The Silver Gates

Chapter: 1

The golden hawk’s shrill screams reverberated off of the thick bark of the trees within the forest. Sweet sap dripping down the trees absorbed the screams and trapped them within their own little world, rolling down to the leafy ground. Chirping and singing illuminated from the background of the crumbled shrine. Broken, mossy cobblestone showered the ground and rose in columns in majestic manners. Following these rows lead to a large shrine, covered in bird sanctuaries. Colorings of men and women on their knees worshiping some faceless god, were littered across the columns as you moved in towards the center of the grounds. Suddenly the forest grew silent. The birds stopped chirping and the wind stopped howling. It felt dense yet hollow at the same time…
                         CRUNCH
A small tree branch snapped slowly and carefully, followed by another, and then another. There were 2 large tan boots, worn, and dull with cuts and scuffs on the sides slowly wallowing and trudging their way through the densely populated underbrush. The shoes continued, cautiously making their way onto the concrete floor which was covered with plaster lazily lathered over massive cracks in the stone. The wind kicked up again slightly and the flapping of the body of a cloth trench coat was heard faintly through the sounds of bushes being rustled. Thin, black, rustic leather gloves gripped on tightly to the fingers of the man as the wrist of the glove hung lazily as if put on in a hurry, carelessly. Baggy, black, sweatpants clung loosely to the strong legs of the man in places where muscle was especially large. He took off his coat, laying it down on a wall, halfway over it as if he was laying a towel out to dry.
He shook his head swiftly, to fix his hair, it was jaw length, and oak brown. His dark eyes reflected the forest perfectly, shimmers of lively green crowded the reflections of the wood and flickered into his eyes every now and then as he soaked in the beauty of the religious sanctuary. He lazily dragged his feet along the stone floor as he walked past the columns, his finger tracing a consistent crack throughout the walls. As he finally reached the center of the grounds he took a deep breath in. Emotions rushed through his body, serenity, peacefulness, and joy rushed through him and when he finally exhaled, anger, sadness, envy, and jealousy shot out of him like bullets, flying towards the columns and dissolving within their holiness, and he finally felt at peace. He softly gripped the arm of a small bench, which had before been invisible to him, and let himself fall down into it’s comforting serenity. He let out a sigh of relief. 
Suddenly the calming sounds rushed away in hurries, buzzing bees, fluttering butterflies, and hovering honeyswans flew away quickly. Crickets stopped chirping and the wind stopped rolling. A large circle with strange symbols, probably from an ancient language, formed itself in an orderly fashion until they were arranged perfectly. It flickered and stuttered until it eventually stood still, not sentient, but it felt as though. Out stepped a large looking man, his skin was pale, but glowing orange. As if there was a light underneath his skin, glowing like a neon sign outside of an unmarked brick building on the corner of a shady street. His neon green eyes wandered the forest and locked onto a man sitting on a park bench staring at disbelief at him. 
"....well…. You were not meant to see that." The man just stared blankly at him. 
"Hello?" 
"Uh… what was that!?" The man spoke concernedly. 
"What is your name kid?" The creature spoke strongly, his voice boomed and echoed off of the non-existent cave walls that shaped themselves around Zukemoto in his head. Shattering and falling down when he blinked again. 
"Z-uh-Zukemoto, why..?"
"Well, Zukemoto. You never saw anything." It’s thin pale fingers drew together and it made a P symbol with its hands and then blew on them softly. A massive flash of pure white shot out from its wrinkly hands towards Zukemoto. Rushing over him and bending his will until it shattered and everything faded away.