Johan tok a deep breath as they ventured up the stairs. First he had to focus on the task at hand; Find Emil and get him back home. Despite their…detour, they had arrived at the gallery only one person down.

  Or, well. Johan squinted, hearing the fighting behind them. Possibly two people down.

  Johan followed Note.

  The first thing he noticed was the noise. There were people talking upstairs. And not a few people either. A lot of people. It was confirmed when he got high enough to see over the top of the stairs.

  The place was fully packed!

  “Oh…” Johan looked around worriedly. The room was the same as downstairs except much bigger. Every wall had multiple paintings hanging from it and around each and every one of them, crowds of people were looking at and discussing them. Luckily, at least from the first glance, Johan couldn’t see any of Emil’s paintings.

  “There he is!” Note said, grabbing Johan’s arm and pulling him along through the crowd.

  They passed a corner and all hope left him.

  Oh no. Oh no no no. Johan felt his jaw drop as he finally saw the paintings. There were so many of them! A lot of them Johan recognized, like the one where Note revived the wheat field and the one of Signe killing the n?kks. But more than a few of them Johan had never seen before, paintings of stuff Emil definitely shouldn’t know anything about!

  Note kept pushing them through and Johan ducked his head to hide as people turned to glare after them.

  Finally they broke free of the crowd and that’s when Johan saw him.

  Emil was standing there all peacefully, talking to some guys in black suits.

  At the sight of them Emil’s eyes almost popped out. He gaped at them like a fish and for a second it looked like he was going to run away. Before he could though, Johan stormed past the men in suits and grabbed him by his collar.

  “Emil.” Johan hissed at him, pulling him in face to face. “What do you think you’re doing?”

  “Ahaha..” Emil laughed nervously, his hands coming up in a placating manner. “What are you doing here?”

  Emil swallowed audibly and glanced between Johan and the men he was talking to. “Ehm, gentlemen, I’m sorry but we’ll have to, uh, finish this talk later.”

  Johan gritted his teeth and dragged him away. Later? That was not happening, they were leaving right now. Behind him the men spoke. “Wait, isn’t that the guy from the painting?”

  “Where are you taking me?” Emil tried.

  “We’re leaving, right now!” Johan dragged him towards the door. “Note, can you go grab Signe-”

  “No!” Emil pulled free from his grip and backed into the corner of the room. “No! I have the right to be here!”

  “Yeah? Is that why you left in the middle of the night without telling anyone?” Johan challenged.

  “Why would you put everyone in danger like this?” Note scolded. “It’s not just us, if anyone finds out where we are, the entire village will get hurt.”

  Emil stopped at that, he bit his lips sheepishly and didn’t meet their eyes. Johan sighed and crossed his arms. Luckily they got far enough away from everyone so they weren’t being watched.

  “I just..” Emil hesitated, frowning. “I - This is a once in a lifetime event. It’s one of the most famous galleries in the world and I was invited. I couldn’t just say no.”

  “This morning your mom almost broke down our door in worry, wanting to know where you were.” Note said gently. “You should have told her where you were going.”

  “I couldn’t have. She supports me but she wouldn’t have let me go.” Emil said with a low voice. “My whole life I’ve worked for this. I need results.”

  Emil begged with wide, desperate eyes. “Please. It’s just today. I promise nobody will see these paintings after today.”

  Johan looked to Note for help. Their eyes met and Johan could see the sympathy in his eyes. Exactly what Johan didn’t want to see. Damn it.

  The narrative has been taken without authorization; if you see it on Amazon, report the incident.

  “I can’t believe this.” Johan sighed, rubbing his face. Emil stared at him with his big doe eyes. “Fine!”

  “Yes!” Emil cheered.

  “But the second it closes for the day we are going home.” Johan stated.

  Emil punched the air in celebration. “Thank you, thank you! You won’t regret it. I’ll make you guys the most famous people in this city!”

  Johan just stared at him. That was the complete opposite of what he wanted. Emil didn’t seem to get it though. “Come! I’ll show you my masterpiece!”

  And now it was Johan’s turn to get dragged around. Emil grabbed his wrist and started pulling him back the same way they came from, information falling out of his mouth. He pointed at all of his paintings as they passed them.

  “There’s the painting of Signe and Vero’s engagement! The time Signe saved the village. Note in the wheatfield-”

  He kept talking until finally he stopped them, back in the place where the suited men were still standing. “And here is my masterpiece.”

  Johan stopped at the sight.

  It was a painting...of him?!

  Slowly he let his breath out. A chill creeping down his spine.

  The paintings showed him sitting on a throne. On his head was a golden crown.

  This couldn’t be real. Of course it wasn’t, nothing like this would ever happen. Johan wasn’t going to take over Heaven.

  The scariest part however was his eyes. His hair in the painting had been braided back, one on each side of his head. But as far as Johan knew, Emil had never seen his eyes. He was always careful to keep them covered in public, even when just in the village.

  So how did he paint them exactly right?

  He stared into his own eyes like it was a mirror and raised his hand to feel his neck, where the painting depicted a scar Johan definitely didn’t have.

  Emil’s words broke him out of his mind. “In difference to my other paintings where I have just taken artistic liberties on real events, this one is entirely out of my own imagination.”

  Johan let out a breath. His own imagination. Right, of course. It couldn’t be anything else afterall.

  He turned around, his heart recovering slowly from the sudden pounding. He saw Note standing there, staring in shock at the painting.

  “It’s magnificent!” One of the men in suits stated loudly.

  “That’s...” Note muttered when Johan got close enough.

  “Let’s take a walk.” Johan said. He felt the eyes of the men in suits on his back. It was suffocating.

  He needed fresh air.

  Finally outside he took a deep breath in. His legs felt shaky.

  “Are you ok?” Note voice came from behind him. Johan nodded. Giving himself a moment longer before he got back up. Note looked at him worriedly, hand reached out but not touching.

  “I’m fine. Just…” Johan glanced back into the gallery, but couldn’t see anything past the crowd. “Surprised.”

  “Yeah.” Note agreed, his eyebrows still drawn together but his hands had relaxed by his sides.

  “That’s not real.” Johan muttered. It was so weird. It couldn’t be real. But the feeling he had...it was like he had just seen a vision. But somehow it was in real life.

  “It’s just a painting.” Note agreed. “It doesn’t mean anything.”

  “Yeah.” He breathed weakly. He didn’t have to do anything he didn’t want to.

  They stood in silence for a while and Johan tok the time to look around. The gallery was near the docks, and huge ships were loading off boxes and boxes of stuff. Unlike Solstad though, Johan couldn’t see any street marked nearby.

  The Ethereal city was much bigger than any Johan had been in before. He watched as horses pulled a carriage past them on the wide cobblestone road. Even Solstad only had a few roads though the city, but here they seemed to be everywhere.

  Somehow all the buildings seemed new and colorful, all painted in different vibrant colors, yet every roof was black. Lines with decoration were hanging between the buildings and above the streets. It was really cool.

  “You know,” Note started, watching Johan with a small smile. “I used to live here.”

  “Really?” Johan looked at him in surprise. He did technically know that but it was the first time Note had told him directly. Note nodded and looked around them proudly.

  “We have time. If you want I can show you around.” Note glanced at him smugly.

  “Sure” Johan agreed easily.

  “Well, first things first.” Note started, gesturing. “This big red tower is a watchtower. It’s one of the first buildings ever built in the city and was used in the big war, a thousand years ago. The royal family moved out here with their highest ranked soldiers after an attack at their old palace and over time as the war was won, more people moved here. It’s all very protected. You can’t see it from here, but tall walls surround the whole inner city and the watchtower is still used to keep track of who enters.”

  That was really interesting, Johan thought, easily grabbing at the distraction. Looking closely he could see a man standing under the roof at the top of the tower.

  Note started walking as he continued. “The first people to settle down after the war were mostly the survivors from the other cities and now pretty much everyone that lives here descends from them.” Note looked around with nostalgic eyes. “It’s been four years- no, more than that, five or six, since I was last here. I wonder what has changed.”

  They walked onto a big, white-stone path that was clearly meant for walking.

  “That’s the royal palace.” Note pointed and far ahead Johan saw it. Standing taller than the rest of the city, a bright red building with the same black tile roof as everywhere else. From where they stood Johan could barely make out the gold details of beautiful drawings and markings covering the sides of the palace.

  “It’s nice.” Johan voiced his amazement and Note turned to him with a big smile.

  “Note?” A shocked voice filled the air and they both turned in surprise.

  A tall man in a sharp black suit stood there, a familiar coat on top, looking like he just saw a ghost. Johan glanced at Note to see him staring back with the same shock.

  “Note.” The man breathed.