Chapter Text
Months later, Avery found him again.
In the beginning he had tirelessly searched every nook and cranny of the worlds under the mines for any sign of Derek. Even through those great, rolling plains, he traveled as if he was being pulled forwards. A small part of him told him that finding Derek would make up for it. For losing him because he wasn’t smart enough to figure out a better solution. But no matter how far he went, every space in that impossible maze was encompassed in deathly silence.
Eventually, he accepted that he had other things to do. He had animals to take care of back home, a house to tend to. He stopped looking every day and started looking every other. Then once a week. Then once a month.
Even though the visits slowed, they didn’t ever stop.
Avery was packing his bag for another expedition, haphazardly chucking food from the cupboard into a pack on the table. He would be gone for maybe a day, but packed for three, just in case something happened. The worlds beyond the gates that had felt so sinister and alive during his first time exploring them now felt hollow yet still dangerous, like he was crawling through a carcass of something massive, its once powerful muscles now unmoving. No whispers followed him, there was no otherworldly pull towards those golden doors. There were no animals- something Avery hadn’t noticed at first- and although there had never been any in the first place, Avery would’ve thought they would have somehow found the place after the evil had been vanquished. There was the possibility that these simply weren’t good conditions for these creatures, but their absence seemed to Avery like one of fear and something akin to respect.
Avery grabbed his bag, which now held a few days’ worth of bread and apples, and added a book, quill, and ink. The book was one he used for documenting any hints. It was empty except for several pages of doodles.
Even if this search would yield the same results as all the ones before it, it felt important. Like honoring his memory, in a way.
After a quick visit to the river for water, he set off. Traveling through the mine and the cavern following it was easy at this point. His footsteps resounded against the stone like the scratch of a quill tracing a maze path, sure and steady. He took a break at the first opening, resting under a tree, but quickly returned to the task at hand.
Walking through the empty village always creeped him out. All of those empty houses made him remember his own place in the world, how empty his own home felt at times. How empty the universe was. His eyes lingered on some of the shattered windows and caved in roofs. He tried to make this visit quick. The walk along the tunnel was still pretty creepy, but he didn’t have to worry about the torches turning off. He smiled a little as he turned to the left- the warning wasn’t really applicable anymore, and anyways, he had a better phrase to remember.
Soon the gates were visible, glittering in a way that seemed almost cold in the dark of the cave.
But something was off.
Avery had walked along this path for quite a while now, and it was unchanging, static. Whatever change had been made here was very subtle. He looked around, taking care to not tear his eyes away from the golden doors for more than a few seconds. There was nothing visibly different. Maybe it was a smell. A sound? He wasn’t sure yet.
As Avery started to approach the doors, footsteps echoing, he caught a glimpse of something moving behind them.
He didn’t even hesitate for a second, immediately breaking into a sprint towards those shining golden gates.