Kiko was fascinated by the city. It was unlike anything she had ever seen before. It was built of blocks of obsidian, stacked into towers so tall that they pierced the Heavens. Above the streets, hundreds of boats flew through the air, driven by the wind alone. The streets themselves were banked with gold coins that glittered and shone in the sun, like laughing faces of Gods.
A small metal boat hovered above her as she walked, making its way from the edge of the obsidian city to the city’s centre. From their, she could see soldiers and sculptures of Gods on the obsidian walls. The boat took her into a strange, round building that seemed to spin with the streets. Inside there was no sun, nor even a true sky. Outwardly it appeared to be a flat, open area beside a sculpture of what looked like a Phoenix.
Kiko let out a low whistle. “What is this place?” she asked, for the voice of the boat had disappeared. There was no reply.
“You really live up here,” a voice behind her spoke. It startled her and she spun around, facing a man whose face was in a box made of metal and glass. She instinctively held out her arms to strike him, but they simply stopped like they were hitting a wall.
“Don’t be alarmed,” he said, his voice a cross between a computer and a human. “I have come, much like yourself, to speak with the Oracle.”
Kiko was still dazed. “Oracle?” she questioned, quite confused. “What is an Oracle?”
“You have to speak with the Oracle,” the man said, ignoring her questions. “You have come a very long way and it is important that you see her. Speak to her of the Black Pyramid. You must show her.”
Kiko was quite startled. “Show her what?” she asked franticly. Her voice was shaking ever so slightly. “I have nothing of the sort!”
“Show her the Black Pyramid,” a third voice said from behind her. It was the voice of a girl, who was now walking past her. The voice was proud, confident, yet also quite cold. The girl pushed past her and touched the same stone sculpture that Kiko had seen to be in front of her. A hissing, complex sound erupted from the stone. It was a foreign language to Kiko, but she could hear words in it that she understood. The sounds were command words that would do something to the girl. It was then that Kiko realised that all her questions would likely go unanswered. She should just wait for her answers to happen.