Arthur decided to do an experiment while the girls climbed out of the cramped tunnel. He opened his belt buckle and took out a reel of string. He tied a pencil from his pocket to the string and lowered it down. The ledge he was on was big enough for a child, so he carefully let the girls pass him and carry on through the tunnel upwards. Jo looked confused at what Arthur was trying to do but she just let him carry on. Arthur dipped the pencil in the fog, and there was a hissing sound. He pulled the string back up, and all that was left was a melted end. “Acidic fog!” shouted Arthur, who put everything back and followed the girls up.
When they had cleared the side tunnel they came to another ledge, and this time there was no tunnel to continue up.
“Where do we go from here?” asked Lucy.
“We jump across,” said Arthur. On the other side of the circular room was another ledge and Arthur jumped from one side to the other and landed precariously, but held on to the ladder that was built into the wall. It was made of the same blue stone as the rest of the walls and most probably resistant to the highly acidic fog.
“I can’t jump that far!” shouted Lucy.
“I have an idea, throw me that rope that’s on your back Jo,” shouted Arthur.
Jo did, and Arthur tied it to the ladder. He then threw it to Lucy who tied it to her waist, but didn’t feel any safer than before. She took a run up and jumped across the divide. She screamed as she went, but she made it. Arthur untied her and she climbed up the ladder. Jo then jumped as well, and found the whole experience rather fun in a strange way. They all climbed up the ladder to the second area, which was through a door at the top of the ladder.
They entered a room which had a circle of pillars and they were all different heights, presumably for climbing. Arthur saw the door to get out of this room about twenty feet up and he told the girls to go first, and to go as fast as they could. He then walked back to the doorway above the ladder, and looked down at the room that was filling up with fog. He stared for a while, hypnotised, and then ran back to the girls. They had already reached the top, and were waiting in the doorway. “Come on!” shouted Jo. Arthur then expertly climbed up the pillars, and jumped across the wide gap to the doorway, and ran ahead of the girls to the next room.
Arthur expected the next room to be straight after the first, but instead he ran up a long corridor which switched to the left, and then to the left again and so on, so it felt like he was running around in circles. The girls were coming fast behind him, after seeing the fog flow into the pillar room and after about a minute of blind running he emerged into the next room.
It was a small square room which didn’t seem to have much in the way of challenges. The trio ran through the doorway on the other side of the room and into another room that was identical to the first. They then ran through another door which led to a staircase. The staircase went up then switched back into a room that was presumably above the one they were just in. They looked over and there was another set of rooms exactly the same as the ones below. Arthur was perplexed about why they were like this, but he just wanted to get away from the fog that was slowly creeping in from below. The rooms were lit by small crystals that also seemed to be immune to the fog, and lit the rooms with a dim light that didn’t really show any detail of them, but prevented Arthur, Jo and Lucy from walking into any walls.
They then entered a huge room that must have been at least one hundred feet wide, and extended up as far as they could see. “What were all those other rooms for? They didn’t really hinder us at all,” said Lucy.
“I have a feeling that they were not to hinder us, but to hinder the fog. At least that’s what I hope which means that this whole situation may not be completely hopeless after all,” said Arthur.
“How do we get up?” asked Jo.
“Those notches, they go around the wall in a circular pattern. I think it might take a while but that’s what those other rooms were for,” said Arthur, who ran over to the wall and inspected it.
“Right, Jo first, then Lucy, and then I’ll go last,” said Arthur, but Jo and Lucy had already started to climb. Arthur grabbed the notches and followed them.
The course they were taking seemed to be the slowest one but this didn’t really affect them, because the thought of being melted didn’t seem too inviting. The one thing that was happening to the three that they didn’t really notice was that they were beginning to tire. The sleep in the clearing may have made them feel better, but it still didn’t help that they had not eaten or drunk since they had entered the Twilight Vale.
Another thing that they had not counted upon was that there was nowhere to rest as they moved around the massive tower. “I can’t go any further,” said Lucy.
“You have to,” said Arthur.
“I can’t, I’m exhausted,” she said.
“Well you can stop if you want, but you will be using up half your energy holding on and when that’s used up, you’re gonna fall. So keep going and that hopefully won’t happen,” said Arthur. Lucy then took a deep breath and carried on going; she caught up with Jo and they moved on.
They were about half-way when the floor began to turn white, ever so slowly but it had the same effect on the three clinging to the wall. Lucy began to panic and nearly mowed Jo out of the way, but Jo also panicked and moved much faster. Arthur was quite calm, and followed them around the tower.
They finally reached the top and it was a flat ledge. Jo and Lucy collapsed from exhaustion and Arthur nearly did too, but he checked the next room first. There was a timer in the room and a lever, which Arthur didn’t pull until he carried Jo and Lucy into the room. He pulled the lever and the door closed, and Arthur heard the timer ticking. He looked up and the room had a spiral staircase running around it, and there was a bright light above which obscured the top.
The door clicked open and Arthur saw that the door shut for five minutes, and then opened to stop the fog. “You two rest, and I’ll keep an eye out for the fog,” said Arthur.
“I love you,” said Jo, who closed her eyes and fell asleep. Arthur then had a better idea; he picked up Lucy and carried her up the stairs, and then dropped her off at the top. The top was just a bright light, and Arthur couldn’t see a thing. He placed her on the floor, and ran down to pick up Jo. He lifted her up in his arms, and carried her heroically up the stairs. When he reached the top, the light seemed to become less bleached and began to recede, and Arthur saw where he was standing.
He was standing at the top of the stairs of the foyer, and was confused beyond belief. The corridor that they were in was so beautifully decorated that it didn’t fit in to the rooms they were in before. Arthur walked doggedly down the corridor to a huge room that had four statues of figures on each side, all on white marble plinths. On the left side was a gold one, then a black one, then a blue one, and lastly another gold one. On the right hand side was a black one, then a silver, then a green and then a red. At the end was an incredibly huge throne made of marble, and sat on it was Archie, who actually sat with her feet on one arm rest, and her back on the other. She was reading a book but it was hard for Arthur to see, since the room was so big.
“What just happened!?” he shouted.
“Oh good, you’re here, it took you long enough,” said Archie.
“We were just in a tower with fog, where did it all go?” he shouted.
“Come here,” replied Archie. Arthur walked doggedly across the room, and as he got closer he saw that Archie had much longer hair. She sat properly now, much more elegantly.
“A throne seems to fit you very well, being in control of everything and everyone,” said Arthur.
“Do I detect a hint of derision in your voice?” asked Archie.
“What was all that about?” asked Arthur.
“You made it here so you should be proud,” said Archie.
“Proud? What would have happened if Jo had fallen, my future wife and children could have died,” he said.
“Arthur, she could have
died so many times before she entered here but she didn’t, believe me, it isn’t her time yet,” said Archie.
“And that’s another thing, you know when we are going to die, it isn’t a good thing and you said you couldn’t see the future,” said Arthur.
“I couldn’t agree more, but I’ll tell you the truth here and now. I don’t actually know when you are destined to die, the same with Jo, I just know that you are not destined to die now by my hand,” said Archie.
“Then you are not all knowing,” said Arthur.
“Correct, but if all of us deities come together we can answer all the questions in the universe. Only Astrae never comes and frankly we’re all happy about that,” explained Archie.
“Can any other gods come here?” asked Arthur.
“Just Phoebe, she is always welcome here. Then again she can walk through walls, so she is technically welcome anywhere,” said Archie.
“Does Astrae have something against you?” asked Arthur.
“In a sense, yes, she doesn’t like the fact that I have such a lovely realm and hers is full of fire, lava and smoke,” said Archie.
“Is she from the other world like you? I mean you’ve alluded to it enough throughout our strange time together,” asked Arthur.
“Yes she is, and that makes her more dangerous and hopefully this whole new adventure will bring her out of hiding, though it’s a long shot,” said Archie.
“So we are the bait for a deity I’ve never heard of?” asked Arthur.
“Yes you are, there is something I need you to do while you’re attracting attention to yourselves,” said Archie.
Jo and Lucy woke up and followed the sound of voices, and saw that Arthur was talking to Archie, who sat on her throne as elegantly as a King or Queen would. “Hello, we made it,” shouted Jo.
“Yes, you did, and not a moment too soon. You have another adventure in front of you, as do I, but first you will stay here for a while as my guests” said Archie.
“So this is the end?” asked Jo.
“This part of your journey is over, but as far as your future goes there is a lot to come,” said Archie.
“But this isn’t the end of the book, I haven’t shown you around my home yet, then we can do all this ending stuff,” said Archie suddenly.
The Last Chapter
The Palace was enormous and Archie led them to a long corridor with hundreds of portraits in it. They were all important-looking people, though the three couldn’t recognise them. Archie opened one door and inside was a cavernous room, which was a study, and its window looked out across the vale. It looked like the study of Lord Aquatine, though much larger and with more books.
“Have you read all of these books?” asked Lucy.
“Once or twice, I have a lot of time on my hands and I’ve turned my palace into a place where I can distract myself,” said Archie.
“If you’re going to be a godmother to our children then you won’t need any distractions,” said Jo.
“I have no idea what to do,” said Archie, who closed the door and continued to the next room.
“Neither do I, I’m just planning on winging it,” whispered Jo into Archie’s ear.
They then came to a door with waves carved into it, and Archie pushed it open. Inside was a swimming pool, a massive one with water slides and waterfalls all built into the walls and flowing through rockeries with exotic looking plants.
“This place looks so beautiful, I would love to go swimming here,” said Lucy.
“And so you shall, we’re going to have to wait two months for January the first and that is when we will leave here and go out on your greatest adventure,” said Archie.
“Show us around before we go swimming,” said Arthur.
“I would love to,” said Archie, who closed the door on the perfect scene for another.
They walked down the corridor and above they saw that there were bridges with red fences, and they were presumably for floors that were higher up.
“I’m starting to get a headache,” said Arthur.
“The place does that, the Vale has a different type of air which makes it look dreamier but the headache will go in a while,” explained Archie.
“I don’t feel a thing,” said Jo.
“Neither do I,” said Lucy.
“For some strange reason it doesn’t affect women hence why I’m staying in this form,” said Archie.
“Excuse me?” asked Lucy.
“I’m not filling her in, one of you two can do that,” replied Archie who took them into a room with a huge staircase that circled around the wall, and up into what seemed like forever.
“Come on my bedroom is on the fifth floor, actually it’s the entire fifth floor,” said Archie.
After walking for what seemed like five seconds they reached the fifth floor. There was just one room and it was what seemed to be a foyer. “You have a foyer to your bedroom, and I thought Evermore was ostentatious,” said Arthur.
“Your foyer to your bedroom is bigger than my whole bedroom,” said Jo.
“I know but this is such a large palace after all, and I am a god so I have a godlike bedroom, simple as that,” said Archie.
“It’s alright for some,” said Lucy.
“You think this is good, you should see my actual bedroom,” said Archie, who led them to the huge door.
She met a man who seemed to come out of nowhere, literally nowhere, and he looked happy to see her. He had white curly hair and wore a blue tuxedo similar to the one originally worn by Arthur.
“Sir Wishheart, these are my new friends Arthur, Jo and Lucy,” said Archie.
“It’s nice that you are back, my lady; your room is all prepared,” he said before disappearing again into nowhere.
“He seemed nice,” said Jo.
“The first person to come here, I helped him like I helped you and he was a brilliant guy,” said Archie.
“Is that where we are destined to come, here?” asked Arthur.
“That won’t be for a long time, just don’t do anything to jeopardise it like going on a killing spree. Because only I can take moral souls from Phoebe, not immoral otherwise there is nothing I can do,” said Archie.
“What constitutes murder exactly, are all the people who fought in previous wars damned forever?” asked Lucy.
“That is where it gets technical. It is judged by the Rider if the people killed were senselessly killed or not,” she explained.
“How would she know?” asked Lucy.
“She does a forensic examination of all the evidence and then decides on what the verdict is,” said Archie.
“And if they are good they come here?” asked Lucy.
“No not exactly, you see back in the beginning, I think it was the rocking 50s. The year was 10050 since it took me ten thousand years to help build your world. Then it took us fifty years to assign the gods each their two forms and their elements. Then we decided to take three different realms. I took here since it was the safest place I could possibly think of and Phoebe took the alternate dimension of Jalhenna, which is the name that we are giving the realm, Arthur, not Erthyana,” explained Archie.
“Why do you call it the ‘rocking ‘50s’?” asked Jo.
“I suppose you had to be there. But as I was saying, Phoebe got Jalhenna, because she was in depressed teen mode which I believe she now regrets. Then she became the Misty Morning Rider who wants to be alone, so she lives one second after us and as a result I hardly ever see her. She gets days off however and that’s when I meet her on her island,” said Archie.
“Are we going to see your bedroom or what?” asked Jo.
“Come on then,” said Archie, who opened the door and revealed the splendour she lived in almost all the time.
It was incredible, how all this that they saw before them could be one bedroom. It had massive windows that looked out across the vale, and the floor was carpeted with an azure colour that looked like a sea. The room was set up with two levels. The
one they had started on was a lower level, and a set of marble stairs led to the second level, which was like an inside terrace.
Columns held up the roof and they lined the wall between the first and second level. Inside the wall were bookcases, and they were full of books which looked well read, since they were the only things in the room that were not immaculate. They walked across the large open space and they climbed the stairs to the second level, which was on the right since the windows were all on the left.
On the second level of the room was Archie’s bed which was about four times the size of a normal king size bed. Jo was astonished that such large beds existed, and the sheets must have needed a very long washing line. “This is where I sleep, you will all have the guest bedrooms and I will see you in the morning” said Archie.
“How do we know if it’s the morning here?” asked Arthur.
“Unfortunately I cannot make the sun rise here, which I know makes the place sound depressing, but since it’s perpetual twilight out there I would suggest closing the curtains,” said Archie.
“What’s for dinner?” asked Jo.
“I have no idea, let’s go and find out,” said Archie.
The group followed Archie and as they passed around a corner Arthur noticed that someone was missing. “Where’s Lucy?” he asked.
“She’s gone?” asked Jo.
“Oh dear, she must have gotten lost,” said Archie. A pale woman walked up to them and Jo was quite shocked to see that she had a bullet-hole through her forehead and a dim blue light seemed to be emanating from it. Jo thought that she shouldn’t stare and looked down at her eyes, which were emanating the same kind of light.
“I’m sorry to disturb you, my Lady, but a package has appeared in the foyer that is addressed to you, we have no idea how it managed to get here,” said, the woman and noticed that Jo was staring at her head.
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