Symbiote 0266: To Ta Lo

While no one else had paid much attention to Xialing's exact words, Alex was fully attentive to her childish speech of refusal.

The poor girl's in for a painful revelation. Alex sighed to himself, giving a pitying look at Xialing, who was tightly held in Natasha's embrace.

"All right, girls, let's go," He clapped his hands to get their attention. "The entrance is about to open."

The two nodded and silently stood beside Alex in front of the bamboo forest. There was a natural sense of repulsion from the stalks in front of them. While it looked like they could squeeze in through the stalks, the three instinctively knew that they would sooner get devoured by the magical bamboo before reaching their destination if they tried to cross using brute force.

"I don't know the exact window we have, so we might need to move fast. Let Xialing sit on your shoulders, Nat," Alex said as Natasha nodded. However, she did shoot him a momentarily confused look.

As the moon reached its peak, the clock struck midnight. Alex held up the two lockets, and the pendants automatically radiated a murky green light with hints of red that shone on the bamboo, making it magically split apart to form the path for them.

"Let's move," Alex and Natasha quickly entered the bamboo forest and started moving straight. Under the illumination of the pendants, the bamboo directly split apart and made a straight path for them to Ta Lo. They didn't even have to traverse through the complicated maze that Alex previously thought they would have to traverse.

Their journey through the bamboo forest was simple and uneventful as they reached the true entrance to Ta Lo.

"So beautiful," Xialing commented while looking around as they emerged from the bamboo forest into a beautiful clearing filled with all sorts of trees, all in full bloom, uncaring of their seasonal conditions.

"Is this that entrance you were talking about?" Natasha glanced around and asked.

"Yes," Alex nodded. "This is the entrance. There is supposed to be a guardian here to prevent lucky intruders from entering the subdimension …" Alex looked at the waterfall, sensing a very ancient magical formation that released spatial fluctuations.

The sentence completely went over Xialing's head, "What's he talking about?" She whispered in Natasha's ear.

"A subdimension is a special place that can't be found by anyone on Earth without the key," She explained patiently.

"Let's keep going," Alex said, approaching the waterfall.

"We'll get wet …" Xialing spoke.

"No need to worry about that," Alex said. "That's a magical waterfall. Not only will we not get wet, but we should be in for a very special view when we go through it."

"Then let's go!" Xialing spoke excitedly before getting conscious and shutting up completely. Natasha somewhat sensed the girl's confused emotions and patted her leg, gently massaging her calf.

They didn't exchange words, but Xialing could feel Natasha's care.

Alex stepped forward, and Natasha followed suit with Xialing still sitting on her shoulders. Getting close enough, Xialing felt the tiny droplets of water hitting her face and body and couldn't help but close her eyes, anticipating a large amount of water. The wet feeling never came.

She slowly opened her eyes, only to be mesmerized by the magical view in front of her. The water that was supposed to fall on her was freely floating in the void, collected into differently-sized misshapen globules. There was some faint illumination of blue light that allowed one to see the view inside the void, leaving everything else blank.

As Xialing was still admiring the view inside the spatial tunnel, they emerged on the other side from a watery portal. It was a cavern, with the only sources of light being the exit that was some distance away and the glowing ores veins that went through the entire structure. They were magical in nature and were most likely being used to maintain the teleportation formation between Earth and Ta Lo's sub-dimension.

"This is a much older version of the same mystic arts portals that Wanda and the sorcerers use," Alex answered Natasha's unasked question. She was looking around with an inquisitive expression, looking very similar to Xialing, who was curiously looking around at the shiny glowing rocks.

"Do the sorcerers of Kamar Taj trace their roots back to this place?" She asked him.

"Not at all," Alex said. "The Sorcerers trace their history back to the conception of the human race itself. I could go into the history of the elder gods and the Vishanti, but that part of history is far too murky, and with the whole multiverse thing, my knowledge is only applicable to certain Earths."

"Are there no books detailing this history in Kamar Taj?" Natasha asked.

"Even if there are, Wanda didn't have access to them," Alex said.

"Then how can you be sure that they don't trace their roots back to Ta Lo?" Natasha asked, curious.

"Because Ta Lo traces its roots back to an external mythos," Alex said. "Just like Thor and the Norse gods, or Zeus and the Greek gods, there are gods of the Chinese mythos. Ta Lo traces its roots back to them."

"They're real …" Natasha was a little stunned.

"If the Norse gods can exist in reality, there is no reason for the other mythologies to be mere myths," Alex shrugged.

"Are they also like aliens? Similar to how Thor and the Norse work?" Natasha asked.

"Some versions of them, yes," Alex nodded. "Some versions are powered by faith. Some utilize other means. It's much more complex than just aliens."

"How do you know so much …" Natasha couldn't help but ask.

"We're here," Alex spoke, not answering Natasha's question. They were standing at the exit of the tunnel, which seemed to be blocked by some sort of a veil of light. His host was a little disgruntled by his dismissive attitude but nodded nonetheless.

The three walked out of the tunnel, only to be greeted by a magical view in front of them. The night sky was littered with stars as the moon illuminated the surroundings of the valley. They continued walking forward while admiring the scenery all around them.

"What are those lights?" Xialing asked, pointing to a cluster of lights on the hill. It seemed as if the trees were on fire in that specific area.

"Those are phoenixes," Alex told Xialing. "Each of the different light clusters should be a different flock of phoenixes."

"Mom used to tell me stories about them," Xialing's eyes were bright. "They are descended from the True Phoenix of legends with godly powers that can grant someone immortality."

"Does this place have all those creatures from Chinese mythos?" Natasha asked curiously. "Like Qillins and Nine-Tailed Foxes? What about Japanese mythos? The Yōkai, Kitsune?"

"I know quite a few things, but that doesn't mean I know everything," Alex said with helpless amusement. "While Korean and Japanese mythologies share quite a few details with Chinese mythos, there are significant differences as well. I believe that their sources are only related to the gods behind Ta Lo, but still different entities."

"So you don't know everything?" Natasha said teasingly.

"Sadly, no," Alex shook his head, showing a mock helpless expression, "But I do know everything of importance."

"I remember you chiding me for getting arrogant just yesterday," She bantered.

"Arrogance with facts to back it up is confidence," Alex countered.

"Are there any other people here?" Xialing wanted to feel included in the conversation and interjected.

"We should reach the village soon. If we were here during the morning, we could have rode on a Qillin, but they are probably all asleep by now," Alex told Xialing.

"There are stars and the moon here," Xialing said. "Does that mean we are still on Earth?"

"No, it's just a simulation," Alex shook his head. "This dimension is a very small one. If you fly too high, you will encounter the dimensional barrier."

"Will I go home if I break it?" Xialing asked innocently.

"Not at all," Alex shook his head. "Instead, if the barrier is destroyed, this entire subdimension will destabilize and eventually collapse. As for the person who passed through the barrier, you will find yourself in the Superflow — the space between the universes. Without the correct protection and entry point, you will quickly find yourself becoming assimilated into the abstract Superflow."

"I don't get it …" Xialing said. "My head is hurting." She put her hands on her head to make her point.

"That's because Apex used big words and didn't explain things correctly," Natasha, while feeling awe at the amount of information Alex was just dumping on her head, prioritized clearing Xialing's confusion.

"Fine, fine, I'll simplify my explanation," Alex shook his head with a smile. "Imagine a large number of bubbles floating around; they can be thought of as different universes. The air can be considered as the Superflow — though in reality, the Superflow is much more of an abstract medium than anything. Anyway, what happens if you make a big hole in a bubble?"

"It explodes," Xialing said instinctively.

"Exactly. That's what will happen to the universe when its barrier is damaged."

"Your words completely go against so many scientific theories," Natasha said.

"Reality is often disappointing to those who create their own truth while shaping it according to their bubble," Alex said.

***

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