Kyra led him silently through the sprawling streets, still deep in thought and throwing him odd looks occasionally. As they walked, Grant studied his new surroundings. The regular houses and familiar environment were comforting after seeing skyscrapers and castles emerging from the sides of mountains. There were still peculiarities however, such as the out-of-place mosque that they had emerged from - the street lights weren’t placed at the usual regular intervals, but appeared at random distances, and some of them were twisted around so they hung over the houses instead of the streets. There was even one that shone its light directly up into the sky. The closer he looked at the houses, the more he spotted the occasional odd detail there as well; doors that were oddly sized compared to their houses, windows that were slightly crooked and off-centre, and even one building that was just a perfect cube, unbroken by windows or cracks, with a set of double doors that would have been appropriate at the entrance to a castle’s great hall. Grant quickly noticed that the houses with aberrations all shared something in common, the same dark ring of earth as had surrounded the cottage and the mosque he had travelled through. He surmised that it was only these buildings that had the magical doors he had already grown accustomed to - the rest, presumably, were just normal houses.
The most obvious peculiarity he could see was a white tower that rose over the horizon, dwarfing the surrounding buildings and starkly visible against the quickly darkening, star-dappled sky beyond. Grant noticed as they travelled that they appeared to be heading straight for this tower, and assumed that it was the entrance to this ‘Sanctuary’ Kyra had mentioned.
He took advantage of the silence to think back on the bizarre test Kyra had administered, ‘piercing his spirit’. He couldn’t help but feel that he was forgetting an important part of what had transpired, but after a few minutes of intense thought he attributed the feeling to his mind merely being overwhelmed with everything that had happened in the past hour. Huh, he realised, surprised, it’s only been about an hour. So much had happened already that it felt like he must have been here for days. In fact, he thought that he was dealing with everything remarkably well, especially since Kyra had ‘unblocked his source’, whatever that meant. He felt far more relaxed and at ease, and no longer as though his sanity was in danger of collapsing at any moment. He also felt more confident, more… solid, as though his fear and self-anxiety had been dampened down or washed away. Even thinking back on his family and friends, a subject that had caused him to break out in tears not long ago, now was more comfortable, the loneliness and worry already fading away - the desire to return home, however, was even stronger. He wanted nothing more than to find his way back to Earth, to see his aunt and uncle, to see his roommates, to see the cute girl who he got his morning coffee from, but he was no longer saddened by the thought of them. Instead, reflecting on what he was missing merely strengthened his resolve to return.
They had been walking for almost half an hour, and still the environment remained more or less unchanged. They were still deep in suburbia, with the occasional odd occurrence, such as a cafe with seats on the floor but tables on the ceiling that made him chuckle as they passed. The tower ahead had barely seemed to change in size despite the distance travelled, making Grant wonder exactly how tall it must be. The day had lost the last remnants of sunlight, and the tower turned out not to just be a bright white to stand out in the dark, but the top of it had a gentle, soft blue glow emanating from it.
Seeing the glowing light made Grant suddenly look down at his hands, as it reminded him of the shield that Kyra had given him earlier. He noticed with a start that it had apparently faded away as they travelled, yet despite the fact that it was a cool night, he was barefoot and there was a light breeze blowing, he felt perfectly comfortable.
Okay then, he thought as he followed Kyra. I guess I’m now sufficiently… empowered or something? This ‘Source’ or whatever she mentioned is obviously some kind of magic pool that enables her to do all the magic and gives her super strength and whatever else. So if it’s been unblocked or whatever… that must mean I can do some of that stuff now too.
Pulse racing, he focused his thoughts inward, searching for some kind of new pool of power or new ability that he could test. He wasn’t exactly sure what it would feel like, or if he was even going about this the right way, but the thought that he could use magic made him concentrate intensely. After a few moments of quiet searching, he felt something. Just behind his eyes, almost like the beginnings of brain freeze, he felt a soft, slow yet steady pulsing. It was barely noticeable and not at all painful, but it was definitely a new and distinct feeling. He zeroed in on it, concentrating on the feeling, letting the pulse wash over him until it grew more and more noticeable and was pounding throughout his head, and he could feel his heart begin to beat in time with the rhythm. He closed his eyes, focusing his thoughts and raising his arm. Without knowing why he thought it was the right thing to do, he tried to picture in his mind’s eye the pulsing spreading throughout his body, down his right arm and through his fingertips.
For a second, he thought he felt the power begin to respond to his command, before his focus was shattered by a sharp, stabbing pain as the beating drum of his power flared sharply. His brain suddenly felt like it was on fire, the pain driving him to his knees as he clutched his head and gritted his teeth as a scream fought to escape and images flickered before his eyes.
As suddenly as the pain had started, it vanished, leaving him gasping and trembling on the ground. He felt a hand on his shoulder and looked up to see Kyra looking at him with a wry smile.
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“Yeah, I wouldn’t try and do that just yet,” she said kindly, “It takes time before you build up enough energy to actually do anything substantial, and overburn is not at all fun.” She helped him to his feet and placed a hand on his forehead, checking his temperature. “I’m sorry again, this has all been a mess - when I came here I didn’t find out about our abilities until the next day, when my lessons began. It didn’t occur to me that you’d try something by yourself. Luckily, you don’t seem to have a fever, which means you didn’t do yourself any permanent damage.” She removed her hand and began to walk onwards, jerking her head towards the distant spire rising over the row of houses in front of them. “Come on, we’re almost to the door. Just do us both a favour and don’t experiment anymore until you learn some basic concepts, starting with the most important - your source is very, very limited. Use too much and you’ll damage your ability to control it, and do that too much - you die.”
Grant swallowed the lump in his throat. “Right. Okay. No more experimentation from me, check. Very much in favour of living, I am.”
As they resumed their journey, Grant looked at his right hand again, flexing it. He could still feel a slight prickle in his fingertips, as though they had recently been numbed. He looked inside himself at what he assumed was his ‘Source’, studying it but careful not to try and use it. The pulsing had definitely grown even fainter, and focusing on it for too long brought another sharp pain behind his eyes, like his body was warning him not to do anything.
As they continued their journey, he thought back to the images that had accompanied his blinding headache. They had danced before his eyes, out of focus, and most of them appearing too briefly to see clearly or remember. His mind focused on one image, however, that seemed to have imprinted itself onto his brain, crisp and clear as any photograph.
As he had drawn his power and felt it wash over him, he had seen for a split second a house, made not of wood or stone, but of what had looked to be solid gold. The house was surrounded by a ring of brilliant blue fire, burning brightly without any trace of fuel. The outside walls of the house were beginning to melt, thick drops of gold dripping from the awning. The windows were melting and sliding to the ground, red-hot glass falling onto the potted plants that lay below them. Through the now empty window spaces, he had seen that the inside of the house was filled with bodies, dozens of them, piled upon each other haphazardly until the floor was no longer visible. They were covered in blood and burned beyond recognition, arms outstretched as if pleading for their lives.
Grant shivered, trying to cast the image from his mind.
After another half an hour, they stopped in front of a building that seemed to be a perfectly normal suburban home, complete with white picket fence, lush green lawn and tiled roof. The only unusual aspect was the large conical spire that sprouted from the ground behind it, tall enough to be seen for miles. Kyra looked back at him as they stopped in front of the door.
“Okay,” she said, “Here we are. This is the only entrance and the only exit to your new home. We call it Sanctuary. Before we go through, there are some things you need to know.”
Grant frowned. “Wait, what do you mean, the only entrance? How does that work? Is it just a closed off room or what?”
Kyra shook her head. “No. That’s the first important thing to remember about navigating this place. The doors that we use to travel don’t work in the way you probably assumed they did. They don’t just move us to a new place, each door we go through is actually, as best as we can tell, a whole unique world, completely separate from each other. Which is why the first rule is don’t ever, EVER go through an unmapped door alone. Depending on what’s on the other side, you may get lost and never be able to find your way back to where you came from. Apparently, in the early days of Sanctuary, there were a few people who began to map out the area, but some of them never came back. For all anyone knows, they could still be alive somewhere on another world, through any door, anywhere. I don’t recommend leaving Sanctuary unescorted until you’ve done more than a little study of the surrounding doors.”
Grant stared at the door, picturing what it would be like to walk through and never come back, stranded on the other side, the sole living being in a bizarre facsimile of the real world. He shivered, then nodded his understanding.
“Second thing to remember,” she continued, “is to always close any door you go through as soon as you go through it. The doors only work for us, you see. There are some peaceful beings living here with us, but there are also a lot of dangers - as you’ve seen. If the wrong door is left open, and the wrong monster finds it, it could be a catastrophe.” Grief washed over her face as she spoke, and she paused for a brief moment before continuing. “Lastly, and this is one of the most important rules we have: don’t be a dick.”
The rapid switch from serious, deadly topics to such a light rule made Grant huff out a laugh, but he stopped when he saw that Kyra was still entirely serious.
“It may sound trivial or silly, but it's important,” she said gravely, meeting his eyes. “There aren’t a lot of us, and we live in a dangerous world. As strong as we are, there are creatures behind these doors that could crush most of us without a second thought. The only way we’ve been able to survive and build this safe place, is because we trust one another, and we don’t start fights. If any of us ever develops a problem with someone, we have very strict rules about how to resolve it. Anything else would have us turning on each other within weeks, so I suggest that you try to keep an open mind, and leave any prejudices that could inflame tensions behind. If you can’t, you’ll most likely be killed.”
Grant looked at her, slightly scared. He didn’t quite understand this girl. She seemed bubbly and friendly half the time, but that was the second time that she’d mentioned killing him, and he was certain not a word she had uttered was a lie. I guess being attacked by gryphons - or worse - for a few years would harden anyone, he thought.
Kyra smiled at him, once again perfectly friendly and polite. “Don’t worry though. You seem nice, I’m sure you’ll fit right in. So, without further delay…” She stepped forward and swung the door to the house open. “... welcome to Sanctuary”