Destined (18 page)

And just as quickly as it began, it stopped. Laura wavered for a second, struggling to find her balance. When she looked up, she saw that the two halves of the vault doors had come open. And inside was a scene she could never have expected.

~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 wal s of the corridor were shining marble. There was no light source there that Laura 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 wal s was cleanly polished. And there were columns, pure and white, that stood every ten paces on either wal in perfect symmetry with one another. As Laura looked further down, she saw that the hal way gently sloped downwards, and also curved in the distance.

“What is it?” Laura 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’l be the first to enter in years.”

Alexander started into the corridor, and Laura 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 wal s and ceiling. From the corner of her eye, Laura 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 did not feel quite right.

She walked after Alexander, her steps echoing unnervingly against the hard floor. Just as she had seen from the distance, the hal way soon started to tilt downwards, as wel as slightly curve to the left. It was a gentle slope, and a gentle curve, but together they formed a spiral that led Laura 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 Laura could tel . There had been direction as far as Laura could tel . There had been an expert craftsmanship with which the entire hal was built.

At last, after an hour or more, the corridor straightened and flattened. In the distance, Laura 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 al 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 bril iantly, giving off a strident blue hue that actual y
reflected
the light that came from everywhere and nowhere, al at once. A set of wide marble stairs descended to the floor of the chamber. Laura started down them slowly, together with Alexander. The chamber itself was built in the purest white marble, cleaner even than the corridor they had just walked through. The wal s 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 Laura could see what was past.

When she reached the bottom of the stairs, Laura 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 of perfect 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 Laura had not experienced before.

“What do you think this place is?” she asked, turning to Alexander. He voiced bounced from the wal s and echoed grandly. But suddenly her eyes caught something hidden away in the crevice of a pil ar by the side wal . A smal 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 smal white stars –

the ones Selaine had been talking about. “Look!”

Laura exclaimed, running up to them. “The mushrooms! They are right here!”

She ran to them, kneeling down beside them.

“Look,” she said happily, “we found them! You’re going to be al 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 did not answer. “Alexander,

“Alexander?” He did not 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 Laura’s eyes caught something…

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 Laura thought could have cal ed beautiful once 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 fal 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, it is not natural.”

Laura nodded quickly in agreement. She stil 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.”

Laura jerked towards the voice as if a hook had been planted in her mouth. It came from the far side of the pool. There, walking towards her from the darkened side of the chamber, was a smal creature, no tal er than Laura’s waist. Its skin was unnatural y pale, and speckled dark dots al over gave the creature the appearance of being very il . A head that stood on a too-thin neck looked to be perpetual y on the verge of toppling over. Thin legs fil ed out grimy breaches, and flail 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 him between the creature and Laura, but Laura stepped up right beside him. She was not so 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.

“Who are you,” Alexander repeated.

“I am but a caretaker. I bear no titles.”

“A caretaker?” Laura asked. “Of… who?”

The creature smiled, revealing a mouth ful 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?

The faces of those who did not know their place.”

Laura felt a stab of fear pierce her gut. She tried to push it down, to ignore it, but it stayed.

“You did this?” Alexander asked. He pushed Laura back with one arm. “Why?”

The creature ignored his question. Instead, he looked past Alexander, straight at Laura. “Ah. I see you have your eye on my little garden?” It motioned to the growth of mushrooms, and started walking towards them. “Beautiful little things, as wel . Tricky, too. Ingest too much of one, and it wil burn your insides until the lining of your stomach is destroyed and your body col apses onto itself. A painful demise.” It chuckled gleeful y. “Too little, and you may fal 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 wil be my gift to you, Laura. Laura
Cubus
.”

“How do you know my name?” she sputtered, shocked.

“I know many things about many people,” the creature answered casual y. “These mushrooms are the reason you came, are they not?” It leaned down by the growth, and pul ed one smal 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 towards Laura and Alexander.

Laura 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 smal creature there would be no other chance to get them. Besides, whatever the creature was, it did not
look
dangerous. But that did not ease the fear in Laura’s gut.

“Do not be afraid,” the creature said. It motioned to the pool with one arm idly. “This is simply the natural order of things.”

Laura’s back came up against something hard, and she realized she had backed into the wal . 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?” Laura 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 pul ed its hand back quickly. “I forgot.” Very deliberately, the creature brought the mushroom to its mouth, and conspicuously breathed onto it. Immediately, the mushroom in its hand shriveled up and died, leaving a dry dark carcass. “There,” the creature said, smiling up at Laura. “That’s much better.” And it tossed the mushroom over to her. Laura reflexively stepped out of the way. The mushroom flew through the air, arching high before fal ing, and as soon as it touched the ground, it sizzled violently, burning a hole right through the marble. Laura looked at it in shock. The creature hadn’t moved. Instead, it lifted its head back and laughed. It was a shril laugh; Laura 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 side of her head, covering her ears, doing everything she could to stop the sound. But it continued on, forcing its way into her ears, like some poisonous bel ringing and destroying her mind. She opened an eye, and saw that Alexander was in the same position as her, in the same agony. Laura had to get it to stop. But… how?

Just as abruptly as it began, the laughter stopped. Laura opened her eyes. The creature was stopped. Laura opened her eyes. The creature was looking at them, smiling devilishly. Alexander was already moving. “Run!” he yel ed to her. “RUN!”

Laura started to the stairs, trailing Alexander. The two of them ran as fast as their legs could carry them. Just as they were about to get to the entrance, about to escape from the massive chamber, 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. Laura 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 an step forward. “You think you can come here, disturb me here, and leave alive?” It shook its head again. “No, no. Nobody who has seen this but 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 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 smal er, more beady, and stained black. But they shone with a fiery wickedness. It snarled, and the mouth that was missing teeth before was now ful 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 wide as tree trunks, curling like the hind legs of a kangaroo. It kept growing, until its hands became paws, sharp with massive, yel owing claws that curved dangerously like a row of sharp hooks. It roared again, and the sound shook the entire great hal . Reverberations ran across the wal s, 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 shel , and it stood towering above them. It was a foul mix of rat and goril a and snake god-knows-whatelse. 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 towards them, snarling viciously. And Laura knew fear.