2Chapter14: Forbidden Grove – Beyond the Dark Portal
The Forbidden Grove had, in Spring's own words, "opened". To be more precise, it was the gate in the center that had opened. Every time it does that, the whole of the Grove will undergo drastic changes. Flashes of purple light will illuminate the forest every few minutes and all of its slumbering inhabitants will suddenly go into increased activity, she explained.
In other words, there will be about twice as many mice out there at the present moment.
"These mice came through the gate? I thought the seal on the Acolyte Realm was firmly locked in place?" Catherine asked in bewilderment, not wanting to comprehend any situation in which her grandfather's Trap had been compromised.
"Not as secure as you think, Cathy" Spring shrugged. "But the temporal differences between the realms are preventing the Acolytes from crossing over."
She then pursed her lips.
"Not that it stops the Liches and Wights though. Ethereal beings seemed to follow different rules from physical beings. The golems on the other hand were just reactivated from our side, that's all."
Catherine Plankrun turned her head to stare incredulously at the other girl.
"How did you know this much?"
She was tempted to added a "I thought you are just a crazy girl." to her sentence, but decided not to. It would appear that Spring was not as simple a person she had originally believed. In any case, she did not answer her question and the two of them lapse into silence as they followed the Keeper mouse.
Until they stepped into another clearing that was unlike that they had seen before. The whole patch of ground was scorched black, and skeletons of human and mice alike littered the place. Yet, what proved to be the most interesting would be the huge double-door gate that stood right at the center. It was open, revealing a chaotic vortex of purple energy that seems to draw one into its depths. Ancient archaic runes adorned the charred metallic doors themselves, covering the whole structure and even the ground a few feet radius around it.
Catherine gasped at the twisted grandeur of it all, while Spring went mad.
"No! You are not making me go through this!" She moved to run away only to be tackled onto the ground, correction, crashing right into the girl next to her. "Never! NOT AGAIN!"
Her fits of anger instantly dissolve as she turned into a sobbing wreck a moment later, muttering the same things over and over again, all the while staring blankly at the mysterious gate that was Plankrun's greatest work. It was without doubt that Spring had somehow entered the portal before and managed to get out, making Catherine wonder the actual length of time Spring had been trapped within this desolated place.
"No... not again... Please no... It hurts..."
"Spring! It's me. It's alright. Spring!"
"No... it hurts... I finally got out... no...
"Spring, you are out. You are not in there anymore."
"It hurts it hurts it hurts it hurts it hurts it hurts it hurts it hurts it hurts it hurts it hurts it hurts..."
"I wonder what happened to her." The Plankrun descendant was nearly in tears herself.
Trauma. It was the Slyph. The forbidden realm holds horrors that nobody could ever comprehend.
"Squeak!" Even Haiti was at a loss at what to do regarding the broken girl.
Catherine looked helplessly at Spring before turning to the one who had led them here.
"Sometimes, the only way out is in, human." The Keeper mouse gravely spoke. "Your fate beckons through this portal."
For that instant, the silence was eerie, with only the occasional rambling from Spring interjecting through the dead air. Then, a soft green glow shimmered as it gently nudged Catherine on the shoulders.
We are here, young Plankrun. Wherever you go, we will follow.
"Squeak!" Haiti squeaked in acknowledgment at Sylph's words. He then went on to a fervent gesturing session that involves flexing his own mouse arms. "Squeak! Squeaak!"
So in the end, her path required her to enter her ancestor's work
"Keeper. Will you please take Spring out of here to safety? I don't know why you are helping us but please do this as a favour to me."
It was then Catherine seemed to catch a slight hint of rage and sadness that shone just for the briefest moment within the aged mouse's eyes.
"I was cursed, human, by the one who sent for you. Through no will of my own I had helped you humans and for that I am being hunted among my kind. This is the only way I can continue to live."
The Keeper mouse coughed.
"But no matter. I will ensure the safety of the other girl as long as my candle burn. This boon I will grant you, Catherine Plankrun."
The latter smiled as she softly muttered "Thank you."
Then with a flourish, the mousehunter known as Catherine Plankrun scooped her two loyal mice into her bosom and courageously stepped through into the purple void. It was as though the Gate had been waiting for her to do so, for as soon as she disappeared within, the portal instantly closed. Loud creaking sounds echoed throughout the clearing as the doors slowly moved themselves shut, their engraved runes shining as intensely as ever.
Soon, the Grove returned back to what it had been before, without the purple flashes or the heavy thumping of things moving through the forest. However, not all remained the same.
"Oh? Something escaped." The Keeper mouse spoke to himself even as a form began to coalesce into the shape of a Wight mouse right in front of them."
"This is a hard boon indeed."
The first thing Catherine saw after stepping through the portal was sand. Sand, and more sand. It would appear that she had entered a never-ending desert that stretched beyond the horizon. Behind her a gate similar to that within the forbidden grove stood, only to be covered in moss and apparent age. It looked it had not been touched for months, but didn't she just stepped through it only a moment earlier?
Weird.
Right in her field of vision a huge tower loomed in the distance, standing tall and proud as the only infrastructure within sight in this godforsaken landscape. So awed was she that the mousehunter failed to notice the horde that had already surrounded her.
When she noticed and drew her only weapon, it was too late.
"Meeaattt..."
A gorgon mouse flung itself at Catherine, and immediately met its end at the surface of an alcohol bottle. This opened an opportunity for the girl to recover from her initial shock bring her Acrohorn down, clearing a path out of her predicament.
Run! The Sylph urged. I will help.
And so she ran. Every step she took, Catherine threw the mouse horde behind. Normally she could never have outran them, especially those floating spectres that defies the laws of physics, but it seems that she had the wind beneath her feet and it was all thanks to Sylph.
Hence it was with no time at all did she reach the Tower. Up close, it was a few times larger than it had appeared before. A thick fog hung about the structure and was undoubtedly the source of the one covering the entire region as well. Upon closer inspection, there seems to be no way in.
"Oh great." Catherine groaned as she peered back onto the encroaching mouse horde that yearned to devour her. "I am stuck."
Makeuswhole...
"What? Is that you Sylph?" Only a shake of the wind elemental mouse' s head answered.
"Great.. now I am hearing..."
Embraceus... CatherinePlankrun...
"-things."
She panicked. Catherine began to search every nook and cranny for an entrance, any hole at all that would get her into the tower. A carnivorous horde is approaching and maddening whispers are beginning to make themselves heard.
Whydoyoudenyus...
In that split second, a mental image flashed across her eyes, bearing a face so pained and agonized that flesh was hanging off it.
Catherine turned, if only by instinct, to meet face to face with a spectre mouse. The ghoulish familiar expression upon it was enough for her to freak out and scream. Luckily a swift gust of wind later, said spectre dissipated into bits of ectoplasm, the only evidence of its encounter lingering within Catherine's mind eye.
It was then a rectangular shape cut itself upon the smooth metallic walls of the tower and slid upwards to reveal a door. The girl instantly ran through, having no wish to stay outside a moment longer, into pitch darkness. The door whence she came from slid back into place, blocking her way out.
"God.. damnit. That was close…"
Without warning, a small candle light flickered on and illuminated a woman's face against the glow. Locks of white hair lay about, creating numerous dancing shadows as the woman broke into a sad smile.
"Hello, dear. Welcome to Paradise."