Blood Master

14. Oblivioni traditæ

Entering the secret passage was a lot easier than I thought. Still, I crawl through it and shiver when the door/painting (both?) closes soflty behind me. If I were to try to open it, I'm sure I'd need to say the word again. At lest I hope the same word works both ways. Or else I'm fucked. Well, problem for later, I guess. 

On the other side of the hallway lies a small circular room. The walls are made of rock, and the only source of light comes from an orb of blue fire in the middle. It is suspended on the air, burning with no apparent fuel. More magic. Great. I dare pass my left hand above it; to my surprise, the fire doesn't burn me, nor does it burn off. Its purpose is clearly just to give light, not to hurt.

Around the orb, doors stand just centimeters seperate from each other. One of the door is the painting I came through. However, a part from that one, I can count at least 10 other doors. And they each look the same. I decide to do the next intelligent thing. With my teeth, I cut just a tiny fraction of my finger. The moment the smell of blood hits my nose I nearly tumble over with the incessant need to take it to my mouth. Just smelling it is making me go crazy, drinking it would be so much better.

I don't even know how, but I find the will in me to make a little blood marking on the door I just closed. Just so I don't loose myself in this maze. Every goddanm door looks exactly the same. No one would be able to smell it anyway. No one but me and another Blood Mage. Given that they are rather scarce, I find it to be safe enough. I wrap a bit of fabric around my finger, and curse when I realise I've started craving my own blood. I don't pay it much attention. A couple of times aren't too bad anyway. I hope so.

Now, there are so many doors I have no idea where that man I saw earlier could've gone. 

I test my luck with the one directly in front of me. I say the same words everlasting, with little to no hope, and smile when it opens just as easy. I peak inside, and almost huff when I see another hallway. Just like the other one, it has paintings hanging on every inch of the wall. Only, this hallway is one I've never seen, my guess, a different part of the academy I've never been to. 

A continue with a door to my left, repeat the process of spell using. To clarify: only a witch can create and place spells, but once it is placed, anyone who knows how to activate it can use it. Even a human. That said, I open the next door. On the other side, there is a really big room. The room has giant windows on the side, wich are covered in a dark fabric. I can still see them becuase of the light seeping from the edges. I step into the room more out of curiosity than anything. 

The room is fill to the brim with various trinkets. from furniture to strange artefacts I've never seen before, they are all laying around the room. This is the kind of room where people just put everything they don't need anymore. I wonder how old this things are, how long they've been here. There is even a piano on the farthest wall. 

I'm about to step in the circular chamber, when something catches my attention.

While everything here is just thrown around with no care or organisation, there is one thing that jumps to sight. In one of the walls, a big painting rests against the wall. The first thing I notice is that, unlike the rest of the things here, this one is not covered in dust. As if it had just been brought in. More likely, it used to be covered by the thick fabric laying at its feet. A fabric someone must have recently retired. Either way, there's just something that feels off about this particular painting. 

I go to open one of the curtains; moon light baths the whole room, and it looks even worse than before, with all the dust flying around in the light. My mother would have a heart attack in this room.

The painting stands there in all its glory, just as big and imposing as the ones on the hallway. And the thing that makes me gasp, is its lack of eyes. Where a pair of eyeballs should stand, there is a gap in the fabric. Burnt at the edges, it makes me reaise this painting was deliberately ruined. The face looks imcomplete with the black holes in it. However, even without them, the man in it looks way too handsome to be true.