The Entrance

During the winter the College of War was nearly empty, the students returned to their Clans and only the people who lived in the College remained. With the departure of Elion and Adalind, Cain was alone again, but it did not matter. After all winter meant that Heirloc wouldn't have work to do, hence he could go out with the boy to explore the mountain or stay within the College and teach him privately.

At the end of the winter Cain would face another great trial, he would participate in the commemorative tournament for the end of his class basic training, a competition that would reorganize the ranking for students from 12 to 14 years of age. Although his future was full of exciting prospects the boy could not think about it because Heirloc had promised that this winter the two would go out to visit one of the Elder's cities. Cain could not think of anything else, finally he would see with his own eyes the technological wonders made by the race that was so powerful that they even challenged the Divines.

Then the day finally came. Like any other day Cain woke up in his room, which was located on the first floor of the Master Initiator tower, down the hall. The room was square and relatively large, well-lit during the day, because it had a large rectangular window pointing to the east, the window was on the side opposite to the entrance door. Before Cain's arrival to the College, Heirloc used this room as a weapon deposit. Over the years the house arrangement changed. Now it contained a double bed made of mahogany wood leaning against the side of the room by its side there was also a dresser made of mahogany, a massive pine wood wardrobe with carved horse drawings was on the opposite side of the room, and beside it there was a full-length mirror that was trapped in a steel frame, a granite table was under the window and next to it there was a wooden chair upholstered with leather.

The boy got up from his bed and immediately went to the window to see if the sky was clear, there was not a cloud in it, and the sun was burning strong for the first and perhaps only time this winter.

He grinned, changed clothes quickly and ran to Heirloc's room; he opened the wooden door of his room and ran down the corridor, he passed through two more doors on his right, the small personal library of the Master Initiator was the first door and the second was the weapons room. Heirloc's room, which was also on his right, was the third door. He opened the door and to his surprise the Master Initiator was no longer there, so, he closed the door and went down the stair. He walked to the living room and from there he could see that Heirloc was in the kitchen already eating his breakfast. The Master Initiator noticed the boy and soon began to talk.

"Good morning Cain. It seems that today the Divines graced us with a beautiful day; we can finally go visit the ruins of Gorluk" upon completion of the sentence the man opened a slight smile, he knew how long Cain was waiting for this opportunity. Gorluk was a great city of the Elders and its ruins were only five miles away from the College of War, it was discovered thirty years ago, when Heirloc was still a student of the institution and since that time it was used as a source of research on the technology of the Elders. Even during the winter some of the College researchers lived in the ruins seeking a greater understanding of the technologies present in it.

"Are you serious?" asked Cain still incredulous, the Master Initiator responded with only a positive nod. "Finally! I'm dying to see what's so different about this city, from what I read about the Elders there should be several structures that work automatically, I even read about something called elevator that takes us from one floor of the city to another"

The boy kept talking on and on about the wonderful things that he would see and how much he would learn, Heirloc sent him to put warmer clothes and to prepare a backpack with something to eat this afternoon. The boy ran to his room and quickly returned with a backpack ready for the tour, he had put a long-sleeved shirt along with trousers.

The black man was impressed with the boy, the Winterdome mountain was very cold during the winter, everybody had to wear thick coats to be able to walk without complaining about the temperature, but Cain seemed to be okay without the use of coats, Heirloc imagined that because he had grown up in the mountain his body had grown accustomed to the climate.

The boy picked up two apples and began to eat one and put the other in his backpack to eat on the way to Gorluk, Heirloc then got up and the two followed the way to the exit of the College.

The streets of the College were empty, Cain had already gotten used to the lull that reached this place during the winter, only true residents of the institution remained during the season, those were the Masters of war, employees who took care of the maintenance of the buildings and the researchers who spent their days in the library.

The streets they were crossing now would be filled in a little over a month, and life would return to the College, but right now the sepulchral silence reigned in the mountain. Heirloc walked a little, he made sure to greet all the staff they encountered along the way. Finally, they reached the exit gate, he then turned to Cain and said his last statement before the expedition, as always, he told Cain not to get away from him.

The two opened the gate and went on their way, although today the sun was burning strongly in the skies, the cold of winter on the mountain was still great. It was enough to paralyze anyone who was not properly dressed; it was as if the mountain itself made a check on who could walk on it. Cain stopped to admire the scenery, the Winterdome mountain was immense, and there was a chain of midsize mountains around it, towering peaks grew as if they were remnants of a battle between earth and heaven, a battle that the time had already forgotten, snow filled the floor and the wind would lift a bit of snow on the ground generating small white bursts wherever it went. The sun burned strong in the sky and reflected in the snow which in turn gave a glittering rainbow brilliance to the mountain range coloring it, Heirloc called for the boy's attention, telling him to not stand alone and turned to walk.

After walking for a while they saw the entrance to the cave where the city of Gorluk was located in the distance. When they entered it Cain noticed that there was a large metal gate slightly after the cave entrance that prevented them from passing, the gate had five meters of height and was twenty meters wide, it was made of a metal that Cain had never seen in his life, it was white in color and it was also sleek and shiny, the gate was also graced by rubies and emeralds so that there were small emerald circles surrounded by large ruby circles that were interspersed.

They stopped at the gate, Cain could not see any handle or something to open it, Heirloc then began to speak.

"Kuhul, it's Heirloc Finit, I brought Cain here to see the ruins, open the door please" Cain vaguely remembered the man Heirloc was calling; he was one of the heads of the College researchers along with Gundam. According to the boy's memories the man was the same height as Heirloc, but he was even more muscular, his white skin contrasted with his golden hair and black eyes, he always had his beard grown which further accentuated his thick lips. Heirloc and Kuhul were good friends, they were students of the College at the same time and since then their friendship remained, the man was always visiting Heirloc in his tower to talk about old times and about his research on which the Master Initiator had great interest.

Little time passed and then Cain heard a snap, suddenly the gate began to open sliding each half to one side and fading into the walls of the cave, the boy could not believe his eyes. It was then that he realized that a man walked toward them, it was Kuhul.

"Heirloc, old friend. Finally decided to bring the boy to visit the ruins? I told you to bring him about five years ago and you waited till now?" the man stretched out his hand and pressed Heirloc's effusively while speaking.

"I see that happy blood from Merk Clan still affects you right?" Heirloc answered, returning the handshake. The Merk Clan had the Toth Lineage, whoever had this lineage was usually much more intelligent than the average person, but in return the person was also emotionally unstable, that was the only official Lineage already manifested from birth. "I waited till now to bring him because he was not old enough to understand things here. Divines, even I don't understand!"

The two went beyond the gate talking about old times and Cain followed them, after passing the gate Cain heard a new snap and the gate began to close, the boy saw that in the back of it there were several gears made of the same unknown white metal and they moved together, he thought that was the reason the gate moved by itself. When it closed the boy realized that the stones above it were transparent, allowing the overhead view of the side of the cave that was beyond the gate.

"Sorry to interrupt the conversation, but uncle Kuhul, how this gate works?" The boy asked out of curiosity, the man then turned to Cain as if he had only noticed him now.

"Little Cain, how long is it? It's been two years since I came to live in this city and I never went out in the meantime. As always you are full of questions, right? Although you have changed physically I see that your curiosity has not changed. Well, you see those gears?" the boy made an affirmative movement with the head. "They are activated by a crank that is in that tower to your right; you should have heard the snap. When activated they begin to rotate and then the gate moves."

Cain then looked at the tower, he was so absorbed in his attempt to understand the gate he had not seen it, now that he realized it he also noted that there was no other building around. The tower was made of basalt, Cain had seen that rock only once in his life, in the tower of the Master Geographer, he had heard that it was rare. The tower's shape was cylindrical, it had an opening at the top of the structure of ten meters high that allowed an observation over the gate.

"I already had seen them, but only the gears should not be sufficient to move the gate, it would need wheels or something like it, right? And another thing, why the stone above it is transparent this side but not at the other?" The boy replied feeling his question had yet to be properly answered.

"Did you notice this all by yourself?" Kuhul raised one of his eyebrows in surprise, and then turned to Heirloc. "What have I always told you? This boy has an intelligence that would make any of the Merk Clan jealous. Cain, the gears move some wheels that are under the earth and they move the gate. As for what is above it, this is not stone, it is a type of glass, we're still trying to figure out how the Elders gave this stone look to it and why it is transparent on one side only. Do you have more questions?" the man asked, his eyes shinned as if he was watching something spectacular.

"Only one. This gate seems impenetrable, how in the name of the Divines have you entered here the first time? The switch that opens it is inside, right?" said Cain.

Kuhul and Heirlc now seemed even more impressed.

"This boy of yours is really a genius Heirloc. No other boy he's age would think about it; his mental growth is even beginning to scare me more than the physical one. Well, this gate does seem to have only one opening, but you saw the emerald circles outside? If you hit all 15 in order from the highest to the lowest circle without touching any of the rubies the gate will open. As to how the researchers knew about it, it is a secret. Well, since we ended up here, let's move to the tower, there you will take the elevator to the city, it's been some time since I left the tower, so I will be going with you to the city today" Kuhul said with an astonished look on his face.

The three went to the tower, they entered it, greeted some researchers who were inside as they passed by, Kuhul was in front leading them, the white-skinned man made his way through several books that were scattered and explained that the researchers did not care much about cleanliness. Then they came to a staircase and started moving down the stairs that were spiral.

"Cain, you remember what you saw up there? Besides the tower what else did you see?" This time Heirloc was the one to ask a question to Cain.

"Nothing, I expected to see the city, but there was nothing besides the tower." Answered the boy a little frustrated.

"Well you do not know, but that floor is there only as a protection. We are now going to the real entrance to the city. Cities of the Elders are all underground, Gorluk is no exception, the elevator is our entrance to the city" When Heirloc finished speaking they arrived at the last step of the stairs. Kuhul then led them by a stone corridor that was lit by rectangular glasses that had a blue liquid inside producing light, Cain noticed them, but before he could ask what they were, Kuhul stopped them.

"Here is the entrance to Gorluk"

Behind him was the elevator.