SONG OF POWER

Chapter XXVII: The Hall of Crosses

SONG OF POWER

CHAPTER XXVII:  THE HALL OF CROSSES

Cipher stood baffled in the Dream Realm.  The ogre was gone and Cipher was singularly aware of his solitude, of the emptiness that pressed on him from all sides like an avalanche.  The landscape resembled the hallway of Fort Alafin outside of Tyroce’s chamber where he had been standing just a moment before.  And yet not.  The hallway’s details were muted by an ever-present mist that seemed to obscure everything.  Cipher watched in awe as the door that led to Tyroce slammed shut and shrank until it was the size of a mouse-hole, then as it expanded once more into a great stone corridor before his silver eyes.

What do I do?  Is this the Hall of Crosses that Donk told me about?  Cipher stared down the hallway, which was nondescript in spite of its sudden appearance.  It was a stone hallway that seemed to stretch on far beyond his range of vision.  Walls, floor, ceiling, just modest stonework.  Cipher did not see a single cross in the corridor, nor any decoration at all for that matter.  In fact, it was almost as if the hall were made of the same five-foot section, just repeated over and over again.  Is that even possible, or is this just some unimaginative fantasy?

Cipher stood indecisively at the threshold of the hallway with no idea of what he was supposed to do or what he would face in that corridor.  He felt a strange pull, a little voice inside his head that urged him to follow the corridor, as if it were the most logical and correct thing to do.  The sensation of utter rightness grew stronger until Cipher found himself walking.

Cipher walked through the eternal monotony of the repeating hall sections, the sameness of everything making his eyes ache.  When Cipher felt he couldn’t bear it any longer he noticed empty recesses set in the walls on either side of him.  This continued for a time, and though the young baronet glanced at each one that he passed, they contained nothing.  The uninspired five-foot sections of stonework were now alternated with uninspired five-foot sections of stonework containing empty alcoves.  The sensation that led him on grew stronger, however, so he pressed on.  After a time the stones seemed less borrowed from the previous section of hall, as if now, finally, the entire corridor was real.  Cipher then noticed plain wooden crosses set in the recesses, the bars of which were equal in length.  The crosses stood solemnly as he passed them by, judging him as only inanimate objects are able.

Something from behind Cipher suddenly forced upon him a sense of dread urgency.  The young baronet spun around but saw nothing save the monotonous length of corridor he’d already traversed.  The feeling of wrongness was stalking him, slowly advancing, and Cipher worried about that if it caught up then all would be lost.  Picking up his pace, Cipher continued toward the sensation of rightness that had been drawing him ever onward along the Hall of Crosses.

Then there was Tyoce.  She wore a gossamer red gown, so fine as to be woven from ruby-dust.  Though the material was translucent the cut of the gown was far more modest than anything Cipher had ever seen his wife wear.  He rushed forward to embrace his wife, and the tall Unseelie took him into her arms in relief.

“My Cipher! You came for me!” she said as tears ran unchecked down her snowy cheek.

“Of course I did! I would never leave you to this doom,” he replied.  Cipher took Tyroce’s cheek in his hand and kissed her tenderly to reassure her.

“The only way out is to continue down the Hall,” Tyroce explained when their lips parted.

“But Donk said all I needed to do was kiss you,” Cipher argued.

“This is not a fairytale, my love.  This is real life.  You need to explore the Hall of Crosses; you are not going to like what you find,” she said with a note of fear in her voice.