Drown the Fortress

suffocate

The darkness was suffocating and the musty odor added to the feeling of drowning. The hardwood bit her knees as pangs of sharp terror plunged at her from every angle. Lack of light crushed her as her chest began to cave in until suddenly the vivid flames of millions of tiny candles burst to life revealing the great hall she'd fallen into.

Deeply grateful for supernatural candles' heroics, she began to feel her racing heart begin to calm and her icy dread start to recede. She estimated that the residence had to have been at over two centuries old given the out-dated, yet timeless detailing of every bend and curve in the space's ceilings and banisters. She spun around to take in the whole of her surroundings, but paused realizing that despite the exterior of the hulking creature of a building being riddled with windows, the interior seemed to be entirely devoid of such basic commodities. This was particularly befuddling given that she could've sworn that she could see glimpses of the house's rooms from the outside. She hoisted herself from the ground, blood from her skinned knees dripping onto the hardwood. It felt as if she'd been transported to another dimension and that her shove into the house had been a leap through the portal. Her situation only seemed to spiral lower into a pit of nonsensicals as she gaped up at what likely the strangest element of an already anomalous place. Thousands of perfectly organized books adorned aisles of towering shelves, their meticulously aligned spines with dainty gilded designs twinkled down from the highest reaches of the shelves giving Andi an indication of their true scale. Plush, velvet settees with delicate floral patterns were arranged in a rectangle along with other similarly styled armchairs on equally embellished rugs at the end of every aisle.

Puzzled, she started to traverse down the center of the space on a crimson-red rug that ran the length of the extensive hall. Eventually, after what must have been five minutes of traversing miles of identical rows, Andi reached a singular basin placed against the back wall of the library. It had a triplet of exquisite spouts, all shaped like miniature gargoyles whose sole purposes were to vomit whatever liquid was meant to enter the pristine black bowl. She cocked her head curiously and halfheartedly put her hand out beneath them, her initial fear of the place transforming into a vague sense of familiarity and caution. To her surprise, cool streams of crystalline water left the gargoyle's mouths causing her to quickly yank her hand away. She took a moment to observe the strange drainless and faucetless sink, before slowly dipping her cupped fingers into the basin and taking a sip. In her eventful day, Andi hadn't realized how worn she was until the water hit her lips and a few wary sips soon became grateful gulps as she quenched the thirst she had forgotten she had. Stepping back and wiping her mouth with the back of her hand, she nodded a profound thanks to the strange dispenser and turned back to the hallway.

As she reached the doors she initially entered, she found that she had to drag her legs to continue moving and that her shoulders felt as though they'd been burdened with lead epaulettes. Andi blinked vigorously, fighting the entanglements of slumber, knowing that falling asleep in such a mysterious place would most definitely lead to consequences she knew she would not be able to predict. She fought on for another couple meters when her legs finally gave out and she collapsed to the carpeted ground. With her cheek on the floor, she was only able to dreary take in a final glimpse of a translucent pair of heeled feet walking towards her and with that, her lids effortlessly fell.