Void Walking
—-----------------
As the two stepped forward into the pitch black door William looked worried for them. The door shut behind them and they were all alone. Walking forward the small candle lit their way down the broken blackstone path that lay in front of them. They kept walking, taking brief looks around them but it was just an endless darkness that seemed to consume everything around them. The candle flame was the only thing guiding their way forward onto their unknown destination.
As time passed it felt like they had been walking for days. They lost all sense of time and just remembered what William told them. Suddenly a purple colored fog began to roll in, obscuring the path forward and backwards. They began losing their sense of sight as everything was consumed in the fog. The only thing that didn't make them panic was the sense of their hands still joined together interlocked and the faint light of the candle flame in the fog. It seemed that if they started to wander towards the edge of the path the flame would flicker and threaten to go out but once they went back to the middle it stopped. Soon the fog passed and they were able to see again but that didn't bring them much comfort. As soon as the fog vanished the voices began.
First it started with tempting voices trying to lure them off the path and beckoning them towards the darkness. When that didn't work the cries for help started begging them to help them. A few times they almost headed off to help but they stopped when they remembered William's warnings. Finally it ramped up with screams of torture, flesh being pierced and the cries of anguish. They managed to block out the noise but then it became worse when illusions of women and children being tortured and killed appeared on the side of the path. The sight of it caused Isaac and Val to blanch and begin retching. They fell to their knees and emptied their stomachs of all food it had as they kept gagging from the vivid images. Eventually with shaky legs and exhausted bodies they got back up and made their way farther down the path. The illusions dispelled and they were glad to be left with the blackness again.
The longer they walked the more used to the various tricks the void beings tried to use against them. At one point it seemed as if an aphrodisiac was dispersed into the air before vivid scenes of people being dominated by their lust were shown. The fog made their minds cloudy and they nearly walked off without realizing it before the candle flame dropped a bit of burning wax onto their hands snapping them out of their confusion just enough for them to realize what was happening. They were still affected by the fog but they managed to keep their wits about them as they continued walking.
Finally they reached the end of the path where a door similar to the one in the library stood with tentacles of darkness spreading out from the door and into the inky darkness of the void. They seemed to move and squirm as if they were alive. Isaac grabbed the door and tried to open it but it seemed to be stuck. Val soon joined him and they tried together but nothing changed. Soon they realized that they needed to use their energy to unlock the door. Infusing their origin energy into the doorknob together it shimmered with a faint light and soon they heard a click. Turning the doorknob they opened it up to see a large empty field with a road nearby. The road led to a massive school with many smaller buildings around. They stepped through and found themselves in a new world as the door leading to the void slowly shut behind them before vanishing entirely.
End of Volume 1
—-----------------
Sorry for the shorter chapter today. I am just really exhausted and overwhelmed with life atm. I will do my best to keep writing but I don't have a ton of free time.