Evidently the keep had been set up to magically light the path of anyone moving through its halls, for each time Mikayla ventured into a stairwell or a hallway, magic torches set in iron sconces on the walls would suddenly come alight with mystical fire that illuminated the area.? The size of the place became daunting the more she explored, making her wonder if she was in danger of getting lost in the seeming labyrinth of the place. The feeling grew even more worrisome when she tried to retrace her steps and realized that the layout of what was now behind her did not match her memories of where she thought she had been.

As if responding to her worries, a small ball of light detached itself from a nearby torch and came to float in front of her, hovering in the middle of the hallway like a will-o-the-wisp.? It then began to move down the hallway, pausing every now and then as if to make sure she was following it.? As she did so, the torches behind her began to extinguish themselves, prompting her to keep moving forward.

Finally the wisp came to a stop at the end of a hall, not one that Mikayla could remember having been in before.? At first, it seemed to be a dead end, with only walls of stone before and around her.? But as the young woman watched, the wall in front of her began to shimmer and reshape itself, until finally a large door had manifested, a strong-looking structure of oaken beams bound in iron.? It lacked both handle and lock, but in the center of the door was a polished metal plaque with a single word inscribed on it:? Jerusha.? The wisp hovered near the plaque for a moment, then suddenly disappeared in a burst of sparkles that descended on her like a spring mist, each sparkle winking out as they touched her skin, until finally she was alone before the door with only the two torches in the side walls keeping the darkness at bay.

Tag - Mikayla