Exile’s Garden - ‘Tween the World of the Living and Dead
Nestled in the middle of the living world and the afterlife is a path. It is long, winding, and made of cobblestone. It is a realm of ethereal beauty and peace, though a solemn sadness hangs in the dark air - for this is where spirits are ferried from the living world, to their next life.
Exile’s Garden is realm that acts as a gateway, and is a place that only Yveltal can access unless he were to bring someone along; though this is not advised for a multitude of reasons that will be explained later.
The path found in the realm is flanked with flowers, hundreds and thousands of them. These flowers are eternal flowers, colored a deep black and red, resembling the god of death himself. Never to wilt or die, the flowers can exist in the most treacherous of places, void of light and water and may still thrive. They truly are eternal in every sense of the word, and these flowers have existed in Exile’s Garden for millions of years, some for even longer, having originated from this realm.
They are the only plantlife found in the realm beyond the trees, spindly branches and dark wood covered in pristine, pure white leaves. The leaves fall like snow, withering and dying days after hitting the ground. Along with that, vines snake their way along the trunks of the trees and further beyond that, colored an almost black, deep green.
The only source of light are glowing orbs hung suspended along the path, cloaking parts of the path and Exile’s Garden in a glow. Forlorn spirits that had accepted their death and made it that far, but did not want to continue, also give off sources of light.
A river flows through the land, cutting across the path. A wooden bridge connects the path where the river intersects. The waters are dark, darker and deeper than the night sky, and makes no noise as it flows. Drinking these waters gives instant and pure bliss to those who taste it, washing away all sadness and anger - however the water is addicting. It becomes hard to leave the riverbank, wanting nothing more than to drink, and drink, and drink. Those who tempt the fate of the river are doomed to be stuck at its side for all eternity - the most fanatic of people immerse themselves in the water entirely, forever stuck at the murky bottom and reaching up to the surface endlessly.
The areas outside of the path, outside the soft glow of the lights, are perhaps the most dangerous of all in Exile’s Garden. These areas are why Yveltal is hesitant to bring anyone alive to this realm. Echoes of voices can be heard beyond the trees, a siren song beckoning those to heed its call. The voices are different for all who hear them, being the voice of their loved ones. Their family, their friends, their lover, their children... whether these voices are of those still alive on the other side, or are of those who have long since been deceased. Yveltal does what he can to sway spirits from being fooled, but some don’t listen and venture out.
The darkness that is beyond the trees is such a deep, pervading darkness, that it strips one of all their senses, utterly depriving them of all rationality. All sense of direction is lost, all sight, all hearing. It is intense, and those who wander beyond the light are lost for all eternity, never to be found, seen, or heard of again. A lost soul damned to wandering the darkness forever, tricked in their moment of weakness by hearing what they want to hear again the most - their loved ones. For one, final time.
Eventually, the path does reach it’s end. The end of Exile’s Garden, the end of the world. There, the very land drops off steeply and endlessly, a dark void. To him, it is merely an endless sky, with glowing souls cascading up and beyond where he can see... like lanterns floating away in the night. But to those departed, they see the afterlife. They see whatever awaits them beyond where Yveltal can go - at the end of Exile’s Garden.
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