“Okay. Well.” I strapped on my gun and sword. “Let’s do it. I’m ready.”
Darius nodded and took my arm, walking me forward. He glanced behind us before picking up the pace. As we reached the blood-red fire burning in the air, I felt him hesitate for a brief moment before stepping through.
Prickles of heat and stabs of cold covered my body. A tunnel opened up before us, about ten feet long and surging with fire on all sides. Pulsing through the middle, attached at the top, were icicles, the points glistening and sharp, extending and retracting.
“Don’t come through here; we get it.” I stuck out my hand to touch the fire. The sweet heat glanced off my skin in a familiar way. “I wouldn’t touch that—”
I cut off the words as Darius ran his hand through the fire. His lips tweaked, threatening a smile. It is painful, but pleasantly so. Is this how you feel?
“Yep. You’re welcome. Except that fire isn’t overly hot. If that hurts, I wouldn’t go skipping through a more intense flame. You’ll burn your skin off.”
This is a mighty gift. I wonder if the potency of hellfire will be diminished as well.
I just shook my head. He was punch-drunk. A quick taste of the fire I’d spoken of would be enough to dampen his excitement.
We made it to the end of the tunnel. The ground dropped away sharply, leaving us standing in the air above an enormous cavern. Giant stalactites reached down from the rocky ceiling. Turning around wasn’t exactly an option, because as soon as we reached the end, the tunnel behind us disappeared, cutting out the light from the fire. Below us, small hovels dotted the way, demons or other creatures moving between and around them. A drop of water fell past my face, dripping from the rocky ceiling high above. A small stream ran through an outcropping of frozen rock to our right, the glimmer like moving diamonds.
“How do you suppose we get down?” I asked, feeling my power pulsing even stronger than in the Realm. “Should I get us down?”
No. Do not use your power if at all possible. That suit is supposed to disguise your magic, but the mages were operating under the impression of a normal magic user, which you are not. Using your power might act as a beacon for your kind.
My kind. Great. That just had to be said.
“Fine. Then…let’s…” I took a step forward and tipped, windmilling my arms to keep from falling headfirst to my death. Darius pulled me back. My heel hit off an invisible edge.
Back under control, I dangled my foot down and met a ledge. I stepped down with a smile. “Tricky. We’re on an invisible staircase. How many people have they killed with this little ruse?”
It seems as though they want only the experienced to come through.
“Experience is something you gain right after you need it.”
So it would seem.
We started down slowly, me with much windmilling and exaggerated steps, him smoothly and gracefully, as though he made a habit of walking out of the sky on invisible steps of differing sizes.
The fire and ice tunnel suddenly spilled light down onto us. That creature had to be coming through. The light shimmered off the wide staircase and highlighted the railings at the sides. Landings broke up the decline every so often, so I wouldn’t have tumbled far before landing in a heap on my face.
“Tricky,” I said again as my power surged. Not thinking, I let a small amount of fire run down the steps from my feet. Next I sent a pulse of frost the same way, just to see what would happen.
The stairs within the sphere of magic glittered to life, shining like marble. The railing glowed and gleamed, solid gold.
“Wow,” I breathed as Darius grabbed my arm.
I said not to use your power.
“Sorry.” I cut it off, pitching us once again into darkness. “But wasn’t that fantastic? I wish I could light the whole staircase up. I bet my dad does, just to create a scene. Why else have the ability?”
Darius glanced behind us, worried about the traveler on our heels. He—or she, it was hard to say—clicked on a light, the sound echoing down to us. The glittering stairs shone in the beam of light. Everything outside of the small beam stayed hidden.
“Ah. A secret flashlight. Clearly Ja didn’t fill you in on that.”
He didn’t comment.
We hurried along, trusting that the invisible steps would meet our feet.
A drip plunked onto the center of my head. I looked up at the rocky ceiling far above, a usual reaction to something falling on me when it wasn’t raining. Another drop splashed against my suit-covered cheek.
Near the bottom, we descended between jagged rocks like the ones we’d seen near the gate. These looked even more treacherous, though, replete with sharp edges and points. Falling into them would be a good way to tear yourself up.
“So far, besides the stairwell when lit, this place is not welcoming.”
Not at all. It has lived up to my expectations.
“Mine, too, and that is a real bummer.”
The stairwell deposited us onto a dull gray rock path, pockmarked and uneven. It was wide enough for four people to walk abreast, or two people and Darius, with his big shoulders, so there was enough room to avoid the unwelcoming rocks lining the way. Those rocks tapered into a fine edge at the top, and while I could probably get over them without killing myself, it would hurt a lot, not to mention torment my boots.
“I don’t like that they’re trying to keep us on a select path. Will there be a test to see if we’re worthy to be here, like with that stairwell?”
Darius shook his head, his eyes hard. That meant he was anxious. And that was a very bad sign.
Chapter Thirteen
We walked along the path, the ground gradually sloping upward. Behind us, the other traveler still had their light trained on the ground, revealing the same thing I could see with my bare eyes.
The hovels and movement we had seen from the stairs were obscured by rising crags all around us. They hadn’t looked so big from above, or maybe I had misjudged them. Whatever the reason, they blocked our sight now, making it impossible to see what we were walking into.
A path intersected ours, nearly identical. Darius hesitated, clearly not knowing which direction would be best.
“Left,” I blurted without meaning to. Darius swung his gaze to me, his eyes assessing. “Unless this was on the map?”
He shook his head. We did not come in the way the map suggested. I did not trust it.
I nodded, because that was wise. We started walking to the left, slow and steady. I had a firm suspicion something would jump out at us, and that it wouldn’t be long now.
“The map is in your pack, right?” It was a rhetorical question, since I remembered seeing it in there, which meant Moss hadn’t trusted me to navigate. Before my memory upgrade, that would’ve been wise. “We should stop and have a peek when we can.”