The Shadows' Empress (Part 3)

It took a long time—much longer than Roland would have liked walking through a dark tunnel—but he finally came to the end of it. Breathing deeply, savoring the less stagnant air than that in the cave, Roland stood at the mouth of the cave looking around. His surroundings were familiar. In a bad way. The sky was entirely white, and everything else a shade of grey or black. ‘Just like last time’, the teen allowed to let himself relive the parts of his previous nightmare that weren’t utterly terrifying.

Roland felt a gust of wind blowing against his back, and as he turned to locate it’s source a sound stopped him in his tracks. It was a deep, angry growl coming from inside the cave resembling that of a Rottweiler warning another animal that it was getting too close to it’s food. But deeper. The growl lasted nearly a full minute, and when it stopped, so did the wind against Roland’s back.

He turned around to see that the cave had been moved several yards back, as if it had been silently picked up, and put down further away.

“That’s fine,” Roland whispered to himself. “I didn’t wanna be in there, anyway.”

This was true. The entire time the nervous teen was walking through the cave’s tunnel he was praying he didn’t see the creature the Shadows’ Empress referred to; something he hadn’t done since his mother passed away. Why pray when life shows you there is no God?

Roland returned his gaze to the empty field that he saw when he first left the cave. Only now, the field wasn’t empty. The decrepit hotel that was the focal point of his last nightmare—besides the Empress—was in full view. His heartbeat quickened, although no where near the rate at which it had been going when Roland was walking through the cave.

“I bet I have to go in that…”

Taking a quick glance around the field to make sure there wasn’t some other direction he could go instead of the hotel, Roland looked back at the large front doors. They were double doors made of wood, that reminded him vaguely of The Gates of Hell sculpted by Auguste Rodin. Roland couldn’t help but think about how fitting that would be.

But, before he could walk down the pathway to enter the rotting hotel, he saw a glint of light; something shining red high above the doors. Normally, Roland wouldn’t have payed it any attention, but it was the only think in that world that had any color besides his own clothes, body, and now that he thought about it, the torch he was holding. He looked up to see the Shadows’ Empress standing on the roof of the hotel. As damaged at the hotel was, Roland was slightly concerned she might fall through the roof. She raised a hand and motioned for Roland to come closer before folding her hands together and disappearing into thick smoke as she turned away from Roland.

Roland noticed a couple things at once. The torch in his hand no longer burned with a bright orange flame. It wasn’t burning at all. He had no idea when the flame had gone out, but he assumed it meant he wouldn’t be needing it any more. Dropping it, he listened to the clanging of wood on brick as he realized he was now directly in front of the doors to the hotel.

“Awesome. I don’t even have to do much walking when it’s somewhere she wants me to go.” Roland lifted a hand, pressing it against one of the hole-ridden doors and pushed it in, causing a loud creaking to emanate from the hinges and the place where the door dragged against the floor.

He slowly walked into the hotel, strongly hoping nothing fell and crushed him. Everything was broken and looked to be covered in layers of dust and ash but was otherwise the same as things outside looked.

“Are you surprised you’ve made it this far?” Startled, Roland looked up at the large, spiral staircase to see the Empress standing on the steps, just high enough for the boy to feel like she somehow owned his life.

“I’m more surprised the door hasn’t closed behind me, yet,” Roland answered. “Besides, it’s just a dream…right?”

“It is. For now, at least.”

Roland didn’t like anything about that. Not what she said, nor the way she said it. Her sensual voice and wording reminded him of a black widow spider preparing to wrap its prey in a web of silk and lies.

“…So why did you want me to come here?” The teen asked, failing miserably to conceal his curiosity and underlying concern.

“There are truths buried in the rubble of this old building, hidden in the darkest of places only to be known by those willing to brave the dark to find them,” she began. “You have been seeking many of these truths for most of your life, but you have yet to find them. Consider This my way of helping you understand.”

The Empress turned, climbing up a few more steps until her face was no longer visible to Roland. “However, I must warn you. There are some things you wish to know that will unearth things you would rather not.”

Roland stared down at the floor at a piece of wood with the number “36” painted on it, thinking about what she said. “So, what I’m getting is that I can find out everything I wanted to know at the price that I’ll find something that’ll make me wish I never came here…”

“Exactly.” The Shadows’ Empress continued her climb up the staircase.

Not knowing if he should follow the Empress or not, Roland surveyed the first floor deciding he’d be better off going his own way. The idea that he might find out things his didn’t want to know caused him to hesitate, but he began walking to the far left down a large hallway from the lobby.

“I’m probably gonna hate myself for this…”