The gate opened inward.
And beyond it, the Fallen Gates revealed themselves in full.
King walked forward first, Vi a half step behind him. They crossed the threshold together, and the first thing that hit King was the scale of it , the sheer vertical enormity of the space. The outer approach had suggested something enormous, but standing inside the boundary now, looking ahead, the full picture assembled itself with clarity.
The Fallen Gates didn't guard a ruin. They guarded a domain.
A vast stretch of barren ground extended before them, suspended high above the ground with nothing visible holding it there, floated the temple.
It was enormous. Black stone walls, angular in their architecture, carved from the same material as the gates themselves. The structure floated in perfect stillness, rotating so slowly the movement was almost imperceptible, its shadow cycling across the cracked ground below in a wide, steady arc.
