The Magic Mirror

White Dove

As it turned out the tunneled hall that Fritz had begun in was not so one tracked as he had first thought. As he followed his own steps- led on by nothing but hunch and gut feeling- he found that it parted and branched into various directions. In fact, soon enough he found that it had more or less become a maze of tunnels.

Please hurry.

He came upon a stone stair case that rose from the floor to spiral upwards. It went up several flights but Fritz didn't stop until he had reached the highest floor. On it he found himself in one more drab, flickering hallway. It would have looked identical to the first but for one key difference. A door. It was tall and black, with symbols carved up and down every inch of it. There was no need to look further. Fritz knew immediately he had found the right place. He took the metal handle and pulled.

Inside he found a chamber. There was a bed hidden among the curtains along the far wall, nearer was a table and one wooden chair, on the closest wall a hell fire flared from behind a grate. Fritz looked around with some confusion. He had been sure the voice had come from here and yet the room was empty.

In here.

Suddenly he noticed it. Across the chamber was another door. It was rusted iron and probably heavy. As Fritz drew nearer he could feel ropes of magic strapped against it. Barring from intruders. He touched it and the surface blazed symbols similar to the ones on the door before, only these were lit in gold and pulsed with power. Even though he knew better Fritz tried to turn the bronze knob. The door was locked.

"I can't open the door," he said.

You can. Lenore sounded sure. I could feel your power the moment you stepped through the lair's walls. You can.

Fritz tried to focus on the door, on his fingers- below which the magic coursed. He closed his eyes and attempted to will it away. But when he opened them again the symbols remained lit.

"I don't know how," he said. "I've only had this power for a few days. I'm sorry-"

Concentrate. She insisted. The magic in you is a stream of many courses.. direct it through your hands, into the door, flood out Graves' magic.

Fritz was a little surprised. It sounded as if Lenore knew magic first hand.

He placed both of his hands onto the door this time and when he closed his eyes he could feel exactly what she had described. Only the magic felt less like a stream- and more like a tangle. He found that as he thought the tangle loose his forearms and fingers began to tingle, and slowly- as the knot unwound- a stream of energy poured through his fingertips, into the door. He opened his eyes and found that he was making the symbols on the door turn from gold to a bright, overbearing white and then- black! As if he had snuffed out a candle.

There was a click. The door swung open with a metallic grind against the floor. Fritz let his hands fall to either side of him- his arms felt wobbly and ached as if they had been carrying something heavy for too long and had only just managed to set it down. He flexed his fingers and let his attention stray to the now open room. It was pitch black but for a single column of sunlight that shot down from a small hole in the domed ceiling.. As he stepped inside he heard the drag of metal against the stone floor and found a chain laying on the floor, cutting into the only and very narrow lit area.

"...are you in here?" asked Fritz. He had suddenly and only just come under the suspicion that there could be a very devious and cunning monster in here. A beast that might pretend to be a trapped woman just to lure in an unsuspecting victim.

The chain moved and a very pale hand reached into the light. Fritz could only stare at the combination of familiarity and strange. The skin was gray, symbols climbed up the wrist and the fingers were gnarled and warped. A face came into the light as well, a woman's, yes- but just as colorless and mishapened. Her eyes were blacker than coal.