The Earth After Rebirth

They both thought it was just a mirage. It wasn't the first one, but at a time, they saw different things. They just thought this time, the illusions have gotten better. To the point it let's two people see the same thing.

They wouldn't believe it until they stepped on its solid ground. Until then, they'd treat it as just another imaginary place their brain made up.

When they reached it's first solid stair, they were ecstatic. For the first time in weeks, their feet didn't sink with every step. Which is why the stood dumbly, at the first flight of stairs, unbelieving.

The structure was made of pure gold stone. They thought twice about going in, that's how pristine it was. They felt they would dirty it, if they'd set their foot on it.

It didn't look worn, nothing suggested a solar rain happened for a week. As if a protective barrier was protecting it. They walked up, expecting to be repelled by an invisible force but that never happened. Instead it looked like it was welcoming them with arms wide open.

The sun reflected on the gold stone brightly. Kiro thought if it were real life, he wouldn't have been able to look directly at it. It was blinding.

Despite it's pristine and godly condition, it's decor was, grotesque at best. It was as if someone was mocking the holy and sacred aura the place was exuding.

Just at the top of the stairs, there were two gargoyles that stood rooted in the golden stone floor, in-between them there was a fountain. The colour of the water was none Kiro had ever seen, he had no words to describe it.

The water also offered no reflection of his, he was growing a bit suspicious, he hadn't seen his reflection anywhere since he fell in this world. Not even in Hubris' eyes.

Standing side by side with the gargoyles they looked around, they didn't dare carelessly take another step incase there were traps. They realised that, the sacred golden temple had no doors. It was just a four wall structural building, doorless but pristine nonetheless.

"I guess we need to find a door, there's no way I'm going back to the desert." He concluded, slowly walking to the fountain.

"Mmm."

Kiro cautiously touched the gargoyles, they were cool and rough to the touch, the opposite of what the whole temple looked like. It looked smooth, the floor too. He half-expected them to come to life, but nothing happened, just tranquility.

He approached the walls ready to fight if he had to. He used Ryu occasionally to poke the floor before stepping on it. Being careless is what got him into this mess in this first place, since he couldn't contact the system death here could mean, death.

He couldn't explain everything but he just explained where he was as an in-between that the system can't cross but beasts and characters can. Needless to say, this was just a way to comfort himself and make sense of what was happening.

He touched the gleaming golden wall, it was too smooth, it couldn't be climbed. He felt it up, hoping to spring up a secret doorway. He tried this for a while but it didn't work.

He noticed there was a shrine just at a corner he was walking to, as if this was used as a place of worship, a very long time ago, when people actually visited the place.

Now, they've abandoned their religious beliefs it seemed. That's something that can happen, the place they were in wasn't a friendly one at all.

"Oh, what if they all died and their bones are scattered all over the desert. Then the bones we saw?" He could only theorise, nobody was there to give answers to their questions.

No one was there to worship or welcome them there but it looked well-maintained. Like every day people came to clean the stone and sweep the sand. There was sand all around it but not even a speck of it on its stairs, or its floors.

The new guests didn't even track it from whence they came. Kiro felt the impulse to go back down the stairs to see the magic of how it kept the sand out of its vicinity when Hubris distracted his train of thought.

He was standing, not helping Kiro look for a doorway, extremely still and stiff. Not out of fear but out of anger it looked like. His face occasionally, involuntarily spasmed.

His eyes looked dangerously cruel. Kiro thought this was how a hellhound should look like, majestic but also unapproachable.

"Hubris?" Kiro called out scared to invoke something in him.

It took him a while to come out of the trance state he was in. When he noticed where he was and who was in front of him, he was extremely embarrassed.

"Ah, sorry Master, you saw my unsightly side." He commented quickly walking over to the other side to help look for a doorway.

"I asked you a question you know!"

"I don't know what it is, but I was suddenly overcame with great anger. If I hadn't evolved, I think I would've lost my sanity here.

"I don't even remember coming up those stairs, it's all foggy. I think I almost lost my essence just now master."

"How come I couldn't even feel it then?" He asked confused, he thought they shared feelings.

"Master, I'm not lying."

"I know." Kiro said and absentmindedly caressed Hubris' underbelly.

He didn't understand this place any more than his mount did and it was his home. This was indeed a frustrating experience for him.

The water didn't have anything living in it, at least, as far as he could see there was nothing. He lowered his hands and scooped some, the desert journey made him dehydrated and hot, so he first splashed the water over his face and washed up.

He scooped again and raised his hands to his mouth, he stopped at something unfocused at his peripheral. A door had materialised, or it was always there.

"Hubris, dip your head here!"