My name is Scealai. My name means 'Fire on the Seas'. So, though I was born of the land, the sea, Shalea, has always been my mother. I have travelled much of this world that we call Domhan.In my travels I have seen many wondrous and inexplicable th...
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7 of us ventured forth the next morning. Along with myself, there were 4 men; Liam, Grader, Henrick and Ureal. There were also two women, Flo and Belinda.
We pulled the dory onto the soft sand of the beach and secured it, by rope, to a large rock embedded in the sand. After taking our weapons and supplies and waving to those on the Dochas, we headed across the sand and into the unknown.
We were immediately met by a thick clutter of thorny bramble, that stretched for some 200 feet in front of us. It was almost enough to make us turn back, as the prickly thorns cut into our skin.
I drew my sabre and began to hack at the bramble. I was determined to carry on. Soon the others followed and after expending much time and energy, we finally made our way through the prickly mesh , only to be met by another formidable foe, in the form of a thick, almost jungle like, forest.
We travelled through thick, dark, damp forest for the first day and spent a rather uncomfortable night in the forest. Fire was a luxury which we could not muster, as the damp wood and mosses did not allow our flints to spark any semblance of flame.
It was all I could do to keep my crew's spirits above the depression zone.
We covered ourselves in our canvas blankets and huddled together, as best we could, for warmth. We shared a skin of rum and awaited the morning light.
At first light, we continued our journey as much to warm ourselves up, as to continue on. Some dried meat and water brought much needed energy. We had hoped to find some fruit or berries on the land, but nothing could grow under the thick ceiling of branches, over our heads, which only let through an almost eerie fog like light.
We trudged through the thick forest for most of the morning and when we estimated the sun to be at its highest, we finally emerged from the forest. We all collapsed on the thick grasses and let the warmth of the sun bring us back to life.
After a half hour or so, we got back to our feet and turned to continue our journey. What we beheld, in front of us, could only be described as something from beyond even our most wild imagination.
There, across from us, was an archway, of sorts, atop a high hill.
We made haste, as best we could. We were fortunate, as the forest was not as thick and we could keep sight of the archway and therefore remain on a straight course.
Before nightfall, we had walked up to the base of the archway over a vegetation covered stair-path. It did not look like anyone had ever claimed these stairs, before us, but for certain, we could not be sure.
The archway itself looked to be framed in bricks of some sort, held together by only mosses and other strange vegetation, as best we could conclude. The interior seemed to reflect, much like a mirror.
I pushed my hand forward through the archway. It felt like thousands of feathers, brushing against my skin. Though tempted to carry on, I fought the desire.
As the sun was setting and the dual moons aligned over the archway, we felt it best to camp for the night before continuing on. Though we were all excited about the prospect of what this structure actually was, we finally agreed that night was not the time to explore and the light of day would offer a better perspective of what the archway was and certainly benefit us, as to being able to see danger, hopefully, before danger saw us..
We were fortunate, as dry wood and moss allowed us a hearty fire, to keep us warm and revive our adventuresome spirits.
We got very little sleep as we all speculated as to what the archway was. Many theories were put forth and the temptation to get a closer look, kept us all wide awake. We all knew the only way to determine if any were correct was to get a closer look at the archway.
