4 Behind the door

After half an hour of going down the staircase Johnnie made a sudden stop; They reached what seemed to be the end of the spiral now a long inclined hallway opened in front of them The smell of humidity was intense in this part of the staircase. The construction of the hallway also seemed different. While the staircase seemed a little rough this hallway seemed to be made of a perfectly polished stone. Without saying anything, Johnny pushed three seemingly ordinary stones from the wall surrounding the stairs.

Charlie's legs where burning after coming down the long staircase, his hearth was pounding, it felt like it was about to come out from his chest. Johnny on the other hand was looking fresh like a lettuce. Not a single drop of sweat was visible on his face.

"Just a moment, step back" Jhonny seemed to be waiting for something.

Charlie was expecting a door to open, but instead, a soft "click" sound was heard. "He forgot the code?" it wouldn't be weird, to be honest; Johnny's head was generally on the clouds.

Johnny looked over his shoulder and smiled; then he took out a flashlight from one of his pockets and lit up the space in front of them "Come on, we are good to go" he patted Charlie on the head and continued going.

"What was that Johnny?" asked Charlie clearly confused

"Just a trap meant for unwanted visitors" replied Johnny without looking back.

Charlie just followed. At this point, he knew it wouldn't make much sense to ask anything; he would have to wait until later if he wanted some answers.

Tap tap tap tap tap

Johnny and Charlie had been going down the hallway for over an hour, the construction was very estrange, they seemed to reach a bend on the hallway every once in a while, the structure would then make them turn and continue going, always turning left, it was like they continued going in spiral, always downward. The bends where less and less frequent as they progressed. On a few occasions Charlie saw series of perfectly circular wholes deeply carved into the walls.

The temperature was slowly rising, thankfully Charlie was used to long sessions of work with the animals on the farm, but at this point, he was getting exhausted. He didn't think he would be able to continue going at this pace much longer.

"How much longer?" said Charlie, obviously tired. His knees started to give in under his own weight.

"Almost there," said Johnny. They continued going for another 5 minutes until they reached what seemed to be the abrupt end of the hallway.

In front of them, a large space opened. Charlie could see the outlines of many large stone pillars that reached all the way into the darkness above them.

"Here we are, we need to get to the other side of this room" said Jhonny as he invited Charlie into the large chamber in front of them. As they walked Charlie could see the large stone pillars in detail. The base of each stone pillar was be about 20 feet in diameter, they seemed to come directly out of the stone, more like they where carved out rather than placed there. Large golden lines ran from the base of each stone pillar and into the ceiling. The base of the pillars was also surrounded by this golden material, out of the pillars thin lines would come out and meet at the center of the hall where Johnny and Charlie where currently walking.

"Is that...Gold?" asked Charlie clearly surprised, the light of the flashlight was bouncing off the many lines of gold that covered the surfaces of the chamber.

"Yes" Simply answered Jhonny as if he had just been asked a trivial question.

Charlie looked at Johnny thru the corner of his eye. Trying to read his expression, Johnny was no longer behaving like the light spirited boy he used to play with everyday.

Johnny walked in front of Charlie and signaled towards the wall. Charlie followed his gaze and to his surprise he saw where the golden lines where leading to.

When the gold line reached the wall it split in two, ran to each side for about 5 feet and then went up for another 5 feet only to turn inwards once again meeting at the center. The gold line also ran thru the middle of the shape drawing a circle right at its center. It looked like a doorframe drawn with gold.

Johnny walked to the wall and signaled for Charlie to come closer.

tap tap tap...

Charlie slowly approached the doorframe. The noise of the field was long gone, he could only hear his clam breathing and the beating of his heart, the room was solemnly quiet.

"Extend your hand" said Johnny. A serious look was on his face.

Charlie slowly extended his hand, he was still trying to get a reading on Johnny.

"Charlie, before we continue I just want to say that I have considered you like my younger brother since the we met."

"What do you mean?" said Charlie with a confused stare.

"You will understand soon enough" Johnny unsheathed his knife while holding Charlie's arm "I need to do a small cut to your hand, I promise it wont hurt much."

Swish!

Before Charlie could say anything else Jhonny had done a small cut on his hand.

"Ouch!" Charlie exclaimed surprised "What did you did that for?" the small cut on his hand started dropping a few drops of blood.

"Hold still, I only need a little bit" said Johnny while taking some of Charlie's blood whit his finger.

He quickly moved towards the door and drew a few symbols within the circle at the center of it.

"Lux sillus orm" after Jhonny said the words a few moments passed.

"I don't..." Charlie barely started talking when suddenly the symbols Johnny drew on the door started to light up. The door that seemed solid suddenly started to fade, now the doorframe encased in gold looked like a transparent crystal; behind it a hallway could be seen.

"Let's go, we only have about ten seconds" said Jhonny, he swiftly took Charlie and hurried towards the door. Before he could realize it Charlie was on the other side of the portal. Charlie looked back and noticed that he was by himself. Jhonny was still on the previous chamber, his figure was barely visible "I can not go with you Charlie, remember your training. Stay good, ok?" said Jhonny.

"What do you mean?! what am I supposed to do?" Charlie was feeling desperate.

Johnny had a warm smile on his face.

In an instant the door behind him went back to its solid rock state.

"Johnny...." Charlie was feeling confused tired and now completely alone. This was a feeling he greatly disliked.

Charlie threw himself on the floor and started ventilating, it felt as if the whole room started closing in on him, he felt trapped. He felt alone most of the time even when surrounded by people Charlie normally had this sinking feeling of not belonging and now this whole situation made it even worse.