As they made their way down the shadowy hall, Arthex looked around at the carved stone walls and wondered to himself just how long this building had been here. From the designs and state of the stone itself, he guessed that it must be somewhere around a few hundred years old.
"We're almost there."
The sound of his guide's voice pulled Arthex back to the present. Glancing up ahead, he could see the turn at the end of the hall segment. "Thanks, Glen." He said in a low tone. "Guess I should pay more attention."
His guide said nothing.
As they reached the turn and came around the corner, Arthex paused. Two doors... He thought to himself as he looked at the pair of open doorways in front of him. Which one is it, though? For answer, he turned to his guide and gestured to the openings.
"You know which one it is, right? Pretty sure neither of us wants to get caught at this point, so..."
Glen shrugged. "Actually, I'm not sure. It could be either one, honestly. I've never been this far in."
Arthex frowned thoughtfully. "Huh. Okay, then. Any ideas how to figure this out?" He asked after a moment. His guide raised an eyebrow. "Only if you're okay with splitting up." He replied with a weird smile. Earlier on in the year, Arthex might've questioned that smile, but he had learned to just accept it as time passed. As it was, he considered the suggestion, his fingers drumming against his hip as he thought it out. Finally he nodded.
"I guess we'll have to. I can't think of any other way."
Glen nodded. "I'll take the door on the left, you take the one on the right. I've got a weird feeling about the left side, and we can't have you risking anything."
Arthex smiled and shook his head. "Is there ever a time you're not looking out for me?" He asked with a soft chuckle before turning and walking through the right-hand doorway. Behind him, Glen waited for a moment, then went over to the other doorway. Instead of passing through it, however, he simply reached up and seemed to pull the doorway off the wall. As it came away, the frame and opening wrinkled and folded in on itself, revealing itself to be colored fabric and nothing more. Tossing it aside, he then extinguished all but one of the torches on the wall, taking the last for himself as he walked away from the now dark passage and headed back the way they had come.
"Never a time till now." He said, smiling that same weird smile as he left his former 'friend' to wander the maze alone in darkness.
"And yet, you never suspected a thing."
YOU ARE READING
Whumptober+ Short Stories - Volume 1
Cerita PendekA collection of one-shot whump prompts. All characters belong to me, and I may or may not use them for books in future :) Warning for minor-to-major violence, depending on the prompt.
