Alex Mayne and the Shadow of the Sentinel

8. The Veiled Chambers of Eldrin's Domain

"Uhm, I don't want to be rude, but what's up with your goofy voice?" asked Olivia.

"I ate a froto," said Fred.

"What's a froto?" asked Alex.

"It is an edible arrow. It is small. It can also be used in combat. There are many of them, each with different punishments. But they all look the same. I hate them," said Fred, leaving Alex with a wondering expression.

"Why would you eat that?" asked Olivia.

"It is my punishment for what I've done in my class yesterday. I was forced to eat them. I have to bear this for a week," said Fred, which left Alex wondering what the word 'classroom' meant.

"What did you do?" asked Olivia curiously.

"Well, it's none of your business," said Fred.

They turned down several streets, but Alex couldn't discern if they were heading in the right direction, as all the houses looked identical. As they rounded another corner, they were met with a dead end: a wall blocked their path, beginning five meters back.

"Here we are," said Fred. "Hold on to me."

As Alex and Olivia clung onto Fred's shoulder, a blue ray emerged from Fred's eyes, leaving Alex and Olivia speechless. It was bright. They were facing the wall, which Alex hadn't noticed before because of the darkness; only the part above a hundred meters high was visible, and the end wasn't. The blue ray was directly shooting at the foot of the wall. Then suddenly, Fred tilted his head up, causing the blue lasers in his eyes to also shift to the high end of the wall, but the end wasn't visible in the darkness. Then he rotated his head in different directions, which looked creepy.

"Don't close your eyes. Never blink," said Fred fiercely, to which Alex and Olivia followed.

A minute passed, and Fred's head was tilted as if his neck was broken. He was directly facing the dark sky, leaning towards the wall that was not visible. Then, Alex's eyes seemed to twitch, and a dark black ray emerged from his eyes. He couldn't see anything as his eyes went blank, but he saw white and blue rays beside his dark ray, which he could feel but couldn't see. The dark ray felt very thin. His eyes were burning as he didn't blink for a couple of minutes. Eventually, the light rays seemed to fade away, as did the sensation of Alex's own ray. After the clearing of his eyes, a vision appeared: a dark brown castle surrounded by fields. It was dark, but the rustling continued. Many torches were placed outside around the castle. It was very huge, and many people were looking at them—some were small, and some were aged. They were wearing similar kinds of dress, in many different colors but the same style. Fred pushed them both to the castle as he opened the door, which was golden and huge. The inside was majestic, full of gold and many paintings, with many people and very huge. The ceiling seemed to be a hundred meters away. Both Alex and Olivia were wonderstruck.

"Oh, hey there, Mr. Fall-for-voice," called out a man who was bald and wore robes. He had a big white beard and tiny glasses.

Fred sighed and hushed the man.

"Who are these people next to you?" asked the man.

"Haven't you heard," said Fred.

"Heard what?"

"I am coming in with the biggest haines and kick Mr. Hoover's Truk."

"So, that indeed is true!" exclaimed the man with a frown. "Can you introduce me to them? So you know . . . if I have any business later."

"Sure. Sure," said Fred as he gestured his hand to the man, looking at Alex and Olivia. "This is Winklov. Winklov Denwright."

"Yes, yes," said Winklov. "You can call me Winky."