- Phew
Vlad let out a breath of relief after pulling himself up the staircase, the rough steps almost making his leg muscles tear in half.
"Hm?"
A flash of surprise flickered across his hazel eyes as he noticed a worker lying on the ground with saliva bubbling at his lips and hollow eyes that stared off into the ceiling. It seemed that it was the very worker that he caught sitting on his chair.
'What a strange day.'
He thought briefly before carefully stepping over the worker and taking a deep breath.
The climb already made him exshausted but the place to which he was headed was more than worth the trouble.
'Would be nicer if I didn't have to climb almost ten floors, though.'
He grumbled before turning away.
Minutes after wandering through the citadel, he finally came face to face with the room's door. Or maybe it was a gate? With its wide and tall frame that was ten times bigger than Vlad's, it might as well be counted as one.
His hand touched the door, gently tracing the carved texts on its rock-hard surface. The floor below him shook weakly, sending a tremor that shook his hand away.
Then a small screen appeared where the handles would usually be. A robotic voice coming from within that sounded like static in his ears.
"Identification Failed, proceed with manual password?"
Following its words, a keyboard formed right beneath the screen. Vlad closed his eyes for a second, his mind slowly remembering the strangely long password that his father chose for this place.
"Clearskiesonetwothree, is that the password you wrote-?"
'Shit!'
"Y-yes, just open the damn door already!"
He looked around anxiously, waiting for the damn door to open. Fear gripped his heart as he noticed an outline of a shadow getting closer down the corridor.
But the door didn't open. A circle appeared in the little panel that froze every few fragments of a second. Just like with his call to Gabriel, it seemed that the citadel was having problems with its network.
The shadow drew closer and closer, draining the color from Vlad's face.
'There's no way they heard it?'
Who even came up with those things? If the password is supposed to be hidden, then it shouldn't be questioned whether or not he chose it! It was clearly written already!
- Clunk
A dull click echoed from within the thick gate that started to open inwards.
Vlad didn't hesitate a second; his hands were already pushing the gate forward with all his strength, focused on his legs. It let out a loud crack. The walls that held the gate shook loudly, just like Vlad, who barely held himself from falling to the floor.
His feet moved on their own as he went inside the room and immediately felt weight lifting off his shoulders.
The gate locked behind him with a tiny click.
...
What would one imagine being locked inside a sky-piercing tower? Would it be a vault full of riches that could last until multiple lifetimes, supporting your generation for hundreds, maybe thousands of years? Maybe it's an elixir of eternal life, locked behind unbreakable gates that held runes older than Vlad himself.
- Chirp
Or maybe it was a garden, a garden that made you see the true world that everyone wanted to be in.
It was a world of peace, quiet, and focus that could not be broken no matter what.
A flock of birds flew above Vlad's head, their white feathers scattering across the path which he followed quietly. His eyes were focused on the river in front of him, or rather a bench that stood at its edge, waiting for the stillness of its surface to break its loneliness once and for all.
Each wall was covered with trees of oak, something you could rarely see at the edge of the rift. Some of them held nests made of twigs while the bushes below them were brimming with wild berries that gave off a red shine under the sunlight.
'Ah, how I missed this.'
A light smile formed on his lips as he strolled through the garden. His head felt empty and clear of all thoughts, like the entire thought process of his was stopped in its tracks and replaced by... well, nothing.
There was nothing for him to worry about in this safe place where nothing wanted to get under his skin or rid of it entirely.
The floor was now covered in tall grass that brushed against the corners of his pants, while the dull ceiling had a few clouds hovering over the trees and the light blue sky that seemed endless.
In just a dozen careless steps, Vlad reached the little wooden bench. It stood in the middle of the empty garden by itself with no one to use it. Made of dark, pine wood planks with ink colored metal legs, it stood out from everything in the forest like a sore thumb.
He placed his hand on its arm, quietly bending his knees, which were still throbbing with pain that dissipated piece by piece.
And then he closed his eyes, taking in the feeling of comfort that flooded his mind from all sides.
He could feel his fatigue vanish like nothing but a common cold; the blood from his wound was long gone, replaced by a mark that could almost blend in with his skin. The torn muscles of his legs were reconnecting, rebuilding themself from their very foundations.
'I could sit here forever.'
He shifted a little, his body taking a more comfortable position for him to watch both the sky and the wide river that started from one side of the room and ended at the other.
Just a couple of minutes were enough to heal a fatal wound.
A Garden of Rebirth was what people called it ever since its invention.
Healing powers of flux that people couldn't manifest even after almost a century.
It was... truly a-
"You."
Someone spoke from behind Vlad.
A cold feeling washed over him after the person spoke again, this time her voice closer and more vivid than he wanted it to be.
"What are you doing here?"
Her voice sounded strange, older, more mature. Maybe because of how long they haven't seen each other or because he didn't want to listen to her since then...
There, behind his bench.
Stood a girl with hair that looked like violet, starry sky. Flowing down to her chest in smooth lines.
She wore a long black dress that complemented her subtle, feminine features. It fluttered under the wind slightly, pressing tighter to her skin, rosy skin that reminded him of white roses; she always loved to get them on her birthday.
Sera Albrecht.
One of the only people who stood above him, and the very first person who came to despise him.
His First Cousin.