Wendy

Chapter 19: Gate of Ice

When Depression reached the Negative Pole, he let his feet land on the snow but didn't feel the biting cold or leave any foot print. The place was uninhabited by humans, it was all white land as far as the eyes could see.

After walking for a while and calculating his trajectory, he knew the moment he stepped into Therrebint's territory.

Depression gulped before unfolding his wings and flying forward. Scanning the landscape, he searched for the gate. He shuddered when he spotted it--its sharp, icy peak seemed to poke the night sky.

Depression knew he would suffer tonight, he was failing in his assignment. He knew Bermuda would allow Therrebint punish him; he had always threatened him with that.

Depression came to a halt when he reached the intimidating gate. The only similarity Therrebint's gate had with that at Bermuda's leer was the skull at its crest, but even the skull looked different. Its empty sockets stared ahead with jagged teeth and spiky bull horns. Depression thought it looked beautifully wicked, so wicked in fact that he feared to touch the gate.

"Erm...I am just going to knock really nicely. No need to get all riled up. I swear it would just be a little tap," Depression said to the skull with a voice trembling with fear. The empty hollows just gazed at him as if daring him to touch the gate.

The gate itself stood over twenty feet tall with thick ice bars lined with icicles. Depression swallowed nervously when he didn't see any knocker.

Should he knock on the bars?

He flew higher and tried to look over the gate. Beyond it was pitch black. It was as if the gate's duty was to keep the light out and the darkness firmly contained. Finally choosing to take his chances with knocking instead of flying about like a confused fly; Depression raised a shaky knuckle.

After finding a clear spot that had no icicle, he knocked twice. The sound from his knock seemed to amplify and bounce around. He looked about uneasily and waited.

Nothing happened. The gate remained as it was. All Depression heard was the howling wind.

Groaning in frustration, he knocked again, this time much louder. After waiting for a while and the gates remained closed with the blasted skull still staring at him, Depression attacked the gate with fists. He banged away. He couldn't help it, he was uptight, and tension was eating away at him.

"Open, damn it!" he shouted at the gate as he banged some more. He knocked hard until his knuckles felt numb.

When he looked at his hands, he saw black blood ooze from the open cuts on his fists. Depression even preferred the pain his own assault caused, the suspense he was feeling was torture. He stared at the gate in defeat and wondered why his master would summon him if he knew the gates wouldn't let him in?

It was as he turned to leave that he felt it. Depression watched in horror as chains of ice coiled tightly around his torso, successfully trapping his wings and burning him with intense cold. He shrieked in pain and clawed the air, desperate to escape. His struggle was useless, the chain effortlessly pulled him towards the gate. He screamed as waves upon wave of extreme biting cold flooded his small frame.

Depression knew it was Therribint doing this. Since his back was to the gate, he heard it fly open then bang shut when he was dragged past. Now he was encased in the blackness of the place, blinking repeatedly, he adjusted his sight to see what the darkness covered.

The floor he was dragged across was pure spiritual ice, it made Depression's rear end numb. Several potholes of bubbling hot liquid were scattered about and the atmosphere reeked of Sulphur. As the chain pulled him, he hoped he wouldn't be dragged through one. When he heard creaking of rusted metal, he saw that he was being dragged through a much smaller iron gate.