Across the river, beyond the lawn, past Joseph's hazy structure, and inside the uncharted forest, Ernie and Henry stepped into a clearing. There were no trees there, because the tower took up that space. Standing at the base, both men
leaned their heads back to scale the stronghold's height.
After several minutes of staring, taking in the massive scale, feeling the difference in the air around it, Ernie snickered and said, "Yep, it's up-side-down."
Henry chuckled to himself.
"Tells you a lot about this Calarapan." Ernie added.
"Right?" Henry said.
Ernie pulled his attention away from the tower to settle on his friend, "You've already got a hunch about it, don't you?"
Lowering his gaze to target the base, Henry took his right hand away from his rifle to reach for a point at his side. He pulled a knife from his belt and started forward, "As a matter of fact…"
Ernie followed him. They both stood with only a foot separating them from the stronghold's surface.
"Just like he said," Henry offered, "it's completely solid."
"Buuuuut?" Ernie snickered.
Henry held his knife up-side-down and lifted it, "But…" he said and brought the knife down hard toward the surface. The blade penetrated the gray wall all the way to the hilt. For a moment, there was no change. Yet, like a delayed reaction, the space around the blade darkened. As it did, the strange material started caving inward. The darkness spread further along the surface, causing more of the outer wall to fall the same way.
Henry had already retracted his knife and stepped back to watch the process with his friend.
"Is it…?" Ernie began, "…dying?"
"Definitely looks like it's decaying, doesn't it?" Henry offered.
The darkness slowed, and with it, so did the decaying surface. What was left was a hole big enough a person could fit through. There was no light coming forth.
But that wasn't going to stop them.
Exchanging grins, they started forward. Henry was the first to go through.