The Opelux and Other Monsters || Book One

CHAPTER 20 (PART 1) - UNKNOWN

Tritteon took the handle of the purple door, said nothing, opened it, and pulled me through. Inside was a wide, dim hallway that curved left and right, made of dark stone, a huge, iron door directly ahead. The lights above glowed brighter as we stepped out.

I shivered. "It's cold. How far down are we?"

"Deep enough not even His Highness will hear you scream," he said, releasing my arm.

That was a mistake.

I lunged back for the doorway, the purple door still ajar, but Tritteon threw out a hand, the air rippling, and the door slammed shut in my face.

But I'd heard the names of a few places and I'd seen how the doors worked. I wouldn't duel. My fight with Gauwin had been enough for today. And while my new, strong body was incredible, and I was anxious to see all it could do, dueling whatever the heck Tritteon was did not make the list. And I was going to let Rilyin and Pharro know exactly how I felt.

I grabbed the handle, hissed Whitfore Tower, and threw the door wide.

And ran right into a solid, stone wall.

I swore and tried again with the same result. I tried the name of a different place, hoping I'd been mistaken on the first one.

But that stone wall, identical to the walls around us, was the only thing that appeared inside it.

I slammed the door and stepped back, fuming.

And it was then I realized Tritteon wasn't beside me anymore. Apart from closing the door in my face, he hadn't tried to stop me any other time. He stood against the wall opposite, arms crossed, maintaining an air of bored superiority.

"Are you done?" he asked.

"How do I get out of here?" I demanded.

He pointed to the iron door. "Right through there."

I pounded my fist against the purple door. "Why can't I use this one?"

"You do not have the authority." He pushed off the wall and strode toward the iron door. It swung wide right before he reached it.

I threw a dirty look at the purple door and smacked it one more time before following.

And I gaped at the destructive mess that lay ahead.

The massive, rectangular room was in shambles, jagged chunks of stone, broken wood beams, a thick layer of white dust over all of it. Wide, stone pillars stood in rows at twenty-foot intervals, covered in oddly familiar designs, many of them with deep gouges the size of a full-grown man in the sides of them or in pieces all over the ground.

I had to pick my way over all of it carefully. I hadn't gotten my shoes back, or my ripped-up dress.

"This doesn't look like an exit."

"Once we have finished here, I will show it to you."

"Yeah right." I scanned the room. "What happened here?"

"Mock Duels," Tritteon said, gazing around. "And a little from me."

I eyed his back. "You lost so you trashed your training arena?"

"I trashed my training arena because someone succeeded in assassinating my Sponsor right under my nose," he snarled.

I stumbled and caught myself against a pillar, staring at him. "But he's still alive."

"If not for the Oria's Empiric Protection, he would not be."

"The what?"

"You heard what I said."