Del was a large and newer city across the Vail. It sat on the border between what the magicless primatives called Russia and China. The place seemed as old as the stones that made up the surrounding mountains that it snaked onto. This was the place that all who crossed the Vail from Elsewhere always arrived to first. Years of delicate talks with the two primitive leaders of Russia and China had led to the construction of the intricate Del. All in exchange for things of course though. What things exactly, the Russians and Chineses preferred to keep it secret. But the Americans were quite certain it was for advantages in the fields of metaphysical sciences and the construction of eternal electrical power engines. They just didn’t have proof that it was for advantages in the fields of metaphysical sciences and the construction of eternal electrical power engines.
The Russian and Chinese leaders saw no true danger of the humans from Elsewhere and they found the ancient records written by the Priests of Blight quite prejudice towards the gifted godlike beings. So in the middle of the night they set fire to the prejudice records, quite dry scrolls, and shook hands with the leaders of the world they referred to as Elsewhere over a rather lavish dinner on a Tuesday night. But it wasn’t a very late running celebration for the next day the people from Elsewhere began the construction of what they would consider one of the grandish cities to exist on this side of the Vail.
America, Europe, and Japan had found out about this delicate trade between Russia, China, and the Elsewhere though by the means of a spy craft that they had sent up into the atmosphere that the Russians had shot down with lightning haste. But they hadn’t shot it down fast enough before an image of the towering city was sent to the Americans and escalated the event they called a cold war. To Ichika, this controvery was of no matter to her. The world leaders of the the Blight’s domain were trivial beings.
Ichika, her brother Fuji, Fuji’s loyal comrad Kaito, and Ichika’s loyal servant and guardian Haru had arrived in Del during the sunset of both worlds. With a twisting of air and sight, and a rather large pop, the four found themselves standing within the busiling checkpoint of Del. The checkpoint was a rather large room with a tall doomed ceiling painted with the forty-three goddesses that had sent all existence into motion. In midair, below their likeness, a ball of fire incased in rotating gold and silver rings illuminated the room.
“Isn’t that something, Ichika,” Haru whispers as she watches the ball of fire.
Ickika could only nod.
“Created by the mind of Archoro the Great,” Fuji interjected. “He’s a mad genius of an architect thats for sure. Takes my breath away every time.”
“Come on,” Kaito interjects. “I don’t want to be in line for half the evening.”
Making their way through the crowd and to the line wasn’t a simple task. The crowd seemed to justle into eachother like a sea of water particles with there suitcases in hand. The line itself was nearly indistinguishable from the crowd itself and it took a good hour for them to get to the checkpoint where foxes took luggage and asked questions such as the reason for their visit.
“We’re here to see our aunt,” Fuji lies with a smooth composer. ”The Emperor Akio’s sister invited us for tea.”
“At this hour?” the fox asks, giving the four of them a side-long stare. “An hour past sunset? Seems mildly late for tea time if you ask me.”
“She has an odd sense of time,” Fuji chuckles. “She had invited our father but he wasn’t able to so he sent us instead. We plan to stay for a couple days since she complains family hardly visits. We would have left earlier in the morning, but we weren’t as well put together for the trip.”
“Very well,” the fox says with a licking of its elongated lips. “ All very understandable stuff. Any foreign biological organisms you travel with? They after all must be logged and noted even if they may be a pet or eaten on this date or a later date. These Blight descendants are quite stubborn about unregulated creatures and the impact such things may have on their environment. They feel that they carry diseases and might lead to a fetal enviormental callapse. Not that they aren’t doing quite a good job destroying it themselves. Nuclear radiation and toxic air and what not, I’m sure you’ve heard of such things.”
“That we have,” Fuji laughs with the fox. “We carry no such biological things with us.”
“Good!” says the fox, its ears perking up. “Makes this whole process quite easy for me and you. Makes the blasted line move on a bit faster. All seems in order so I just will stamp these documents and you four can be off to that aunt of yours.”
With a loud thump the stamps were slammed down onto the papers. The fox grabs a small booklet and says, “Here are your papers and some information incase you decide to go exploring outside of Dels. Laws and regulations. You know the drill.”
“Thank you,” Fuji says, grabbing the papers and booklet from the fox.
“Have a good day,” the fox says while handing their papers back. “Long live Emperor Akio of Argo and your patron goddess Orchio. It is Orchio? I always get the goddesses mixed up. All so loving and wrathful them lot. Complicated names too, forty-three of them too! Like the universe couldn’t have been created by one goddess instead of forty-three of them! What a number! Just what a number that is too! Forty-three. So… is it Orchio?”
“It’s Jingu,” Fuji says, biting his lower lip.” The goddess of warriors that we worship.”
“Well,” the fox frowns. “There you have it. Off with ya now. You’re holding up the inferno line. Not me, you. I’m sure your aunt is waiting away for you lot.”
When they exit the checkpoint building, Ichika stops in her tracks and takes in the plaza before them. Lanterns float above the plaza and the streets the branch out from it. Under the lanterns was an explosion of people draped in every imaginable color eating fragrant foods and hackling vendors in a rather large market that took up over half of the plaza. The buildings themselves varied in size from one story to towering for an unknown distance into the nighttime sky.
“How long will we have to stay in Del,” Ichika found herself asking her brother over the noise of the crowd as they walked down the checkpoint’s steps and into the plaza.
“A couple days at least,” Fuji says as her eyes lock on a vendor serving up ice cream cones holding at least a foot tall worth of ice cream. “We’ll have to look for clothes to wear outside the city walls that fit. We’ll also have to investigate for clues on Fernando. After all, he would have entered this world from Del like everyone that crosses has to. It will also give you time to explore. This is your first time in Del and it can be a fun city.”
“Works for me,” Ichika smiles. “Though it would be nice to cut it down to one day of Del. After all, we are wasting time and I don’t want his people to find him before me.”
“This won’t be a speedy thing,” Kaito pipes in. “And I doubt that his people are having much luck. Blight’s domain, or Earth as they call it, is just as large as ours. If not larger.”
“But we’ll find him,” Fuji cuts in. “I have some ideas I doubt they’ve even thought of.”
“Good,” Ichika laughs. “Now let’s get to our aunt’s. I’m sure she’ll be quite surprised with our visit.”
At that Kaito hailed a carriage and they were off into the night just as fire works exploded over head. Raining blues, pinks, and purples.
Source: reddit.com/r/eroticliterature/comments/vydpjc/forbidden_desires_arc_2_part_1