Passport to Paradise

A/N: We're in the homestretch now.


Chapter 13

Once back in Janan they'd gotten a room at the very same inn that they'd stayed in before. Not that Kakarotto had been aware of it, most of the time. A week's stay had quickly transformed into nearly a month and Vegeta had never been more glad to have been born a prince. He'd had more than enough money to pay the proprietor for food and shelter without having to touch what they'd stolen from the would-be thieves.

The three of them sat around a small table in the dining room downstairs as Kakarotto examined the book by the light of a single candle. It was before the dinner hour when people would come down from upstairs and in from outside to eat, drink, and be loud. They were the only ones in the room.

"It's like an entire part of our history has been ignored," Kakarotto muttered, mostly to himself. "It only talks about the Key and how we have to do our best to protect it. Any references to the gateway are vague, at best."

"Does it say who created the Key?" Vegeta asked.

"Not in so many words. In reference, they're always 'the creators' or 'Wiit Betholea' -- the Pale Ones."

Vegeta grew very still and stared at him. "'The Pale Ones'?" he repeated.

"Yes. Are you saying that you know something about them?" He couldn't stop the eager expression from appearing, but he did stop himself from leaning across the table. Alain looked interested as well; at least interested enough to stop daydreaming.

"In Saiya we have stories about elves and how they once had vast magical kingdoms throughout the world. Most of them are just silly children's tales, but there's one that makes me wonder..."

When he didn't continue right away, Kakarotto prodded him. "Well? Go on."

He looked mildly embarrassed to be spinning a tale like a bard. "Once, the world was peaceful. No one went hungry, no one was enslaved, and no one fought over land, resources, or petty grudges. However, there was a small, war-like clan in the far east who detested this peace. They could only see the value in fighting for the right to exist and felt that those who thought otherwise didn't deserve what they had.

"Wanting to teach the rest of them a lesson, the clan came up with an idea to force everyone else to prove their worth. They stole great books of magic from the elves and devoured their contents, teaching themselves dread magicks whose very existence was forbidden. It was using one of these spells that doomed them. They accidentally released a Darkness upon the land like no other, one that completely annihilated them from the face of the planet."

Kakarotto wasn't sure of the last time he'd taken a breath. His entire body was tensed, eager to hear the words spoken aloud that matched the tale he'd heard so often as a child.

"The thing they unleashed upon the world could not be stopped by ordinary means. It killed indiscriminately as it swept across the land, seemingly intent on a particular destination. Those who were able fled before it. Those who remained behind fought, but perished where they stood. When, at last, the Darkness ceased to spread, and had gathered over a single location, those who were once again able to see the sky breathed a sigh of relief.

"However, things weren't going to turn out as well for the elves.

"The Darkness coalesced into the form of a great black dragon whose wingspan was greater in size that their entire village. It belched out flames from its lungs, reducing many of the buildings to cinders, and tore apart a great many of the population with its claws. When majority of the elves lay dead, and their village was transformed into little more than a smoking ruin, the beast transformed back into a creeping cloud and moved on as if carried on the wind. The few survivors that there were recovered as much as they could and left to start a new life."

"I know where this is going." Of that, he was certain. As the prince spun the tale, he could literally picture the triangle sections from the mosaic in his mind. "They settle in somewhere new, but the 'Darkness' appears again. They somehow seal it away and everything is peaceful once more."

Vegeta nodded once. "Yes. It's very similar."

"What if-" Alain cut himself off when the eyes of his two companions immediately snapped to his face. He hadn't meant to speak aloud, but now that he'd begun... "What if there is protection on, or around, the gateway itself? The elves were an incredibly powerful magical race, right? They'd had the knowledge to create backup protection."

"It's like you're saying that they figured we would fail!"

"No, not at all. But it's better to be safe than to be sorry. Especially in a case like this."

"Around..." It was now Vegeta's turn to be stared at. "We're assuming that the protection is magical in nature, correct? Something possibly to prevent people from locating the gateway at all instead of just being prevented from opening it."

"It makes more sense to hide it entirely," Alain agreed.

"Then I know where it is." His hands gripped his mug so tightly that the wood began to collapse from the pressure. "It's in Saiya. The forest around the castle was enchanted by the elves and said to have been given especially to us. Not only is it there and none of us had any idea, but we're supposed to be the final defense." The thought of that was ludicrous. His father's soldiers wouldn't be able to defend against an army of invading ten-year-olds. He was certain then, even more certain than he had been before, that they were all going to die.