White Orchids {BOOK 1 COMPLETED}

Chapter 41

I'm not surprised to see Clover in the corridor of doors with the other soul wanderers. After I had spoken to Cerberus, I had expected that what Clover said at the well would be accepted as truth. The other soul wanderers don't seem to care for his presence, but the tense facial expressions and postures are hard to miss.

Vrana is standing at the end of the corridor where the darkness is like a vacuum. At the edge he has created a large gate – one I have never seen before. It looks ancient and worn-out, yet at the same time invincible, like nothing can get through the thick, stone-like material.

When he opens the gate the whirling darkness lays on the other side, yet it feels different from the other doors.

Vrana and the other soul wanderers step through, one after another. I do the same – if reluctantly. On the other side lays another corridor of doors. We're no longer standing on a lone stone platform in the air. We're surrounded by water, it reaches my calves, and underneath lays an old cobble-stone road with overgrown algae. They're moving slowly in the water as we trample onwards.

"Don't leave the road," says Vrana when he leads us down the corridor. It's longer than the one we were just in. It makes me wonder how many abandoned worlds there are and how much of the Realm of the Dead I haven't seen, and never will.

It's dark and a slight mist hangs over the water, a stale taste finds it way to my mouth. The air is tickling my skin as the sound of feet trampling in water echoes in the darkness.

We finally reach the gate that Vrana has been looking after. It's entirely black, with eerie towers carved into the dark stone. I can feel something when I walk up the stairs. It turns my stomach and the stale taste in my mouth turns fouler. Vrana stands in front of the gate, I cannot see his face but I feel the unpleasant feeling that's seeping out of him, the absolute terror he feels to stay this close to the door.

Vrana turns around and sweeps his eyes over us, he gives me a pitiful expression. The others look uncomfortable, but they have something in their eyes that tells me that they've gone through this before, and they know what is awaiting.

"Orchid," Vrana begins and it's impossible to not notice the exhausted voice, "some rules for worlds that have reached this amount of distortion. Don't touch the darkness. If it starts moving faster, run. The only exit is the same gate you entered through. You cannot create doors in these worlds, so if it's falling apart then aim to get to the main gate as fast as possible. Don't trust anything but yourselves, the distortion twists the worlds. It's not like it was when it was whole."

He takes a deep breath.

"If the world falls apart and you haven't reached the mask then you run back. There's no point to pay with your existence if it's impossible to reach it."

"And if it isn't impossible?" Sage asks.

Vrana's mouth tightens. "Then do whatever you can to grab it. Good luck. I'll be waiting for you here."

Vrana walks down the stairs while we stay at the two highest steps.

Sage pulls a hand over the gate and his face grimaces, he moves it further down towards the handle and lets it lay there for a few seconds before he opens it. I turn away when a hot and thick gust of wind hits my eyes. Vrana automatically takes a few steps back, almost outside of the broad cobble-stone road. He takes a deep and shaky breath, and the fear I feel from him increases as the door stands wide-open.

Sun grabs my wrist, and the vile air hangs over her face as an almost transparent veil. She leads us through the darkness when the others have already stepped through, but just as we cross the threshold, I hear Vrana take another desperate breath.