The Gate

"You owe me one," Branch said as they landed in an open, grassy area south of the tree.

Maizy sighed.  Ugh. I knew it.

She hopped down, then signed, "I know," widening her eyes and trying to look as cutely pathetic as possible.

Branch was wise to this technique. He looked away—while simultaneously biting his lip and pinching his arm.

"Anyway," he said, eager to change the subject, "the gate is over here." He pointed and walked a short distance from where they landed.

Maizy looked around, but saw nothing that resembled the square gate structure depicted in Grove's carving.

"Nothing here," she signed.

"Look down at your feet. Maybe fly up a little."

Maizy spotted faint lines in the ground—the grass had grown over something.

"The gate’s been lowered and locked for over 250 wobbles. A bit of dirt and grass grew over it." Branch used his feet to claw some of it away.

"The Weed Control Force comes by to kill anything sprouting here, but if it’s just grass, they leave it. They save their energy for weeds that fight back."

"Bad WEEDS?" Maizy signed, giving her most serious questioning look. "Why?"

"Oh, your mom hasn't explained the weed situation yet?"

Maizy shook her head.

"Wow. Right. You're only 7 days emerged!" He gave her a warm look, then quickly shook his head.  No! She owes me!  He pinched his arm again.

"Ever since the wizards went off to fight the Nightmare, magic weeds have been taking over the whole planet. Nobody expected all the wizards to die. Their gardens, mazes, and labyrinths—full of dangerous plants they'd created to guard their stuff—went wild and spread everywhere."

"The bad dream?" Maizy ask-signed.

Branch nodded, understanding. "The Nightmare is the same thing as the Great Calamity—if you've heard adults talk about that. Some monster took over the universe of dreams by eating the god who ruled it."

WHAT!?  Maizy's mouth dropped open in shock.

"I know, right? It sounds like scrollfiller, but it's true. The gods had to seal off that entire universe after they ran out of wizards."

Maizy looked skeptical. She signed, "Run out wizards?"

"Yeah. Supposedly the gods offered some incredible reward to whoever defeated the Nightmare. Every wizard thought they were the cleverest, so they all went. The dribblewits ran off for glory—then died. Once the wizards were gone, the Nightmare figured out how to invade other worlds. That’s why the kittay ended up stranded here... The Nightmare ate everyone on their home world."

GODS! WHAT!?  No wonder they call it the Nightmare! It ate AN ENTIRE WORLD OF PEOPLE!?  What were the gods even doing!?

"It ate many worlds, actually. Many races went extinct. It’s very sad."

Maizy was dumbstruck. "What gods doing?" she ask-signed.

"That's the thing, right? Apparently the Nightmare is scary—even to them. Otherwise, they would've dealt with it themselves. There's only one god who's been in and out of the dream universe since the Nightmare took over, and that's WHAT." Branch laughed. "Hah! Even the Nightmare can't deal with WHAT!"

Maizy almost gained a drop of respect for WHAT after that. Almost.

She scratched at the ground, uncovering white stone with symbols written—or etched?—into it. The language was one she hadn’t seen before.

Branch saw what she was doing and decided to help. "Here, let me..." He reached into his poncho and pulled out a small cube of magic wood. It quickly grew into something resembling a broom, then split off a smaller cube that dropped neatly into his hand. He tucked the spare back into his pocket.

Working together, they cleared the surface in no time. Beneath them lay an absurdly flat, level sheet of white stone with a great square in the center: the gate. Its tolerances were so precise Maizy could only barely make out the edges.

Branch watched her carefully examining the symbols. "Can you translate it?" he asked, his tone a little melancholic.

Maizy shook her head, then signed, "Don't know."

"Yeah... The university has been trying to figure out how to get this thing running for about 150 wobbles now. That’s when the gods said they sealed the Nightmare." He shrugged. "If the swans can’t figure it out, what hope do the rest of us have?"

Again with the swans! I want to meet them!

"Why not lift up?" Maizy ask-signed.

"Oh, they’ve tried." Branch walked over to a corner of the gate, showing scratch marks. "We’ve tried levering it out, pulleys, gear systems—everything.  Digging under it won’t work either, since it’s directly connected to the labyrinth below."

He crouched and pressed his hand on the gate. The symbols lit up briefly, glowing before fading away. "If you push magic into the gate it’ll do this, but only for a moment or two. Then it shuts back off."

If it's connected to the labyrinth... Maybe there's a control room down there?

"Maze." Maizy signed. "I was born there. Can we go?"

"You want to go into the labyrinth?" Branch squinted at Maizy. "You know that place is off-limits to everyone but Proscribrarians, right?"

Maizy shook her head.

Branch grinned. "Haha, I've been down there plenty of times." He leaned in a little closer. "But don't tell anyone, yeah? Bay showed me, and he said his mentor showed him. So I guess it's a bit of a Post Office grub tradition!" He laughed.

He's a bit rebellious!  For some reason, Maizy felt that made Branch even more attractive.

"Follow me..." He started walking toward the tree. "There's a secret entrance right over here."

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"You know how we live in a magic tree? Well, this is actually a magic bush. Very similar wood properties... Can't harvest the bark, though. Also can't get it to grow very tall. Gets real wide and thick, though. The Woodmaster made me do a research project on them once. There was this race of creatures, kind of like kads, that lived in them..."

Hehe, Branch is geeking out about wood. Wait—where'd he go?

Branch had already pushed his way into a great ball-shaped shrub growing a short distance from the tree. It was surrounded by similar shrubs, but those were more wild-looking—like this one had been trimmed once, a long time ago.

Maizy pushed through the branches and found a hole in the ground. She shrugged and hopped down.

Branch was still talking about the shrub. "Floor saved a few before the weeds took over everything and planted them here. I think she did it to hide the entrance." He pressed his hand against the wall, and white crystals began glowing all along the sides of the passage.

Cool!  Wonder erupted in Maizy's mind.

"This is only a tiny part of the labyrinth." Branch pointed west. "The Great Chasm is over there, and most of the labyrinth is on the other side. I've never been over there." He grew serious. "Don't try to cross the Chasm. Even with your ascendals. It has powerful—magical—downdrafts that will suck you into the death water at the bottom."

DEATH WATER!?  And this is RIGHT OUTSIDE THE VILLAGE!?

"Proscribrarians explore that side from time to time. They organize expeditions and hire people to help them." He looked thoughtful. "Supposedly, they always come back with something interesting."

NICE! That means much of it is still unexplored!  Maizy started picturing herself as an adventurer—slaying monsters, collecting loot, uncovering secret passages.  Ooh!  She had an idea.

Nook said this will hurt a lot but...  Maizy carefully pushed magic into her eyes.

"Kiiigh!" She squealed in pain.

"WHOAH! What's happening!?" Branch looked deeply concerned. "Are you okay?" Maizy rolled on the floor making sad squeaking sounds.  What's wrong with her!? A powerful protective instinct surged through Branch, and he scooped her up. That’s when he noticed her eyes glowing orange.

"YOU'VE BEEN POSSESSED!" he shouted, holding her at arm’s length, not sure what to do.

"Ki kiiigh." Maizy emitted her ridiculous broken-squeaker laugh.

She signed, "I OK." Branch hesitated, then gently set her back down.

"What's going on? What's wrong with your eyes?" Branch was genuinely frightened. He grabbed the cube in his pocket and began growing it larger.

"Snake eye gift." Maizy signed, tears of pain rolling down her cheeks. "I ate snake eye."

Branch froze, the half-formed block of magic wood still in his hand. "Oh." Because that explained everything.

Maizy grimaced and signed, "NOOK said it hurt a lot." She shook her head. "I did not know! Ouchie! A lot! A lot!"

"The Woodmaster told you how to make your eyes glow orange? WHAT!?" Branch was dumbfounded.

Maizy nodded, then looked around. The hallway walls glowed a gentle orange, the light crystals shining brighter in contrast. When she focused, she saw what looked like slow-motion laser beams shooting from the crystals—streams of light and magic spewing into the air.

Whoah.

She turned to Branch: His whole body glowed with a thick orange outline, his tail so bright it was almost white.

So we DO store magic in our tails.

"What do you see?" Branch asked—it was obvious Maizy was testing her new power.

"Magic," she signed. "Lines. Magic lines."

She pointed at him, then signed, "Line around you. Tail very bright. You full magic." She giggled. "I draw picture later—for you."

Then an idea struck. Maizy grabbed Branch's hand, and her memory tail glowed blue as she shared the sight with him.

"WHOAH!" Branch just stared into the distance, wide-eyed.

I wonder if I can share what I see in real-time?

Maizy fast-forwarded her memory as far as it could go, and it seemed to work. When she turned her head, she noticed a faint lag between reality and her memory vision.

She stood as far back from Branch as she could while still keeping him in view, letting him see himself through her serpent vision.

"I'm HUGE!" He grinned. "And super handsome, of course, hehe."

Maizy blinked.  He's seeing the world through my eyes... Does that mean he can see—or even feel—how handsome I think he is?

"You're right: My tail is full of magic. Oh kad, this is so neat!" Branch released her hand and gave her a sudden, serious look. "You're amazing." His mouth dropped open and he threw his hands up. "How are you even possible? I've heard of gifted young kads—heck, I'm one of them! But... wow. I feel like I'm a side character at the start of some epic story."

He smirked. "Makes you wonder why the gods thought you needed so much power, yeah? Like we're about to get attacked by some ancient, world-ending monster or something."

Maizy was horrified. She signed, "Don't say... That!"

She pointed down the hallway, and Branch took the hint.

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They walked down the hallway a short way, took a turn, then another.

We should be under the gate, I think. Close, at least.

Maizy activated her serpent's eye power to look around.

"See anything?" Branch was running his hands along the walls—searching for secrets.

She did see something! "Here." Maizy pointed at a section of wall that looked ordinary—except it wasn’t glowing orange at all. Like it was cut off from everything else.

Maizy grabbed Branch's hand so she could show him.

"Ah, this wall isn’t glowing." He pushed against it as hard as he could, but nothing happened. Then he tried pushing magic into it, and for a moment it blazed bright orange—before going dark again.

A noise echoed above them!

"What was that?" Branch jumped back, pulling his hand away. "Sounded like... something dropped on a floor above us?"

Maizy nodded. She signed, "More." Together they pressed their hands against the wall, pouring in magic. This time, multiple noises followed, and the floor beneath them trembled—as though a massive stone was shifting far away. Then... nothing.

Through Maizy’s serpent vision, they saw the wall had begun glowing like the rest of the labyrinth.

"I think we just reconnected this wall," Branch laughed. "Hah! Must’ve triggered some self-repair. Look—see how shiny and new it looks now?"

Maizy glanced again, and he was right. Scratches and wear that had been there before were gone.

"Well, that was anticlimactic." Branch shrugged.

Maizy was disappointed, and Branch could tell. Then she yawned.

Damn this toddler kad body! I must've used too much magic.

"We’d better get you back." Branch pointed to his back, and Maizy climbed up. "Dig your claws in good and deep in case you fall asleep on the way." He clearly had experience with this, and it gave Maizy a warm, fuzzy feeling—though she wasn’t sure why.

Branch didn't even make it out of the labyrinth before Maizy did fall asleep.