Hao Ren looked back to where they came from and the path in the fog had disappeared. In its place was a layer of black mirror with a ripple effect across it, like a painting in the air stretching out of a building. It was ten metres wide or so and a black band, which looked like it was drawn with oil paint floated around the edges. He was curious. He touched it but his hand felt nothing. But when he poked his head through the mirror, he saw that the path was still there. Hessiana spoke snappily from behind, "If you want to go home, use this mirror and just follow the path. You guys have a marking; as long you you don't wander into the fog, you'll be safe. There's an ancient one guarding the entrance and the exit between the Shadowy Divide and the real world, just give him a heads-up then you'll be free to come and go. However, you're not allowed to bring anyone in. Your marking is meant only for you. Outsiders who trespass the second level of the shadow space will surely die."
This pseudo-mirror was the gateway between the Fortress of Shadows and the outside world. There was more than one psuedo-mirror around the city, with powerful guards manning both sides of the gateways. The one here before Hao Ren was a smaller one. The bigger gateways had tight security and were specifically used for moving large cargo and materials. Those were non-accessible to visitors. Soom after, Hessiana began to lead everyone off the platform. On their way, there was an old tree at the end of the platform and Hao Ren could not help but look at it curiously: the old tree appeared somewhat different from a normal tree; it had a severely wrinkled and twisted bark like the face of an old man.
"What's wrong with me?" the old tree suddenly spoke as Hao Ren studied it. As the wrinkled bark moved, it produced a series of cracking sounds and a pair of dark brown eyes appeared beneath the thick bark. "I see you stranger, you're an outsider. But since you're with Hessiana, I guess I can trust you. But don't create trouble in the city or I'll turn you into fertiliser."
"This is the old tree, Grandalr, the guard of the gateway. It came to the city 100 years ago." Hessiana smiled politely at the old tree before making the introduction. "Each gateway is guarded by two guards; one in the real world and one in the Fortress of Shadows. Hesperides guards the real world side of the gateway while Grandalr is responsible for the shadow side. Don't underestimate Grandalr's capabilities, all the plants in this city follow his order. While he's here, he also monitors all the streets in the city. He is the ancient one who's lived since the Mythological Era. He is one of the most experienced seniors in the city."
Grandalr swung its crown reservedly as though it was flattered by the compliment about its age and experience. Vivian took a walk around the old tree, then she came to a realisation. "I think I've seen you before. Wait a minute, you're the one I planted with my own hands! Now I remember—where are the fruits that you've promsied me?"
Grandalr was stunned and took a second look at Vivian. It started to tremble furiously. "My-My Lady!"
Vivian could not have cared less about its reaction. She grabbed its branch and started to shake it. "Have you borne? Where's the promised fruit?"
Leaves and dead branches rained down as Grandalr's voice shivered. "Wait... wait... this is all a misunderstanding! I'm not a fruit tree! I told you I wasn't the one! I explained myself when I was still learning to speak. I'm a sentient, tree warrior!"
Vivian let go of the tree in disappointment. "Dang it, I know. I was just pissed. It took me a few precious years to only realise that I had gotten the wrong sapling..."
Hao Ren was bewildered. "What's going on?"
"I brought it here from the garden of Ymir." Vivian was upset. "I once dropped by the garden and found a very tasty fruit, so I took a branch and planted it myself. But apparently, I got the wrong one; years of effort came to nothing but a barren tree. The one that actually bore fuits was its second uncle. Tsk, I waited eagerly under the wrong tree for years, watering and fertilising everyday not knowing that it was barren."
Hessiana looked on, astonished. Suddenly, something suddenly crossed her mind and she now realised what was going on with Grandalr. "I've been wondering why you'd act stupid whenever I mentioned Vivian. So, this is why... and to think that I've looked up to you as my senior!"
Grandalr shook its crown and said, "So what? I'm still your senior by virtue of age! You have to respect your senior. And don't you ever forget those glorious days during the bad times. What difference have I from the night birds on the third twig of the my eastern bough?"
To make it look more convincing, Grandalr spread open its twigs and revealed a nest of birds.
Hessina did not say anything. She just forced a smile and nodded. Meanwhile, Vivian gave the old tree a glance before she lamented. "Forget it, you just stay alive. Those in Northern Europe did not survive, you're the only one left who can still remember their faces."
Grandalr was silent for a moment before slowly lowering its branches. "Yes, My Lady."
As they left they waved goodbye to the thousand-year-old guard, before disappearing with Hessiana into the peculiar city in the shadow. They walked through the streets, which were laid with medieval-style slates and passed spooky old houses in total dilapidation. They occasionally bumped into pedestrians who looked just like any other humans but were in fact otherworldings. Most residents in the city were of the Blood Clan, a third of the population were sapiens called Shadelings while the rest were miscellaneous races who formed an insignificant number.
The so-called peace in the city was created by the ostrich strategy—pretend that others did not exist. Where there was no interaction, there would be no war.
Hao Ren also noticed something else; although the city in the shadows was big, it had few residents. Walking along the thoroughfare, one could hardly see pedestrians. In this case, he had only seen 10. As big as the houses were, they looked haunted and most had no more than a 10 % occupancy rate. He used to imagine that the sanctuary of otherworldlings would be a bustling place filled with hotheaded vampires and little demons roaming the streets. But what he saw was the opposite; it was deserted like a ghost town. There may be people there but it could hardly be described as populous.
"The city only has a population of approximately 10,000 people. To put it into perspective, if this place is as big as the real Athens, it only has a fraction of the population," Hessina explained. "The residents seldom come out and show their faces because they're kind of disappointed with the current state of affairs. So, they hibernate. If they see that the situation hasn't changed after they wake up a few hundred years later, they'll go back to sleep again. Some of them have even been sleeping for 2,000 years, much longer than the time I've been in this city."
"You're not the pioneer resident of this city?" Nangong Wuyue was kind of curious.
"No." Hessiana shook her head. "Lady Vivian brought me here about 1,800... no, probably about 1,700 years ago. The city was in a lockdown and Hesperides had made an exception by allowing me in with Lady Vivian as a guarantor. I was alone back then and from there on, I began to have my own family."
Vivian nodded. "Yeah, because she had been bothering me, so much so that I had no choice but to send her here. Honestly, times were bad back then. I even had problems feeding myself. Sending her to a safer place was the best thing I could do—she was still an innocent kid and it was too dangerous to stay in the wild with me."
Lily was a straight talker. "But it seems like you still have problems feeding yourself in not-so-bad times!"
Hao Ren quickly dragged the husky behind him. "She's been a bit off lately."
They finally arrived at the deepest part of the city—the new section where things were pretty well-organised. Hessiana was visibly happier to be here. She pointed to mansion with a pointed roof and said, "This is it! I live here. All houses with the same insignia belong to Hessianite Family—welcome to my home!"
It was a big house; its roof was black and its walls were grey. Despite being meticulously renovated, it still appeared like a haunted house from the outside. But never mind the slightly depressing style, the fine details on the building were splendorous. Hao Ren quickly noticed the insignia Hessiana mentioned: the family insignia was displayed at the most prominent section of the exterior wall. On an eight-metre long banner was an extremely large selfie photo of Vivian; unlike the short hairstyle that Hessiana wore, the Vivian-lookalike in the photo sported a long hairstyle. The degree of similarity—99.9% . That was her family insignia. The moment Vivian saw this, she could not help covering her face and turning away. "This is exactly why I don't like being here... She's very annoying."