His gaze roamed the vast waves of the sea surrounding him. He saw nothing unusual in them. The waves, though restless, drew no attention. Yet, deep within, he knew something was wrong. An invisible shadow fell across the water. He recognized it after a moment. What he expected to see next disturbed him. As always, he looked down at his feet and realized he was simply hanging in midair, his shadows visible on the surface of the water forming a cross. Slowly, thoughts began to flow into his mind, suggesting this only explanation, which he rejected. He rejected it until the anxiety began to overwhelm him. And like everyone else, he began to fear. Few people didn't give up pride then, few people wanted to go through hell only to return in glory, but with a body so damaged that glory barely sufficed for a handful of fresh water. Yet in the Fortress of Oblivion, everyone fled. No one fought. Everyone awoke. A pale shadow appeared on the horizon. Time, indestructible, was passing, revealing ever more clearly a figure whose face was hidden beneath a hood and whose body was cloaked in darkness. It approached slowly, majestically, as if striding confidently and calmly across thin ice, yet maintaining a reserve in case the surface was too thin.
Theedges of the cloak touched the ground. They were merely dusty. A discerning person would have concluded from this that this person must have traveled a long way, but certainly not all of it on foot. However, the Fortress was still many kilometers away. By then, the desert would have worn away the delicate fabric, and no one would be able to be certain.The gates of the Fortress of Oblivion were massive. If they had been laid down calmly, a small city could have been built upon their carved surface. Inscriptions carved in all manner of ancient, modern, and yet-to-be-existent languages clearly suggested that no guard would open these doors, nor would anyone even hear a knock. Yet they also spoke in a riddle as to how they could be opened. As the figure approached, it mentally sorted through the successive lines of the riddle and its possible solutions. Finally, disregarding previous assurances, it approached to a distance of no more than a quarter of an outstretched arm and knocked softly. While waiting, it searched curiously for languages unknown to it. The knock was answered by silence and nothing more. The echo traveled to the other side, to be lost in the conversations there. Again, the hand hidden in the long sleeve knocked on the same spot. And this time, silence answered. However, the gate swung open silently. A gust of wind blew through the gap, carrying with it the bright rays of the sun of the inner world. The knocking figure's gaze traveled for a moment longer across the cracked desert and caught sight of the cloudy sky. Then the figure disappeared in a wave of warm light.
Inside, warm rays of sunlight pierced the air, just emerging from behind the massive walls. A hooded figure melted into the shadows of the narrow streets, filled with the voices of still-sleepy people. The buildings were marked with red paint, as if with blood. Through the slogans of liberation, symbols of life and death, and sad, undefined scrawls, chaos in its purest form permeated the air. Exactly the kind this strange place was meant to combat. People gathered in the side alleys. Dressed in light, bright tunics. They held nothing in their hands, yet with their words alone, they could kill a man. There were many of them, moving swiftly, as silently and imperceptibly as the Shadow Guardians. Finally, at a conventional signal that never occurred, apart from these simultaneous intentions and thoughts, they openly circled the newcomer.
He himself stood motionless, waiting to see what they would do next. They hesitated. They knew, or at least they thought so, who they were dealing with. Finally, they made a decision. They made it together, though no one spoke a word. All sounds became muffled and indistinct. They decided to approach the newcomer. They decided to destroy the dark veneer he had carefully crafted through his behavior and attire. They had come too close for people who never gave a reason for their actions. They hadn't even managed to approach the stranger's shadow, but they had achieved what they wanted.
The last one's body touched the ground at the same moment as the others, though in eternity another eternity would have begun and ended. He was resilient. Rising, he saw her face shrouded in night-dark hair, the ends trailing practically along the ground... Her icy obsidian eyes. Darker than the dark recesses of this district. The silence that permeated the air, he took as permission to leave, or rather, to crawl away. He bowed slightly and, mindful of his aching hand, began to crawl along the ground. He reached the wall to rest against it. He rose later and simply left. Or rather, he would have, because a voice stopped him.
The echo of her words bounced off the walls of the houses until the Keep was completely destroyed, intruding on conversations, sometimes shattering them, other times supplementing them. Words of pleading to bring them to the edge. To the abyss between pure eternity and the one that reigned in the Keep of Oblivion. And then, wounded, he realized who this girl was.
He wasn't the only one who heard the words the moment they were spoken. The ruler of the Keep stood at the window. Hidden in the shadow of a crumbling shutter, he watched and waited, hoping to hear her. Then, he regretted his hope, for the long-awaited one had arrived. The Guardian of Shadows, who not only hides in the darkness of the shadow he guards, but also rules over it. She was born in darkness, only to perish in the light of such a dark place as the Fortress of Oblivion.
The girl was left alone. The people who had just moments before tried to take her captive awoke and fled, while the others were carried away. The ruler retreated deep into his city. And she was left alone. It was a world quickly forgotten. Less than three moments later, she could once again walk unrecognizable. Those who had seen her before were not guided by fate.
She walked through the streets, and particles of light began to emerge from her body. They seeped through the walls. They disappeared into dark corners, only to reveal themselves once again with a faint light, destroying the darkness around them. They slowly encircled people in a delicate net. They perished, striking their living hearts.
It had been said many times that something great would destroy the Fortress. It would perish from a powerful force. It was prophesied that the Fortress would not surrender easily. And indeed, it perished slowly, but also silently and imperceptibly. The gates that had once opened to admit this last one closed forever. A delicate "ghost" who later wandered the narrower and wider alleys. A girl, beautiful, full of hope and sadness.
Her body was fading, revealing a weak heart shrouded in light. She was dying. And with it, the entire Fortress, which had welcomed her into its doors, whose streets she had been allowed to see. In her final moments, the girl stood with her face turned to the cold rays of the sun, watching the city whose destruction she had been born to destroy perish. A vision so incomprehensible and unconventional filled her mind that chaos paled in comparison, and fear made sense.
Had she decided to stay and watch? To give up on escape? Nonsense. But this time, resolution had no bearing. The decision had been made for her years before her birth, and now she was achieving the goal set before her. No matter how many times she tried, she would not have escaped.
***
The darkness in which the Fortress hides can only be broken by those who love the truths they discover, those who, searching, know they will find nothing. Those who, dying, know they are saving nothing but millions of people obsessed with normality. The fading light they defend perishes with them, only to be reborn in their successors. Until time disappears.
Some people are created solely to spout nonsense incomprehensible to no one. Though there are those who will understand. And then both characters are plunged into the shadow of the humiliating misunderstanding that people bestow upon the world and those who know it better than they do. And then, shrouded in darkness, the characters return to the Forgotten Fortress to convey to eternity the truth they have discovered. So that the rulers of the circles may later reveal it to those obsessed with normality, or decide that these truths be written down and lost. {
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