The Gate

Solus made the announcement that the city was up ahead. It was still about an hours walk away. Tommy had been walking since he showed up in this world. His estimate is that he only arrived 6 hours ago and so much has already happened. To be bluntly honest he was exhausted, both physically and mentally. The only thing he was looking forward to at this point was a comfortable place to sit down.

Tommy was a pretty average guy before today. He was a bit of a trouble-maker when he was young and with his intelligence he never had to work hard for anything. This in turn caused Tommy to get quite lazy at his age and all of this exercise and shocking events had left him beat.

Although he was exhausted his curiosity of this world had never died down in the slightest. The foliage of this forest was now all too similar to the forests back home, without the amazing colors, patterns, crazy sizes, and patterns. This got Tommy thinking, if these mutated beasts can change your body, what would a plants mutated gene do?

Thinking time was drastically coming to an end. Directly in front of the group, about half a mile away, was a wall spanning 1000s of feet in height and god knows how many deep. A massive gate was standing firm in the center. the whole structure appeared to be made out of rubies. It was jagged in areas and smooth in others looking just like an uncut gem that just grew to that size and shape. A transparent blood red all the way to the center of the stone where a murky blue color lay at the center. The way the light hit it as you walked made the entire wall appear to be on fire. It was as beautiful as it was terrifying.

Above the massive wall was a bright redish orangish ball glowing high over the city. The ball was emitting a soft warmth. It wasn't hot like you would expect considering it looked like another, smaller, sun. It felt more like stepping into a warm house after spending an hour shoveling snow. It was comfortable and welcoming.

"It is Apollos Gift." Solus informed Tommy. He was still cautious about Tommy but it had significantly lessened on their walk to the city. He payed close attention to this alien from a different world, hoping to learn anything about the man to indicate he was lying. At this point he was convinced that the man truly wasn't from here. The moment he had realized it was when they exited the mutated forest. The confusion on Tommy's face when he realized that not all of the plants were mutated was enough of a confirmation.

Tommy left it at that. He didn't know what Apollo's Gift was, nor did he care. He didn't believe that Solus would tell him anyways. The fact that Solus was head of security told Tommy that he wasn't the head man in charge. So as far as this "you will be treated as a guest" stuff that he was spewing, none of it could be taken to heart. Solus may have made promises but that didn't mean he could keep them. Tommy expected to be treated like a slave or prisoner from these peoples mannerisms. It seemed like their society was pretty primitive compared to what Tommy was used to.

Tommy just took this time to inspect the structure of the wall outside of the city. It was hard to notice with the way the sun would shine through the walls but there was an actual design to the walls. It looked like a mix of architecture from several different ancient civilizations across earth. The columns for support drastically resembled ancient Rome and Greece. The connecting walkways were very ornate and intricate appearing of an ancient Chinese culture. The entire structure appeared to be made from giant slabs of the gem like material that should be impossible to move, making Tommy think of Egypt. It was like a collage of cultural architecture all placed into the wall.

"How long has this wall been here?" Tommy looked at Solus seriously. This was serious for Tommy. Anything that said home interested him greatly. He couldn't come out and ask about other humans. For all Tommy knows, Solus slipped up with the mention of it. He knew beating Solus was impossible let alone all the other people here with him. Raising suspicion wasn't a good idea. But Solus seemed like a proud person, proud of his people and proud of his heritage. Bragging about their building skills shouldn't raise any suspicion.

"Those walls are the foundation of our entire civilization. After Apollo left the City of Gods he came here. It was said that he pulled the stone from the eye of the sun to protect his followers." Solus replied with gusto. Tommy was right. Solus thought that his clan was the strongest on planet. They owned the largest piece of land in the region with the fewest amount of warriors. They had a reason to be proud.

Upon approaching the mountainous wall Tommy could now make out a large piece of stone that looked different than the rest. It was a large rectangle directly in front of them and the rectangle was that murky blue color that you could see in the center of the stone everywhere else. When the group got 200 feet away the rectangle slid sideways into the stone wall and a second door could be seen raising into the ceiling. As these two giant doors moved the ground underneath revealed nothing but a pitch black pit. The pit was void of any light. Just looking into the pit was enough to send chills down your spine at the thought of ever falling in. Finally at the end of a long hallway a solid black door could be seen dropping down into a draw bridge of sorts. If you watched the door fall into the gap you would know it was there but that door was the same heart stopping black as the pit, making it impossible to know the door was even there.

Tommy did not want to step out into that blackness. He stopped dead in his tracks despite still being a solid 50 feet from that black pit, causing several people to crash into each other. One of them being the illustrious Andreas who couldn't hold his tongue.

"WHAT THE FUCK!!" Andreas couldn't help but to yell out.

"Watch what you say carefully Andreas." Solus coldly stared at Andreas in the eyes, sending a cold chill down his spine.

"Yes sir. Sorry sir." Andrea said as he made a fist and brought it over his heart as a salute.

"Tommy, is there a problem?" Solus asked in the most gentle voice he could muster. He knew that once the Sun Lord found out the situation it was likely that he would make him a slave as punishment. Their leader was a fair man though and would probably only sentence him to a few months of servitude. That would be his chance to snatch Tommy up as his personal slave and learn from him and about him. So he had to get him to proceed no matter what the cost was. He preferred the polite approach, but had no qualms about forcing Tommy into the city to be judged by their leader.

"Yeah a little bit of one actually." Tommy's voice trembled with these words. "I kind of have this thing with heights and this other thing with darks spaces. So that pit is kind of one of my worst nightmares to be completely honest." He nervously spoke these words. Under normal circumstances he would never tell these people his fears considering he already assumed he is a prisoner, but he was absolutely terrified of falling down that pit.

"HAHAHAHA." Solus' thunderous laugh was heard. "There is actually a floor there. It is difficult to see and actually a liquid material. Only with the practice of our mantra can it be crossed. There is no reason to fear though you will walk in the middle of the group to ensure a solid bridge is maintained." Solus' confidence saying this made Tommy feel a little bit at ease, but he still wasn't walking. "Do you not believe me?"

"No, it's not that I don't believe you. I just can't seem to walk forward." Tommy said with an awkward smile.

"I can carry you with your permission." Solus offered this as if it was a normal thing but Tommy did not feel comfortable being carried by another man.

Tommy took the first step realizing that Solus' offer wasn't as innocent as he made it seem to be. He wouldn't have offered to carry me if I actually had a choice of going in. "I knew I was a prisoner." He couldn't help but think to himself as he walked. Tommy is a proud person though and couldn't allow himself to be brought in on someone else's back. He had dignity and wouldn't allow that to happen so he trudged along reaching the edge of that endless black pit.

As much as he was comforted by everyone around him that it was safe he was nervous about that first step. He was surrounded by Solus and his men. In a complete circle everyone was perfectly spaced 5 feet from him and 5 feet from each other.

"Fuck this." Andreas said as a dark brown liquid was spewing out of his hand to form a giant hammer. The handle was about 3 feet long and thick while the head was a big brown block on ones side and a curved spike on the other. He used the front of the hammer to push Tommy out onto the bridge.

Before Tommy could react he slipped right through a viscous material as if he were slipping through Jell-O. Relief hit him for a brief second as his feet came free of it, but only for a brief second as he related this was just a bridge. Under the bridge was that soul crushing blackness. Tommy started to panic as his knees were free now and there was no sign of him stopping.