Page 27 of House of Crimson Hearts
The air shifts, there’s a crack of thunder and the ground rumbles as if it’s tearing itself in two. And I suppose, in a way, it is. Between us, the courtyard fractures and tears, a thin fissure appearing down the middle, separating them from me.
Their eyes widen. My mouth falls open. This is no longer worth it. I care more for my life than the grimoire.
I step back, but my feet don’t move. I’m frozen in place. My heart hammers in my chest. Blood pounds through my veins, I need to get out of here. I yank at my feet. Try to punch the gravel around my boots to force it to release me.
Nothing works.
The earth rumbles, shakes, and then through the widening cavern in the courtyard, creeping plants whip up, lashing at the air as they mat and intertwine. Her heirs stand aghast, some with hands over their mouths, others unable to watch.
The green stems twist and plait, interlocking. They’re forming something,growingsomething. Faster now, more and more burst up through the earth and mesh with those already in place. It starts on the ground, as if the crack in the earth contains the roots.
A frame appears and I realise what the plants are making.
A door.
It’s an enormous, ornate door. More and more vines erupt from the earth and slither their way towards the frame. They grow darker, harden into woody limbs and branches. The door has lower panels now, a handle, a lock.
But then something more. Words appear, etching themselves onto the door. A burst of light and sparks erupts as the words ignite and burn the wooden branches until the words are black scars upon the door. I pull a scroll and ink from my satchel and write as fast as I can, not wanting to miss a single letter.
And this is what it said:
Behold the Door of Destiny, forged in realms unknown,
Guardian of secrets, in its magic it is sown.
A portal bound by time, an enigma to explore,
Yet heed this warning, for thirty years it stands, no more.
Blood of the night, a child of two worlds’ embrace,
A dhampir born, a dhampir turned. The heir to unlock this sacred space.
For millennia dormant, the door now stirs.
Only the worthy may approach,
Only the true heir.
In shadows they walk, with pulse of sun and moon,
The first of their kind, with fangs that hunger and a heart that beats,
They alone shall open the door and reveal the grimoire secret within.
The prophecy whispers of this sole chance,
For the rightful heir to undo the city’s dance.
But heed, oh seeker, the sands of time are swift,
Thirty years’ span, and then the door shall lift.
Open the portal, reveal the truth concealed,
Or lose forever the chance for Sangui’s fate be healed.
Once the last word was scorched into the door, the earth stopped rumbling. The door was complete. My feet released from where they were being held. I took one step forward and the world exploded.
