Telluric

Chapter XXX: Hellfire

XXX

A box of light, not much unlike a doorway, began to grow silently. The pace of Death's steps did not quicken nor slow, but stayed steady and monotonous. The click of his cane stayed at every other step, and Diego and Mayla walked silently behind him.

After a minute or so, the doorway was right before them. Death, in the light of the passage, motioned for them to go through. Before Diego would do that however, he had to know Death's intentions.

"Why did you help us get out of there?" Diego asked with a bitter tongue and crimson eyes full of fire. "You could have easily left us to die there; waiting for us to starve shouldn't have been long for an omniscient being such as yourself." Death stared back hollowly and then began to speak.

"Your end was not to die there-"

"And where is it?" Dieog interrupted.

"You will find that out yourself, but for now you must take the path and step into the light to cast away the shadows. That is the best way to get rid of them; just step into the light." And with that, Death began to fade into the infinite darkness of the attic above the ballroom of Mannequins. Mayla took Diego's hand, and the two stepped into the light.

***

As the brightness began to dim enough for their eyes to see, Mayla stepped out onto the wooden pier that appeared before them. As her eyes adjusted from the darkness, she stared at the molding landscape. Orange and cream clouds molded over and encased the entire landscape, making patterns and unrecognizable shapes in the thick, humid air.

Wiping a bit of her thick-curly hair out of her dark face, Mayla watched as picture frames with paintings lined themselves perpendicular to the docks, but out over the sea of clouds. Looking at Diego, Mayla watched his crimson eyes take in the landscape. The clouds swirled tirelessly and slowly, the pictures that were perpendicular stretching over the abyss of cloud.

Walk forward. Melliculus instructed lightly, and Mayla took a step forward. Under where her foot was about to fall, more pier shot up at a speed just a little bit slower than light. It was as sturdy as the first stretch of wooden pier, and so Mayla pulled Diego along cautiously. The glaring eyes of the paintings watched them walk along the second pier, until they reached the edge.

Suddenly, another section appeared out of the clouds and allowed them to progress. Taking Diego's hand, Mayla began to walk faster, the pier becoming more and more revealed as they progressed through the world of meringue clouds. Fog began to thicken around them like cotton candy... the thought of which seemed to stem from Melliculus' intrusion. They kept running, the pier building itself as they ran through the dense, meringue fog.

Eventually, the speed that they were running led to their slip-up. As they ran through the fog, their vision was clouded, and so Mayla didn't realize that the pier hadn't formed in front of them, but rather the side. Running straight forward, they glided right off of the pier. Shutting her eyes quickly, Mayla listened to Diego gasp as they flew off into the clouds.

The floating was slightly graceful and calming, even if it would lead to their deaths (supposedly). But they didn't die. As Mayla opened her eyes, she watched herself float slowly through the air, clutching Diego's dark hand. In the distance below her, she saw a box shape approach.

A pier? Mayla wondered. But it can't be... it's hollow.

It was a frame; a picture frame to be precise. As it floated toward them, Mayla could see that it wasn't just a picture frame. The place that she assumed was hollow was in fact a mirror, and they were floating down towards it. Suddenly, just as she was about to feel her feet hit the mirror, they began to pass through it. Her calmness did not falter as they passed through, and Mayla clasped Diego's hand as each one was on another side. Then when they were both through, they clasped down on a hard wooden floor. They were back in the mansion; a dark hallway lit by candles that hung on the walls, illuminating picture frames.