Harden sat with his back rested against Aldric's door as the entry hall died of all its chaos. His body was sore, and his breathing was still stiff, but he felt better than he had. He waited patiently, excitedly jittering as he thought back to their shadowmancy lesson.
By the end of the class, nobody else had so much as submerged two limbs, let alone their entire bodies. Harden found great pleasure in the defeated and frustrated stares of the ravens as they exited the class.
His presentation wasn't any more impressive than the other boys', but the knowledge that none of the ravens were close to Aldric's level made it worth it.
As time passed, Harden found his excitement had dwindled, and he'd grown worried. The final pattering steps of straggling boys faded into their dorms, and the tower trickled into silence. Harden felt a pit sink into his stomach as he realized his friend was nowhere in sight.
He stood and glanced around the entry hall, but only saw a few of the ghost crew as they led out toward their ship for the night. His breath stiffened in his chest briefly, and then he allowed himself to exhale.
"Where is he?" He asked aloud, scratching his head. Suddenly, next to him, the stones embedded in the stone began to swirl slowly. He stepped back, startled and curious, and gazed at the warping floor in awe.
The swirling lasted a few moments before a hole appeared beside him. He glanced down and saw nothing but a pitch-black pit. He gulped loudly and slowly peeled away from the hole. Then, before he could fully retreat, a ladder puffed into existence, one step at a time.
The planks clacked all the way down into the pit, disappearing in the blackness. Harden listened closely as the distant clacking of wood rippled down the hole before settling at what he assumed was the bottom.
He swallowed again, feeling like something had been wedged in his throat. He then, slowly, crept his body down the hole. He gripped the ladder tightly and refused to look down as he secured his position.
He felt steady, but far from secure when he began his descent. He shakily stepped down one plank at a time, ensuring his hands and feet remained planted with each cautious step. When he'd built up the courage to finally look at his progress, the pit looked no more shallow than it did at the top.
As far as he could tell, the pit continued for another few miles with no end in sight.
"Oh come on! A whole magic school, and I'm given a ladder?" He exclaimed frustratedly, pounding his hand against one of the planks. His voice surrounded him in a loud echo before dispersing out the top. He sighed, and began his descent again.
He would pause at every few steps he took, stopping to try and calm down his nerves and attempt to dry his clammy hands. With each stop, he would rest for what felt like nearly two minutes, rubbing the knots from his hands and taking deep, shaky breaths. During his next break, he noticed something odd.
When he finally stopped moving, a gentle tremor ran down the ladder. He initially dismissed it as the result of the rattling sound caused by his own steps, and didn't give it much thought at the time. However, after a short while passed, the tremors intensified noticeably, and Harden finally became aware of them.
His grip tightened, and his legs shook. Then, from above him and below, he heard loud clacking, like wooden window shutters slamming shut. They started slowly and far away, but grew faster as they came closer.
Before he could even fully comprehend what was happening, he was met with loud, resounding clacks echoing from above and below. Then, without any warning, the slats he'd been painstakingly climbing for what he was certain must've been weeks suddenly flattened against the wall, causing him to lose his grip and plummet. He screamed loudly as his chest slammed into something hard and slick.
He felt a rapid, almost violent rise and fall in his chest with every dip and rise. He lay almost perfectly vertical, his feet pointing straight down, and he fell for what felt like a minute, then two, and finally, after a full three minutes, he landed.
He felt his body jolt suddenly, followed by a slow and grinding stop. Then, he was carefully lowered onto the floor of what lay beneath the pit. He found himself in a dimly lit entryway. The rest of the space was dark, except for a single torch that sat beside a large, double wooden door.
The door had a symbol he hadn't seen before, a long, bared talon on a badge split down the center of both doors. He paused for a moment, and his breath caught in his throat once more. The feeling of worry was now even more pronounced. His chest tightened, making it difficult to breathe, and his hands were damp with sweat.
He had no idea where he actually was, but he was certain that the master magus had specifically requested his presence there. Taking a deep breath to steady himself, he reached out his hand towards the door, but just before he had a chance to knock, it unexpectedly creaked open on its own.
A fragrant floral scent suddenly filled the room, and at the same time, a warm light poured into the space, as if water were filling a glass. Standing in the doorway, the architect was smiling.
"He's resting right now," he explained, opening his arm wide as a gesture of invitation, and then he beckoned the boy to come inside. Harden cautiously peered his head through the doorway, and his body slowly followed after. The room itself was quite cozy, illuminated by the flickering torchlight, and filled with a warm, inviting atmosphere.A cooking pot crackled in a fire pit, and Aldric sat floating in a large crystalline tank filled with red ooze.