Aureated Nagamaal's Arc

Chapter 1 of 1

Aureated Nagamaal stood at the edge of the frozen fjord, pink eyes scanning the horizon. They had traveled to East Greenland for one reason: to find the celestial stairway that bridged earth and the divine realm. The old texts spoke of a path hidden in ice and stone, where sky met land in impossible ways. A few miles inland, Nagamaal found what they were looking for. The gurdwara rose from the snow like a purple dream made real. Its walls bore intricate designs that caught the pale northern light. A central tower stretched upward, pointing at the sky like a finger aimed at the heavens. This would be their base. This would be where they studied the stars and decoded the path upward. Inside, dust covered the floors in thick layers. Nagamaal cleared a space near the tower's base and unpacked their supplies. The storybook came out first, its worn cover soft under their fingers. They opened it carefully. Fairy tales filled the pages, but between the words and pictures lay something more. Constellation patterns hid in the illustrations. Star positions marked the margins. The book would show them which celestial bodies to track. That evening, Nagamaal stood in the town square outside. The ground trembled once, then split. A stone arm thrust upward from the earth, fingers wrapped around an ornate bell. The bell rang without being touched. Its sound rolled across the ice and up into the darkening sky. Nagamaal's pink eyes brightened. The bell would announce when they were ready. When they had decoded the patterns. When they could finally climb toward the divine realm above.