I quickly looked up and saw a beast flying through the air, diving straight towards us. I ducked as the beast flew past us, barely missing my head with the white spikes attached to its brown tail.

I stood up and stared as it landed on a giant bolder. Its wings were brown and at least ten feet wide each. They were transparent, so it was easy to see each bone within them. They were attached to a great brown body that was now crouching so proud. The head was narrow but long. Big black horns could be seen on top of its head, which each pointed outwards. The eyes were yellow and full of fury towards us. The nose was long and underneath the nose contained a jaw that was bigger than any creatures I’ve seen or heard of before. The body of the beast was plump but not huge. It was covered in large oval shapes, except for its front. The front had horizontal stripes indented every four inches from its neck right down to the belly of the beast. The limps of the beast were also covered in the oval shapes; however, the claws of the beast were covered in fresh blood- as if it had just finished killing something. The beast then roared a thunderous cry exposing the tiny bones that were between its giant teeth.

Being scared out of my mind I ran behind Linley and hid, expecting him to protect me again.

Just then Linley did something unusual, even for him. He walked up to the beast with his hands beside him and he didn’t look like he was going to attack the beast at all. He stopped right in front of the beast and started saying something, but I was now too far away to make out what he was say, so I creeped my way forward to hear.

However, no matter how close I got all I could hear from the dragon was roaring, I didn’t understand how Linley was able to communicate with it. Unless he speaks the same language as the beast. ‘That’s ridiculous but it seems like they are talking about something. What could a beast and a human have in common? Unless Linley isn’t a human.’

Linley came strutting back to me and said, “I have found the way out.”

“You mean you expect me to fly out of here on that beast?”

“No actually the exit isn’t that much further, if we keep on the same path. But before we continue your magic has to improve. There is a thing called the door of eternal souls, and in order to pass through it you must be strong enough to defeat what’s on the other side, otherwise you’ll be stuck in here like him.” Linley pointed to the beast that had now crawled off of the bolder and had started flapping its wigs preparing itself to depart.

“What’s on the other side of the door?”

“Nobody knows. There is a myth that only blackness is beyond the door and if you can’t get through it you will eventually go crazy and stay there or you’ll die because you’ll accidently walk off a cliff without know it. There is another myth that says when good people enter there is a great evil that protects a box, but the evil is too powerful and no magic in the world can defeat it. And if you’re evil a great good is beyond the door and the happiness and joy filled within the person is too much for any evil to handle. Then again these are myths so nobody knows for sure.”

“But you said if I don’t succeed I will be stuck here like the beast you were talking to. Does it know what’s behind the door?”

“No. If someone fails their mind is completely wiped of everything they saw beyond the door, keeping its great secret hidden forever.”

“What about the people that don’t fail, do they remember?”

“Nobody has survived to make it through the door.”

My mouth dropped in shock.

Linley lit his hand up with white light and said, “Shall we?”