The Metaphorical Key Book I- Call of the Raven

Chapter XVI.I

The stench only worsened as Aiden made his way through the smog, and he wasn't quite sure how that was possible. It was a smell like rotten eggs that somebody had left on the porch for three humid days. His stomach twisted painfully, and he felt like throwing up what he'd eaten that morning onto the sun starved grass.

Aiden's hand flew to his nose and mouth in an attempt to hide from the horrible stench, but the smell only worsened- his hand must have gotten splattered in droplets. His face blanched, and with shaky arms he pulled his collar over his mouth and nose.

Aiden looked ahead with watery eyes to see the edge of the smoky wall, and picked up speed, the edge of the pass becoming little more than fuzzy colours.

He vaulted himself out of the smog, stumbling as he cleared the threshold and proceeded to keel over and vomit.

As his vision cleared, he saw Curtis kneeling beside him, holding out a bottle of water and paper towel from their bags.

He took it with a soft smile, nodding his head in thanks.

Relieved that they were out, he cleaned his face and downed the entire bottle, standing up on shaky legs and turning to face his friends to ensure that they were alright and still there.

Dulcie smiled dimly.
"Here we go."

As he turned to face away from his friends, Aiden was startled to see a cave sitting before them. It seemed to have just... popped into existence. That was unsettling to say the very least.

Maybe cave wasn't quite the right word. It looked like the descent down had been crushed like a can, but the top was left untouched and as smooth as a turtle shell.

Stranger still, the area around the long descent down was gouged out, leaving a pit nearly five feet wide in its wake, and if the cave was some eldritch abomination dragging itself out of the ground to swallow everything whole. It made Aiden shake at the prospect of descending, as he couldn't see the bottom of the hole the beast was slipping out of.

Except the figurative beast's mouth was closed by a massive wooden door, and an digital clock half the size of the door hung on the cave wall, which certainly threw Aiden off- after all, who would expect to see a massive clock in a place so untouched by people? He turned to face his friends once more, who all looked equally confused.

Curtis was the first to move, making his way to the cave and looking down the hole.

Even before the blond teen came back over to them, Aiden could see the shakily perplexed expression on his face.

"I...I can't see the bottom of the hole. The cave looks like it plunges straight down, how are we supposed to get down?"

Aiden could only shrug.

"We have to find some way, don't we? We can't make it this far and then just turn around, right?"

Curtis nodded grimly, but the four still stood there, staring at the clock and the door.

Suddenly, Pollux rolled his eyes.
"We're not going to get anywhere by just standing here. I'm going to go open that door, and then we're going to figure out what to do - okay?'

He strode over to the door and tried to pull it open.

It was locked.
And now the clock was ticking down from five minutes.

Curtis' hand faltered and his mouth dropped open at the sight of the suddenly functioning clock.

Dulcie was at Pollux's side in seconds and pulling her brother away from the ticking clock.
"Let's go, idiots!" She shouted as she bolted beside Aiden and Curtis.

Aiden was moving before he even realised what was happening, flying across the ground towards and through the mist in long strides.

He ignored the smell and his tossing stomach and broke through the edge.

Nitika and the rest of the horses were still there, grazing comfortably. They looked up when the group crashed through before simply going back to eating the starving grass.

The group sat for five minutes, probably longer- after all, none of them were willing to possibly be caught up in what the timer was counting towards.

They glanced at each other with furrowed brows, hoping desperately that they hadn't decimated the mission by trying to open the door.

Pollux bit his lip until a drop of blood rolled down his chin.
"I'm so, so, sorry."

"It's alright," Dulcie sighed.
She glanced across the mist.
"We should get going."

She didn't even wait for a response before she charged through the mist.

Aiden, Curtis, and Pollux rose to their feet, slowly and carefully, as if one wrong move would make the ground explode beneath their feet.
Maybe it would.

They looked at each other, legs trembling and shaky hands.
And they ran.

Aiden groaned when he made it through the wall of smog, and put his hands on his knees, doubling over and retching.

After a few seconds of leaning over, Aiden managed to regain his balance and turn worriedly to face the cave.

The door was open.

Aiden laughed humorlessly and just stared at the cave in shock.

"Was this the first test?" Pollux asked, voice breathless.

"I hope it was," Dulcie grumbled. "And not just a deterrent."

Aiden sighed and walked up to the cave, comically shaking his fist at the cave.
"Damn you!"

The ground vanished beneath his feet.

This is not the end of the chapter! The recommended length for a wattpad chapter is 500-2000 words, as most people read on their phones and on the go, and this was 3k something words. To make it easier for users to read, I've split this chapter into two!