible before it fell. Stunning… a wonder of the ages.”

“A place where the gods themselves dwelled.” Lucca growls as his face darkens. “Before they ruined it.”

“We can’t just keep going in circles through these portals,” I say now as I take control of our current problem. “If we do, we’ll never find what we’re looking for—we’ll just keep going, traveling around this fractured city for eons. Until we die, I suppose, or give up. Hmm… let me consult our maps.”

Going deep within, I feel for Iris’ map to Staphylogenes’ heart, stored within my mind. As I feel for it, I also take out the physical maps our Light marked as the way to the heart.

Laying them out upon the broken gold-white cobblestones, I arrange them so the light-lines connect once more. They’re even fainter now than they were this morning; my red pen stands out clearly, however, and I remember how the maps all intersect.

As I finish laying them out, I tap into Iris’ map inside my mind. I understand it now, in a way I never did before. As that Ascendant map lights up inside my thoughts, I see how she mapped something for us that was not a two-dimensional space, but multi-dimensional. Iris’ map shows us connections up, down, and sideways through vibrational space.

A map through many Realms, rather than one.

“We need to feel Iris’ map with the Music.” I suddenly understand as I see what’s going on. “Rather than simply walking through these broken near-Realms for all eternity, we need to use the Music like a beacon to guide us through the right portals so we can get to the heart of this place.”

“Follow the Music’s resonance.” Ariana picks up on what I’m saying, and I feel her truth-reading power corroborate it. “We need to find the places where the Music is strongest, to guide us along Iris’ map through these portals. We use our intention, which gave us our own starting-point, seek and ye shall find, then let the Music guide us. Through all this cacophonous, chaotic resonance.”

As we all nod now, our trio pulls close. I only have a moment to wonder if we can even raise the Music in this place, when our bodies connect, and the Music is just suddenly barreling through us.

As if it’s far easier to create in this place, with the finer vibrations that exist here, I quickly understand why the masters of that most ancient power made this their high seat and creating place.

As the Music blares through me now like war horns gone amok, and symphonies of ear-splitting angelic bells, voices in that powerful magic overwhelm me. It’s everything I can do to hold on to our intention, seek and ye shall find, as I am disoriented by the Music’s breadth, depth, and towering height in this place.

As Lucca, Ariana, and I are all driven to our knees by this incredible Music now pouring through us, simply from touching each other in this place, I feel like I might be driven mad by it.

As that madness barrels in, I feel how Lucca and Ariana have clapped their hands to their ears, screaming from it, pushed too far already. I know then that I’m the one who has to get us through this.

As a roaring sensation like cannons pummels through me, I take control of our vast Music. I don’t know how I do it; I only focus the entirety of my being like a diamond-bright lance, skewering it into that raging sea of sound.

It ceases swamping us, tuning into the most beautiful delight.

I feel it now, shimmering along the paving stones of this ruined version of Florence as it points the way towards our destination. Seek and ye shall find, rushes through my mind over and over as I push to my feet, helping Lucca and Ariana up as both cease to scream.

I nod to the shimmering line of the Music, pointing our way now in this misty, half-midnight. We say nothing as we breathe in that towering sound, following the bright line of our power.

As if it tethers us to the correct path, we maneuver through dozens of twists and turns in the ruined fabric of reality, and finally manage to make progress. I feel it as the Music strengthens before us now, as if we’re closer to our destination.

As we come through yet another portal, however, we find ourselves in a place where the Music stops. A long hallway of vaulted porticos and broken, gold-white domes with twisting pinnacles that reach to the sky, it has a dark and light checkerboard floor all along its bright reaches.

It’s the only place we’ve seen black here; a dark onyx stone that alternates with the white marble to create the checkerboard pattern, all of it is still scrolled through with gold. I sense a different resonance in this space than elsewhere in the city, however. The opposite ends of the hallway seem to go on forever.

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