Real Heaven

Five canoes rocked back and forth, its weight filled to the brim by people. Together, they traversed smoothly over the blue lake. A magical wind carried them forward, guiding the tightly knit group like goose on water.

"Let's go, Marta! Let's go! Let's go, Marta! Let's go!" Two claps and a chant. Elena smiled, watching her young female friend with her hand outstretched. She smiled and yelped as her canoe suddenly pushed forward. "Wow! I felt that one!"

"Aaaand break!"

With a clap, the wind stopped and Marta hunched over, panting.

"Good work! Amazing, actually! I guess wind is more your element."

"I-it…" Marta swallowed the air, "might just be because of the open air."

"Maybe. Still, you're making progress." Kazi smiled and drew in a steady breath. "My turn."

She spent six points on two skills: Galewhisper and Gale Burst. Wanting to join her on this journey of magical training, Kazi did the same. He spent six points and got Galewhisper and Gale Burst.

"Woooh!"

Elena giggled and threw her hands up. The others did the same. Suffice to say, Kazi was much better at it, propelling the group forward as if they were on a roller coaster. It wasn't just fast, it was consistent. He had spent hours at this point and figured out the intricacies of wind magic. Well, the basics, at least. He couldn't claim to be an expert but he was adept enough to teach others. Like always.

Joined by Marta, David, and Aisha, who were there for moral support, Fort Chipewyan of Gate 5 functioned as a type of a training ground. A lake for them to explore and to get some exercise in.

Kazi was glad. He eyed the purple-scarfed woman from the corner of his eye. He was surprised when he initially heard her name. Aisha. It wasn't an uncommon name but in the deepest of his heart he hoped to never hear it. Still, Aisha…such a beautiful name. The most beautiful, in his opinion.

"By the way," Marta began after catching her breath, "I think she hates me."

"Ms. Sun-young?" Kazi asked, to which she confirmed. "She doesn't hate you, she's just awkward because you guys are the same age."

The group wasn't too far apart in terms of age and were born in the same generation. Kazi was twenty-eight, while David was a couple of years older. Sun-young and Marta were four or five years younger than Kazi, with Aisha falling somewhere between those ages. Then there was Elena, who was middle-aged and the only person marking a real generational gap.

David scoffed at that. "Awkward? How? She's quiet, at best."

"Trust me, she's awkward," Kazi reassured.

There was a gripping fear inside Sun-young and William after what happened at the Shadow Hall. Neither of them wanted to go back there, even for the special objective. Kazi did, of course, and completed it numerous times. It wasn't new—Kazi, William, and Sun-young trained on their off-time all the time.

But the Shadow Hall was different. Every time he went there, he looked for cracks and swiftly broke through them. He found plenty of treasure chests but no secret blood lake or a cannibalistic creature. Nor did he find the hidden objective.

Ahead, he saw the water bubbling. Kazi narrowed his eyes and immediately shut off his wind magic. "Careful, everyone," he announced. "We have company!"

Tension spread amongst the crew, prompting Kazi to stand up.

"H-hey, where are you going—" David cut himself, going wide-eyed, as he witnessed Kazi step off his canoe and walk on the water.

"I-is the power of the Lord…?" Marta asked, gaping.

Each step seemed impossible. Each step incited a deeper reaction in the feeble players.

Kazi kept going till he was close to the bubbling water and waited. He equipped his freshly bought staff, the Arboreal Guardian's Sceptre, in one hand and the Touch of Thunder in the other. Despite outward appearances, the wooden spectre cost a hefty sixty-thousand points and mirrored the same stats as the Novice Blessed Sceptre.

The tip of the blade touched the lake.

"Spark Strike."

Electricity flooded the waters and with a deafening rush the Horned Serpent awoke. Its massive form burst from the water in an explosive display of power. Kazi and his companions watched in awe as the Misi-kinepikw's enormous body arced through the sky, glistening with the droplets of water that sparkled in the sunlight.

The serpent, its scales shimmering like a cascade of jewels, hung suspended in the air for a heart-stopping moment.

Kazi stepped up into the air, climbing the altitude as if running on a flight of stairs, and swung at the Misi-kinepikw. Powered by a Super Spark Strike, he aimed directly at the gem on its forehead.

[ Critical hit landed! ]

'Got it!'

There was a massive electric shock, the lightning having touched that which it was not supposed to touch, and the horned serpent dropped back into the water.

[ Receive:

535 XP ]

[ Congratulations! Gate 5 : Fort Chipewyan

Main Objective: Kill the Misi-kinepikw — Complete!

Receive:

6,420 XP

10,000 PP ]

For such an elegant creature, to die from such ease was unheard of. But that was Kazi Hossain for you. He had read about the Misi-kinepikw before and identified its weakness long before he saw it. He knew exactly what to hit, when to hit it, and what to hit it with—lightning.

Still in the air, it was then that the party saw what lay underneath his feet. A yellow glow—no, a magical surface of some kind.

"Did you guys get XP?"

"No," David answered sheepishly.

"Aw." Kazi pursed his smile as he approached them, his every step dropping him down a foot or so. It was an almost lazy display. "Next time then. As long as you land a single, you'll get a small share of XP."

"How in the world are you doing that?" Elena asked, gobsmacked.

A laugh from Kazi as he sat on the canoe. "There's a Magic Barrier Class Skill, and well, I have another skill called Shape Control that lets me control the shape of magic. I readjust the size and shape of the barrier into something to support my feet."

"Like artificial stairs," Aisha muttered.

Elena was vividly impressed. "When did you figure out how to do that?"

"Just now. It was mostly intuitive." He rolled his shoulders and sent Marta a look. "Now come on. We still got some training to do."

***

The calmness of the lake. Its tranquillity, its peace, was rudely ravaged by the desperate efforts of a lone human. Swimming, rising, sputtering, and blasting away beams of light forward.

"R-rpphtian blhsst—!" Marta gasped and gulped for air. "I can't do this!"

Kazi clapped his hands twice. "You can! Come on, again!"

Marta took a deep gasp of air and went back to swimming. Her strokes were clumsy and she struggled to gain adequate breath.

But the effort, the struggle, that mattered to Kazi just as much as the results of the training.

Swimming while casting spells for training. In other words, to swim with your arms carrying a staff while chanting with your mouth that was submerged in water. Could there be training any better? Any more effective? Kazi doubted it. The lake's current was strong either so there wasn't a risk of death. Marta could summon a Magic Barrier and float back up if need be—and of course, Kazi was supervising too.

"The best way to mimic battle is to put you in labour intensive situations." He clapped his hands together. "Come on, Marta! You got this!"

"You got this," Elena cheered on. "Remember, you'll get your favourite barbecue afterwards!"

"She likes barbecue, huh," David asked.

"I think so," Elena replied.

"Don't offer her something if you don't even know she likes it..."

"Have you ever met a person that didn't like barbecue?" Kazi asked.

"Surprisingly...no. Huh."

"Must be a sign of the Lord," Elena joked. David's lips fell into a flat line. 

An hour later, dripping in water, hair silky and dark, Marta returned to her canoe. Shivering, she gripped her staff and felt every inch of the cold air touch her skin.

"C-couldn't I have at least done it in normal clothes?" Marta's metal armour wasn't wet but it did weigh her down regardless.

"You'll be fighting in that, so it's best to get comfortable." From his inventory, Kazi brought her a towel and blanket. "Here. You did well. Take your time."

Marta gave her thanks. Kazi smiled and hopped over to David's canoe. His legs were in the water, pants rolled up, as he stared in the abyss of water.

"You good, man?"

"I'm fine." David paused. Clearly, he wasn't, and he recognized that. Kazi didn't speak, simply waiting with a warm smile. Eventually, David sighed and looked at him. "Kazi, you're a smart guy. Do you really believe in god?"

Kazi titled his head. "What do you mean? I'm Muslim, so yes."

"Yeah, but like…gods EXIST exist. Like, Greek gods exist. So do Hindu gods and Norse gods and whatever else. I-I mean like how sure can you be that your god is the correct one?"

"That's why it's called faith, my friend."

David adjusted his glasses. "But isn't that weird? How do we really know they're gods? Like divine beings of the universe? They could be aliens."

"They could, for sure," Kazi admitted. "Is that what you think?"

"Sort of. I definitely don't consider them gods that I should worship. What have they done for me personally? Nothing. Other than the stories people write, which feel like make-belief fairy tales to me, they have no presence in life. As a kid, I always thought the gods seemed...too otherworldly."

"So?"

"So," David continued, "They have to be aliens."

Elena looked on with disgust. "You did not just say that."

"Sorry, sorry, no offence."

Older generation were a bit more prone to religious attachment. Elena shook her head and pursed her lips, utterly disappointed. "Men these days lose faith so easily."

David awkwardly chuckled. "Again, no offence."

"You're going to go to hell for that. All non-believers are."

"Okay, so...what is this place then?" David asked Elena.

"I believe this is a type of purgatory."

"Okay, that's...fair." David paused. "Look, I know we talk about heaven and hell as if they're real now, but how do we really know heaven really exists? What if this whole Heavenly Games is a trap?"

"There's millions of people in the White Abyss and its history has spanned centuries, so I doubt that. I'm an archeologist so I can tell fake from real."

"What if it's fake? A really good fake?"

"Eh, I don't know, man. That's a bit too conspiratorial."

David's shoulders slumped. "Maybe you're right. Sorry, it's just...when I really start to think about all this, it's crazy. Heaven and hell....it's mad shit."

Kazi looked away, smiling. "But wouldn't it be nice if there was a heaven? Where everything was joyous and everyone you loved was there? I sure would love it. I'm not gonna pretend I'm a perfect Muslim. To be honest, I read namaz on a whim and you will rarely catch me reading fajr. But at the end of the day, I really want to believe there's a grand plan for all of us. That every single man, woman, and child whose life was cut from them was sent to paradise. That those who have never experienced happiness in their life do experience it."

David didn't have a response to that. Not necessarily an agree to disagree but akin to a fundamental difference in thinking.

The gorgeous hazel eyes of Kazi Hossain met the empty blue sky. He was watching. He had to be watching.

'A heaven where everybody I know and love is happy. God, I wish it to be true.'