They were alone.
Five of them, yet none felt the presence of the others. They were observing the sunrise through the fresh leaves that blurred the sky, listening to the sounds of nature, maybe for the last time. Colored by bits of pink and purple, the unreachable blue bid its farewell. Knowing they might never get to see it again it showed them all its best attributes and made them yearn for the years they would never experience. Their hearts cried for home yet their bodies turned towards the unforeseeable path. Their boots were more brown now than black, Diane having given them some Raven uniforms to spoil with their peasant skin. Even Prince Isaac of Florus seemed humbled, his eyes reaching for the ground more often than not; due to such a horrific night filled with death and regret, he couldn’t lift his eyelids enough to completely admire the sky.
"It's such a nice day," George remarked.
"I’ve seen a sunrise like this one only once in my life," Isaac replied out of habit.
“It is rather cold,” Jeremy jumped in, rubbing his hands together.
“Come on, now,” Isaac said and put his hand on Jeremy’s shoulder, “it’s not all that gray, is it?” Lying was another habit of his; whether it was for anyone’s good or for the sake of being royal, he did not know.
“When you are setting off towards death, it is,” Jeremy replied.
George smirked. “She asked if you wanted to leave.”
Jeremy snickered. “As if I could actually do it.”
Thomas didn’t like such conversations; the daybreak was too fulfilling to think of death. He, for once, slept very well; George’s mattresses were soft and the blankets were warm, the walls were painted a pretty burgundy color, the portraits seemed gentler than the ones in the hallway, even the ceiling was…
“What do you think, Thomas?” Isaac asked in the tone he always maintained. Thomas admired him for his consistency.
“Well, uhm, it’s pretty, I guess.”
No more words were exchanged; they drew into themselves to reconcile with the last sunrise of their lives. What waited ahead was a mystery, but it was certainly red. Diane looked as disinterested as ever, muddy up to her knees. She was walking behind the four, deep in thought. She was holding a gerlock in her hand, one of those magic stones that allowed people to track others holding onto the same peculiar stone. There weren’t many such magical stones, so they were almost impossible to obtain; unless you are a Raven, that is. Ravens always found their way to be ahead of life, to cheat the existence of unpredictability; judging by their confidence, it would be strange to assume any of them died in ditches with their throats sliced and their bodies deformed.
“Don’t you think it’s time to tell us where we are going?” George asked Diane once the forest was replaced by the clearing and the blinding sun. There was an ancient building ahead, but all they could see before them was the sunrise that disappeared.
“I will show you when we go in,” she replied. “I’ve been thinking, and I came to the conclusion that it would be best to split up once we get there.”
The five companions stopped in the middle of the vast land that belonged to everyone who wished to own it. The last Brown snorted. “Right. So we can die easier.”
“So we can cover more land,” Diane replied.
If the sun hadn’t been so blinding and the air so pleasant, someone might have noticed a smile briefly appear on George’s face. “Alright,” he said. “What is your plan?”
“These,” she said holdin up a gerlock, “are gerlocks. They are a special type of magic stones.”
“Where did you get those?! I've never heard of them!” Thomas let out and looked at Isaac.
“This is why you shouldn’t trust Ravens,” Isaac joked and nudged Diane. “They keep all the nice things to themselves.”
“Yes, well… They are extremely rare. They only grow on Icelean mountains. Have any of you ever seen an Icelean mountain?” The four were silent. “Exactly. That is why you should absolutely not use yours unless necessary. They are like tracking devices: when you break them, a line will appear leading the other holders of the stone to you. So, be careful with them.”
“Yes, sir!” Isaac replied a bit too enthusiastically. Thomas was in complete awe of the little gem and tried very hard to focus on Diane’s words and not on the gerlock. Jeremy was not very impressed, and neither was George Brown, which Diane made a note of.
“As for the groups, I will go with Thomas and the three of you can go together,” Diane said.
“And why is that?” George asked like he didn’t already know the answer.
“Well,” Diane replied, “I do not trust you enough to leave you with Thomas or Jeremy. They aren’t strong enough to stop you should you go rogue, and neither is Isaac. And it’s not like Jeremy can go alone with Thomas either, unless we want to dispose of them.”
“I could go with Thomas,” Isaac said and regretted it immediately. He also knew the reason all too well.
A mixture of disappointment and guilt painted Diane’s eyes a darker shade of brown. “No. I wouldn’t be able to do it.”
George smiled. “We shouldn’t waste any more time.”
They stopped before the entrance. It seemed bigger and more impersonal than before; it was not their path, it was never their path; it was all in Diane Hunster, that strange princess who persuaded normal people into death.
Isaac could see Thomas trembling and occasionally looking back at where they came from. “You better not run away, Thomas. I do not wish to spoil the sacredness of this place.”
Thomas smiled nervously. “That’s not what I was thinking,” he replied quietly.
If you come across this story on Amazon, it's taken without permission from the author. Report it.
“What is it then?”
Thomas turned around once more. He could feel air change colors and smells. “My house is so far away, that’s all.”
“Can we go in?” Diane asked. She was standing at the door waiting for the two to follow George and Jeremy inside.
“Now that I think about it,” Jeremy started, his face gray, “you never told us what the map said.”
“Aren’t you a little late?” Diane replied. She ignored George’s disappointed glance and added, “You’ll see in a moment.”
They had seen it all before: the holy temple, the circular room; five doors, a thousand paths. But none of them was hers. Diane stared at the monstrous ceiling. She could hear them all breathing, some faster than the others. There was light and shadows of people, of companions, friends, foes, accomplices, corpses morphing on the ceiling, and a sound of banging that hurt. And growling, hungry and vicious.
"What are we waiting for?” Jeremy asked. “To be eaten alive?!”
She loved keeping people in the dark. Was it her pride as the future queen or her fear of being ripped open?
"Just a bit more," Diane responded. She had gone through Nowhere countless times, without ever doubting its only rule. She never dared defy it, for her life was too meaningful to end in the hands of a faceless beast. But she was now a different person, one that didn’t mind the vicious air.
It was gruesome; calling, begging to spill their blood on the holy walls, to paint pictures of agony and desperation. It was shaking the doors now that they were standing still, so close they would never be able to outrun it. They would die before they reached their destination in such torture the walls would remember and tell the tale to every passenger of the future.
“Any moment now!” Isaac rushed.
Their time was running out. The screeching was in their hearts, souls, and eyes. Their fingers cringed and their feet itched to feel the marble change into dirt. Their hair was dirtied by the pieces of concrete that fell from the ceiling. There was dust everywhere so they could no longer see each other clearly. The sounds were so loud their lungs and ribs and intestines felt heavy and sore.
Then, Diane saw something strange. It was a memory, unlike the ones she was used too; too vivid, too loud, and too dangerous. She immediately turned to George. He was calm. Completely and utterly calm. Then he looked at her with those empty eyes of his. Stared right into her soul. And he saw it. He saw her fear. He was holding the knife. Right under her throat. Blood was dripping from it. Not her blood. Someone else’s blood. So red. So intense. So odorous she couldn’t breathe.
“Diane!” Thomas yelled.
She had lost her life before. It was nothing new. She put all her weight on her left foot and pulled out her sword.
Any moment now the future will begin.
Just as the monster was about to thrust its teeth into their backs, Diane pulled out her sword and turned around to face it; it was the product of her ancestor’s cunningness and fear. The growling stopped. Facing the forbidden direction, Diane smiled. The thrill she had felt once she had shown them how weak all rules are compared to her revenge was unmatchable. It filled her heart with joyous sadness and fear of forever shutting her royal eyes. As silence absorbed the space they were trapped in, she dropped her sword due to her hands shaking more violently than ever.
“George,” she let out quietly enough for no one but her and the fake monster to hear.
Isaac impulsively grabbed her hand and tried to pull her back, as pale as the roses filling his everblooming garden. He knew it was too late to save her. While Jeremy observed George’s body shake and lips twitch upwards, all the liquid in Thomas’s body escaped to the surface of his being and soaked his clothes. He pushed Isaac aside and covered Diane’s eyes with his warm hands. Looking up to face the monster, he let out a terrified sigh. It brought her back to present. She chuckled. She knew it was all a lie.
“Do you mind moving your hand, Thomas Hammer? I would really like to see it.”
Before the five of them, instead of a six-feet-tall monster with diamond jaws, was a door. Covered in cobwebs, rusty and old, it must have stood untouched for centuries before a princess decided it should be uncovered.
“What in the world…” someone let out.
Diane was afraid Thomas would feel her heart beating, as he still had his hands on her shoulders. Isaac only watched in amazement, while Jeremy laughed. “Well, I’ll be damned! You really are insane!” the old man exclaimed, and Diane let out a victorious chuckle.
Seasons changed in George’s eyes: the intensely red that haunted Diane’s dreams was now currant and feverish. “This is it,” he said to no one. Then he came closer to Diane as if pulled by her reckless heroism. Luckily, Thomas Hammer was there to block his invisible frenzy: the Demon stopped right before the future queen. “How did you know?”
“We Hunsters are hypocrites,” she replied, observing his posture. “I wonder how I never realized that the same monster that was on my family crest was the monster described in those awul tales. It must have been one of my celebrated ancestors who came up with that idea to keep people away from Carcer. That way, Demons could remain a legend instead of a threat.”
Just above the door, engraved in large letters in cursive stood the message to all Crystalian citizens: Fortune favors the brave.
“Wild, indeed,” Jeremy remarked. “Let us go in, then.”
George careflully walked over to the rusty door. Thousand-years’ worth of dust invaded the tips of his fingers as he touched it, just to make sure it was real. A gush of unpleasantly warm wind forced Diane’s eyes shut as he opened the door. They walked in, one by one. Diane stayed back for a moment, still shivering from the memory that she couldn’t pin to a single moment in her past.
I can’t. Not now. When I come back.
She followed them. The excitement, uncertainty, perplexity, all melted under the sun that fried the ground.
"Where in the world are we?" Isaac let out as the scenery baffled his senses. There was nothing but withering fields in front. Dry ground spread out without an end. He kept turning around hopelessly, trying to find even the smallest change in his surroundings. Even the sky was grayish from the dust.
“It reminds me of your garden,” Jeremy joked.
Diane shivered as she stepped onto the deserted land. It was the moment she had been waiting for. Every drop of blood led to this wasteland.
Just a step closer.
“What now?” Thomas asked her.
Diane turned around a few times, in vain. There was absolutely nothing that could guide her towards the grave; she didn’t even know what it looked like.
“George, do you know where we should go?”
George shrugged. “I haven’t been here in over fifteen years, though I doubt anything much has changed. Either way, I have never used this portal.”
Diane flinched. “Which one did you use, anyway?”
“Diane, I really don’t think it’s time for catching up,” Isaac said, evidently terrified. “We can’t stay like this. We are easy prey.”
“We are not animals,” George complained, his red eyes standing out from the surroundings even more than before.
“Well, you are not exactly welcoming either. But that doesn’t matter now. What do we do?”
George came closer to Diane and whispered, “You should be able to feel something. The grave was designed so only you would be eble to enter it.”
Diane felt so nervous she considered going back. She was so preoccupied with herself that she completely forgot to plan ahead. “I don’t know. I don’t feel anything special. But I do want to go south.”
“South it is,” George said loudly. “Isaac, Jeremy, we are going north. If anything happens, you know what to do,” he told Diane and brushed his finger through her hair. Then he looked at her the same way he did when they talked about Meredith. “I hope that the next time I see you, it will be in a different world.”
Diane stepped back; her heart was pounding and she felt the need to run away from him. “I sincerely hope that won’t be the case.”
And so, they split up.