[ OT ] Sunday Free Write : Leave A Story , Leave A Comment - Half Dozen Edition

**The Onyx Gate** - Part 2 - Chapter 11: Shadows of the Past - [ Previous Chapter ] ( https: //www.reddit.com/r/Niuniverse/comments/3ndvts/the_onyx_gate_the_onyx_series_book_2/cz2875d ) - [ Beginning. ] ( https: //www.reddit.com/r/Niuniverse/comments/3ndvts/the_onyx_gate_the_onyx_series_book_2/cvn4mc7 ) 
 
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 Cleran, Himntor and the rest of the Afterthians sprinted their way across the city, swerving left and right to keep away from the growing mass of ghouls. Himntor stayed at the back, directing them with shouts. It was barely enough to keep them from the pursuing shadows, as when they left the city streets the ghouls were amassing on either side and closing in around them. 
 
 “ Be ready to shut down the Gateway, ” Cleran yelled at the cameras. “ Don ’ t let a single ghoul through! ” 
 
 “ I ’ ll try to pull them away, ” Himntor said. “ The rest of you get out of here. ” 
 
 Cleran glared at his brother. “ Don ’ t you dare. I ’ m not leaving you behind again. ” 
 
 Himntor smiled. “ Different times, brother. I ’ m not leaving you a choice. ” He veered away, and a swath of shadows followed after. 
 
 “ NO! ” Cleran cried as his brother disappeared beyond the darkness. He nearly moved to jump in and drag him out of the mess, but it was futile, so he pressed on harder than ever. 
 
 The Gateway lay ahead, and tears hit the ground as the group drew near. Cleran waved and shouted at the people to get back. In a matter of seconds they were through, and the next thing they knew, gunshots were going off. 
 
 Three dark corpses lay in front of the now-closed Gateway, the wide-eyed Official who shot them still holding up his rifle. All eyes and cameras went from the corpses to him. 
 
 “ No, ” Cleran gasped as he noticed the corpses. His eyes seemed to burst alight as he walked up to the Official, his gaze searing and voice barely a whisper at first. “ Do you know what you ’ ve just done? Do you honestly have ANY IDEA!? ” 
 
 There was absolute silence as the Official stepped back from Cleran in confusion. “ They were monsters, ” he said, his voice like an echo. 
 
 “ *Monsters? * ” Cleran boomed. “ Those were *people! * Living people trapped in the hellish vessels of ghouls, and you just killed them. No, worse! You ’ ve destroyed the only form of existence they had. Condemned them to the second death on no basis other than a lie you didn ’ t understand. Those people are gone, forever, no way back, no Paradise. ” 
 
 The Official ’ s face flushed pale. “ But… how? How was I supposed to know? Oh Gods… who were they? ” 
 
 Cleran scowled. “ We ’ ll never know now. I don ’ t know who you are, but because of what you ’ ve done it would have been better that Sjorn had been born again than for you to have ever been born. ” 
 A ripple of shocked gasps and expletives went through the crowd, and the Official staggered back with a hoarse cry and dropped his rifle. 
 
 “ Gods… have mercy on me. ” 
 
 The Official ran off, and no one moved to stop him. 
 
 * 
 
 Himntor ran without holding back. There was no stopping him, the mass of ghouls long left behind. He was undoubtedly alone now, with no way back through the Gateway, so he headed for the only place he could. A city which ’ s name had been lost in translation, as the word that accurately describes its beauty and wonder does not exist, but some called it Elysion. To Himntor it was home, and soon he was standing before its golden wall. 
 
 Elysion had been built in a cozy spot between a range of mountains, and its thousand-foot high wall met with each side of the range. At its bottom center was the Archway, the entrance into another world within a world, and for the first time it was barred by an unmoving gate, which Himntor was quick to slam his fist against after he spotted a mass of ghouls in the distance charging him. 
 
 “ Confounded Gods, who put this stupid gate here? Let me in! If this is further punishment for my crimes, it is too cruel! ” 
 
 The gate clicked and an eye-sized hole opened. “ What ’ s the password? ” 
 
 “ Are you serious? Why in the— ” 
 
 “ Oh crap, you ’ re not a ghoul, my bad. One sec. ” 
 
 The hole closed and a hidden door in the gate swung open, a teenage boy wearing golden robes holding it open. Himntor walked through and abruptly shut the door. When he turned around, he gaped at the empty city before him. There was not a single soul beside himself and the boy in sight. No longer any music, or laughter or song, not even a whisper. Lights no longer lit every tower and building. 
 
 “ Man, it ’ s good to see a new face around here, ” the boy said. “ Been a long time since we ’ ve had any visitors. So how ’ d you get by the ghouls? ” 
 
 Himntor looked at him in confusion. “ Weslick? ” 
 
 “ Huh? Oh, it ’ s you! I almost didn ’ t recognize you without your brother. I guess that explains how you got by them. Wait, how did you get out there in the first place? We ’ ve been in lockdown for years. ” 
 
 “ Lockdown? What in the blast is going on here? I ’ ve been stuck in the physical world for the last ten years! ” 
 
 Weslick gaped. “ Ten years? Are you ser—never mind. Man, you ’ ve got to stop looking at people like that. Where ’ s Cleran? ” 
 
 Himntor grunted. “ Hopefully back in the physical world. Now would you tell me what happened here? Why are there ghouls everywhere? ” 
 
 Weslick scratched his chin thoughtfully. “ Wait a sec, if you were in the physical world, and now you ’ re here… they rebuilt a Gateway? ” 
 
 Himntor narrowed his eyes and frowned. “ You ’ re just figuring that? Look, just tell me if there are any of the Appointed here, I need to speak with them. ” 
 
 “ Oh yeah, Mica and Cleire are here. In the gardens at the House of Divines I think. I—hey, that ’ s not very nice you know! ” 
 
 Himntor ran off to the House of Divines as Weslick had finished speaking its name. It had been too long since he ’ d seen his daughter, Cleire. Far too long. 
 
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 Way overdue on this chapter. Only reason I finished it for today was because I decided to split the chapter instead of focusing only on Cleran and what happened after he got back through the Gateway. A lot of Himntor's part was taken from the original draft of the story from like a year ago, which made it easier. I honestly do n't know why I have n't been able to be writing this, it's one of my favorite parts of the story.
