Iorrjaer

Chapter 47

At the top of the spiralling stone staircase, a venture that seemed to stretch on for an incomprehensible amount of time, caused them all to lose their sense of time and space. They no longer knew when they were, let alone where. The only thing that brought them back to their semblance of reality was that, after what could have been hours, days, or weeks of climbing the now-accursed spiral staircase, Sorâth suddenly stopped.

His abrupt stop caused Malka, who was directly behind him to stop and become unbalanced, causing Yophiel to stagger as she avoided Malka, causing her to lose her footing and lean back too far. Barsabel caught her and Graphiel caught them both.

Once they were all rebalanced and steady, Sorâth half turned back to the door and hesitated. His hand hovered over the handle and it was not until Barsabel asked if he was okay, that he pulled his hand away and turned to address them all.

"I don't know what to expect," He admitted with a small crack in his voice. "Part of me is warning that beyond this door is not the ziggurat's zenith. That part does not know what else could be beyond but warns of the worst. Another is telling me to prepare for it to be,"

"Worse could be, and usually is, subjective." Malka offered. A collective sigh sounded behind him. Malka smiled as he addressed Sorâth: "It's impossible to know what is behind that door, right?"

Sorâth nodded and there was a brief glimpse of doubt in his eyes.

"Impossibility should not mean panic. Nor should doubt mean uncertainty. Not knowing what is behind that door, or any door, should not keep you from opening it. We won't know until we do and we will address what is behind it when we do."

Yophiel, Barsabel, and Graphiel nodded in agreement as Barsabel whispered to Yophiel: "See? Even the strongest of us have doubts. That's why strong leaders rely on their team."

Yophiel nodded in understanding as Sorâth's eyes shone with returned conviction and as he reached out for the door handle once again, his hand hesitated.

"Uncertainty is a fickle thing," Malka mused. "It's always said that Gravity is cruel. Or that Karma is a bitch. Or even that Quank's pranks are unfair. The truth is that Quank does not pull his pranks out of spite or because of our actions, but because of opportunity. It is just inconvenient for us because we opened the door for Quank to exploit. We blame gravity or karma, but it's just Quank doing what Quank does.

"Uncertainty is Quank's favourite tool - it makes us doubt; it makes us panic. It feeds our own insecurities back to us and causes us to overthink things that are usually pretty simple or obvious. Like opening a door."

Sorâth scoffed but his hand closed around the door handle and pushed it open.

They found themselves transported into a room with a long wall that was carved with intricate detail, depicting great, consecutive scenes. Sorâth quickened his pace to get them all past it but Yophiel slowed to take in the scope of the wall and all that was being shown. Sorâth had made it all the way to the other end and was starting up, what he hoped was, the final staircase when he had a feeling to look back.

Yophiel was at the first panel, exploring the extremely detailed relief that showed an elven king amid a great civilization - showing prosperity through architecture and technology. Some of the devices shown reminded her of some of the things that she had seen Tapht and Bne inspect; tools or gadgets from Khico, she recalled hearing them saying once. The second panel showed the same civilization but there were minor differences that were subtle but stood out, the main one being a shadow in the background that seemed to draw the eye to the elven king's face, now showing darker features as opposed to his radiant shining smile.