Page 48 of The Night Prince 3
But there was no one there. No one that he could see.
“Dr. Johnson, if you can hear me, I want to thank you. For everything you did for me. You made me the person I am today in a lot of ways. I truly… I love you and wish you all the best,” Finley said words out loud that he hadn’t ever gotten a chance to tell the old man.
The whispers continued, but he heard nothing in response from the old professor. He hoped the man had heard him.
Now to go forward and embrace death.
He headed towards the yawning doorway that led into the rest of the Temple of the Necrilem. The air was cold and stony. Even though he wasn’t heading down in any way, he felt he was descending deeper and deeper and deeper with every footstep. But the floor was flat and even.
At first, he searched his pockets for something to create light. The illumination from the outside was soon just a spark behind him. But he had nothing on him. Vex would have known that so he was meant to go forward into the dark.
Or I’m being a complete idiot. Isn’t all of this idiocy?
But, again, he flashed on the memory of the Leviathan perched above him, ready to end him, and all he had been capable of doing was cringing. He couldn’t go back to that way of living. He wanted something more. Vex wouldn’t have sent him on a wild goosechase.
So keep going.
And he did. One foot in front of the other. Something started to change as he did this. His heart should have been racing. His breath should have come in panicky gasps. The darkness was thick and almost physical. He swore he could have reached out and scooped it up. That should have added to a sense of terror.
But it didn’t.
His heart rate slowed. His breathing was even and getting slower. He felt incredibly calm. Almost as if he were entering a meditative state. And despite the darkness he could have gathered to him like a set of velvet blankets, he walked forward without concern.
Something’s happening to me. The question is if it is bad or good.
But his other state of calm made it so he didn’t really care either way. He was going forward. He would see this through to the end.
This is meant. This is my story. This has been waiting for me all my life.
The floor beneath his feet remained smooth and flat. He did sense that there were bits of stone and debris that had fallen and dusted the floor, but they did not impede his progress. Nor did he stop and swish a foot out ahead of himself to check for bigger chunks even though he should. He didn’t put his hands out to the side or the front of him either in order to stop from walking into walls.
Over the whispers, or perhaps because of them, he could tell that the space he was in was large. Vast. That was the real word. Vast. He imagined that he had entered into the main part of the dome and that it was simply one large open space. The echoey sound of the whispers seemed to indicate this.
The voices swelled in volume until they were almost deafening. Screams. Shouts. Cries. He still couldn’t identify any words. It was as if they were pure emotion put into sounds. Finley stopped walking, bringing his hands up to his ears, but the moment he ceased his forward movement the voices were reduced to whispers once more so he dropped his hands to his sides.
And waited.
The whispers dropped away until they were just a background hum. The darkness remained absolute for long moments, but then the first torch burst into light ahead of him. He jerked back and the whispers swelled in anger once more. He quickly reclaimed his place. They dropped down again.
Another torch burst into life.
Another!
Another!
ANOTHER!
They surrounded him on all sides. His eyes stung and watered. He shaded them with one hand. Finally, through blinking and slowly letting his eyes adjust he was able to drop that hand and look around him.
He was in a pit!
That was his first thought. He slowly turned his head. The room was circular with sheer sides going up and up and up with the ceiling behind lost in gloom that the torches did not penetrate. There was a long winding stairway that led down to this space that hugged the walls, crumbling to pieces in parts. There was no doorway to the outside here.
But I didn’t go down any stairs! How could I have jumped over those chasms where the stairs have fallen away? I couldn’t have! I didn’t!
But then Finley remembered the sensation he’d had of a descent. He hadn’t walked far enough to get here, but he’d known he was going down. Sensed it in his bones. And here he was.
Where is here?
