A stone gate, big enough to fit a giant, stood between me and my goal. Fourteen long moons - fourteen years, a human might say - had I spent trying to find this place.

Most thought me crazy and superstitious, but since the day I had heard of this legend, I just needed to find out if it was true.

It seemed, nobody had been here in centuries. A normal adventurer would, probably, immediately try to find a way inside. But not me. I was too curious. After all, there was a lot to be discovered here, instead of immediately satisfying my hunger for ultimate knowledge. For example, a statue stood on the left side of the gate, at the foot of the arch.

A water dragon, completely entwined by green ivy. That might not  appear strange at first, but nothing else grew around me, not even weeds. The ivy was the only plant in my whole field of view. On the other side of the arch was another statue. That one depicted a phoenix, whose head was bent towards the lifeless body of a human. What a bizarre sight.

I slowly approached the gate and, as my hands touched it, I flinched. The human to my right began to scream and the ivy to my left burned away. What magical event. My curiosity pulled me in, occupied me so much that I almost didn’t notice the gate slowly opening on its own. A draught went through my coat and I looked into a deep blackness behind the gateway. That is where my destiny will fulfil itself.

No sooner had I set foot into the hall than the gate closed. I was engulfed in silence and darkness. Fascinating. I rummaged through my left coat pocket and pulled out a little helper I had found on the way here. I called it light hedgehog. A small, four-legged critter with glowing crystals on its back that looked like needles. I didn’t yet know if the needles rained on it and it just had a lot of stamina or if it had been born like this. We would find out as soon as we were back home and examined it more closely. Hmmm... But I’m not yet sure if that would be wise... What if it was the last of its kind? “I’ve got it!” I yelled into the hall and no echo reached my ears. Wonderful. “I’ll have a federal illustrator draw it first. That way, everyone will know it existed and I can cut it open as if I had all the time in the world.”

I smiled. I had found a suitable and pragmatic solution after all. The light hedgehog squealed too. It seemed to like the idea as well.