Lightless Path

Chapter 5: Unclean

"Alathan?" Mae slid her fingers along the rough wall. Stone crumbled at the slightest touch, coating her fingertips with dirt and dust. How many times had she thoughtlessly dragged her hand along her home walls, the whitebark soft and thrumming with the life of trees. She cringed and closed her eyes, imagining her cold lifeless body lying at the base of the wall.

Feeling her lifeforce coursing through her veins, she could almost feel her blood spilling out onto the floor. "No, no. It won't happen again, the stone won't take me." She wiped her fingers off on her white skirt, the ghostly images of her own lifeless body lying on the floor turned towards Nystaryl. What would she have done if it had been Nystaryl? Mae shook her head trying to erase the thoughts, "She's fine Mae, Nya's fine." 

Mae spared a glance to the decrepit wooden door guarding the end of the tall hallway. Mae stumbled forward over a jagged edge in the floor, hitting her shoulder painfully against a wall. Mae looked at the source of her stumble only to be met by a solid wall.

"Fine Alathan, I'll go through the door." Mae studied the doorway, old and decayed stone, and two long dead torches set in sconces on either side of the door. Not that she needed them, her people could see perfectly in the dark as they could in daylight—her eyes would just turn silver in the dark.

Reaching the door, Mae pulled the door handle up and met resistance. "Is this even a real place," Mae grumbled, holding the handle up and rammed her shoulder into the door. It resisted and she pressed all of her weight to grind the heavy door open. She pushed until she had the minimum amount of room needed to squeeze through.

Two giant bookshelves loomed over her and an unnatural darkness, not even her eyesight could penetrate sat beyond their ends. Mae glanced up, nothing but darkness met her gaze there. She began to crack open the books within her reach.  Their covers were worn and weak with age, the first few she wasn't careful with fell apart onto the floor. Every book was empty, not a single word or illustration.

"What did you expect Mae," She sighed. "The same answer every time, what joy!" Mae threw the next book into the impenetrable darkness. Everything remained silent. Where was the thud? Mae threw another book expecting to hear something when it landed. Nothing.  "By Alathan. I don't even know where I am."

Mae stared hard into the darkness for a long time. "It can't just drop off," Mae carefully slid a book into the darkness, holding onto it with her hand. It proved the floor solid. She grabbed an armful of books and took a deep breath planting herself at the start of the dark wall. A loud slam reverberated from the hallway behind, Mae nearly dropped the books she held, her heart beating painfully in her chest.

Quickly testing the edge of the darkness with her foot, making sure it was solid, Mae slid into the darkness using it to mask her form., it was solid. She was surprised that she could see back from the impenetrable darkness. The door was still open the sliver she had used to get in. It was disorienting as she continued to stand in the dark, she couldn't see any part of herself, yet she could still see the pathway she'd "stepped" off.

Mae crept backward, too afraid to drag her feet, lest she give her position away--she could hear faint scratch of feet against the floor behind the doorway. She continued to move, hoping she had enough distance from the bookcase edge in case whatever it was found its way through the doorway.

The door began to warp towards her, it hadn't been so malleable when she'd touched it. Her head began to ache, a weight squeezed her chest. Light scraping accompanied the warped door, and a growling breath released a cloud of smoke through the crack.

Don't give your position away Mae. She shakily set a book down on the floor and pushed it with her foot, half expecting it to fall off some unseen ledge. Moving further into the darkness, Mae bumped into other bookshelves. She attempted to grab a book, but it was stuck in place.