Walking through Last Heaven made Isaac feel like he was walking through one of his dreams. Everywhere he looked, something new took his attention away. Isaac could barely keep his head straight as he tried to look at everything before he missed them.

  People walking around with capes hanging off their shoulders. Metal men marching up and down the streets in blue uniforms. Bright pink birds flew in the sky while magical animals walked side by side with people on the streets.

  There were people stirring cauldrons in shops using only sticks, while across the street, a man lit a fire with a jewel. And Isaac was certain that he saw a lady with a hamster on her head breathe fire as they walked by.

  Last Heaven was a magical city straight from one of his books.

  The only thing that ruined it for him was having to stay with Henry. Apparently, without their ID, they weren’t allowed to wander around. Something about not being born here or something. Isaac didn’t know he wasn’t listening. Still wasn’t, in fact.

  This sucked. He wanted to go and explore, not take this kiddy tour.

  Isaac clicked his tongue in irritation. He’d leave if he could, but after years of putting up with him, Luci’s become sort of an expert on making sure that Isaac stayed in line.

  Every time he tries to walk away, she just reaches out and pulls him back in.

  That’s okay, he told himself. He’ll come back later when he’s got more time. Right now, he’ll just have to settle for looking, he guessed.

  Not that he wasn’t happy with what he was seeing. This whole thing was a new experience for him. He’s never even left Lubbock before, and now, it was like he was being overloaded with all the new sights in front of him. He could barely keep up with everything.

  That was probably when Luci decided that it was time to get some answers. Cause as soon as Isaac was distracted, Luci started walking ahead. She had gotten over her disbelief of magic fairly quickly and was now looking for answers.

  Isaac saw her, of course, hard n. But she didn’t need his help, so he hung back a bit, letting her take charge while he just listened in.

  “ Hey.” She called out, not caring if she came off as rude. “You’d said that you’d answer any questions we had, right?”

  Henry just kept on smiling as he responded. “That’s right. I’m here to help you in any way that I can. What would you like to know?”

  “Okay, first, the people here. Why are some of them… different?” She scowled. She hated having to stumble over her words like that. She wanted to say they looked weird. But she’d rather not offend anybody on the first day.

  She’ll leave that to Isaac.

  Isaac knew what she meant though. Walking through Last Heaven, they saw all kinds of people, many of them looking like they came from all over the world. But there were some that made them question if they were even human.

  Like that one lady towering over everyone like a tree or those two girls with animal ears and tails. There was even a guy with rocks instead of skin.

  “ Oh, well, you’ll learn more about this in class, but after a couple of years, many of the first settlers realized that their bodies were reacting differently to the new magic-rich environment.” Directing them down another road, Henry continued. “ This led to many people developing traits that were otherwise thought to be impossible, like the ones you just saw. Things are better now though, we later found a way to minimalize the effects and can now live without fear.”

  “ But some of it's also a cosmetic effect that many people can get through stylist, like those people over there,” Henry said, gesturing to some people with his head.

  Off to the side, a group of teenagers were laughing uproariously as they sat at the table drinking. Isaac could see what Henry meant. Some of those guys had neon-colored hair that glowed in the light.

  The blond one noticed Isaac looking their way. He didn’t seem too happy with them being watched. Isaac could tell by the way he gestured with his hand in a not-very-nice way.

  Isaac smiled. Looks like he was making new friends already. He wanted to memorize his face, but he knew that he’d forget it soon enough.

  Isaac hoped that he’d see him again, he needed a new friend now that what’s his face wasn’t going to be around.

  Walking away, Isaac caught up with Herny. Luci ignored him. She was too busy asking more questions.

  “ So Mr. Perez… What is this place.”

  “ Last Heaven? Well, that goes into the history of the Magi, which, again, you’ll learn more about at the Academy. Still, the bare bones of it is that after the exodus of magic, Earth became a barren wasteland in terms of magic. Magi like us could no longer live there. So after years of research, Magi from all across the world came together and opened a doorway using these.”

  Henry held up his silver Key, letting Isaac and Luci get a good look at it for the first time. Isaac got closer, wondering if he could spot any differences compared to his key. Looking it over, they didn’t seem that different, the only thing was their color.

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  “ These Ether Keys, as we call them, allowed us to leave a barren world and come here. A new world full of magic. We named this world Eden and built Last Heaven as our refuge.”Henry continued.

  Ether Key, is that what his Key was? That didn’t help him at all. It just gave him more questions. Isaac glared as Henry returned the key to his pocket. Think, he told himself, what does this new information give him.

  Ok, Ether keys are what they call their magic door keys, thats easy enough. He’s also sure that he saw people using those keys back there with all those doors, so everyone seems to have one. That’s two things that he knows.

  But all those keys were silver. If Grandpa’s key was an Ether Key, why was it gold? Were there different levels of keys that people could get?

  If silver Ether Keys open a door here, then were would the golden one go to?

  Something else was that the doors on the platform had runes engraved on their frames, and every time a key was inserted, they’d glow. Does that mean that the door was on, or does it mean that the key was connected to the door?

  Would his key work and those doors? And if so, should he even try it?

  No better to keep things secret for now, better than having someone find out what he’s got.

  He’ll wait until he gets back home before he starts testing it out. He’s got other things to look up when he gets home anyway. He’s sure that he’s heard of ether before, just got to brush up on his books when he gets back.

  “ Last Heaven has grown since those first days. And despite the will of those outside, we have built ourselves a city and have continued to thrive in this new world.”

  Coming back from his thoughts, Isaac was surprised to hear Henry still talking. He seemed to get really intense when he was talking about Last Heaven's history.

  Though it seemed like Luci didn’t like hearing about the great history of Last Heaven. From the way the veins on her temple were showing, she was probably a few seconds from punching Henry in the throat. He better step in before that happens.

  “Hey, Mr. Perez, how many people live in Last Heaven?” This was something Isaac was generally curious about.

  From what he saw, Last Heaven didn’t look that big. There weren’t any skyscrapers or apartments around, so it shouldn’t be that much. But this was also a city of magic, so who knows?

  Henry paused, having to think about it.“ Well, last I heard, the population of Last Heaven reached around thirty-four to forty million last year.”

  Isaac’s brain stopped for a moment. Forty million? That's about the same population as Tokyo. Isaac knows he looked it up. Lubbock’s only got like a two hundred thousand. How are there so many people here?

  “ Impossible,” Luci stated. She must have been thinking the same thing he was.

  Henry was looking smug again. He stopped turning to face them with his hands on his hips, and asked,

  “ Oh, how is that.”

  “Forty million people can’t live in a place this small. We could see the edge of town from over there. It couldn’t be more than a few miles in diameter, not enough to hold forty million people. Especially in these little houses.”

  Luci rolled her eyes. She couldn’t believe that forty million people lived here. Isaac stood silently to the side. He didn’t know why she found that so hard to believe, they just walked through a magical door.

  What more does she need?

  Henry just huffed at them, laughing at naivety.

  “ The edge of town. Come on, let me show you something.”

  Turning around, Herny started walking back towards the street they just passed. Earlier, Henry had been leading them in a circle, making sure that the travel doors weren’t out of sight for long. But now he was taking them further out into the city, out towards the edge.

  It took them a couple of minutes, moving through streets and pushing through the crowds. At one point, he even took them through an alleyway, but after a while, they were finally at the edge.

  That was when Isaac got his first good look at Eden. Before the buildings blocked his view, the only thing he could see was the sky. But now, now he could finally see what Eden was.

  Henry had told them that the first Magi had used the Keys to travel to a new world. Isaac didn’t really understand what he was saying, but now it finally sunk in. They weren’t on Earth anymore.

  Past the edge of Last Heaven, a large grassland stretched out before their eyes. Massive trees rose in the distance, and further beyond that, mountains rose into the sky. Mountains so tall that even so far away, Isaac still couldn't see the top.

  That’s not all Isaac saw either. Monsters, giant animals, prowling along the plains, hiding in the trees. Some of them looked like they could eat him in a single bite. And the only thing stopping them from reaching him was a giant moat standing between him and them.

  Henry, unafraid of the sight before him, kept walking closer to the edge. Not knowing what else to do, they followed after him. Isaac, was curious on how this answered their question.

  As they walked closer towards the edge, Isaac noticed that the moat was empty.

  Strange, considering that the moat was the only thing standing between the city and a horde of monsters knocking at their door. Except for how deep the moat was.

  It’s hard to see from far away, but the closer they got the further down they could see. Hell, just from where he was standing right now, it looked like it could have swallowed up his entire school, and they were still so far away.

  It was only after they reached the edge of the city that Isaac finally realized that what he thought was a moat wasn’t a moat at all. It was a cliff.

  Near the edge of Last Heaven, railings were planted into the stone. They were there to make sure that no one would fall over the side. Isaac, grabbing a hold of these railings, leaned over and gazed down the side of Last Heaven.

  Last Heaven didn’t have a moat. It never did. It was a crater.

  This entire trip, Isaac couldn’t stop smiling, he had been too happy to stop. But he wasn’t smiling anymore. Because Last Heaven wasn’t a city, it was a -.

  “Last Heaven, a tower that stood the test of time, houses all forty million of us within her walls,” Henry explained.

  A tower. Last Heaven was a tower.

  A Tower thousands of feet in the air, barely standing even with the crater that they were in.

  Isaac couldn’t forget the last words on the note from his great-grandpa. How could he? He left it on the stand next to his bed so he could always remember.

  Don’t trust the Tower.