"shadow."
"Death,"
"whisper."
The man in grey's smile broadened, becoming in an instant kind rather than sinister. He flexed his fingers, and in a crescendo of creaking and cracking the swirling waters around them solidified into glistening crystal.
"You have done well, all of you." he said, as he lowered his arms and beckoned them to follow him across the now-covered bridge. "As ever, our Lord has chosen wisely. You have come far in more ways that one. Doubtless, you are weary, the sustenance we offered you wearing thin. We will reach the Sanctum soon, and when we do you shall be sated."
As the grey one walked and talked, the other hooded figures that had crowded the cave walls earlier began to once more reappear in their midst. Now, they no longer taunted or watched haughtily from afar, but rather clapped hands on shoulders, offering their congratulations to the party. Minerva practically bounded between them, humming a cheery tune that only she seemed to recognise. However, her enthusiasm was infectious all the same. More tunnels and crypts they passed through, on the other side of the cave, these ones just as ancient, but somehow warmer and less foreboding. On they went, until they all reached the dead-end passage, sealed by the ancient wall.
The grey one raised his left palm against the crumbling stones, and the darkness thickened, until the wall shifted to assume the shape of the giant skull, drinking the soup of shadow back from them, before opening wide to accept their entry. At the head of the group, the child in grey turned back,to face the new initiates.
"The Sanctum awaits." he said, smiling. "They have been expecting you."
***********************************************************************************************
[HEADING=1]Chapter 2[/HEADING]
What they found on the other side of the macabre doorway was quite unlike any dwelling they had ever seen. Out of the blackness that had swallowed them up, a chamber seemed to simply appear, with no real sense that they were passing through into a new space. The walls of this long hall were fashioned of some kind of stone, yet in had pitch black, and perfectly smooth with no sign of masonry. There weren't even any visible joins where individual blocks had been set in place. From these walls seemed to reverberate an energy that gave off a unique sensation all of its own. It was neither hot nor cold, neither painful nor soothing, and yet it was felt by all. Indescribable, but undeniable. These walls curved upwards, presumably to meet at a vaulted ceiling. However, their apex could not be seen past a veil of shifting colour that bathed the space in constantly changing light, moving in subtle, muted hues of reds, purples, blues and greens, giving an impression that the chamber might have been constructed beneath a suspended, black lake through which light filtered (after everything else they had seen today, would that be so hard to believe?). Regardless, this presence above them easily bathed the space in haunting, mesmerising light, without any aid from lamps or torches. The chamber was dominated by a long table, made of the same black stone as the rest of the room. In fact, on closer inspection the table seemed to rise, unbroken, out of the stone of the floor itself. What was far more interesting to many in the party, however, was the fact that this table had been laid out with a feast the likes of which even the best off among them couldn't have possibly hoped to see in their lives. Almost ever available space on said table was piled high with meat, fowl, fish, and a hundred different sorts of roots and leaves, all plump and appetising.
As they descended steps towards the sunken floor area, doors opened along the walls, and more robed figures appeared to join them. From the opposite end of the room, an old man all in white, save for the blade he wore at his hip emerged. He smiled warmly at the newcomers, an effect that was not altogether spoiled by the eerie clouding of his eyes, and eerier still the feeling that, despite his obvious blindness, he was totally aware of every detail of his surroundings.
"You are all welcome." The Old Man announced kindly. "Please," He said, motioning to the table, "help yourselves; and you have my word that partaking in this feast places you in no debt to us. Tonight is simply a mission on our part to sate both your bellies and you minds. Any questions you may have, and I'm certain you have several between you, shall all be given their due tonight, with as much honesty as of which I am able, and in return, nothing shall be asked of you, until you are ready. No more tricks. No more tests. This is your reward."
