Journey through the Storehouse

The tower was no longer below Aurora. Neither was the leopard. The world dissolved into a blur. 

There was a sensation of everything and nothing. Her senses were simultaneously overwhelmed and deprived of any comprehensible input. It was like the world was being ripped apart... 

Or packed tightly together. 

Was this the strange void Hanna traversed when she went places? If so, it was no wonder she did not like to linger. The Empress hoped that she would not have to either. 

She could feel that she was moving forward at an incalculable speed. Indeed, the travel should only take an instant. 

And yet.

Aurora could not shake the sensation that something was pulling her backward. Was there not enough magic, or was her being human making things more difficult than they should be? 

"No!" The Empress tried to scream but no sound came. The attempt only made her soul feel more torn. 

Clutching the flower to her chest, Aurora tried to walk. She wasn't even sure if she had a body here, but her mind complied as best that it could. 

'Hurry!' she told herself. Somehow the Empress knew her time was running out. 

Taking a deep breath of air--or at least going through the motions in her mind--Aurora made one final push forward against the invisible hand trying to drag her backward. 

A loud pop like a cork being pulled out of a bottle rang in her ears. Aurora felt like she was being squeezed through a tube. But then.

All of a sudden, the Empress tumbled out onto a pile of bodies. 

"Ouch!" 

"Careful" 

"Watch out!" 

"Freeze, everyone!" Aurora screamed. She had barely been able to keep the flower from hitting the pile with the rest of her body, and all the squirming below her was not helping. "Can someone slowly help me up? Then we need to find a light and check out exactly where we are." 

In answer to her need, the Seed suddenly glowed inside the silk flower. All at once the area around them became dully lit. 

"Thank you," the Empress told the flower. "At least we know you are alright. And that solves one problem. Now for the other." 

Slowly, each of the four individuals untangled themselves from the heap. Reyan was by far the grumpiest. Having spoken the words, he was the first to come out of the other side. His crumpled wings suffered the most, and he let everyone know his displeasure. 

Using the light from the Seed, Aurora surveyed her surroundings. It appeared that the exit stone was kept on a shelf, which is why those leaving it had fallen from a small height.

Apart from that, there was a table close by holding many of the Fate's collected objects. But it was too dark to see much more.

None of the Fate's chains had lit the sconces. This could be because they had not entered by a traditional method. But it was far more likely that the Storehouse was suffering from the loss of magic just like everywhere else. 

'Poor thing.' Aurora was attached to the temperamental vault. 

"Where do we go? We cannot split up," Devrim held up Aurora's elbow to support the flower. He did not like the idea of her carrying the burden alone. 

"I am not sure. It is still hard to see." The Empress answered. 

"I have a fire stick," Brinn offered, "But something tells me that all these old books and the dry air might not take kindly to the flame. Do you want me to try anyway?" 

The other three thought for a second and decided to decline. If things caught fire in the darkness, they would ruin invaluable knowledge and suck the air from the room. They decided to stick with the small light until they could get to a more open area. 

So they picked their way through the dark labyrinth of rooms, hoping that they were heading in the right direction.

'I think we are getting close.' 

Time passed. They were not as close as they thought. How much farther could it possibly be?

Then they heard a rumble from above. 

"Is that...the surface?" Devrim looked at the ceiling. 

Reyan moved to the wall and put his hand against it just as another small tremor shook the room. 

"I think something very large is overhead. Maybe many creatures." The fairy tried to stay calm.

"I am assuming you don't mean large humans." Devrim watched the fairy shake his head. 

"Not unless those humans suddenly became giants," the fairy scoffed. 

"This is a good sign, though," Brinn sniffed at the air. "If we can hear something above us, that should mean we are close to the surface, right?" 

The others weren't sure. The Storehouse did not exactly have levels except for the stairs at the exit. But there was an imperceptible slope upwards. Maybe Brinn was right. 

"This way!" Brinn pointed as she continued to sniff.

"Is your magic still working?" Aurora wondered if the Seed was powering her now that they were back in the north. 

"I don't think so, but my nose has always been quite good. There's a stench in the air, and I do not think it is coming from the Storehouse." Brinn wrinkled her nose. 

They moved more quickly through the chambers of the Storehouse. A few more rooms and Reyan could also sense the stench. "Whew! What died?!" 

The words sent fear into the Empress, and she quickened her pace with Devrim's help. Soon the humans could smell the odor. It was nauseating. 

Aurora began to cough and Devrim borrowed a cloth from a shelf to tie around her face. 

"Thank you." The smell of jasmine from the scarf calmed her, and she cleared her mind. "You don't think giants killed the human army, do you?"

"I don't think Mairwen and Alaron would let that happen, do you? We will find out soon what is happening up there—Blazing Bees! I cannot stand the smell!" Devrim took a deep breath through his mouth and regretted it.

Stopping at a low table, the Emperor took another cloth and shielded his own face.

"If we are just taking stuff…" Brinn found a headscarf for her mouth and hair and also took a tall staff that stretched above her head. "Now I look like a real voyager!"

"You look like a child." Reyan scoffed, refusing to cover his nose. "Obviously none of you have used the privy after me. That smells far worse."

No one had an answer to that so they continued on in silence. The longer they traveled, the more tense they became. 

Finally, they found a set of stairs leading upward. Aurora's heart began to beat faster. 

'Light!' 

At the top of the stairs, there was undeniably light peeking down at them. The fairy and elf hurried up the stairs leaving the humans to go at their own pace. 

"Are you alright?" Devrim looked at his wife seriously. 

She sighed. "I will be when we know what awaits us. Until then, I will reserve my answer." 

By the time the royal couple made it to the top of the stairs, Brinn and Reyan had already discovered the bad news. The palace white above them was cracked and off its placement, but not enough for any of them to squeeze through. The largest crack was barely large enough to get Brinn's arm through. The elf wiggled her fingers in the fresh air. 

"So frustrating!" She grumbled. "Can anyone up there hear us?! Help!!!" 

The soft rumbling stopped for a moment. All four people screamed loudly. Their voices overlapped. 

"We are here!" 

"Help us move the door!" 

"Please hurry!" 

"We're in the Storehouse!" 

The rumbling started again. It sounded like...laughing?

Brinn banged her staff against the ceiling in frustration. "Blasted fools cannot hear us. We will have to find another way to get someone's attention." 

As she spoke, her scarf fluttered from the draft. 

"Good idea," Devrim nodded, "and I think I have a way.