Nephilim Quest Book 1: Shadowhunter

25. The Opening of the Way 1/3

"We have five kinds of group here; anyone coming in is tested and then assigned to study the area in which they show the most aptitude. The groups are Gatekeepers, Weavers, Hunters, Guardians, and Researchers. You will learn more about them later," Lilith explained to me as she led me along the corridor of one of the wings.

"Sounds like Hogwarts," I couldn't resist saying.

Lilith laughed.

"Sort of, yes. But this place is firmly built in physical reality, even if you could say much of the buffer zone or the levels of the Unseen Worlds are figments of our imagination. Because that's what they are. They have always been there, but whatever physical form they take is dependent on the thoughts, emotions and imagination of people. It is a forever changing world."

The Centre was quite big – three wings reached backwards from the main building, into a large old garden with huge trees. In one wing was the staff dormitory, Lilith's office, and the private cafeteria, and the two others were in spa use. The Magellan Spa visitors could not enter the corridor leading to the private wing, which was the westernmost one. The gate was in the lobby on the westernmost wing, which you could not enter freely, even from the private wing. Every door leading to the great hall was locked, including the cafeteria's, and only opened when someone looking through a surveillance camera pressed a button to open the door. I had not noticed them at first, but there were four guards in the lobby, each sitting in their own glass cubicle.

"Let's talk about the gates in more detail."

Lilith opened the heavy door to her office, which was situated on the front side of the building. She could see everyone approaching the Centre and spa from her desk by the window– no wonder she was out to meet us as soon as we arrived.

Daniel was in the office, sitting in an armchair with his long legs stretching in front of him. He was reading a book. A very big, old book. Despite its size, he balanced it in his hands in a way that made it look weightless.

"Ah, good, you're here. Shall we go?"

He rose out of his chair in one fluid, catlike motion. The movement was balletic. There was so much strength in the movements of his muscular athletic body.

"Yes, let's go." Without saying anything more, Lilith raised her hand and with one quick movement slashed the air in front of her.

When I say she slashed it, I mean that literally. An opening appeared in the air, as if she had cut paper with scissors.

"Woooo...!" I stepped back, breathless with surprise.

"Maybe you should have warned her..." the corner of Daniel's mouth lifted into a half smile, "looks as though someone is about to run for the exit screaming as she goes..."

"I do apologize," Lilith said. "Everyone here is so used to seeing this that I forgot it might scare you."

Right... as if I wouldn't have been scared to see all the laws of physics broken in front of me? But, not wanting to show weakness in front of Daniel again, I tried to appear unafraid, and even took a step forward to see better. I walked around the slit, understanding now what Diana had been talking about before. The slit disappeared from sight, when I went behind it, and nothing out of the ordinary happened. When I came back to the "front" of it (for lack of a better term), it was clearly visible again. Impossible. Yet...it was similar to the big gate in the lobby. My head whirled at the concept that time and space were physical things that you could cut through.

"Did you just create a gate of your own?" I asked.

Lilith smiled and nodded.

"Yes. There are only three of these in the world..."

She extended her hand and I saw something that looked like a finger cover from a mummy. It was of some transparent, slightly rose-colored material that I did not recognize.

"This isn't real..." I shook my head, "I have gone crazy. Things like this just do not happen!"

"Oh but they do. They always have. Remember the old stories of sleepers...? Professor Rowan told me that he'd told you about them - probably gave you quite a lecture, knowing him.... Some of the details in those stories are not factual, but a basic truth is there. People go to a realm with no time, return unchanged, and time has passed in the human world."

"Time has passed...? But you just said it won't pass."

"It doesn't, not in the buffer zone, unless you are at the very edge of it, almost touching our world - that is a zone where time has some effect. Time does move on in the human world, though. If you go to the buffer zone, it is all about finding your way back to the moment where you left the time-space reality you came from. If you don't know how to do that, you can come out haphazardly, and find yourself anywhere in time. Future. Past. Any time. You disappear from the time that you left, and continue to live in the time in which you've arrived. You cannot be in two places at the same time. And it seems you cannot go to the past and re-enter a time where you have already lived. One of the reasons we have to keep good records about who has traveled and to which time is so we don't try sending them there again. Trying to enter a time where you already are can hurl you unexpectedly into a completely different era to the one intended."

Daniel stepped through the slit in the air, and vanished from the room. Lilith beckoned me to follow, and I braced myself and followed Daniel. Lilith was the last to walk through, after which she repeated the slashing motion with her hand. One moment I saw her office, the next it was gone and we were in another space that looked like an old library. And a huge library at that.