“It’s too bad we didn’t find another door,” Ryan quietly remarked, eyeing the room. “We have to walk the entire length of the hall to reach the gate.”
“True,” agreed Eric, watching the rain fall in through the roof, “but finding another door might cause more problems than just heading across. I don’t see anyone, do you guys?” Aside from some sort of guard, it stood to reason another dragon might be here, but there wasn’t, at least not in dragon form.
“No,” replied the wizard, “but the staff feels something. I just don’t know what.”
“Then you go first,” suggested the rogue.
“Very funny.”
“I wasn’t joking.”
“Let’s head along the side where we came in before,” suggested Ryan, “since we know what’s over there. Hopefully no one is hiding in here somewhere, but there’s bound to be something guarding the gate.”
They headed off, Matt and Eric in the lead again as they skirted the dragon. Anna pursed her lips on stepping by the place where a god had first touched her. Why had it needed to be at a scene of such pain and death? Was that just the way of it? She’d long known people found god when in their darkest moments. Until now, she’d never realized she’d revisit the place where it happened again, but it hardly felt like a special moment given the rotting corpse overpowering her nose and the fear of more death being imminent. She found herself whispering a prayer to the goddess Kiarin as they went.
They soon came around to the gate, which no longer looked as if it was off. Smoke curled along its surface just like when they’d first seen it, and it seemed unguarded. Together they mounted the steps but didn’t get far. Something began to form in the air above the top step. The shimmering figure of light and darkness resembled the ghost of a dead knight that had decayed in the ground for years. A wicked sword appeared in one hand as two hollow eyes swept over them, stopping on Anna. Before anyone else could react, it leapt from the steps to land before her, one ghostly hand grabbing her by the throat.
“You will be mine!” it said in a hollow voice. She stared in horror, drawn into its eyes and unable to look away. What she saw in them she couldn’t name, but she knew death would only be the beginning of a new existence beside this thing for eternity. And yet a longing overcame her, one so deep and urgent that she whimpered in terror, her will to live fading as a will to be its bride came over her. She heard the others shouting but their voices seemed far away as if she’d already left her body behind.
She became dimly aware of Ryan’s hand trying to grasp the spirit by its own neck, but his hand passed through it. The eyes that had bored into hers turned toward the knight and the mesmerizing lure of them left Anna. Ryan was gasping in pain as she reached for the medallion at her own neck, seeing the spirit’s head turning back toward her. As her fingers closed around it, urgency compelled her to scream out in her mind to Kiarin for help, all doubts or hesitation gone.
The goddess’ face appeared in her mind at once, a brief look of outrage preceding a wave of strength that filled Anna. Still gripping the medallion with one hand, she grasped the death knight by the forehead with the other. Bright light engulfed the ghost, which screamed as the darkness within it exploded with light. When Anna could next see her surroundings, nothing of the figure remained and her friends stood staring at her. Ryan’s arm was covered in frost and he stood wincing in obvious pain. She took it in both hands and thought to Kiarin with genuine thankfulness, Just a little more please, for Ryan. The touch came again and the frost melted away, leaving the knight’s hand warm and refreshed.
Ryan lifted the hand before him, flexing the fingers and turning to her with a smile. She suspected she knew what he was thinking. They had argued so many times about the existence of God and now she had used the power of one to heal him. She couldn’t deny it now, not after this, not that she felt much inclined to. This time she hadn’t just seen it, or been on the receiving end of it, but both, asking a god for help and being answered. She felt jubilant, but when Ryan swept her into a bear hug, she knew he’d expect her to do it back on Earth and there was no telling whether it would work.
Eric pulled them apart, casting a sharp look at Ryan as he asked Anna, “Are you alright?” She only nodded, and he wondered aloud, “I wonder why it went for you.”
“The medallion,” she said. “It saw the medallion. Something about it attracted its attention.”
“What was that you did there?” Ryan asked.
“Talk about it later.”
Eric said, “Yeah, we don’t have time for this.” He took her by the arm and they mounted the steps. “Then let’s go before something else shows up.”
Anna gazed at the whirls of smoke on the Dragon Gate’s surface. They were already one world removed from Earth and now it would be two. Aside from Matt’s assurances that little probably awaited them on the other side, no one wanted to go through. The gate’s lock lay right there and all they had to do was seal it and this would all be over, which caused a brief argument.
