Me and the Devil: Sebastian Sallow

Chapter FORTY FIVE - 1st Trial

We piled chairs and shelves and boxes as high as we could in front of the front door and turned to the arched entrance.

"Hold my hand. Maybe that will help get you through to the other side." I held my hand out to him and he smirked.

"If you insists."

He wrapped his fingers around my palm and I took a deep breath before pulling us through. The world rippled blue waves around my vision, combing through my hair and sliding down my spine.

Once through, I immediately turned to make sure Sebastian had made it and there he was, standing giddy, grin ear to ear as he took in the walls around us.

I let out the breath I hadn't realized I'd been holding and felt a slight relief.

"This is incredible!" Sebastian dropped my hand and touched the stone walls around us. 

Flickering wall sconces blazed over a hallway. Our boots echoed off the stone walls as we continued forward. Tattered banners hung from the high ceilings, ripped and rotted. A wood table stood over a double staircase stacked with piles of antique books. The air felt cold and my body shivered.

Walking down the steps one at a time, a large double wood door stood simply at the very bottom. Ancient magic energy assaulting my brain with each step toward it.

The doors opened up into a tremendous large cavern with ornate floors, stone railings, sweeping stairs and ceilings so high the top wasn't visible. It reminded me of the breathtaking beauty of the map chamber.

"Bloody hell!" Sebastian smiled, practically skipping down the stairs.

I bounded after him quickly and eyed the stone knights peppered around the space cautiously, wand at the ready.

The floors, like floating hallways, towered above a misty abyss that plunged down far further than I could see. The idea tied a knot in my gut and I clung to the middle as we walked.

Sebastian was quite a few paces ahead of me by now and was squinting around the room. A flat landing floated far across the room from where we stood in an archway, nothing to bridge the gap and no way to cross. He peered down below us.

"Maybe it's broken?"

"Not if I know the Keepers." I closed my eyes and let the prickle of magic guide me down the stairs to a seemingly dead end. Yet, the little glowing lights and rippling blue below my feet curled up around my boots and I reached deep in my soul. I raised my wand high, letting the energy course through me.

"What did you do!" Sebastian yelled from the platform above me and I darted back to his side. The archway now framed a wide bridge across to the other side.

My adrenaline was pumping now and it was my turn to bound ahead of Sebastian, over the bridge and into an equally expansive room. A stone arch twisted up in the center and a dozen stone knights circled the space.

I watched the blue waves ripple around the edges of the archway and I pulled Sebastian through. The room ahead of us seemed to look exactly the same and I puzzled my brows.

"Holy shit." 

I whirled around to Sebastian, expecting to find angry stone knights charging at us, but instead, back through the archway we had just come, 

was an entirely new room.

I wrapped my arm around his and pushed us back through the arch. The new room wound around and around with stone hallways, torches and railings. We followed the floor until we came into a pillar room.

"My brain hurts." Sebastian laughed and I was about to agree when I heard the familiar clink of a  stone knight sword.

I shoved Sebastian behind my back and raised my wand, blood chilling. At the far end of the room, a gigantic stone knight rose from its knee and it kept rising higher and higher - far bigger than any knights I'd ever faced before.