The Two Kings (Afterlife Saga) (42 page)

I was staring down at it from a different
angle as now I was on a different
side of the house but I could just make out the side from which
I had first seen it. I remember
ed
that night well and Draven had found me lost and scared in the darkness. At first I didn’t know it was him, only after he saved me from falling to my death did I soon come to realise who my dark knight had been. This was yet another i
ncident when his sister had been
involved and tried to throw
me into his path but he had dealt with it in other ways. In other words, just another time that I was made to believe it
had
been all
in my head
.

I continued along the cold open hallway until getting to the door at the end and I thought how nice it would be, if like last time
,
Draven was there waiting inside. It didn’t take me long to find out my wish did not come true.
Instead i
t opened into a cold landing and the only way left to go was down. The
stone
spiral stairc
ase made my fear of heights rear
its ugly head and a wave of
nausea
washed over
me. My head spun at the sight of
how far down it went and only when the screams started
up again did it
remind me why I was here
. So I
swallow
ed
hard before venturing down them.

The
y
seemed to go on forever and I found myself glad that they went down and not up, as my
chest was already getting tight
from my lack of fitness. I was at least glad that the moon was full and the sky clear because there was no soft g
low of any candles but there were
lots of l
ittle slit windows that allowed
the moon to shine through. The further I got
,
the more difficult it became as the stone wall was damp and the steps slippery. I lost my footing more times than I could count but thankfully I remained up right until finally I reached the bottom.

Now of course, the screams could be heard even clearer and as soon as my foot hit the last step I broke out into a run to
get to
the next door.
The
door
was jammed but with a little persuasion
,
it creaked open, allowing me access.
Thankfully in the next part
I found that I could breathe more easily
,
m
ainly
due
to the well lit room and warm air. I could instantly tell that there would be people down here or why would there be lamps lit and the hum of voices in the distance.

The room I walked in
to
looked like a shrine, with large holes cut out of
the walls filled with
what looked like artefacts and strange glowing orbs. One in particular reminded me very much like the one I had seen in my dreams
,
on my firs
t night in my new home. It was p
urple and when I got closer it started to spin and pulsate in it
s
place as though it was responding to my presence.

Other holes held things that couldn’t be explained without their owner present.
In the centre of the room I had to walk round a glass case containing a
sword
that
lay sideways. It was held there by stone hands gripping it tightly at each end and on the blade
’
s end blood constantly dripped into a pool of blac
k water from where the hands
emerged. It seemed so strange a scene that it took my mind far from the reasons I was here. 

I imagined it to be Draven
’s
collection and then I quickly started to wonder what he would think about me being here. Would he be mad that I was venturing into the unknown or would he see my quest as a noble one? 

I quickly hurried past and on to
the next part and
although worried for the girl’s life, I couldn’t help but be intrigued at all the new things
my eyes were laying witness to
.
This truly was
an
other world….Draven’s world! And I knew this was one part of his life he tried desperately to keep separate from his human girlfriend. There was so much that I still didn’t understand and only the
love in my heart made it all less important. To me he was just a man and most of all
,
the man I loved. I knew sometimes I doubted myself but in this I was absolute.

The next hallway was wide enough to get a bus down and the mouldings were breathtaking. Stone carved into art work.
Pillars that looked like sandstone men holding up the ceilings with bulging muscles and endless strength.
Huge arches cut off into smaller half moons that were covered and framed with flowers that were gilded gold. The pillars
also
held gargoyles
,
before they reached the elaborate ceiling
and they were not weathered like the one
s
I was used to seeing.

No
,
these looked like they could have been carved yesterday and this added to the fear they produced. I almost
expected their
eyes to start glowing and
for
them to growl as I went past. So
,
of course
,
when the sound of stone moving above me could be heard I
screamed,
proving
that no amount of preparing myself could have prevented my fright. I looked up but the grotesque creatures were still
,
only now their
heads turned towards me looking down. This made me
quicken my pace as now my heart
beat sounded in tune with the girl
’
s screaming.
It pounded in my chest and every st
ep I made was then followed by the
turning
of a
monstrous stone
head.

“STOP IT!” I stopped and screamed out at them. I
bravely stood facing their
judging looks as my anger got too much. I mean
,
what could they do to me? I didn’t give it much thought as one by one they slowly turned to face the other way and I was amazed to see my little eruption had any affect on them.

By this time I reached yet another door and before I went through it
,
I brac
ed myself as I knew I
’d
come to the end of my journey because the screams
could be made
out as
words of help. A girl’s voice was pleading to be freed and at least I knew I wasn’t too late. I took a few deep breaths and walked through to face my mission.

Of course I
was wrong… this door wasn’t the last to lead me to her.
The screams stopped as soon as my foot entered the room, well I say room but it w
as more the size of a football stadium!
The floor was
a
broken collection
of tiles that made shapes and picture
s
I didn’t understand the meaning of. There were lighter patches attacking darker
ones,
like clouds in a battle,
merging into one
sullen
colour of grey. It actually looked like the floor was alive with energy and at first I steppe
d back against the door that had
now sealed behind me. I turned in a panic but it was fruitless. I was locked inside what I soo
n discovered to be a tomb
!

I let my heaving chest calm before walking into the centre where there
stood the biggest pillar like the largest tree trun
k in existence. Thoughts of the Jurassic age came to mind as
that’s how
I
imagined the green life to have been back then. Of course
,
being made of stone only made it look more like a
fossil as stone vines worked their
way up the great structure. I didn’t
know whether it was there for e
ffect or was actually holding something might
y
up above.

My eyes followed in
awe,
as I reached the ceiling where it spread out like life finding home. The vines continued a
long the ceiling as if being a
life force
that
at one time that had sucked
needlessly
at the air. Now
,
of course
,
it was being closed in by the roof but it looked like it once belonged to something much more.
I found myself looking up until my neck ached, in pure awe.

I momentarily forgot my situation and unf
ortunately when I did look else
where I found the walls
,
floor to ceiling
,
covered with holes. It didn’t take long for someone with half a brain cell to know what lay in these holes. They were the perfect si
ze for a coffin to fit in width
ways a
nd I knew this is where the tomb
s of Draven
’
s dead
ultimately
found rest. My mind raced with questions upon questions and I bit my lip
as to
what
the answers could be. What had I found down here?

I knew one thing….
Draven was not going to be happy!

I moved round the open space with my breath caught ins
ide my body, only to be released
when absolutely necessary. I feare
d as though I may wake the dead with
each footstep I took and given
the size of the place, I took quite a few of them.
When I
finally
crept across
to
the other side
,
I found that one wall was covered in the stone vines that seemed born from the fossilised tree that acted as a pillar.
They had snaked their way up
,
produced from the trunk in the middle
,
and rained down this wall as if to guard something beneath.  

I knew I should turn back but it was
as
if something powerful want
ed
me there. My fear was slowly
being replaced with
a
need and a want so great
,
I couldn’t do anything to save myself….from myself!

I felt my body react to my recklessness. My hairs stood on end thanks to the raised bumps on my skin. My heart rat
e doubled or even tripled as
all my ears could make out was the beating drum that now played
a doomed beat
inside me. I tasted the acid that a nervous stomach produced and swallowed hard when I came only a foot away from the vine
covered
wall.
My body wasn’t my own, being forced by a mind I only half controlled.

“Touch us
!
” Whispers of the dead beckoned from each hole in the room.
I spun around half expecting to see thousands of decomposed corpses all stood there edging closer to me.
I
turned back to the vines and raised my hand causing a wave as
they all hushed, waiting in turn for my mistake to play out like a Greek tragedy. My fingertips needed to find the vines that polluted the wall, concealing a truth I needed to find. I only paused a second but it was enough for the whisperers to urge
me on,
one last time.

Then my skin came into contact with the cold stone that caused a reaction. The stone moved under my fingers like I was finding a pulse on a sleeping corpse. It started to pulsate more violently before quickly producing
thorns that pricked my palm
and pierced it enough
times over
to extract my blood.

“Ouch!” I yanked my hand free
and that wasn’t the only thing
the pain freed
,
as now my mind was completely my own
again. I looked down at my hand
and found there a strange symbol that resembled a birthmark I had under my hair line. It was more noticeable when I was a baby
,
when I
had only thin wispy hair but now it was completely covered under my
thick
blanket of blonde locks.
It was an odd shape, like a quarter
moon with
its back to a sideward V
. The blood had stopped
escaping as I wiped it on my jeans
but it was still red and sore.