Page 52 of Living Legend

Elise pushed out her bottom lip in a pout. “Why is that? Did you finally come to your senses and realize that maybe not everyone here shits rainbows?”

Nicholas rolled his shoulders, taking a deep breath. I noticed the chain from the portal key Natalia had given him rattling slightly and the muscle in his neck tick before he spoke again. “That’s beside the point. I know somewhere we can hopefully get information.”

“I’m going to just put this out there and say I think this idea is terrible and risky as hell, but that makes me want to do it all the more,” Reese chimed in.

“What are we doing?” I asked.

He looked at the door and spoke in a lower voice. His voice was already deep as it was, but this low whisper sent a feeling into my stomach that made me press my thighs together. “It’s not what we are doing, it's where we’re going.”

“The anticipation is killing me,” Elise deadpanned.

“Tonight, we’re going to the Divine Library.”

The angels had grabbed us from our room when the sky turned midnight. Nicholas led us down the hallway we always took, opening the door to the stairway to the first floor. Elise shot me a confused look over her shoulder as she shuffled down the stairs. We exited to the ground floor, following Nicholas hurriedly past a small group of sentries. We passed a door marked Grand Hall and a few rooms with desks and large whiteboards. He eventually stopped in front of a narrow wooden door that didn’t look like much at all.

“Nick, it's a cleaning closet,” Reese whispered, putting a hand on the door frame as his best friend opened the door, looking inside.

“So, this is your Divine Library?” I taunted, poking the back of his shoulder.

The hallway was dark, save for the sconces that held flickers of light. I almost didn’t realize he’d looked back at me. I knew his face was near mine when I could feel his breath, prominent against my cheek and smelling of mint as before. “Not quite.”

He turned away, taking his scented breath with him, and stepped inside the room. A few seconds went by before I heard a click. A single bulb doused the room in light, revealing cleaning supplies and a few sets of blankets and sheets. The room was plain, dusty.What.

“You told me you knew a better way to get to the library. I told you to just use your fancy new portal key to get us there,” Reese said, looking around the room.

“Is this where the room magically turns into a library and we feign shock and awe or some shit?” Elise asked, pushing past Reese and pressing her hands against the stones.

“Nicholas, care to offer an explanation?” I questioned, staring at his back.

He didn’t turn around. “A portal would have been ideal, but as I said, I’m not risking it.” He grazed his fingers along a supply shelf. “Help me move this.”

Reese and Nicholas grabbed both sides of the shelf and lifted it off the floor, shifting it over. The shelf had a wooden backing that concealed the entire part of the wall it covered. Once they’d moved it into the corner, I saw what Nicholas had wanted to find. Nicholas wiped his hands together, dust floating off his skin towards the ground.

“Well fuck me,” Elise said.

“I stand fucking corrected,” Reese affirmed.

A small wooden door, no taller than me, stood before us. It was square, with dark metal hinges that matched the handle, small stains smattering it.Nicholas raised an eyebrow at me in a devious way, as if he was thrilled at the idea of figuring out something behind all our backs. I watched as he wrapped his hand around the handle and pulled the door open. It made a creaking noise as it slid across the floor. He stopped abruptly, waiting for any notion we’d been figured out. When there was no sign of anyone coming for us, he continued.What lay beyond was darker than any midnight sky. It looked like an endless tunnel towards absolute nothingness.

“Alright, I’m going first. You two will follow, then Reese will cut the light and shut the door,” Nicholas directed before crouching down and taking a step inside the, no hesitation to be found. His confidence thrilled my entire body.

I stepped in behind him, Elise at my heels. It smelt wet and muggy down here. Reese reached to grab the dangling ceiling light string and yanked it down, leaving us in pure darkness. I heard Reese close the door behind him. I felt like I could hear the walls breathing, blowing the dust and debris towards us while extracting the oxygen from the passageway.

I wasn’t afraid. Purgatory was the darkest of realms next to Hell itself. I wasn’t afraid at all. I was simply not used to what it was to be in pure darkness. I always had some glimmer of light, even if that light was through fire or magic. Purgatory could envelop your dark thoughts and see to your every dark deed, but it didn’t put you in true darkness. You had to be void of your entire purpose and soul for that to happen. Those in Limbo had no purpose, but they had their souls to hold onto. Right now, in the pitch black of the passageway, where my vision was blackened and my other senses heightened, I knew I never wanted to be in that place of vulnerability, to have my soul and purpose removed so I was void of everything I knew.

My thoughts started to descend further when a flicker of glowing light caught my attention. Nicholas peered down from in front of me, his hand extended between us. A small ball of light hovered over his palm. It wasn’t bright enough to cast light all over the walls, but it was enough to lead our way, enough to make breathing a little easier.

“You alright?” he asked, the light casting a soft glow on his face. His eyes were caring as they investigated mine.

“Just peachy,” I said, letting my hand move over the light. It was warm against my skin, tickling my palm. “Neat trick.”

“It comes in handy,” he teased, the corners of his eyes crinkling a bit before he progressed forward. Reese moved past me as he followed his friend.

I walked quickly to catch up with them, as their long legs made their strides harder to match. Nicholas was determined to get to his destination, as if he was blindly following the path ahead. There were no diverging pathways, no hidden doorways, no sounds except for our breathing and footsteps. The pathway eventually turned into a steep sloop downward and curved. I realized we were now underneath The Skies.

“I thought this was a myth,” Reese said, looking right and left at the stone walls.

“So did I,” Nicholas confessed, letting the light in his hand guide him onward.

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