As Elona stood in front of the mysterious door, she reflected on how she’d somehow come to this point. Just the previous morn, when she’d left the inn on her own, her path forward had matched to the path she’d left behind. One little yes, and suddenly, rather than simply hunting down deer and selling the meat and hide for a tidy sum she’d jumped full force into a river, lost her cloak and large bag, barely kept the smaller pack, revealed her ‘circumstances’ to an essential stranger, and opened a presumably magic door. As if that all wasn’t distressing enough, now she had an excited fox tugging at her arm, goading her into going inside.
“C’mon! It opened just for you, we have to go in!”
Sionn’s voice sounded as if it came from a distance, Elona was still so wrapped up in her head. Her mind was fuzzy, between the lack of sleep and the trepidation of the unknown. That’s right, trepidation. It wasn’t fear, it was caution. Caution kept her safe. Caution kept her healthy, whole. Caution… kept her alone. Finally tearing her gaze away from the dark tunnel in front of her, Elona looked at Sionn. With one of his hands he was holding onto her arm, the other gripping her hand. He glanced excitedly between her and the tunnel, but had fallen silent. She could feel the warmth of his palm on her upper arm, the way his fingers pressed softly into her flesh without hesitation. She could feel his fingers against hers, the tight clasp of connection tying them together. He didn’t fear her. Elona had always been feared by those who saw what she was. Beastial seemed a compliment compared to the screams she’d heard as a child, the vast distance she’d endured from her mentor.
Sionn didn’t scream. He smiled at her, he broke bread with her, he slept on her lap and didn’t mind her being close. Mere moments ago he’d stepped close and wrapped her in his arms, even now maintained that link through his touch. He had reached for her in the water, even as he’d seen what she was. He had reached for her. Now, he wanted to go inside a creepy tunnel that opened to her hand. A tunnel that would no doubt reveal that she was just as monstrous as she had always believed. She’d no longer be able to deny it, to pretend she was something good deep down. The nightmares wouldn’t go away, they’d get worse.
But… Sionn wants to go in. Sionn, her only friend. The first time in years she’d thrown away caution, and she’d made a friend. Hadn’t she? She hoped they were friends by this point. Not because she’d saved his life, but because they’d shared a lunch and matched wits. Wasn’t that what friends were? What if whatever they found in there only diminished how he felt about her? What if she found out she was some river beast that devoured men heart and soul? Would he stay? Would he run away? Would Sionn, too, scream? Did it matter? Elona didn’t know with certainty what would happen if they went in, but she knew that Sionn wanted to, and that she considered him her friend. If either way Sionn would leave in the end, she’d rather it be because she’d done something, than because she’d done nothing.
So Elona took a determined step forward, glancing over her shoulder at the forest as she did. Her gaze skimmed over the fading shapes on the door, and she paused mid-step. Sionn, who’d dropped her hand but still held onto her arm, stopped too, glancing up at her curiously. He couldn’t see it then?
“What is it?” Evidently not.
“I can read it now,” she breathed, staring at the letters in shock.
“What?”
“The door. ‘Answer the riddles to proceed.’ I can read it now.”
“Really?” Elona felt Sionn lean around her to peer at the door himself. “Still looks like scribbles to me.”
“I don’t like this, Sionn.” Elona confessed in quivering murmur, startled at her own honesty. Her determination had fooled even her, but the undercurrent of fear that ran through her couldn’t be ignored as easily as it was defied.
At first, she didn’t know what he was doing. Slowly, she realized the warmth was familiar. He’d moved closer again, and hugged her from behind. His arms were slung over her collarbone, and his forehead rested against the back of her head. It wasn’t quite the same as his hold when the light had burst from the door, an action she’d thought was protective. This was… comforting. Slowly, almost scared of frightening him off, Elona moved her hand away from where it still rested on the door, and touched it to his arm.
She wasn’t sure when she’d lost her gloves. In the river? Had she taken them off in the night? Either way, it was a shock when she felt his skin beneath her fingertips. When he’d held her hand mere minutes ago, the emotional connection it represented had been at the forefront of her mind. She’d forgotten the odd texture of skin. Unlike anything else she’d ever felt, with a soft pulsing warmth beneath it. It grounded her, and Elona realized something. Something incredibly dangerous. She cared deeply for this person, for Sionn, and that opened her up. It left her open to danger, to worry, to pain. It changed her priorities, and altered her decisions. Closing her eyes, Elona tried to brace herself against it, find a measure of the distance she’d been maintaining. She failed.
“Okay. I think I can handle riddles,” she finally declared, pushing some of her normal confidence forcefully into her tone. “Are you any good at them?”
“Sure! They usually require thinking about words differently, right? I usually think of words backwards anyways.”
Sionn said it so boastfully that Elona laughed, and turned towards him. He dropped his arms as she did, and for a moment, she imagined grabbing them and holding him in the hug. Reminding herself that she mustn’t get greedy, Elona gave a firm nod, and turned back towards the doorway. A burning nausea was eating its way up from her belly, but Elona strode forward anyway. Acutely aware of her vulnerability without her bow and quiver, Elona picked up one of the wall torches. The grain of the wood and the weight of the torch were a comfortingly painful pressure.
“Sionn, don’t—” Before she could even finish the warning, Sionn had bounded off in front of her, going as far as the light reached and glancing around. “... do exactly that.”
His clear excitement, or maybe just curiosity, made it difficult to scold him. Sighing, and shaking her head affectionately, Elona stepped forward into the tunnel proper. Holding her breath, she waited. Nothing happened. Another step, and she glanced behind her. Staring at the door, she glared at it, willing it— almost daring it— to move. After a long moment of it doing nothing, she relaxed her shoulders. Elona kept going, her stride eating up the ground until she caught up with Sionn. Behind her, the door slowly drifted shut. The flicker of the flame as the breeze was cut off was the only warning before the sound of stone grating against stone filled the tunnel. Elona spun around, and groaned. The door had not only shut, it had seemingly fused into a wall with the other door, and now they were trapped.
Lifting her chin, Elona did an about face. Staring at the other torch, willing the wall to turn back into a set of doors, wouldn’t help her get anywhere. As always, when things got tough, the only way to go… was forward. As they walked, Elona dug up the few scraps of rabbit jerky in her hip pouch, and split them between her and Sionn. As meals went, it was insufficient, but it was an improvement over the emptiness of their bellies.
For a few minutes, all their surroundings were was a wide stone tunnel. The paving stones inside were presumably the same shade of grey as the outside, but the sputtering light of the torch cast a golden orange sheen on them. They lined not only the floor, but the walls and ceiling as well. As they walked, the tunnel got steadily narrower, until what had been a yawning expanse was more comparable to a hallway. Sionn chattered the whole way, running his hands over the stones and glancing around. Gradually, Elona realized it was a nervous gesture. He was as frightened at being trapped as she. Oddly, this left her with a fervent need to protect him, and granted her access to yet another reservoir of courage.
Just as she’d had that thought, the tunnel ended abruptly at a stone door. While there wasn’t a handle, it was set into the wall much like the first doors had been, and it certainly looked like a door. Sionn was glancing between her and the door, his attempts at subtlety failing but not going overlooked. He won’t force me. It was an astonishing thought, considering they were both presumably trapped inside these stone ruins, but one she believed with the full force of her being. He would gladly sit there and rot with her if she didn’t want to keep going. It was a weight off her shoulders, but an added responsibility too. Whatever happened, this was entirely her own decision.
“Alright, mysterious stone ruins, I’m up for the challenge.”
Elona reached forward and pressed her palm against the blank stone. For a brief moment, nothing happened. Then, there was a flash of light. It wasn’t as blinding as the one that opened the ruins, just bright enough to overpower the torch, but when it faded there were glowing etchings on the door that hadn’t been there before. Taking a deep breath, Elona waited as the strange swirls seemed to form words before her eyes.
“What’s it say?” Sionn had propped his head over her shoulder, as if by looking at it closer to her eyes he’d have a better chance of understanding it.
“It says, ‘If you have me, you want to share me. If you share me, you haven’t got me. What am I?’”
Elona’s tone as she stated the riddle was pondering, her mind already trying to wrap around it. She hadn’t had much practice with them, that was true, but riddles had always intrigued her. She’d heard this one somewhere, she was sure of it. Was this strange temple-esque place starting them off easy? It wasn’t too hard to fathom, there was plainly some magic at work here. A test of skill, perhaps? Nibbling on her lower lip thoughtfully, Elona rested her free hand on her hip and stared almost challengingly at the door.
“‘If you have me, you want to share me’,” She repeated to herself in a mumble. “‘If you share me, you haven’t got me.’ Hm.” There were plenty of things that could be shared and lost, like food or money, but those didn’t seem… significant enough. Was the door going to accept any applicable answer, or was it seeking a specific one?
“Hey,” Sionn’s head, which had been bowed in thought, jumped up. “I think I got it.”
“Really?”
“I—I’m not sure though. I mean, I’m terrible with them, and constantly share mine, but you seem pretty good at keeping them—” Sionn’s voice was endearingly bumbling as his thoughts jumped around inside his mouth. It seemed like he was trying to avoid explicitly saying the answer.
“Oh.” His rambling clicked it all together, and Elona grinned gratefully at Sionn, before turning a smile to the door. “I do believe you’re right. Well, door, perhaps this is the answer you seek— ‘a secret’.”
The glowing words faded, and Elona swiftly looked over at Sionn, unsure what she should do. Was the door opening? Had she improperly understood Sionn’s hints, or was the answer itself incorrect? Her breath caught in her throat as she waited for a change, any change, with her palm still pressed to the door. The slightest of shifts occurred beneath her hand, and tentatively, Elona pushed on the door with more strength. There was the same rasping stone-on-stone sound as the door opened, and Elona moved forward into the revealed room with Sionn close behind.
This time, it wasn’t a tunnel. It was a room, with a tall ceiling. Elona held the torch aloft, trying to get the full gauge of it’s height. Even if she’d been a startlingly tall woman instead of a modestly tall one, she wouldn’t have been able to reach up and touch the ceiling, perhaps even if she jumped. The room was wider than the tunnel had become, she and Sionn could probably lay down with their feet at opposite walls and still have been able to reach the others head. The room was square, and like the hallway, lined almost completely in square, neatly placed stones. The only break in the stone were narrow lines of shadow near the ceiling on the far wall from the door. Stepping into the center of the room, Elona lifted her torch as high as she could and surveyed all that was around her. No riddle, no smooth ‘door’ stone. Just an empty, square, stone lined room.
She was frowning at this revelation when the stone door began to creak shut, just like the last. For a split second, Elona considered shoving Sionn through the opening and making a break for it— but then they’d be stuck between two closed doors with no way onward. Once again she was taking a risk, as she had countless times since meeting Sionn, and she stayed inside the room. It seemed each time she had a reckless moment, it got easier. That’s not good. Stay focused. Don’t get cocky. Turning in a circle, Elona searched for the riddle anew.
“C’mon, creepy stone room, work with me.” Elona muttered, feeling ridiculous. Talking to the door-riddle had been natural, and it might’ve helped, so she saw no reason not to try it this time.
Not immediately, anyway. A strange rushing noise sounded faintly in the distance, and Elona tilted her head in confusion, lifting her ear to try and catch it. Beside her, Sionn’s ears were twitching and rotating like crazy, and even in the torchlight he’d lost most of his color.
“Sionn—” The noise reached her seconds before it burst from the shadows near the ceiling.
Water began to flow from the breaks in the stone she’d observed earlier, cascading down the wall and hitting the floor with a harsh force built up from the fall. The water wasn’t coming in an uncontrollable flood, and Elona eyed the spouts, attempting to gauge how much time they had even as the water rushed against her ankles in a mockery of waves. She had to figure out where the riddle was, and the answer, before the room flooded. A swift kick of regret surged up her throat, and Elona fleetingly wished that she had shoved Sionn out of the room. The water couldn’t hurt her, but Sionn… She’d only just rescued him from nearly drowning, and now here she was, responsible for him facing it yet again.
Elona closed her eyes, taking a deep breath. She opened her eyes and turned around in a slow circle, staring resolutely at all the walls. The water only came from the wall across from the sealed door. Say Sionn was right, if this ruin really did have some sort of connection to her, then it might be trying to trigger something with the water.
“Sionn, hold the torch.”
ns 15.158.61.42da2
