The Hidden Kingdom // DreamSMP

Chapter 7: The Key

The snow glistened in the midday sun as the crunching of snow filled the comfortable silence between you and Karl.

Your eyes focused on the trail of bigger footsteps from the male who walked in front of you, humming to himself. You fiddled with the hem of the colorful hoodie that protected you from the cold, excited by the possibility of going home. Or at least back to your world. Back to your timeline. Back to your dimension.

Sighing and running a hand through your hair, you watched Karl slow down as he walked into the familiar clearing he found you in the day before.

Karl sighed and turned to face you. "Welp. Here we are."

Nodding you repeated after him, smiling. "Here we are."

He smiled and put a hand on his chest. "That excited to leave me huh?"

You rolled your eyes. "You have that key. Plus we go to the same school. You can literally see me whenever you want."

He chuckled. "Okay- Let's do this."

You watched as he pulled the key from his pocket. It glistened slightly under the sunlight. His hand made its way towards a small hole within the tree, though no door was present.

Sticking the key into the 'keyhole', you watched as the hole glowed gold and spread out, forking the shape of the familiar door.

You and Karl look away from the blinding light and once you are sure the light has disappeared, you uncover your eyes.

The door.

The door had appeared in front of you.

Thinking of the process you referred to the time Karl first led you to the door.

"You didn't stick the key into the door the first time I saw you.. I remember you checked the time and then whoosh. The door was there."

He hummed as he took the key, placing it back into his pocket and facing you. "Oh. Well the door usually shows up at the same time everyday back in your world. It used to do the same here but as you can see, it didn't do that." He shrugged. "So i just stuck the key into the tree and hoped it would work."

You stared at him. "You didn't even know if it would work?"

He smiled, pulling the key back out and unlocking the door.

You sighed as the symbols on the archway shined it's beautiful blue and as the golden light slightly escaped from behind the door. After a few moments the lights dimmed, yet stayed as a reminder that the door was ready to use.

Karl pulled the key, stuffing it into his pocket once again and opening the door.

Bark.

Literally.

Karl pulled the doorknob and on the other side of the door was the bark of the giant spruce tree. He looked towards you and laughed a bit, closing the door and opening it again.

Still bark.

You purse your lips as he did this a few more times and sighed. "Karl.."

He frowned. "Sorry. This has never happened before- This door always led me to your world. Honestly, this key has only led me back to your world. So, I just thought-"

You cut him off. "Can I try?"

You watched as he froze and thought for a moment before giving in passing you the key.

As soon as your fingers brushed the cool metal, your eyes flashed a brilliant green and blue symbols erupted from the key, swirling around you.

Through the mysterious symbols, you could barely make out as Karl stumbled backwards as a gust of wind shot at him. A head splitting headache hits you and you fall to your knees, clutching your head and dropping the key.