"We lost almost everything in the war. Documents, artifacts, family heirlooms. But not these." Astrid stated, opening a door in front of us.
We had been walking for a while, making small talk and answering questions about myself that anyone had. Like where I'm from, how old I am, what I do for fun, do I have a boyfriend. Things like that. When the door opened, the room was pitch black, at first, I thought it was a joke. Seeing a dark, empty room. We walked in, and Astrid spoke.
"Zahra, Leon, if you could?" Astrid asked.
Almost immediately, as if waiting for their que, fire eruped from their palms, floating into the air and towards certain parts of the room. All at once, torches are ignited, lighting up the room completely. And what I see shocks me.
Floor to ceiling portraits line the long hallway. Each person looking more and more like the element in which the watch over. The outfits, as we walk by, slowly start to look more lile what the six are wearing right now, either big gowns with many intricate designs and a lot of jewelry, and very detailed suits that match the dresses. As we make our way down the long stretch, and Astrid explains who they all are, three portraits with very familiar looking people line the wall ahead of us.
"And now, we've arrived to our paintings. We were much younger back than I will say. Oh how I do miss those days. But that's not why we brought you here. We brought you here to show you something else." Astrid says, before walking up to the painting.
She feels around for a second before pushing a piece of the painting into the wall behind it, the sound of stone rubbing against stone can be heard, echoing all around us. She moves out of the way, and I can see what looks like the start of a staircase.
"Follow me." Astrid says before disappearing down the stairs, I follow behind her and her husband, with the rest of the group behind me.
The spiral stairs, mixed with the cold and almost no light offer a creepy vibe, almost like I'm being led into a dungeon or torture chamber. At the bottom of the stairs, there is a huge opening, and inside. Is unlike anything I've ever seen. A huge statue is carved into the far wall, their arms outstretched, with swirly, magic like features coming out of the palms, their outfit is not like anything anyone else here is wearing, a tight, suit looking thing hugs their body, with a cape attached at the waist, carvings in the outfit give it much detail, almost making it appear lifelike, if it weren't for the size and fact that it is stone instead of skin.
There are more carvings along the other walls, weird, contorted figures being destroyed by the figure, it almost looks like hieroglyphs, but instead of small symbols, it's people. In the middle, a large, circular stone sits, with carvings and ancient looking writing along the sides and top of it, I run my hand along the cool stone. A layer of dust is lifted, clinging to my skin. Something doesn't feel right about this place. Like there's more to it than what I'm seeing. I wipe my hands together to get it off of me, before looking at the group.
All of their eyes are trained one me.
"What is this place?" I ask.
"The Sanctum of the Chosen One. We await his arrival eagerly." Charles answers.
"His? How do you know it's a man?" I ask.
"Because the prophecy states that he will come to us in our most desperate hour. He will win the great war, and take his place on the high throne. We thought the big war was the one between us and Mattheo. But he never came. So we must continue to wait." Zehra states.
"Is Mattheo-?"
"Yes, he is the one we banished." Rowan states, looking sadly at me.
I didn't know how to respond, I didn't understand how they felt, other than they all look sad when we talk about him.
"How do I get home?" I change the topic.
"Oh, you can't. Not until you complete what you came here for at least. That's why the portal appeared where you were, why it brought you to us. You were meant to come here. You were brought here for a purpose, Odette." Astrid states. Looking at me with a smile.
"Then what am I meant to do? Why did you bring me here?" I look at them, a bit concerned when all of their faces light up simultaneously.
"Well, I think there's something." Charles looks between the group, a smirk spread across his face.
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The meeting room feels colder than last time, but not because of the early evening breeze, the pool in the middle glows as we gather around it, swirling around in a cautious manner.
"Now, you need to think of exactly where you want to be dropped. Just think of what we told you." Astrid instructs.
"Yeah, the caverns." I answer.
"More specifically?" She asks.
I try and remember the name, it had something to do with blood I think?
"Uh, blood, blood um-"
"Bloodthorn's crypt." She reminds me.
"Yes! That one." I shout. Pointing at her and smiling.
"Okay, now you can't forget that okay? And when you jump in, your gonna keep falling until you hit the ground. So, I suggest taking off the heels." Eden points out from behind me.
I nod my head and stand up, sliding the heels off, letting my bare feet rest on the cold stone, my shoes dangle in my hands as I turn to everyone.
"Now, what exactly am I doing once I get there?" I ask them.
Zahra smiles, before replying.
"You'll be meeting Mattheo." She answers. Something about her smile throws me off. My stomach sinks.
"What? But you guys said earlier-"
"Oh, nevermind what we said earlier, he won't hurt you. Unless you give him a reason to, that is. Now, all you need to do. Is see how he is doing. It won't take more than a minute."
Astrid begins to shoo me towards the pool, the closer I get to the edge, the more frightened I get.
"No! No, I can't. You can't make me! Please don't make me do this."
"You want to go home, right?" Rowan asks, a knowing look on his face.
He knows what he's doing. They all do.
"..Yes." I finally answer after a moment.
"Then you'll do as we say. Now, jump." Leon smirks.
I turn my head to look over my shoulder at the pool directly behind me.
All it takes is one step.
So I take it.
I immediately feel myself being consumed by water, but I don't feel wet. And I can breathe. I don't feel like I'm dropping at first, more like floating. But then, as soon as it started. The feeling of falling from the sky becomes familiar. I'm doing flips as I fall, screaming until I feel cold water grasping me in a dark, soulless hug.
I can't see anything at first, but as I look up to where I just came from, a shadow comes into view. I try and swim, but I can't move anything. Limbs, frozen, shoes, long gone. My eyes start to feel heavy, but right before I slip into unconsciousness, I feel a very strong grip on my waist, pulling me through the water.
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Cold, salty water shoots out of my mouth as I struggle to breath, coughing feels like a workout as I try and rid my lungs of water.
I'm sitting at the edge of a huge, cave like pool. The whole area is dark, except a small light coming from the top, I squint as my eyes adjust, seeing a huge whole in the natural structure.
Is that where I fell?
I ask myself before returning my gaze to the dark water in front of me. It's completely still, the cave walls casting a shadow in some area's.
"Did they send you?" A deep, male voice speaks.
I scream, grabbing the first thing I can reach, which just so happens to be a big stone. I chuck it at the area I heard the voice, I hear it hit something before a loud "ow" can be heard from the darkness.
I reach for another stone, holding it up, ready to throw in case anything tryst to sneak up on me.
"Did you have to throw a stone at your rescuer?" The voice speaks again.
"Who are you?" I ask the darkness, I'm tempted to jump back in the water and get as far away as possible, but I have a feeling he'd follow me so I opt out.
"You know who I am." His voice is smug, like he wants to flaunt who he is. But I have no idea who he is.
"Uh, no I don't." I say confused. Am I supposed to know who he is?
He walks into the light, and I'm met with an absolute dream. He's tall. Like, really tall. Well over 6 feet, and he's hot. His hair is dark, it's short and the top is curly. His clothes, dark, with not much detail. But his muscles, oh man. He is ripped, his biceps are huge, his wet shirt clinging to his torso, his abs peeking through the fabric. His dark brown, almond shaped eyes stare directly into mine. He has a cut across his nose, it looks fresh, and a small smirk spreads across his face.
"Like what you see? Or should I turn around? Let you get a full look at me? Would that be better?" His voice is smooth, like honey, and it's damn sexy might I add.
"Uh, no. No thank you." I respond, slightly taken back by his comment.
"Well, how about know? You recognize me now?" His arms are held out and a proud smile spreads across his face.
"Still no." I answer, slightly lowering my arm with the stone.
"His arms and face fall. His hands hit his sides with a slight slap sound. He looks at me as if I'm stupid or something.
"Are you kidding? You don't know who I am? Well, then why are you here?" He asks, his hands resting on his hips.
"I was sent by the high court. I'm looking for someone named Mattheo. Do you know where I can find him?" I ask.
He looks dumbfounded.
"You actually don't know who I am?" His voice goes up a bit.
"Uh, no. Sorry. Am I supposed to?" I drop the rock, realizing this guy isn't going to try and hurt me.
"Yes! Yes you're supposed to know who I am! Everyone knows who I am! How could you not?" He throws his arms in the air.
This guy is acting like a child.
"Wait. Are you, Mattheo?" I have a feeling I already know the answer to that.
"There ya go. You aren't as stupid as I thought." Mattheo states, rolling his eyes at my discovery.
"I'm not stupid. I wasn't exactly given a description of what you look like. All I was told is that you live here. And that your name is Mattheo." I told him, looking down at my now ruined dress. It has muddy spots on it, and part of the bottom is torn. How it got like that I don't know.
He let's out a deep sigh, walking away to the right of me, I see a set of stairs carved out of the wall, he begins to climb them before turning back to me.
"Well, are you coming? Are do you plan on freezing to death?" He asks me.
I stand there for a moment, before I hear a splash behind me, I turn and see nothing, other than the once still water now moving gently. I scramble towards Mattheo, still standing on the stairs.
"What was that?" I ask as I get up to him.
"Screechers. C'mon, you don't want to be out here when they are. Unless you want to be torn apart." He says with a shrug.
I grimace at the thought, looking back at the water, I see several pairs of red dots in the water. I turn to see Mattheo almost completely up the stairs and I race up to him. Not wanting to be left alone with scary flesh eating monsters.
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Okay we got our first glimpse of Mattheo! He isn't exactly as scary as he was described though is he?🤔 I wonder why?
I hope you enjoyed this and I'll see you next chapter!