The Underground Gateway

The red glow of the eternal fluorescent lights. The tunnel was littered with gaping doorways that led even deeper into the underground. Brina was exactly where she shouldn’t be, as close to the surface as she could be. She heard a sound like the sound of an animal scuttling on the floor. It gave her cause to turn as she walked. When she faced forward it was to see to solemn boys standing before her.

“You know better than to be here, little one.” The taller of the boys said. Brina narrowed her eyes at him, observing the dark clothes he wore the twin pistols on his hips, and the single sword that hung on his back. The other boy was dressed similarly, but with a bow and quiver slung at his back.

“Your two years older than me, Dorin.” She said scathingly. Dorin’s lips quirked, as he glanced at his partner who looked at Brina with eyes that sparked. “What is it with you girls,” Declan asked. “What is it with you girls,” Declan asked.

“What do you mean by ‘You girls’?” Brina asked icily. “Took you long enough, Bri.” A girl with tightly coiled braids said.

“Dhara,” Brina said wonderingly. “What are you doing here?” she murmured. “I think you know.” A man said from behind Dhara. “If you are all determined to break the laws, you will bring your teacher along,” Magnar said. Dorin and Declan looked at Magnar with confusion.

“Where did you even come from?” Declan said with a furrowed brow. Magnar frowned at the two sentinels over the ridge of his glasses. “There are endless paths if you know where to go,” Magnar said. Declan and Dorin exchanged glances, while Brina stepped around them into a circular room.

Magnar and Dhara weren’t the only ones who came. In the room, she spotted Dusha who sat cross-legged fiddling with some contraption, screws, and tendrils of metal around him. Havardur sat near him, watching his progress, Charis and Dusana standing near them both. Isleen, Pheme, Eos, sat near them looking skyward, sounding like they were humming some marching song. Lycus and Corvina stood their arms crossed looking at Brina darkly. Brina walked up to them both watching mirthlessly as Lycus frowned deeply at her.

“Your late.” He said with a deep frown.

Brina raised her hands. “I know. I know.” She said. “Did you bring it?” Corvina asked her. Her sharp tone seemed to alert the others who gathered closer. “Of course I did,” Brina said pulling her jacket open slightly. On a worn chain of iron lay the only gold left in this god-forsaken mess of a world. In the shape of a heart, the locket opened into the only key to the gateway that led to whatever lay up top. Brina let her jacket fall over the necklace, adjusting her blonde hair to fall over it. The last thing she needed was to lose the most sacred keepsake of the earth. Of course, the keepsake had to be a token of romance, or love. Her eyes fell on Dusha once more and she cleared her throat turning to look at Magnar, trying to avoid the flush trying to spread onto her cheeks. Emotions were such a fickle thing.

...

Between Magnar’s extensive knowledge of the tunnel system that had been created after the chasm of 2050, and Dusha’s invention they found the gateway with no problem. This tunnel was not like the others it was rumored to be at the heart of the chasm. The great divide nearly split the earth in two. The tunnel seemed to be formed of lava long since dried. A path leading to a sliver of gateway to an eerie crimson abyss.

“Are we sure we still want to do this?” Havardur asked. “We’ve come so far. It would be a shame not to see to its end.” Charis said surprising Brina, who had seen Charis and Dusana follow Havardur loyally wherever he went. Even with those words, Charis stood behind as Brina walked the last few steps to the path, Dusha, and Dhara on either side of her.

Dusha walked straight to the gate fearless his hands running along with the stone masonry. “Remarkable.” He whispered. “At that time they had so much technology at their fingertips and they still chose the stone.” He said, tapping three times, before stepping back. Brina’s eyes went to the wall that seemed to shudder with the echo of Dusha’s taps. In the stone, a carving appeared as if it had always been there, in the shape of two hearts. The shape of an open locket. Brina lifted the locket over her head touching the center softly with the tips of her fingers, the locket opening with a hiss. Inside was a carving of vines. When the locket was open it resembled a tree, an ancient oak of legend.

Brina walked up to the gate, Dhara close behind her. She pressed the necklace in the carving. The wall shuddered again before it started making sounds like a thousand gears whirring. Taking a step back Brina felt the others step closer Dhara and Dusha slipping their hands in hers as the door opened, nothing could be seen on the other side but an endless crimson sky.

“So that’s it then,” Lycus said from behind Brina. “Once the earth, was lush green fields, a storm of color in the sky, an endless ocean,” Magnar said in the whispered tones of a long-lost poet. “Now the sky rains blood, the harsh scent of chemicals in the air danger around every corner,” Dusana whispered the last lines of the poem. Brina let go of the hands that held on to her and took the necklace out of the carving putting it back on her neck. Brina turned to look at everyone who still looked at the glowing gateway like it was the open mouth of some beast trying to swallow them whole. “Well, I didn’t come all this way for nothing.” She said taking a breath and taking a jumping leap into the doorway.

The last thing Brina expected was to actually be falling. “Holy shit!” she screamed as she fell when she looked down it was to an endless expanse of ocean that she had never seen in her life except in pictures. She broke the water sinking down into its depths. As she fell she looked upwards and saw many more shapes hurtling down. She wasn’t the only one to jump into the opening. An instinct that she had never known made her kick and move in the water. And she blessed and thanked any god that still remained that she’d read all those ancient books on swimming and pirates, as she broke the water she saw other shapes falling through the gateway.

Dhara, Dusha, and Magnar appeared above the water next to Havardur and the others slowly rising up. “Amazing. Simply splendid.” Magnar said looking at the water like it was magic. Dusha and Dhara rolled their eyes, making Brina laugh. Even as she wondered how they would return home.