The Lonely God

28.

Happy Valentine's day. Love yourself. That's all you need to do.

~

-HER-

"I don't want to be here," I groan as Archander leads me through dark corridors. After showing me to the council, Arles commanded Archander to 'take her there'. I am still wondering where 'there' is. It could be anywhere ranging from hell to heaven but the latter seems the last place Arles would likely send me.

As we walk through the dark and deserted corridors, I couldn't help but notice that this place is so eerie and has an uncomfortable silence that's creeping under my skin and bothering me. Archander is silent as he walks in front of me.

Several doors line the walls on both sides of the corridors. Some doors look warm and inviting while some doors have a haunting air to it, daring anyone to open it and find what's on its other side. Blazing torches hang on the walls, providing some light in the darkness.

After several turns, we finally reach a huge room. This is different than other rooms. A huge door sits on the other end of the room while the dead and decaying vines cover the walls. There's a colorful dome above the room which is projecting colorful patterns on the floor.

Archander heads to the huge door on the other end of the room while I look around this eerily beautiful place. If the vine trees were alive then this place would have looked more beautiful, bringing out the green and warmth in the room.

Why's everything dead here? Is it because of winter? It can't be possible. Not everything is dead in winter. There are some plants which could sustain winter. This place seems so gloomy. It feels as if happiness never existed here. Everything seems dead inside out.

I surface the pool of my thoughts and near Archander who is arranging some symbols on the door. After having a closer look, I find that there are golden symbols inscribed on the door which are movable. It looks like a language. After aligning the symbols in a circular formation, he steps aside.

Next, he takes my hand and puts it in the center of the circle. Suddenly the symbols start to glow, making me gasp. With a loud creak, the door clicks open. Archander lets my hand drop to my side before pushing the door open and leading me inside.

My mouth hangs open as soon as I step on the other side of the door. This place is so huge. Bigger than the courtroom. It's a circular room with a fountain at its center. The fountain is dry. It's covered with an odd black crust while the dirty white marble peeks from beneath it at several places. There's again a big dome instead of the ceiling, made of tinted glass that's projecting colorful patterns on the floor.

There are three doors at the other end of the room. I follow Archander to the middle door before he opens it and leads me inside to a dark corridor. We start walking and are stopped by a door at the end of the corridor. The door looks huge and there are some things inscribed in gold on it. It has a regal air to it.

But Archander doesn't open that door. Instead, he opens another door which went unnoticed by me. It's on the left wall, slightly smaller in size. It looks warm and is a shade lighter than the other door.

He gently opens the door and leads me in. My jaw drops to the floor as I take in my surrounding. This room is unlike the whole palace. Its walls are light in colour, gentle to the eyes. There are even flowers and other things drawn on the walls.

There's a regal couch at one corner with a tea table, accompanied by a small book shelf. A full size painting of a young woman I don't recognize, hangs on the opposite wall. Her face is grim. She is holding a dead flower in one hand while a red cloth in the other. Her eyes look eerily familiar. I have seen them before; I just can't quite place it. I look around the room. It looks like a sitting room. There is couple of vases lined by the corner and some more seats. Another door sits at the end of the room and he leads me to it.