Telluric

Chapter XXVI: Gorgon

XXVI

Making their way to the town, the group found themselves encased in the endless sea of monochrome fog. The town looked virtually the same as Graywood, just black and white, and much less populated. In fact, they had seen no one alive in the town. Despite this, they felt very much like they were being watched intensely by some sort of omnipotent force other than MUSE.

Noah wasn't entirely sure what to make of MUSE, the floating person-god whatever they were. They seemed malicious Noah noticed, but why were they helping him, Diego, Clary, and Mayla destroy the witches then?

"MUSE, I want you to take that puppy back to the Mayor in Graywood." Clary told them suddenly. MUSE smiled at the cute puppy and then nodded.

"Anything for this darling!" MUSE cooed in an out-of-character sort of way. Noah thought it was kind of odd in terms of personality, as MUSE didn't seem the type to care about any living creature's well being. But MUSE seemed to have grown attached to the puppy (as if anyone is unable to not love a puppy). Then MUSE blew out a puff of blue smoke which abruptly enveloped her and the puppy, and they vanished.

"So, where are we heading next?" Diego asked. "Are we going to the Clock Tower or the Mansion?" The group stopped outside of what seemed to be the mirror version of the Porter's House. This sent a chill up Noah's spine, thinking about the cannibalistic couple that attempted to eat him and Clary, and succeeded in eating the small Smith kid.

"The Clock Tower is closer." Clary's voice trembled slightly. Though she didn't seem to show any sign of it physically Noah knew that she was also nervous about being outside of the Porter's house.

"Then we'll go there." Mayla determinedly stated. Noah wondered how she could stay so confident, though he knew Mayla was just like that sometimes. She would probably be a Gryffindor. So the group began to make their way to the Clock Tower.

The deserted streets unsettled Noah even more now that they began to pass the houses of people they knew. It was as if some huge massacre had occurred, leaving a thick wall of ghosts in the form of a monochrome fog. The thought cause Noah to shiver, and he grasped Diego's hand instinctively. Holding hands in the middle of an unsettling Limbo world; nothing was more romantic.

Then the Clock Tower was in sight; it was the same as in Graywood; it was part library and part clock tower. Luckily in Graywood, the Library part was sound proof so you didn't have to hear the clock tower ring on the hour. The Clock Tower part was a door next to the library, leading to a large tower where the clock resided.

When they arrived at the Clock Tower, the identical-to-Graywood-doors were once again locked. This time however, the C was once again present over the middle of the doors.

"I got it." Diego told everyone, using his shadows to unlock the doors just like he did a few chapters ago. Once the doors clicked open, everyone made their way inside the monochrome Clock Tower.

***

The first thing that Diego noticed about the tower was that it was completely different than the one in Graywood. In Monotory, it was a large cylindrical tower with six evenly-spaced red doors. The spaces between each door were filled with cream colored Greek columns that stretched up to the ceiling and down to the red and white checkerboard marble tiles. On circular ceiling hung a beautiful glass chandelier that looked not only incredibly expensive but also incredibly heavy. He wondered how it could have every have been hung there, though shortly after the thought passed he realized it probably didn't matter because this world was incredibly different.

It was definitely nothing like the Clock tower in Graywood.

"Which door do you think it is?" Noah asked Mayla, who shrugged nonchalantly. Noah clutched Diego's hand and sighed, while Diego attempted to give him a look of confidence, though he wasn't very confident himself.