As it turned out, when Fel placed his head into his neck to look at the high ceiling, he could see the markings of a door. There was no string attached to open it, only a short handle, so he glanced back down at the cat.

“You will need to get the ladder”, Areus commented and pointed towards the end of the hallway with the tip of his tail.

Fel pulled a face and unhappily went to fetch it. It was loud, but the visitors would not care for any noise in the hallway.

Climbing up the ladder was hardly comfortable  - it felt like it might fall any second - but Fel managed to touch the handle and slowly move it. Suddenly, he froze. “... Am I going to see him right away when I open this? Anything I should know?”

“You will likely have to call for him. He might come out, or not. Just be courteous.”

“Very detailed”, the man grumbled, then pushed the door away and carefully climbed into the room.

The attic was clean but pretty much empty. He could see the beautiful windows that were visible from the outside as well, but there was not a single piece of furniture anywhere. Instead, the floor was engraved with patterns covering the whole area, a bit reminiscent of the summoning circles from movies.

Fel cleared his throat. “Excuse me… Mister Gatekeeper? I… I am Fel, I have started to take care of this place. I came to introduce myself.”

He waited in the silence for a few seconds before something happened.

The reason why he noticed was that there was a sudden source of light coming from a corner that it hadn’t before, so he turned towards it.

The Gatekeeper was very much unlike what he had expected. He looked like a star.

… Not like a celebrity, but a genuine star shining in the sky.

His hair - if you could call it hair at all - was a bit like Areus’ fur; constantly moving without a fixed form and glowing soft golden-white, while his eyes held the same colour. His skin was so pale that it almost seemed translucent, even more so with the dark clothes he wore.

They were slightly similar to Fel’s work uniform. Black like the night sky, with sparkling trails like stars.

His features were finely crafted, not a hint of blemish to be seen. They were highly androgynous - he could have been a tomboyish woman with his slender shoulders and small waist. Had he not known this was a man, he wouldn't have been sure how to call him. The Gatekeeper was easily the most beautiful, humanoid being Fel had ever seen or imagined and he involuntarily stopped breathing in amazement.

He would have liked to praise the Gatekeeper as a fairy, an Immortal, a god descended to earth-

But honestly, all he wanted to do was pull his head between his shoulders, apologize for daring to disturb and get the hell out of here. The Gatekeeper’s gentle features were pointedly neutral, but there was a tilt in his thin eyebrows and a fierce, chilling light in his eyes that pierced him the moment he met them.

… He wondered if the other was going to kill him right then and there. Never before had he felt killing intent, but he was quite sure that he was now experiencing it.

“You are the new owner?” The Gatekeeper spoke in a calm voice with a dangerous undercurrent. Fel rubbed his neck as a reaction, feeling like someone was holding a knife against it. As nice as the voice was, it wasn't pleasant to hear it when it was spewing venom.

“... Yes. I apologize for disturbing you?” Fel croaked out an answer. His smile looked stiff but he forced himself to keep still. He hadn't done anything wrong. He was only introducing himself.

The Gatekeeper breathed out through his nose derisively. Every inch of him screamed annoyance and rejection. “What do you want?”

“I simply wanted to say hi, since you’re also working here”, Fel carefully said. “I-”

The Gatekeeper’s eyes weren’t on his face. He interrupted the other without care. “What happened there?”

Fel froze, then looked down. His sleeves were pushed up and the fabric covering his arms had moved a bit while he was working, revealing the burn marks. “This? Ah, it was an accident. I got burned there a few years ago.”

The temperature in the room dropped. The gatekeeper stared at the burn marks, then pursed his lips. “Whatever.”

The human shuddered under the glare. He had a feeling the Gatekeeper wanted nothing but to tear him into pieces - that was how fierce his eyes were glowing. There was not a single glint of goodwill inside.

And suddenly, he vanished.

Stunned, the young man stood alone in the attic. The conversation had not gone the way he had planned, not in the slightest. Fel stared into nowhere for a while before fixing his sleeves and climbing back down. Areus was curled in a corner. Cat and man shared a long look.

“... The Gatekeeper is scary.”

“He sure is.”

“Is he always like that?”

“Depends on the day.”

“Was this a bad day?”

“No.”

“Awesome.”

Together, they walked back down. Fel continued repeating the same words in his head: Anyway, it wasn’t like he couldn’t leave whenever he wanted. He could always leave this mansion behind. He didn't have to talk to the Gatekeeper who was as scary as he was beautiful, and he didn't have to deal with all of this. He had a choice. He could leave.

Fel hadn’t actually planned on staying for long, so he didn’t have anything to eat with him. He knew the kitchen had a number of ingredients - some of which he didn’t recognize, some of which he wasn’t sure he wanted to recognize - but the stove was the type with an open fire.

With a grumbling stomach, Fel stared at the stove like it was his mortal enemy. His face was twisted into an unhappy grimace.

“What’s wrong, Deary?”, Areus asked, walked around his feet.

“I don’t like fire”, Fel complained.

It wasn’t a full phobia. He could look at fire from afar, for example. What he couldn’t take was images or recordings of things burning or being too close to fire. He wouldn't break out into tears, but the closer he was, the sicker he'd feel. Using this stove? Impossible. Even just the thought had him breaking out into cold sweat.

Was he going to have to live off fruits until tomorrow?

“Urulu can cook”, Areus suggested. 

For some reason, Fel was worried about making the plague-doctor guy cook. It felt like it would end up being poisonous. Also, he wasn’t sure if it would be humanly edible from the start.

The cat-thing read his thoughts off his face and rolled his eyes in a very humanly manner. “He travels worlds in search of good food and interesting ingredients. Believe me, he can cook.”

Fel prayed to all gods he knew as he went into a sideroom intended for reading to find the otherworldler.

Urulu’s dark black eyes blinked peacefully. “Can I help you?”

“Uhm-” Fel’s words got stuck in his throat for a while. Was he really going to ask this? “Areus said you’re a good cook…”

The plague-doctor threw the book over his shoulder in happiness. It did not, as one would expect, fall to the ground, but rather did a swerve and placed itself back into the bookshelf. Fel even wondered if it had moved there itself and wasn’t moved by something Urulu did, and remembered to not touch any of these books without Areus nearby.

“I am indeed! Are you hungry? Do you want food from this world or another? Local cuisine or something more foreign? Any special wishes? A family recipe you are craving for?” The being’s eyes sparkled, which made them a whole lot creepier. He chattered as he leaned closer and closer to Fel, the opened beak revealing something like a circular maw filled with tiny teeth. (The human decided the eyes weren’t that creepy, after all.) “This place has all the ingredients you can think of, so feel free to wish for something!”

“I’ve been wondering about that”, Fel said, averting his green eyes. “Who put these there? They were already here when I entered yesterday.”

“I manage that.” Areus’ tail flicked. The cat-being nimbly jumped up on Fel’s shoulder, causing the man to sway for a moment. “The storage is a special space that slows the ripening process to almost nothing. These are all leftover ingredients from your grandfather, but I’m the one who makes sure that there are always enough around.”

Not sure how a cat could order ingredients. Wasn’t going to ask. Otherworldly logic and stuff.

“I see… Are there ingredients for something… Simple? I don’t know. Some meat, some potatoes. Noodles.”

“Something pointedly normal?”

“... Yes, please.”

“No worries, no worries. I can understand. You’re not the first owner here and they all need some time.” Urulu’s gloved hand was placed on Fel’s free shoulder. It was ridiculously heavy, much heavier than the cat on his other shoulder. Fel tried not to grimace.

“Thank you.”

Owl

Grumpy Gatekeeper is grumpy. He just really needs hugs.
Have I ever mentioned I love supportive people? I love supportive people. Better yet, have a supportive water-cat.