As the sun slowly sets down the horizon, the shadow cast became larger and larger. In the vast desert, it spread like a tsunami. Devouring everything in its path and encompassing everything in darkness. As it came upon the lush green oasis filled with creatures and life, only to engulf it in darkness and silence. The beautiful sparkling water of the oasis soon turned dark and muddy. Like a hungry greedy beast, it soon left the oasis and continued.
The shadow went on without resting without stopping. But like hitting a brick wall it came to a full stop at a dazzling light. A city in the middle of the desert. A city that looked like it had been bathing in light. A city where the shadows can never reach.
The lights on top of the walls created a circle around the city like a safe halo. The walls rusted and full of dents stood magnificently. But that was overshadowed by the behemoth of a gate.
Before it stood people. Some are on their feet. Some on their vehicles. Some in luxurious clothing while some wore that barely resembled clothing. But one thing was common among all of them. Their eyes trembled as they looked at the gates. They sweat more as they approached the gates. They could feel their hearts beating and hands trembling. Whether it was excitement or fear remained a mystery.
As they approached the gate in small steps they were checked by armoured soldiers. They wore a helmet that covered their head and visors that covered their vision. From afar they looked no different from a robot. Some had their weapons drawn while others stood silently. They checked everyone that entered the city.
*bang*...*thud*
A loud noise rang out as a merchant fell on their back. Blood dripped from their forehead. Their eyes were wide open, full of fear and regret. A crumpled paper was thrown at them that bounced off them and rolled towards the nearest visitor.
The barrel was smoking as the guard put away the weapon and said,
"NEXT!"
The nearest visitor felt their legs weakening. Their eyes landed on the dead merchant as one soldier was dragging it by their feet and threw them to the dogs.
Everyone could hear the sounds. But none dared to look at it. The nearest visitor quickened their pace and gave their papers to the guard.
They looked at it. Time passed by slowly, seconds felt like hours minutes felt like days.
"CLEAR"
Then like a verdict they spoke. They took the visitor's arm and pressed a machine. The visitor felt their skin burning. But they clinched their teeth to bear the pain. They dared not to make a noise. A few seconds later the guard removed the machine and a small number along with some codes etched onto it.
The guard returned the papers and pushed them forward. The visitor with a trembled heart went inside the gate.
It was a dark space, a tunnel that was only illuminated with a few neon lights. They were laid in a straight line as if guiding the lucky or unlucky ones to their destination. The walk felt like hours but from the watch, the visitor knew not more than a few minutes had passed. Soon they could see the light. Light at the end of the tunnel. Unconsciously they quickened their pace and came out of the tunnel. They closed their eyes due to the blinding and dazzling light. When it finally adapted to the environment they finally saw.
A bustling city. Filled with a crowd. They wander through the city looking at everything.
The white building looked clean and exquisite with glass windows. Inside they could see a fireplace and a lot of tables and chairs filled with food and people. Some were laughing and smiling some were eating. All of them wore clean, beautiful and luxurious clothes. The visitor felt a little rumble in their stomach. They looked down at their ragged clothes and half torn shoes and the building. Unknowingly their eyes met someone from the inside. They looked disgusted and offended as they turned to call someone. The visitor averted their eyes and moved on from there
As they moved on they saw skyscrapers so big that even the clouds passed beneath them. They could see skyscrapers of different shapes and sizes, they could even see the distant smoke rising from the factory, and they could see a pyramid-like shape atop a skyscraper that illuminated the entire night sky.
As they walked they suddenly saw something bright come their way. They covered their face immediately as a reflex.
"Get out of you filthy mongrel."
A voice filled with malice and disgust rang out. The visitor removed their hands and looked at the light. It was coming from a vehicle.
It was white and had checker like black patterns on the back that was merged beautifully halfway. It was small yet big enough to fit four people. The glass was now transparent and had a man glaring at them.
It was then they realized they absentmindedly walked into the road. They quickly stepped off the road as the car man kept glaring at them. Now from an angle, they could see someone else sitting behind them but before they could make out the person the glass became black as it drove off.
They stopped staring at the city and walked along to their destination. As they turned around they hit their shoulder with a woman.
The woman looked angry and said something in an incomprehensible language. They felt a sharp pain in their head like scratching, but it disappeared as soon as someone else put a hand on his shoulder,
"You should go."
The visitor felt an indescribable chill run down his spine. Without looking back they hurriedly walked away from them. They could feel a trickle of something liquid falling from their ears.
...
The man looked at the person that was hurriedly walking away from them. He then turned towards the women and said in a displeased voice,
"I will not warn you again. Do not use that language here."
The woman scoffed and said,
"At first you made us turn into this disgusting creature and now even forbidding to even use our language. You have quite the audacity."
The man looked at her amused and said with a slight mockery,
"Well, I won't stop you if you have a better plan of evading his detection. Go on."
The women glared at the man but didn't say anything in the end. The man snorted.
"That's what I thought."
With that, he turned around and walked as before. No one was paying any attention to the man but slight attention to the women.
"It's been seventy-five thousand-year you still haven't learned to erase your presence."
The woman became angry and said,
"Unlike you cowards, I was trying to increase my power instead of hiding."
The man laughed and said,
"Well let me remind you that we cowards were the ones that defeated him."
"Defeated? Don't kid yourself Vanity. He ripped apart all four great lords before succumbing to his injuries."
The women retorted.
"Dear Impiety we just used the opportunity at hand to fulfil our own goals."
Vanity said with a grin while Impiety scoffed and said,
"Let's just meet up with Death and Madness."
Vanity nodded his head and walked on as Impiety followed behind him.