The Eternal Guardian

*clang*

The habitat door closed with a metallic bang. Looking nervously behind him, Adika was for a moment reminded of the tales he heard from passing merchants about demons that tricked passerby's into entering their abode before devouring them. At the moment, Zuman, the 2 children and Adika with his men was inside the habitat. Zuman told them that he needs to pack some things and the items are inside his home. However, upon passing the threshold, Adika was shocked by the immensity of the surroundings.

A corridor with walls made from iron greeted him. The corridor goes on deep into the mountain. He can vaguely see in the distance there are arches within the walls at regular intervals.

(What manner of dwelling is this? Only the entrance corridor's length is already 3 times of the Maiden's Cheer in our village! And that's only the part I can see!)

Adika wondered in his mind, wonder and awe warring with disbelief in him. How could such a wondrous construction be made by human hands?

(Truly he comes from the Heavens!)

Adika unconsciously raised his opinion of Master Zuman.

"Follow me please, you don't want to get lost in here. It wouldn't be pleasant.... for you that is. Heheh."

Zuman warned with an evil laugh.

Adika and his fellow hunters could only give him weak smiles in return before obediently following closely behind.

—

After some time walking, they arrived at an arch that didn't seem any different from the rest except for the fact that the iron doors of this arch seems to be free from dust compared to the others.

Standing in front of the entrance, Zuman turned to face them all before bowing elegantly, marred slightly by the travelling garb he's wearing.

"Well then. Welcome to my humble dwelling."

Saying such, the door opens with a hiss of machinery and escaping air.

Beyond the threshold, at first it seemed to be a portal into the dark abyss.

"And let there be light."

Zuman intoned (childishly, to be honest) and saying so, light poured out of the threshold, temporarily blinding Adika and the hunters with it's brilliance.

Blinking away the brilliance from their eyes, the hunters could only gape after looking. The arch opened into a wide expanse.

"Dear ancestors! It's big enough that you can fit in Old Balthom's farm with room to spare!"

One of the hunters exclaimed.

"Haven't you realized? We're still standing inside the mountain, but it's as if we're standing beneath the sun! I can't see the mountain roof! And where is that sunlight coming from? We're inside the mountains, for ancestors sake!"

Another one couldn't hold in his shock.

"Did you notice how the light appeared on his command? With but a word he summoned the brilliance?"

Adika grasped hold of this particular action, further shocking his villagers.


While the hunters were in an uproar over the phenomenon, Zuman, the culprit, was feeling smug and happy with himself.

(Well, that felt awesome. Now I know how those elder characters in movies feel like when introducing their magical homes to the young aspirants.)

"Well then, please make yourselves at home, but please refrain from touching randomly. Some of the items here are dangerous, and some are downright lethal for the unaware."

Zuman invited them into his research habitat, while not forgetting to remind them of the dangers.

Gawking at everything, the hunters followed Zuman into the room, if it can still be called that. While walking, they noticed a giant ring-shaped structure in the distance.

"Master Zuman, what is that?"

"To which item are you referring to, my friends?"

Noticing their gaze towards the Heaven's Gate, Zuman's face quickly went through a myriad of expressions. From satisfaction, to dismay, to anger, to sadness before settling back to the smiling face from before. However, only Adika who was looking at him noticed the quick changes.

Zuman was quiet for a moment before telling them.

"That one, eh. That is the work of my life. The work to which I dedicated my whole life to before it was finally completed and proven to others that it CAN work."

--

The work to which I sunk my whole life in.

The work to which I gave everything and forsook my own life.

The work to which I spent time on, thinking I will have time for myself after I finished it.

The work that when I managed to finish it and was looking forward to a new start, suddenly up and took me away from everything.

It was my magnum opus and also the end of my life.

--

The bitter thoughts and mixed feelings ran through Zuman's mind. However, he managed to keep his voice steady when answering them.

The hunters was puzzled, not quite understanding his explanation.

Smiling gently, Zuman explained.

"That, my friends, is something that I spent the last 300 years on. It was supposed to help me and my people to travel the stars in a single step."

"300 years!!"

"Travel the stars sir? How is that possible?"

The hunters asked in a disbelief-filled voice.

It is quite understandable.

The people here can barely imagine flying in the sky, and now they were asked to imagine flying among the stars.

"Imagine this dear friends. Iron carriages the size of or even bigger than the Maiden's Cheer, flying freely in the sky. Using these, my people journeyed, roaming the stars. We flew between worlds, making them our new homes. But our journey between the worlds took time. Days, moons and sometimes a few seasons!"

The hunters looked on with amazement, barely able to register such journeys. The furthest they've traveled is a 15 days journey during a particularly unfruitful hunting trip, and that already gave them new sights to share with fellow villagers.

There is another person from the village that traveled afar, following a trade caravan due to his wanderlust, but they rarely heard back from him, at most once every few moons.

"Even as wonderful as that all may seem to you, my people wasn't satisfied with just that. We felt we could do better. And we did. That thing you see there? That is my people's dreams and desires, given form. The moons in the sky? You begin your step here on this world, and the next step takes you onto the moon in the sky."

The hunters could only gape at this wondrous image, barely able to imagine such a thing.

It's as if a modern person is asked to imagine opening their house front door and exiting it to arrive at their office in but a step.