Heaven’s Gate
As Elisha stood out on the deck, she felt a low rumbling which started to become both louder and more intense. Soon, everybody was crowding the deck, looking to see what it might be. Elisha saw it first, the tip of a great tower rising from the ocean, then the roofs of taller buildings, then houses, a great city coming up from the depths of the sea.
They all saw it then, and great gasps came up from all assembled. They looked to Thea, who nodded with satisfaction, a grim smile on her face. She answered their unspoken question at once.
“Yes, that is Sanctuary,” Thea said, “Sail for it at once.”
Elisha pushed through the crowds and came close to Thea, but Thea waved her away, lost in her moment of triumph, and not wanting Elisha’s words to bring her down. After all their work and effort, finally...
“There’s something on the horizon!” the lookout called down, “Two figures... flying... coming towards us!”
“Everybody, draw your bows and stand ready!” Thea commanded. There was no doubt in them now that they had seen Sanctuary, and every White Knight was at their post quickly, except Elisha.
“You know that’s Arietta and Illuminus!” Elisha said, “You can’t fire on Arietta! I won’t allow it!”
“Watch me!” Thea said, “The White Knights have seen Sanctuary with their own eyes. They won’t turn away from me now. Arietta has become our enemy and must be stopped.”
“No!” Elisha cried, as Thea gave the command to fire at will. They were almost overhead now, and all must have clearly seen that it was Arietta above them. Pandora and Luna dropped their bows, rushing to Elisha.
“Elisha, what’s going on?” Pandora said, “Make her stop! Even if they shoot Illuminus, they could hit Arietta!”
“She doesn’t care,” Elisha said, pointing to Thea, “I’m powerless to stop her.”
Arietta and Illuminus saw the volley of arrows at the last moment and tried to avoid them, but an arrow pierced Illuminus’s heart and he fell, crashing into the deck of the ship. Arietta felt her wings disappear as Illuminus’s magic faded with his lifeforce, and she was falling down, spiraling out of control towards the ship.
“Arietta!” Elisha cried, “Pandora, do something! She’ll die if she crashes from that height!”
Pandora thought for a second and then closed her eyes, muttering an incantation. Arietta was speeding towards the ship, and then she slowed, as if falling in slow motion. Pandora continued casting her spell, and guided Arietta gently down onto the deck. Arietta was up on her feet at once, rushing not to Elisha and Pandora, but to Illuminus’s side.
“No,” she said, “No, Illuminus, wake up!” She turned him over to see the arrow sticking out of his chest, his eyes staring coldly into space, his thousand year life ended by a single true shot. Arietta started to cry, cradling the form of Illuminus in her arms.
Pandora and Luna, followed by Elisha, rushed over to Arietta.
“Arietta, what are you doing?” Pandora said, “He killed my family!”
Arietta set Illuminus down and stood up, “He did some terrible things, he admitted that. But he wants to save all of you! Listen to me!”
“Take her to her cabin and place her under guard!” Thea said, “Her mind is being controlled by magic!”
Arietta felt strong arms grab her, and she was carried away by two White Knights she barely knew, taken below decks, and thrown into her cabin. She heard the door lock behind her, and knew she was trapped.
“You can’t do this, Thea,” Elisha cried up on deck, “I’ll tell everybody the truth!”
“I’ll lock you up as well,” Thea said, “With Sanctuary within our reach, I won’t let you stop me now.”
“What’s going on?” Luna asked.
“It’s all right, Luna,” Elisha said, “It’s nothing.”
Pandora walked over to the body of Illuminus and stared down at his form, “I guess it wasn’t my fate to fight him after all,” she said, with Luna beside her.
“Now at least, you can let it go,” Luna said, “Your family’s deaths have been avenged.”
“True, but I feel no different. I feel no joy or peace. Vengeance is an empty cup. Indeed, many mysteries have died with Illuminus. There were so many questions I wanted to ask him... about my immortality, about my magic... Now I’m the only one like me in the world.” Pandora lent down and closed Illuminus’s staring eyes, “Be at peace,” she whispered.
Elisha saw the scene and felt pain well up in her heart at Pandora’s goodness. She wanted desperately to tell her the truth, but she knew if she did, she would be confined to quarters and would have no chance of stopping Thea.
As they came close to the city, they all marveled at its grand, imposing presence. White beach surrounded it, and great buildings rose up into the sky, blotting out the setting sun. Water and sand poured from it into the ocean.
“The true name of this city is Heaven’s Gate,” Thea said, to all the admiring White Knights who surrounded her, “It’s been sleeping for a thousand years, and finally, it is ours.”
Everybody cheered except Elisha, who felt pale and sick. She looked over the side at the giant city and felt only doom and dread sweep through her. How knowledge could change everything, she realized.
“Okay, everybody, we’re going to have a landing party go ahead and scout the city,” Thea said, “Pandora, Luna and Sashiko, I want you with me.” Pandora and Luna stepped forward, looking back at Elisha curiously. She just nodded her assent, and they hurried along to Thea.
“Elisha, you are in charge. Do not leave the ship under any circumstances.” Elisha nodded, knowing that Thea was trying to keep her there, and knowing that right now, there was nothing she could do about it but let it happen.
The landing party lowered themselves in the boat, and set off for the white beach before them. Elisha headed below decks, heading straight to the training room.
“Master Kane,” she said, “Are you here?”
“I knew you would come, Elisha. Your troubled face has told me that something is amiss.”
“Sanctuary is not what it appears to be, Master Kane. Thea is seeking weapons that are hidden there, weapons that could destroy the world. I have to stop her, but she has bound me by placing me in charge.”
“That’s easily fixed,” Master Kane said, “I will assume command. Fetch Arietta and take a boat ashore. I will tell the others that Lady Thea has forgotten something and you have gone to deliver it to her.”
“Thank you so much, Master Kane.” Elisha said, relieved.
“I knew that Lady Thea was capable of hatred. That’s part of the reason I stayed. I thought that perhaps I could change her mind. But as far as she’s concerned, her family here matters, and the rest of the world is scum. The Moral Revolution’s spread has only proved to her that the world hates her. So long as she believes that, she will never be free of her grudge.”
“I have to end this, one way or another, Master Kane,” Elisha said, “Forgive me if I kill the woman you have secretly loved for all this time.”
“How do you know that?” Kane asked, but Elisha just gave him a wan smile.
“Why else would you live on a ship of crazy, drama-loving lesbians?” She left the room to the echo of his laughter.
~
Arietta sat, shrouded in her darkness. Thea was probably already uncovering the secrets of Heaven’s Gate, and here she was, trapped in this room, unable to do anything. Was Elisha at Thea’s side, helping her to destroy the world? The thought hurt her deep inside, and she curled up deeper into herself.
After what seemed like forever, she heard voices outside, which became angry, and then a low thud and the sound of a body sliding down the wall. The door unlocked, and Arietta looked up to see Elisha standing there.
“Arietta...” Elisha said, “Arietta, I’m so sorry for everything that I’ve done to you. I should have come to you as soon as I found out, shared my fears with you, not kept them hidden deep inside. I should have trusted you.”
“You could have asked for help,” Arietta said, “I would have understood. You don’t have to carry your weight alone. You didn’t have to turn to Thea for love. I was here all along.”
“I didn’t,” Elisha said, “There was nothing going on between us. The only reason I spent so much time with her was because I was trying to talk her out of her madness!”
“I should have known that all along,” Arietta said bowing her head, “But somewhere, deep inside, I’m afraid of what happened with Selesti happening again, as if I’m not worthy to be loved somehow. I’m the one who should have trusted you.”
“Either way,” Elisha said, “Thea’s going to the city, and the people with her have no idea of her intentions. So I beg for your forgiveness and ask; will you come with me?”
“Of course I will,” Arietta said, running to Elisha’s waiting arms. Elisha embraced her tightly, stroking Arietta’s long, blond hair.
“We may have to kill Thea,” Arietta said, “Elisha, she’s an Ancient; immortal, like Pandora and Illuminus. Sanctuary was originally called Heaven’s Gate. She and Maia were children a thousand years ago, when the city sank into the sea, but they were rescued from their fate. Since then, they have been trying to find the city, but it was sealed by the other surviving Ancients, who regretted having tried to destroy the world.”
“I see...” Elisha said, “That’s why she said she was from the Nameless Islands, and why she knew so much about Sanctuary.”
“We have to stop her,” Arietta said, “We don’t have much time. Let’s go.”
They left the room. Arietta saw the knocked out guard on the floor and Elisha just shrugged, “I didn’t have much choice,” she said in her defense.
Hurrying up on deck, they saw most of the White Knights were distracted, looking out at the city, their duties abandoned. They slipped into a boat and ordered it to be lowered, and they set out for the white beach, each moment seeming like forever, the white beach staying at a painful distance. Both Arietta and Elisha were aware of time slipping away, and they redoubled their efforts at rowing the boat. Finally they reached shallow water and abandoned the boat, running through the water onto the beach.
“White sand...” Elisha said, “The white beach of the Promised Land...”
“I hoped we’d be here in happier circumstances,” Arietta said.
“I saw this day a hundred times in my dreams,” Elisha said, “I never envisioned it would be like this.”
The beach changed into concrete, and they hurried through the city, seeing the stone homes covered in lichen from their years in the depths of the sea. The tower in the center of the city was the only thing that did not look ruined, in fact, it was clear of damage and clean as if it had just been built, its white hull piercing the sky. Lights glowed on its side.
“That must be the place,” Arietta said, “We must hurry.”
Reaching the base of the tower, Arietta reached out for Elisha’s hand, “Whatever happens in here, Elisha,” she said, “I want you to know that I love you, and I trust you.”
“I love and trust you as well,” Elisha said, “Together, we’ll make the right decision.”
~
“This tower is so strange, so alien,” Sashiko noted, as they walked through the grand corridors, all lined with flashing lights and consoles like they had seen in the white tower.
“It belongs to another age,” Pandora said, “An age and a people long dead.”
Thea pressed forward, barely saying a word to anybody. She was trapped in awe, seeing a memory come to life, as if all her dreams had been made into reality. She would reach out every so often and touch something, just to make sure she was really there, had really reached her goal after all these years.
They climbed and climbed, the tower seeming endlessly complex, a maze of gadgets and computers that no doubt at some point powered the entire city.
“What are we searching for, anyway?” Pandora asked, “Why can’t we just move everybody onto the island and start reclaiming the buildings?”
“There is a further city underground,” Thea said, “The buildings there might be better preserved, but I need to access the central control system to see if it is flooded.”
“How do you know all this?” Luna asked.
“This was my home,” Thea said, “A thousand years ago, this was the place where Maia and I grew up, childhood friends. The city was sunk, and we roamed the world trying to reclaim it for all that time.”
“You’re immortal?” Pandora gasped, “So there are still others like me! Do you have magical abilities?”
“I don’t think so,” Thea said, “I’ve never learned any magic, and Maia didn’t, either. Either way, these are questions that can be answered later. For now, I want to find that computer.”
They climbed for hours, well into the darkness of night. The artificial lights inside the tower still seemed to work, as well as the whirring computers around them.
“How does this all still work after so much time underwater?” Pandora asked.
“The tower was built to be waterproof and impenetrable,” Thea said, “The systems in here are very important to the city, so it had to be protected from floods. Magic also protects the tower.”
“I thought I felt the presence of magic,” Pandora said, “It must be powerful magic indeed if it outlives the caster.”
“Heaven’s Gate was filled with powerful mages,” Thea said, “I’m sure they knew how to do some incredible things.”
Finally they reached the top of the tower, which was constructed with a clear roof, so they could all see the stars.
“Wow,” they said in awe, looking up at the night sky.
“Come on,” Thea said, leading them down a stairwell set in the center of the tower’s floor into what looked to be a computer system, “The main computer is in here.”
They descended into the heart of the tower, machinery all around them. Heading down a corridor, Thea held them back, “Wait here,” she commanded. They waited as she stepped forward and went to the computer. A barrier of light came up before them, trapping them in the corridor.
“Thea?” Pandora said, “What did you just do?”
“It was necessary, Pandora,” Thea said, a look of sadness on her face, “I can’t let you stop me now.”
“Stop you?” Pandora said, “Why would we want to stop you?”
“The Moral Revolution has eaten this world alive. As long as it exists, there will be no place for us, nowhere we can run or hide, and certainly no place where we can live in peace. This city contains the power to destroy the Moral Revolution, send a message to all those that hating us is wrong!”
“A message...?” Luna said, “I don’t like the sound of this. I wish Arietta and Elisha were here.”
“Once I set this control... like this... It will only be a matter of time before the volcano in San Ria explodes, covering the city in ash and lava. They will say the Fire God did it because they were wrong, and they will turn the Moral Revolution out on its ear. Then I will make the ground shake beneath Garania until they turn on their government in desperate need. I will make the winds tear at the Arian Empire until the Emperor flees!”
“The people chose the Moral Revolution,” Pandora said, her hands up against the barrier of light, “It’s not your right to overrule their decision, especially not like this! Think of how many innocent people you will kill!”
“They’re not innocent!” Thea said, “They could have voted another way, but they chose money over human rights, themselves over others! They have no idea what their votes did to us!”
“Then the only thing they are guilty of is ignorance, and aren’t we all guilty of that at some point in our lives?” Luna cried from behind the barrier.
“You must stop this, Lady Thea!” Sashiko said, “I admired you, respected you! I thought you would lead us to salvation and safety, not death! I won’t be responsible for the deaths of millions!”
“It’s no good,” Pandora said, “She’s lost. Reason cannot reach her now.”
~
Arietta and Elisha hurried through the passageways, following the dusty trail left behind by the others. They ran as fast as they could up stairwells, ignoring the glowing lights and ancient consoles they passed.
They reached the top, seeing the dome above them and the night outside. Then they heard voices from below. They looked at each other, and rushed down the steps into the computer mainframe.
“Arietta! Elisha!” Pandora said, relieved, “Perhaps you can get through to Lady Thea. She’s gone crazy!”
“She’s been crazy for a while,” Elisha said sadly, “Hatred has consumed her soul. I’m not sure there’s much I can do.” She pushed and kicked the barrier, but it didn’t move or falter. She could see Thea hunched over the controls, and the timer ticking down.
“Thea!” Arietta cried, “You have to listen to me! You must stop this! That’s why Illuminus was after this city. He wanted to destroy these weapons, to stop you. I know who you are, Thea. I know that you came from here with Maia, and that you were hated for a thousand years, chased from place to place. I understand your pain!”
“Nobody can understand my pain!” Thea said, “You have no idea how much it hurt me, that I could never have a single friend in all the world to confide to except Maia. How somebody would inevitably find out about us and threaten to kill us! There was never any peace for us, never any place where we could be safe or relax. It tore us apart, took her from me, and now she’s gone, forever! I’m alone in this world, and even you have all turned on me!”
Pandora tried using magic on the barrier, but nothing seemed to work. Exhausted, she slumped against the wall, and Luna hugged her.
“Be careful, Pandora!” she said, “Don’t exhaust yourself too much!”
“We have to stop her somehow!” Pandora said, “If only I knew some way of reaching her!”
“Illuminus could summon the dead,” Arietta said, “Can you contact spirits?”
“I don’t know, but I could give it a try,” Pandora said, “Maia, right?”
“Right,” Arietta said, “If anybody can reach her, it will be Maia.”
Pandora closed her eyes, “I need to ask a favor,” she said, “Join hands with me. I need your strength for this.”
They joined hands, lined up against the barrier. Pandora began to chant in the ancient tongue. The chanting grew louder, and then she called out, “Maia!”
A silvery apparition appeared in the room behind Thea, and the group watched as it took the form of Maia, and called out, “Thea...”
Thea turned, a look of shock and fear on her face, “Maia...” she said, “How can it be?”
“The love of all your friends, plus the ancient magic of this place and the girl has called me back,” Maia said, “Thea, you must stop this...”
“Why?” Thea said, “They’ll only chase us down wherever we go, make life perpetually miserable. We never had any peace in our lives. It’ll be the same for everybody on the ship if I don’t do this!”
“I was happy,” Maia said, “No matter what they said or did, I was happy just being with you. I didn’t need their love or approval to be happy. Why is it so different for you? Why do you need everybody in the world to love you, when you are surrounded with a few true friends?”
“They’ve turned on me!” Thea said, “They don’t want us to be safe.”
“They do, Thea. They just believe in people’s capacity for change. Arietta has faith in the human race. Pandora has hope that they will change. Elisha knows that the twilight holds fear, but she is not afraid to persevere despite that. Yet you... why are you giving up so easily?”
“I’m tired,” Thea admitted, “I’m so tired of all this pain... I’m so tired of being powerless to stop it, wherever I go... I’m tired of people retreading the same old mistakes and voting for the Moral Revolution to oppress us.”
“You are not powerless,” Maia said, “People are changing as we speak. Let me show you.” She waved a hand and the monitor before them sprang to life. A city appeared on the screen, filled with violence. Guards were being thrown in the water, and people were taking up arms.
“That’s San Ria!” Luna cried, “What’s happening there?”
“A counter-revolution,” Maia said, “The people of San Ria are rejecting the Moral Revolution, throwing Valen from his position and taking the city back.”
Thea looked at the screen, drinking in the sight before her. Change, right before her eyes.
“Will you destroy San Ria despite this?” Maia asked, “The people are proving they are capable of change, yet in a few minutes, they’ll be engulfed in lava. Won’t you give them a chance, Thea?”
Thea looked at Maia, “I love you so much, Maia,” she said, “I don’t deserve a third chance in life. I’ve had two already. Yet you come back again to try and save my soul?”
“I love you,” Maia said, “I would come back from my eternal rest a thousand times if it meant I could stop you from falling into the clutches of hatred. It’s always been your weakness, my love. Yet I love you despite that. So do your friends. If you stop this, they are all willing to forgive you.”
Thea looked at the figures behind the barrier, and they all nodded, hands held together, determination on their faces.
“Even after all I’ve done...” she said, and ran back to the computer. She deactivated the countdowns, and drew her sword, plunging it into the computer system, which exploded in a shower of sparks. The barrier disappeared, and the screens went blank.
Arietta and Elisha hugged in pure joy. Luna wrapped her arms around Pandora’s still chanting form, and Pandora managed a smile as she spoke. Sashiko stood smiling, her hands on her hips, a satisfied look on her face.
“I must go now, my love,” Maia said, “Eternal rest awaits me. Build your Sanctuary, sweet Thea. Defend it with all your heart, and live peacefully. But never forget to extend your hand to other people as well. I believe you can do it, Thea...”
“I love you,” Thea said, “Please don’t go...”
“The time will come when we will meet again, Thea,” Maia said, “Until then, I will be waiting and watching. Make me proud.” She disappeared into the air.
Dazed, confused and emotional, Thea collapsed to her knees, sobbing at the spot where Maia had disappeared. Her friends rushed to her side, helping her up, hugging her, soothing her tears.
“I’m so sorry,” Thea said, “I let myself become consumed by pain. I nearly destroyed the world!”
“A thousand years is a long time to bear pain,” Arietta said, “Illuminus knew, and that’s why he set out to stop you.”
“What do we do now?” Luna said, “We have our island, but we can’t really protect it very well, can we?”
“This island can float,” Arietta said, “Illuminus told me that Heaven’s Gate was designed to be a floating fortress. If we can get it to fly, we’ll be safe from everybody!”
“Incredible!” Thea said, rushing to the other computers in the room, “It’s been so long since I used the ancient tongue, but if I can just decipher these scripts...”
“We have time,” Arietta said, “Lots of time. The Moral Revolution is in disarray right now. Let us take our time. I suspect once we get the city to float, it won’t be easy for anybody to leave. We should find out who wants to stay and who wants to leave.”
“Why would anybody want to leave?” Elisha said, “We finally have what we’ve been searching for all along. The Promised Land, Shangri-La, Sanctuary, whatever you want to call it - we’re home.”
“Home,” Arietta said, looking around her at the ancient computers, “Home...”
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