All of a sudden Roy had an urge to look back, as if needles were poking at him from behind.
He looks back; there was nothing wrong, nothing out of the ordinary.
He stared, feeling as if something was wrong, looking at each object he can identify deeply to find anything.
Something is wrong.
Then it clicked for him.
At the far edge of the corridor, the first set of lanterns was shattered on the floor.
Roy stared at the shattered lanterns.
They hadn't been broken when he entered. He was sure of it.
It didn't even make a sound.
The corridor behind him was darker now, the light swallowed by something unseen. The air grew colder, heavier, as if the space itself was reacting to his presence.
He turned forward again.
Took another few steps and looked back again.
Another pair of lanterns was gone.
He stares back to the darker side of the corridor from where he came from.
He then shouts at the empty corridor.
"I'm not afraid of shattered lanterns."
He waits a second to see if there is any response.
…
There was nothing.
He turned around and took another few steps and looked back.
Another set of lanterns was broken on the floor.
"I don't know what kind of jokes this is for you, but I already heard you back at the..."
All of a sudden, one by one, sets of lanterns dropped onto the floor. The sounds of shattering glass echo throughout the corridor, blasting into Roy's ears as it gets closer to him and past him.
The whole corridor was dark but was only lit by the light from the door he came through.
Roy waits for a second before saying something.
"I am not scared of you, and I am not playing this game of yours."
He turns away from the door and stares back into the abyss in front of him and carries on walking forward.
Slow whispers enter into his ear, whispers he can't understand or make out any words of.
∷𝙹|| ↸o リoℸ ̣ ꖎooꖌ ⎓or∴ᔑrd∷𝙹|| ↸o リoℸ ̣ ꖎooꖌ ⎓or∴ᔑrd∷𝙹|| ↸o リoℸ ̣ ꖎooꖌ ⎓or∴ᔑrd∷𝙹|| ↸o リoℸ ̣ ꖎooꖌ ⎓or∴ᔑrd∷𝙹|| ↸o リoℸ ̣ ꖎooꖌ ⎓or∴ᔑrd∷𝙹|| ↸o リoℸ ̣ ꖎooꖌ ⎓or∴ᔑrd∷𝙹|| ↸o リoℸ ̣ ꖎooꖌ ⎓or∴ᔑrd
The whispers get louder as he gets deeper into the cave, confusing his mind even more.
Roy didn't look back again.
The corridor had changed.
The walls were no longer smooth stone—they pulsed with veins of glowing blue, like the circulatory system of something alive. Symbols etched into the surface shimmered faintly, shifting when he tried to focus on them. They weren't written in any language Roy knew.
Eventually, the corridor stopped in front of a massive door.
He remembers the note and decides not to open the massive door in front of him.
The incredibly loud whispers are confusing Roy's every decision.
The door opened by itself.
The door creaked open with a sound that didn't belong to wood or metal; it was like the groan of something ancient exhaling for the first time in centuries. The whispers stopped.
Silence.
Roy stood frozen, staring into the darkness beyond the door. It wasn't pitch black; it was textured, layered, like a curtain of smoke and static. Shapes moved within it but never fully formed. He took a step forward.
The air changed.
It was no longer cold. It was warm. Too warm. Like standing beside a furnace that wasn't visible. The corridor behind him had vanished. The door was gone. He was somewhere else now.
The ground beneath his feet was soft, like moss or velvet, but it pulsed faintly with each step. The sky, or what passed for it, was a swirling dome of fractured light, like broken glass suspended in motion. It shimmered with impossible colours: hues Roy couldn't name, shades that made his stomach twist.
He walked in.
Around him were a lot of black statues of faceless figures kneeling in eternal worship, their heads bowed, their hands raised in silent prayers.
Roy looked to where they were worshipping too.
A cathedral, floating in a void.
Of impossible architecture from way back in the past, pillars twisted like vines, floating platforms suspended in midair, and a ceiling that stretched into a sky of stars. Roy didn't recognise them; the constellations were wrong.
The cathedral was not connected to where Roy was, but he knew he had to get up there.
He heard footsteps.
Roy started to talk to himself.
"I don't know why I walked through that door."
"I am not scared."
"I felt…"
"Compelled."
"I've never felt like that in my life."
Roy knew what he had to do next; it was to get to that floating cathedral.
But how was the question.
He decided to look around first to gather information about his surroundings.
Roy looked around for a while and found nothing of use.
No ladders. No stairs. No bridges. Just the statues, the pulsing ground, and the cathedral floating above him like a forgotten god's crown.
He turned in a slow circle, scanning the horizon. The terrain was flat but not empty; there were distortions in the air, like heatwaves, shimmering pockets of space that bent and twisted as he moved. One of them flickered when he stepped closer.
Roy reached out.
His hand passed through it.
Suddenly, a metallic step appeared in front of him; Roy didn't hesitate. He stepped onto the first stair; it wobbled a little bit, but it held.
Another step appeared in front of him; he climbed this growing staircase.
He climbed.
The cathedral grew larger, its details sharper. The walls were covered in carvings, symbols that fused with faint light as Roy got his hand closer to them.
At the top of the staircase, a white gate surrounding the whole of the cathedral awaited him.
It was closed.
Roy reached out.
It opened.