II. The smile that caused me to run

As the days passed, it became clear to me that Yllen was interested in learning more about the world we were living in, particularly the maze we had seen when flying over the city of Modgnik. 

The entire city of Modgnik was constructed of gold, including the streets, ceilings, water, and even the clouds. 

Modgnik residents were tall, lean, and had dark eyes. 

In Modgnik, every day was a celebration; they ate, drank and celebrated. They believed that because their days were limited, they had to rejoice and express gratitude; each day was a festivity for the people of Modgnik.

When we arrived to Modgnik with Yllen, and the locals came to see Yllen. Yllen was unlike any other creature because Yllen had no clear gender. I, at least, did not notice it. I sometimes refer to Yllen as a girl.

The houses were made of various shades of gold, had high ceilings, and each had a pipe so that anyone passing by may freely drink water. 

We then began to stroll through these lovely streets of gold. 

Yllen at once noticed a fountain. Yllen drew nearer, and I got the sense that she could talk to the water and the gentle breeze that followed it. Yllen was sitting by the fountain and simply said, “It’s so beautiful,” as she saw the water falling gently.

Yllen was also trying to discover why the water was gold.

I was astonished in certain ways. After all, Yllen revealed me in dreams so many things, past, present and future, I’ve always had the sensation that she is familiar with everything and every part of this planet.

Someone suddenly approached her as she reached out to touch the water and whispered to her in a deep voice,

“You must have permission to access or drink our waters”.

Yllen panicked and approached me. 

And there he was, Eixel, the leader of the city of Modgnik, so tall and elegant, with lovely hair and large eyes, the golden sword hanging from his back and a brown purse filled with some coins by his side. Is he carrying gold coins? I wondered.

Eixel came up to me and gave me a surprised look as he noticed the colours of my skin. 

Yllen suddenly hid in one of my wings, pretending no one could see her, and she was breathing deeply and slightly differently. Eixel’s voice was too deep for her, so she got scared. 

At the same time, I didn’t understand, since Eixel knew who Yllen was—actually, we all knew who she was.

Eixel turned to face Yllen and extended two fingers towards her. As Yllen and Eixel held hands, the water, the atmospheric air, and the clouds over Modgnik all abruptly froze. Eixel took a second look at Yllen, then turned to face me and bowed. The moment he released his hands from Yllen, everything went back to normal.

 He asked that we follow him, which we did.

Yllen climbed up onto me and looked across the city. Suddenly, she spotted the maze, which she wanted to explore and see what was inside it. She also noticed children playing nearby. Then, as if Eixel could read her mind, he told her 

Not yet.

“Why?” Yllen replied.

Eixel did not answer, he only asked to follow him.

When we arrived at a castle constructed of gold, we entered a magnificent bedroom that I had never seen before. The bedroom held a book and two chairs, which were too tall for Yllen to climb.

When Eixel left, Yllen wanted to gently touch the book out of curiosity for her, but I asked her not to. After listening to me, Yllen approached me, hugged me, and stroked one of my wings. 

Eixel came back and introduced Yleme to us. In contrast to Eixel, Yleme had a lengthy, golden body instead of a silver one. She requested that we sit down. 

While I chose a chair to sit in, Yllen simply climbed on me and sat on my head, as she used to do when we read at night.

Yleme asked:

And Iznil, please tell me the reason behind bringing Yllen to our city.

We are exploring every region of the planet, and Yllen wants to learn from the people, I remarked. She can’t help but be curious. I said.

I couldn’t understand why Eixel had begun to smell Yllen. I told Eixel to stop.

As Yleme wanted to touch Yllen’s hands, Yllen approached her and took her hands innocently before leading the two of them to the other chair. 

Eixel came over to me and invited me out.

As we made our way through the castle, Eixel showed me the paintings, the halls filled with thousands of books, and the bedrooms full with children studying galaxies, planets, and humanity—at least the few that were still alive. Some of them had extraordinary abilities that allowed them to see into the future in secret and dangerously far into the darkness. It was terrific.

Many of those children were able to see something that no one else could: the ocean’s depth. 

As we arrived at the gardens, there were a few little residences with female and male couples. 

I asked: 

Why do they reside in your city? 

They were put in the castle since their home worlds couldn’t accept them because they couldn’t have children.

They dedicated their skills and ideas to the city’s establishment of a prodigy school and preparations for the coming of the chosen one and the evil Oebama, according to Eixel. 

I didn’t say anything because I knew Yllen was highly known, and I was concerned since Oebama had allies.

Sometimes, I didn’t have faith in anyone. I was scared.

Yllen took off running, and Yleme took off walking; they were coming for us. While Yllen was on top of me, she said, 

Let’s explore the labyrinth! 

I only got an affirmative gesture from Eixel when I turned to face him. 

Yllen’s big smile told me how enthusiastic she was to complete the labyrinth and play with the Modgnik children, and I wanted to flee away. 

Yleme didn’t speak much. She just said, “All we have is Yllen.”

Ironically, I only felt Yleme’s presence inside of me; the wind delivered her words. Her voice was inaudible. 

In the kingdom of Modgnik, everything was one of a kind and the scenery was magnificent.