Seeing light as they stepped off the final stair made Cleo sigh in relief, the dread building up in her throat subsiding slowly.
They arrived in another vacant hallway, both relieved and suspicious that there was no sign of life to be seen. Several things were different about this hallway. There was no row of lights on the ceiling. Instead, the only sources of light were two mini lamp-like sconces mounted on either side of looming arched double doors. The bulbs inside were dim, just bright enough to make out the walls of the rectangular chamber. On the left and right wall were four uniform slabs of iron each, spaced out evenly, and the ceiling rose just as high as before despite the lower floor. The air in the chamber was still and stagnant, like the whole room was holding its breath.
The trio released each other's hands, abandoning the small bit of safety in favor of exploring the new surroundings. Cleo moved to the first iron rectangle in the wall. It was like a sliding prison door, no handles or grips, but the sliver of space at the bottom hinted that the doors were, in fact, moveable. By the dim light from across the room, Cleo could just barely make out a marking, a symbol, on the top right hand corner of the first door. The odd shape was made up of slightly raised iron. It looked like a bug; six lines sticking out from an oval in the center.
"Guys, look at this," she pointed up at the symbol.
"They all have a different one," came Andy's voice from across the room, having already made her way to the last door.
Cleo hesitantly moved around the room to look at every door, careful not to step too close. The second door had an iron symbol in the same spot. This time the shape was a small square. The third door had two squiggly lines that reminded Cleo of water and the fourth was the top and side outline of a square. On the opposite wall were four more unique symbols; three lines of decreasing length on top of a long line, a filled in circle, a flat line, and a plus sign. She studied each one, trying to commit them to memory. She had a feeling they were important, an integral part of the puzzle.
"What do you think they mean?" Andy asked, standing in the center space with her hands on her hips.
"No idea," Charlie admitted, joining Andy and readjusting their backpack and pointing around the room as they spoke. "Some are obvious, I mean, a bug lookin' thing, water... but a line? A circle? Could be anything."
Cleo continued to wander the space as the others debated the meanings of the symbols. Finally she faced the large double doors at the end of the room, flanked by the two light sources. The doors were grand and towering, rising up almost to the ceiling far above. There were engravings and markings across both doors that looked like elven designs. Floral patterns and circular, curling designs covered them in an impressive artistic display. She took a couple steps closer, intrigued by the artwork, and felt a breeze blow past her ankles.
She sucked in a breath and looked down to see the pale pink wind curling below her. It was the same path that led them here. It extended all the way from the staircase and wound its way through the space to the bottom of the double doors. Conversation was cut short and the trio watched in curious silence at the glow. It reached the seam where the doors connected and seeped up the length of the doors, curling and twisting along each carefully crafted pattern. It continued to flood the design until each engraved line was glowing that same rosy color and a rumbling sound started deep in the floor. It grew louder and louder and the doors, now glowing magnificently, began to separate and open out towards them.
Cleo panicked. She whirled around and waved frantically at her friends, now right behind her. They seemed to get the message. Andy on one side and Cleo and Charlie on the other, they ran and pressed themselves against the wall. Forcing herself to take deep breaths, Cleo leaned her head against the wall, the sconce directly above her head. She was almost sure that before they fled she saw a glimpse of a figure beyond the doors.
They waited, pressing against the walls and not daring to move, as the doors slowly inched their way outwards. They strained their ears to listen for any movement, any people rushing in to find the intruders. Eventually the doors came to rest perpendicular to the wall, the glow next to Cleo's face almost blinding. She squeezed her eyes shut and tried not to think about what would happen when they were caught. She wasn't so naïve to think that they would welcome them, release a prisoner into their custody and send them on their way. She tried not to acknowledge the guilt making a comeback in her chest. She tried not to think that it was her fault, that she led her friends to this place and she was responsible for whatever fate awaited them.
After who knows how long, Cleo jumped when a hand tapped her shoulder. Charlie was looking at her, eyes wide and frantic, asking a silent question. Cleo shrugged, her mind empty of anything helpful.
"Guys?"
At Andy's voice, both Cleo and Charlie looked towards it, the source blocked by the glowing door that was now losing its color. Cleo followed Charlie as they crept forwards and peered around the door. When they stepped into the doorway, they saw what Andy was staring at.
There were people waiting for them, after all. About a dozen figures littered a circular room with a railing on the far end that dropped off out of sight. Each figure, a mix of male and female, were dressed in identical black uniforms almost like suits and a bronze belt. They held an array of weapons, some spears, some short daggers or swords, some an odd, unfamiliar looking fist weapon like two scythe-like blades mounted on either side of a leather harness on the hand and wrist. The weirdest thing was that the blades of each and every weapon gave off a faint, translucent glow.
Cleo almost bolted. She was ready to make a run for it just as she processed the fact that no one was moving. Each guard was standing perfectly still as if in a trance.
"What's... wrong with them?" Andy whispered warily.
"The nightmares," Cleo said to herself. Her friends gave her a quizzical look, so she added, "I woke up seconds before you guys. Your eyes... they looked the same."
It was true. The guards all had the same glazed look in their eyes, gray flooding their irises and the color drained from their faces.
"So all of them," Charlie said slowly, "they're... where? Trapped in their memories too?"
Before Cleo could confirm the suspicion, Andy spoke up. "Memories? What do you mean?"
"Before, when we blacked out? We were trapped... somehow, in our memories," Cleo said carefully. "Bad ones. Weren't you?"
For a moment, Andy remained confused and disoriented. Then she shook her head. "Yeah... of course. Guess I didn't process that until now," she said quietly.
Something wasn't right, but Cleo was the last person to be judging her for not opening up about her nightmares. A nagging feeling in the back of her mind told her that she had just shared how her last dream ended... maybe they would've been better prepared. She hated when she was right like that.
"We better hurry," Andy said, changing the subject. "We don't know how long we'll have an advantage."
They filed into the new chamber, stepping carefully around the statues littering the room. They reached the railing and peered over.
Simply put, it was a prison.
But the array of corridors, staircases, and cells laid out in front of them in a cylinder was anything but simple. On either side of their level, stairs led down onto the first curved floor. More flights went down to connect to the lower floors, six in total, each with a long row of cells with iron bars. Far below on the round base of the cylinder was an open courtyard. A large patch of green grass grew in the center, the natural color jarring after spending hours in the labyrinth. A couple benches were strewn about and a path wound its way around and connected with the base of the first flight of stairs.
Charlie whistled. "Some prison."
"Yeah," was all Cleo managed.
"We should search for keys," Andy said, pushing off the railing and turning back into the room that served as a lobby area. "I bet one of them has some."
Carefully, they scanned the guards for keys, not wanting to touch anyone or even breathe near them for fear they would wake.
"Here!" Andy called, beckoning them over. When Charlie and Cleo joined her she pointed to a simple ring of six small keys dangling from a guard's bronze belt, nestled next to a sheathed dagger. The guard was female, with silver hair that flowed down her back, sharp features, and thin lips. Looking in her gray-glazed eyes, Cleo knew she looked familiar but she couldn't place where she could have possibly seen this woman before.
Cleo held her breath and reached out, ever so slowly, and clicked open the ring. She slid it off the belt and clicked it closed again, holding the keys so they were silent. In one swift motion, Charlie reached out and slipped the guard's dagger from its resting place.
"What are you doing?" Andy hissed.
"Could come in handy," Charlie responded with a shrug, gripping the dagger and inspecting the pale glow that emanated from the triangular blade.
Cleo ignored them and held the keys flat on her palm. "Six keys. One for each floor, you think?"
"Probably," Charlie said.
"Split up?"
Charlie rounded on her as soon as the words had left Andy's mouth. "No way. No way! Are you kidding me right now? Do you even know..." Their voice trailed off as a grin spread across Andy's face.
"I'm not an idiot, Charlie," she chuckled. "I just think it's hilarious to mess with you."
"Whatever," Charlie grumbled, though a smile tugged at the corners of their mouth. Cleo couldn't fight a smile herself. "Let's just go."
They had taken maybe five steps towards the stairs when a tired voice called out to them, making them stop in their tracks.
"Please don't do this."
Rowana stood in the doorway.