by Sophia Sharp
“I… I can’t hold on,” Nora said, through gritted teeth. “It’s going to break free!”
“No,” Alexander said coldly. “We’ve come this close…we just need to push…a little bit more…” with an enormous grunt, Alexander heaved himself forward, breaking the lion out of Nora’s hands and falling against the chamber doors. But he had forced the lion head into its opening. Immediately, the vibrations stopped. And the resonance from within the chamber ended.
Nora looked at the doors warily. Aside from her labored breathing, a silence draped over the chamber. “Is that it?” she asked. Nothing was happening. Nora realized the lights from the outside letters had drained out.
“Back away,” Alexander said uncertainly.
“What?”
“Back away!” Nora started to turn, but just then, a ray of blazing light exploded from the middle of the stone, overtaking everything around her. It was a pure white, whiter than white, yet hued with blues and greens all at once. It blinded her. It swept across the tunnel, leaving nothing untouched, and Nora staggered back. The light lasted for an eternity, and Nora was lost in a sea of white. Direction became meaningless, all her senses became dull, and her mind began to wander. The moment lasted forever, and Nora was bathed in light brighter than the thousand brightest stars in the galaxy. It lasted forever, stretching on and on and on…
And just as quickly as it began, it stopped. Nora wavered for a second, struggling to find her balance.
When she looked up, she saw the two halves of the vault doors had come open. And inside was a scene she could never have expected.
Chapter Twenty-Six
~Faces~
Looking across the now-open vault doors was like looking through a window to another world. Not one hint of the mines extended over to the other side. Instead, there stood a long white corridor, pristine and glistening. Clean white arches stretched high to support a vaulted ceiling, and the walls of the corridor were shining marble. There was no light source that Nora could make out, but there was definitely light, coming from everywhere and nowhere at once. It was not the same as seeing in the dark, but also quite unlike being out in the day. It was a sort of…calming luminance.
It also looked to be completely untouched by the passage of time. The marble of the walls was cleanly polished. And there were columns, pure and white, that stood every ten paces on either wall in perfect symmetry with one another. As Nora looked farther down, she saw the hallway gently curve in the distance.
“What is it?” Nora breathed.
“A passageway, it seems,” Alexander answered.
“But where does it lead?”
“I’m not sure. But we won’t find out standing here. Come. By the looks of it, we’ll be the first to enter in years.”
Alexander started into the corridor, and Nora went after him. As soon as she stepped across the open entrance, goosebumps ran down the back of her spine. Taking another step forward, she turned to look back – and gasped. The entrance she had walked through shimmered with a silvery-white gleam, and she couldn’t see through to the other side. It was as if she were looking into a mercury mirror.
Quickly, she picked up her pace, trailing after Alexander.
The floor was smooth, and of a slightly darker white than the walls and ceiling. From the corner of her eye, Nora could see the large pieces of diamond tiles that joined together to make it one, but every time she looked straight down the separations were not there – making the floor seem like a single smooth, continuous surface. A trick of the light, perhaps, but it didn’t feel quite right.
She walked after Alexander, her steps echoing unnervingly against the hard floor. Just as she had seen from the distance, the hallway soon started to tilt downward, as well as curving slightly to the left. It was a gentle slope, and a gentle curve, but together they formed a spiral that led Nora and Alexander lower and lower into the earth.
Down and down they went. The spacing of the corridor neither increased nor decreased in any direction as far as Nora could tell. There had been an expert craftsmanship with which the entire hall was built.
At last, after an hour or so, the corridor straightened and leveled. In the distance, Nora could see an opening to some grand chamber. From afar, there seemed to be a…glow…coming from the opening. It stood out despite the light that came from everywhere and nowhere all around her. As they got closer, she realized where the glow came from. The ceiling of the chamber was overgrown with pulsing crystals, of exactly the same type she had seen in the sanctuary before. They shone brilliantly, giving off a strident blue hue that actually reflected the light that came from everywhere and nowhere, all at once.
A set of wide marble stairs descended to the floor of the chamber. Nora started down them slowly, together with Alexander. The chamber itself was built from the purest white marble, cleaner even than the corridor they had just walked through. The walls glistened with reflections of the crystals and extended far to the other side. There, at the very end, the light seemed to simply fade into shadow, and not even Nora could see what lay beyond.
When she reached the bottom of the stairs, Nora realized she had overlooked a key feature of the chamber. Right in the middle of the floor was a long, oval pool of silver water. There was no edge – no pivot in the ground – and it blended easily with the rest of the floor. It was perfectly level with the marble flooring, not an inch lower, and there was no visible separation, no rim she could make out. The water glistened with the same mercurial shine as had the opening to the corridor from the mines. It did not seem natural, the water, but at the same time it radiated a sense of…peace, and…serenity…that Nora had never experienced before.
“What do you think this place is?” she asked, turning to Alexander. Her voiced bounced from the walls and echoed grandly. But suddenly her eyes caught something hidden away in the crevice of a pillar by the side wall. A small bunch of mushrooms, easily overlooked, growing out of a crack in the marble. But they were thriving, and the stalks were long. Blue stalks, speckled with small white stars – the ones Selaine had been talking about. “Look!” Nora exclaimed, running up to them. “The mushrooms! They’re right here!”
She ran to them, kneeling down beside them. “Look,” she said happily, “we found them! You’re going to be all right!” She laughed and looked to Alexander.
But he wasn’t paying attention. Instead, she found him standing at the edge of the pool, staring intently at the surface.
“Alexander?” He didn’t answer. “Alexander, what is it?” She stood up and walked to him slowly. She stood beside him and glanced where he was looking. “Alexander…?”
Suddenly Nora’s eyes caught something in the water. She looked down at the shining silver pool at her feet. She could see her reflection so clearly in the pristine water, untouched by ripples or waves. But there was something more, something past the surface that beckoned her. She looked, straining to see past her own reflection. And gasped.
They were pristine waters, but below the shimmering surface, seen from a certain angle, she caught… faces. Screaming faces, distorted and twisted in pain. Three men and three women, who Nora thought could have called beautiful if their faces had not been so shaped by fear. They only knew terror and agony.
“There are bodies in the water!” she exclaimed, stumbling back. She lost her footing and began to fall back, but reached out quickly to grab Alexander’s shoulder for support. He stumbled back with her, and the movement must have broken him out of his trance, because he looked back, seeing her for the first time. His eyes were dark.
“We should leave this place,” he said quietly. “The pool is not natural.”
Nora nodded quickly in agreement. She still hadn’t gotten over the shock of seeing the faces. “Who…who do you think they are?” she asked unsteadily.
“They are the souls of those long forgotten.”
Nora jerked toward the voice as if a hook had been planted in her mouth. It came from the far side of the pool
. There, walking toward her from the darkened side of the chamber, was a small creature, no taller than Nora’s waist. Its skin was unnaturally pale and covered in speckled dark dots, giving the creature the appearance of being very ill. A head that stood on a too-thin neck looked to be perpetually on the verge of toppling over. Thin legs filled out grimy breaches, and frail arms poked out of a shirt that hung loose around the creature’s body. It walked with a hobble and reminded her vaguely of an imp.
Alexander stepped forward, placing himself between the creature and Nora, but Nora stepped up right beside him. She was not as helpless as before and would face whatever this was head-on.
“Who are you?” Alexander asked cautiously.
“Who am I?” the creature mused. “I might ask you the same question. You enter my home, where I have been undisturbed for thousands of years. Thousands upon thousands of years. Guests do not come frequently, anymore.”
“Who are you,” Alexander repeated.
“I am a caretaker. I bear no titles.”
“A caretaker?” Nora asked. “Of…what?”
The creature smiled, revealing a mouth full of missing teeth. “Of those who stray far from their destined place.” It walked over to the edge of the pool and looked in adoringly. “Aren’t they beautiful?”
A stab of fear pierced Nora’s gut. She tried to push it down, to ignore it, but it stayed.
“You did this?” Alexander asked. He pushed Nora back with one arm. “Why?”
The creature ignored his question. Instead, he looked past Alexander, straight at Nora. “Ah. I see you have your eye on my little garden?” It motioned to the growth of mushrooms and started walking toward them. “Beautiful little things, as well. Tricky, too. Ingest too much of one, and it will burn your insides until the lining of your stomach is destroyed and your body collapses onto itself. A painful demise.” It chuckled gleefully. “Too little, and you may fall into a deep sleep haunted by dark nightmares from which there is no escape. And yet! Taken in just the right amount, with just the right preparation, the juices of the mushroom have the power to heal even the most deadly ailments. They will be my gift to you, Nora. Nora Colburn.”
Fear slammed through her, knocking the breath from her lungs. “How do you know my name?” she sputtered, shocked.
“I know many things about many people,” the creature answered. “These mushrooms are the reason you came, are they not?” It leaned down by the growth and pulled one small mushroom out of the ground. It popped out easily. The creature caressed it gently, drawing its fingers over the mushroom’s cap.
Then, it walked slowly toward Nora and Alexander.
Nora backed away. She glanced back at the entrance and briefly considered running, but thought better of it. These mushrooms could save Alexander’s life, and if she ran from this small creature there would be no other chance to get them. Besides, whatever the creature was, it did not look dangerous.
That assurance did not ease the fear in Nora’s gut.
“Don’t be afraid,” the creature said. It motioned to the pool with one arm idly. “This is the natural order of things.”
Nora’s back came up against something hard, and she realized she had backed into the wall. Alexander was right beside her, standing with his feet wide as if preparing to fight.
The creature stopped a few meters before them and extended its hand forward. “Here,” it said. “This is why you came?” Nora looked to Alexander, who had an unreadable expression on his face. Gingerly, she took a step forward, reaching out with her hand…
“Oh. Wait a second.” The creature pulled its hand back quickly. “I forgot.” Very deliberately, the creature brought the mushroom to its mouth, and conspicuously breathed onto it.
The mushroom in its hand shriveled up and died, leaving a dry dark carcass.
There,” it said, smiling up at Nora. “That’s much better.” It tossed the mushroom over to her.
Nora reflexively stepped out of the way. The mushroom flew through the air, arching high before falling, and as soon as it touched the ground, it sizzled violently, burning a hole right through the marble. Nora looked at it in shock.
The creature hadn’t moved. Instead, it lifted its head back and laughed. It was a shrill laugh. Nora wouldn’t have expected it to be able to make such a sound. But it was cutting, and it pierced her ears and penetrated her mind until she thought she would scream.
Squirming back, she grasped the sides of her head, covering her ears, doing everything she could to stop the sound. But it continued on, forcing its way into her head, like some poisonous bell ringing and destroying her mind. She opened an eye, and saw that Alexander was in the same position as her, in the same agony. Nora had to get it to stop. But…how?
Just as abruptly as it began, the laughter stopped. Nora opened her eyes. The creature was looking at them, smiling devilishly. Alexander was already moving. “Run!” he yelled to her. “RUN!”
Nora started toward the stairs, trailing Alexander. The two of them ran as fast as their legs would carry them. Just as they were about to get to the entrance, a great marble blockade appeared in front of them. It covered the entire entrance – a huge marble stone, white but cracked and stained like some wilting flower. Nora stopped short. The thing had just…appeared…out of thin air!
She spun around. There was nowhere to go. They were trapped! The creature looked at them and shook its head. “You’re not going anywhere, my darlings.” It took a step forward. “You think you can come here, disturb me here, and leave?” It shook its head again. “No, no. Nobody who has seen this, beside the makers, get to leave this place alive. Nobody.”
Suddenly, its entire body started to shake. The creature turned its head down. And it grew.
Slowly, at first, but then it started to pick up speed. It grew until the clothes on its back tore under the strain, and then grew even more. A furry back appeared, deep brown stained with red. It grew even larger. Its arms extended out, becoming thick, thicker than most men’s legs, thicker than a man’s waist. And hairy with dark fur. Its face…shifted. A snout appeared, the same fur covering it. Its eyes became smaller, more beady, and stained black. But they shone with a fierce wickedness.
It snarled, and the mouth that was missing teeth before was now full of harsh, pointed edges. A long tongue snapped out to lick its lips, not a human’s lips, but the lips of a beast, and the creature roared. It grew even larger, its legs transforming into monstrous abnormalities as wide as tree trunks, curling like the hind legs of a kangaroo. It kept growing, until its hands became paws, sharp with massive, yellowing claws that curved dangerously like a row of sharp hooks. It roared again, and the sound shook the entire great hall.
Reverberations ran across the walls, straining the marble tops, shaking the crystals on the ceiling. The creature straightened. It had become…demonic. A leather crest extended over the front of its body like some sort of protective shell, and it towered above them. It was a foul mix of rat, gorilla, snake, and God-knows-what-else. The torn pieces of the tiny garments it had worn before were miniscule compared to even one of its feet, both of which were now hooved and clawed. It took a step toward them, snarling viciously.
And Nora knew true terror.
Chapter Twenty-Seven
~The End of Life~
A gut wrenching cry echoed from Alexander’s throat as he launched himself toward the creature. He barely got two steps closer before he fell to the floor, screeching in pain. He clutched at his shoulder, and Nora saw with horror that the wound she thought healed had opened up again, staining his shirt with an outpour of deep red blood.
The…thing…in front of them laughed. The deep bass of the sound shook the room. “You are weak,” it spoke. Its voice was grating, not human. It was a beast speaking in a foreign tongue, barely comprehensible, horrible, vile, thick, deep, and guttural. It took a step forward, and the shifting of its massive weight sent tremors down the entire chamber. Small shards of crystal fell from the ceiling to
shatter on the floor. It stepped forward again, so it was right beside Alexander. It lifted one giant foot, hovering it just above him. And the foot started to come down.
“NO!” Nora screamed.
The creature stopped, its enormous paw only inches away from crushing Alexander. “No?” It put the foot down, just in front of Alexander. “You are right. It is not him I am interested in. It is you. Destined one.”
Nora backed away, trying to think. She looked around, desperate for some advantage. She couldn’t see how even her Vassiz gifts could save her here. She felt paralyzed by fear, and by the weight of those beady eyes on her.
“Tell me, Nora. Why should I spare your friend?”
Nora looked down at Alexander. He was lying behind the creature, and his screams still filled the room. He was in pain much worse than any human could endure. She thought fast, but couldn’t come up with anything. The creature snarled and started to turn back toward Alexander.
“No!” Nora screamed again. “What do you want?”
It spun to look right at her. “I want you.”
Nora looked again at Alexander. Then at the creature. And back to Alexander. Desperation clawed at her. She saw no way she could get to him, get him away, without the creature crushing him first. She had to think, there was no time. Fear gripped her. Alexander had been right – this was no natural place. She had to get the beast away from Alexander. Somehow. Distract it, somehow.
Her mind worked frantically for answers, but none came. There was none, save for one.
“You can have me.”
The creature snarled, baring its teeth, and laughed again. But as it did, it kicked Alexander’s body back. He slid toward the pool. Nora watched in horror as his body curled across the floor, slowing down slightly, but not enough. His body slid toward those horrible waters…and stopped right at the edge. Nora sighed with relief. But the momentum of the slide carried his bad arm over, and the limb fell into the water.
