Six

Anna followed Morcaryn into the dark and silent temple and then into a stairwell behind an elaborately painted triptych. The other woman waited until it was very nearly too dark to see at all before uncovering the lamp barely a sliver to light their way. They came out into a narrow corridor with a wrought iron gate. Beyond that she could see at least one wooden door.

“There’s a key that’s needed. I don’t know how anyone reached the doors. The key is kept in a sealed box-”

With a sigh, Anna started feeling around in the gaps in the stone around the gate. 

“Lady?” Morcaryn blinked at her.

“If it were in a sealed box no one could have opened that door. What would you do with a key you knew you couldn't be caught with? A key you might want to use again?”

Her fingers touched something metal and she drew out an iron key. Morcaryn stared with an open mouth.

“It’s the only smart thing to do really.” Putting it in the lock it turned as if it had been well maintained. “I wonder if whoever was using the key had to clean the lock and oil it first,” Anna murmured mostly to herself.

Morcaryn stayed rooted to the spot as Anna stepped through the gate. 

“Neither of us is built for brute force and whoever opened the door to the cell I was in seemed like they had to try hard to get it open.”

“The doors are not meant to open easily or at all.” A quiet voice came from the staircase and a short clean shaven man in a grey robe joined them.

“Will you help us? I-”

“She slew Osros.” Morcaryn hissed and shivered.

“No. He tried to force himself on me and I bit him. He bled and gods don’t bleed. His necklace came off in the struggle and when the stone broke he withered and turned to dust. When we spoke privately he boasted that the gods had all been tricked and he was stealing their power.

“I don’t know who or what is in these cells but I know that whatever this is that’s happening here is wrong. He said that they were persuaded to lock themselves in because when the gods pulled themselves into the bodies of others in other worlds those people came here and found themselves in the body of a god. Some of them may have abused whatever power they were granted and this was supposed to prevent it from happening again. 

“According to what Osros told me, which may or may not be the truth, in these cells are either gods who have been harmed and stolen from or people like me, who were living their lives one moment and then woke up in a pitch black cell, naked and terrified. These doors have to be opened.”

The man smiled faintly. “How did you get out?”

“The door wasn’t fully pulled closed, I pried at the edge with every bit of strength and fear in me to get it open.”

“The heat of the door’s purity should have prevented anyone from opening it and you shouldn’t have been-”

“Does anything down here look pure to you?” Anna gestured down the grimy corridor. “The only heat those doors are generating comes from decay. Even if somehow by some twist of fate those waterlogged doors still held any purity, I drink pure water. I bathe in it. My hair burns on a qina and my blood and tears behave as if they were pure water.”

“You…” Morcaryn blinked, “You said gods don’t bleed.”

“I am not a god. I may or may not be in the body of one but I am not a god.”

“What are you, if not a god?” The girl’s brow furrowed and Anna smiled wryly.

“As far as I’m aware? I’m the dreamer in whose dream you are existing. This dream may or may not be my brain’s way of giving my life closure and meaning as I’m dying. The themes thus far have been focused on figuring out who I am at my core and that includes how much evil I’m willing to tolerate. 

“I will not allow myself to be abused but the true test of character is whether or not I’ll let others be abused. I refuse to do so. This is my dream and I want it to be a good dream. I wish only the best for those in it but wishing means nothing without some kind of action. Come and help me.”

“If this is a dream and you are the dreamer,” the man began with a small smile, “why do you need help?”

“Have you never had a nightmare? Maybe you haven't, I don’t know if the people dreamt up inside of dreams can dream at all. Every person alive needs other people and this dream is not a daydream where I’m building it perfectly as I go. This is all the goodness and badness I’ve experienced in my short life bubbling up and making me work through it. Maybe I don’t need your help but if you’re in my dream that makes you pieces of my psyche and I want you to help me. I want to believe that even the most privileged and the most frightened pieces of me will step up to do what is right.”

Both Morcaryn and the man in grey shivered and started forward.

“We’ll go door by door.”

“N-no!” The man stopped and shivered again. “There are records of who and what is in each cell.”

“Fantastic, you can tell me about them as we open each and every door.”

The man turned on his heel and fled and Morcaryn followed him with the lamp. With a sigh she murmured, “I am very disappointed in myself.” A little louder she spoke into the darkness, “Alright, this is my dream, what is it I’m supposed to be figuring out here? Am I giving myself some help here or what?”

There was a soft laugh from deeper in the dark.

“Perfect. Let’s get the doors open. Can you see in the dark? I would appreciate some direction.”

Something moved in front of her and it felt like a hand waved in her face. Almost immediately the darkness lightened and she was face to face with a bizarrely feathered thing with a human face.

“I don’t know what you represent but I’m glad you’re here.” 

The head tilted, “What did the other two represent?”

“The girl was the part of me that does as she’s told, doesn’t make waves, out of fear of repercussions. The other one was in a position of privilege and authority and unwilling to use that to help others. That represents my comfort with the status quo and unwillingness to do more than say the right thing.”

“Did she say you slew Osros?”

Anna pulled the busted necklace wrapped in a handkerchief out of her pocket and offered it to him. “It was like I envisioned what I expected him to do and what I wanted to do and it unfolded, like in a day dream. The necklace came off of him, I broke the stone, and he withered before turning to dust. I’ve seen things like that before in, like, movies and TV, apparently it made an impact if it’s showing up here.” She paused and smiled wryly, “I’ve seen something like you before too. That was a good character, he was slandered and he’d done some sketchy things but he did his best to put things right.”

The thing took the kerchief and opened it with a disturbingly wide smile. “I’m Femnik, who are you?”

“You can call me Anna. My name is long and I’m getting tired of saying it.” She made a face and he laughed quietly. “If you need me to, I will though.”

“I would like to know exactly what I’m dealing with. Or who.” It tucked the necklace into its feathers.

“Annbella Isabeau Fitzroy-Grenfell. I’m a harpist among other things. How long have you been down here? And why haven't you tried to open the doors?”

Femnik’s feathers puffed out like an angry bird as it gave her an annoyed look. “I have been down here since the beginning and I have tried to open the doors. They were soaked-”

“Yeah, yeah, I’ve heard but this place hasn’t been maintained and nothing down here looks pure at this point. You stopped trying?”

The thing blinked at her.

“Yeah, that’s fine, learned helplessness is a thing. Let’s get these doors open.”

Looking past her, Femnik hissed, “People are coming.” 

“That’s fine. Hide behind me if you want to.” 

She turned to face the growing light behind the open gate and the first frantic looking man who came into view scrambled for it. He jerked it closed with a clang and looked relieved.

“I appreciate you, thanks.” Anna laughed and shook her head. “See. No worries. They locked themselves out.”

Femnik started to laugh. “But we are locked in.”

“Pfft, I have the key to that gate and there’s at least one ladder that leads to a grate that can be opened. I know because I went out it after I got out of the cell I woke up in. Them not being able to hinder us is the important part right now.”

Anna moved to the door and ran her hands over it. “No handle or latch but there’s a loop here. Hand me that chain the necklace was on? If it fits we can use it as a handle, hopefully the gold isn’t too soft to be useful.”

There was a clinking in Femnik’s feathers and the creature put the chain in her hand. 

“The chain was made to be unbreakable.”

Putting the thick chain through the loop was difficult because it was nearly the same size as the opening but with some work she got it in and wrapped her hand in the cloth of her dress before doing the same with the chain and pulling, bracing her foot on the doorframe.

Femnik braced a foot as well and pulled on her forearm.

“M**********r!” Anna hissed under her breath. “Open up, goddammit!”

The door gave a little and she ignored the pain in her hand as long as she could before stopping. Unwrapping her hand she shook it and examined it.

“The cloth isn’t enough to keep the chain from biting in. I think we need something harder like a bar to put through and pull on.” As soon as she’d said it she heard metal striking metal and hurried over to where they were trying to hammer a metal bar to lock the door in place. She grabbed the still loose bar and pulled it away, returning to Femnik. “Exactly what I needed. There are hindrances but the dream wants me to succeed. Or maybe I want me to succeed. Either way, the dream has been constantly giving me what I need.” 

The creature chuckled and shrugged. “Perhaps.”

“Stop! Please think about what you’re doing!” A man’s voice rang out.

“Freeing people who were tricked or forced into horrible confinement. I know what I'm doing. Indefinitely detaining people is against the Geneva convention, I’m pretty sure.”

“The Geneva convention?” Femnik asked curiously as it helped her pull on the bar.

“Yeah, it dictates what’s acceptable in, like, war and the handling of prisoners. I’ve never actually read it but it gets referenced a lot. People tend to need someone to stand up and say, ‘Hey you a******s, here are some rules so you don’t inflict horrific atrocities on each other.’ I don’t know why.”

The door groaned and began to come open. When it finally did she stumbled back and then stuck her head into the door, “Hey! Anybody in here? This is a rescue mission so move your a*s if so.”

She wrangled the chain out of the loop on the door and then shoved it wide open.

Femnik stood blinking at her.

“What?”

“What if they need help?”

“You’re free to check, I’m moving to the next door. I don’t know why but I’m feeling a sudden sense of urgency.” Anna moved further down to the next door, a cell on the opposite wall. This one had no loop. “Okay what’s the puzzle with this one.”

There was hammering at the gate again and she trotted over to get a better look at what they were doing. The priests were trying to hammer a metal piece into the key hole.

“Are you trying to get in or lock it permanently? Either way I’m not sure that’s the best way to go about it.” Anna watched the hammer and then moved forward, sticking her arm out of the bars and catching it as the man using it half threw it at her.

“Thank you. You’re really very helpful.” Thinking about it as they scrambled back, she yanked the piece of metal out of the lock as well, a simple metal spike with a flattened tip.

Femnik studied her with curiosity. “What are you doing?”

“Look around. All the doors I can see here have hinges on the outside, right? Not all doors have loops like the last one did and I know some open inward because the one I was in did. If we bust off the hinges the doors should, in theory, be easier to get open. The dream has given us everything we need to be able to accomplish this task so let’s get to work.”

Anna put the spike on the top of a hinge and paused, “Don’t these things come apart somehow? Like, they have a pin in them or something, right? Do you have any suggestions for the best way to do this?”

The feathered creature came to study the hinge and nodded, “Put your tool here and hit it, drive it upwards.”

Doing as he suggested she carefully tapped the spike into place and began to angle it, slowly working the pin out. “Do you want to use the bent metal bar to try to pry the door open? Or do you want to take over tapping the pins out?”

“I’ll pry the doors open.” Femnik sounded cheerful. “I think anyone inside will be happier to see me than you.”

“Why is that?” Anna gave the creature a baffled smile. “I’m not really familiar with this face but she’s pretty enough.”

“That pretty face was the last thing many of them saw as the doors were closed on them.”

“Oof, yeah. That would do it. If I could put my own face on this body I’d do it and spare them the sight.”

She tapped the pins out of the door she was at and moved on to the next leaving Femnik to pry open the doors. After several of them she reached some doors that didn’t have the hinges on the outside. Instead they had simple sliding catches.

“These must open inward like the one I was in.” She turned back toward the doors Femnik was working on, noticing how it all seemed to be in heavy shadow. “How’s it coming with those doors? These don’t seem to have hinges on the outside but I’ll need help pushing them in after I get the catches open. Do you want me to help you pry-”

A massive clawed hand shot out of the darkness and grabbed her by the throat. Her eyes watered as she struggled and clawed at the hand and she heard a pained hiss and hit the floor. Coughing for a moment, she sat up and managed to catch her breath.

“What the f**k, man? Goddamn. What is wrong with you?”

A massive creature with a smushed and wrinkled face that looked more like a bulldog than a man, stepped closer to glower down at her. 

“Yvenalyn, you ask-”

“Look, dude, I am not that chick. Apparently she’s occupying my body or some s**t. I don’t know, I only have the explanation that Osros gave me before he got dusted.”

The creature blinked, “Dusted?”

“When I got the necklace off of him and broke the stone he withered and crumbled to dust. A*****e was trying to force himself on me and made it really easy to get it off.”

“No one can remove it from him, he must-”

“I shoved my arm through the loop like I was flailing and trying to push him off me and he shoved my arm,” she gestured by shoving her other arm over her head, “My arm was through the loop and the necklace came right off. I wasn’t sure what would happen when I broke the stone but I figured it wouldn’t be good for him. I have the chain here, Femnik has the rest of it.” Digging it out of her pocket she tossed it to him.

“You give it freely?”

“Why wouldn’t I?” She got to her feet and wiped her hands on a clean part of her skirt. “I'm going to assume Femnik doesn’t need help prying open the doors I took the hinge pins off? Can you give me a hand-”

“I will not help you or them.” The thing grimaced and gestured broadly toward the doors.

“I am deeply disappointed in myself, a part of my psyche showing someone who clearly could help refusing to do so? I thought I was better than that.”

“You and they forced-”

“I haven't done s**t to you, my guy. Not that I’m aware of anyway and it shouldn’t matter what they…” She trailed off as an epiphany washed over her. “Huh. That explains it. You're less of a disappointment and more of a conundrum. If someone wrongs me I don’t typically help them. I would really like to think that if the situation were this serious though, that I would put things aside but I’ve never been in this situation before.”

Anna sighed and then looked at the door before looking back at the pensive creature. “Go figure yourself out. I’m down here with the intention of opening every door because I firmly believe that no one, good, bad, or otherwise should be locked up like this. Osros was very proud of having tricked some of you and gotten them to force others into place before he tossed out the uno reverse and shut the ones who trusted him into the same nasty cells as the ones who were smart enough not to go willingly.

“But I have a conundrum for you, Conundrum. Do you know if whatever is behind these doors is one of the ones who hurt you or is it someone like me? Someone who arrived having no knowledge of this place, naked, terrified, and innocent of whatever crimes were committed against you. Does the answer change anything for you?

“I don’t know you, you don’t know me. If I was able to change this face, this body, to be the one I know, I would do it not just for your peace of mind but because I don’t want to be anyone but who I am. Okay? Go sort yourself out, I have work to do whether you help me or not.”

“It doesn’t change anything for me.” A woman who looked as if she were made of vines moved to stand next to the larger creature. “I will not allow you to open-” 

“I’m not asking for your permission to do what I feel is right and because this is my dream I feel pretty confident in saying you can’t stop me.”

Femnik hissed, “Get the key from her. We can escape and find a way to free Gnir.”

“Did you open all four of the doors I took the hinges off of, Femnik?” Anna asked with a frown.

“I opened the important ones. Give us-”

“M**********r.” She rubbed her face with a dirty hand. “Go open the doors. We’re opening all the doors.”

“We are gods and none of us will take orders from you.” The vine woman lashed out and caught her across the face.

Tasting blood Anna began to spit it at them. The three shrieked and recoiled. “I literally, physically, could not care less about what you do when we all get out of here but we are all getting out of here. Open all the f*****g doors. I will use the key when they’re all open.”

“You do not-” the vine woman began moving toward her and Anna made a broad gesture wanting the wall to crush the woman.

The dream responded by sending large stone blocks tumbling onto the vine creature.

“I don’t know what part of me you are, I’m going to guess something selfish and mean, but this is my dream, Viney, and either we all leave here or no one does. I will bring this place down on all our heads and spill myself into the soul soup as is rather than to allow myself to fail at being a decent f*****g person. You have a choice, so, like a man once said, ‘Get busy living or get busy dying.’

“And you, Femnik and Conundrum, you want to look me in the eyes that aren’t mine and tell me you’re any better than the people who locked those goddamn doors when you have the power to open them and choose not to? All of us or none of us. Get the doors open.”

Femnik stared and looked at the stones that had been over one of the opened doors before looking back at her. “If you can do that, you can open them on your own.”

“It takes more than just one piece of me to open a door. This is my dream but there are rules and some of them are important. Can I ‘rocks fall and everyone dies’ us? Sure. But I need help opening the doors.”

“I will help.” Conundrum looked at her with a pensive frown on his wrinkled face. 

“Awesome. Let’s start with the doors feather boy didn’t deign to open. I don’t think he can be trusted to do it on his own.” She wiped at the blood on her face and glared at the door in front of her. “These need pushing in and we can get to them in a second.” 

Conundrum rolled the two rocks pinning Viney to the ground off of her, revealing bloodied smashed limbs. 

“I wonder if my brain is telling me there are no gods and I’m right about the soul soup or if this is some kind of foreshadowing.” Anna tilted her head and met the vine creature’s stunned eyes. “Gods don’t bleed. So far two people in this dream who said they were gods have proven they’re not.”

“Hallai, aid Diavach in opening those two doors.” Conundrum said firmly. “They must all be opened or we are no better than they are. Punishment can be decided once we are all free.”

“Groaluzzech-”

“It must be done or we are no better.” 

Conundrum’s tone brooked no argument and the vine creature inclined her head before sloughing off the smashed vines and rebuilding herself with new ones. He gestured back toward the door Anna had been looking at.

“Finally a part of myself that gives me hope.” Anna took a deep breath and inclined her head as the creature smiled wryly. “I got the latch undone, it was rusted and didn’t want to move. But I’m not strong enough on my own to-”

The massive creature struck the door and it cracked as it swung inward. He grunted. “I could have freed myself, the door no longer holds purity.”

“Yeah, but it’s human nature if you try things and fail consistently your mind says there’s no point in trying anything because I’ll never succeed. It’s called learned helplessness. You have to be shown that circumstances have changed.” Anna explained as she shoved the door open wider. “Hey! Anybody in here? This is a rescue-”

She gagged and backed out covering her nose and mouth. “F*****g hell, that’s rank. I’ve never smelled a dead person but I’ve always heard that you’ll know it when you smell it.”

With his hand holding the door open, Conundrum looked inside and then came out with a grim expression, looking toward the four now approaching. 

“One of them has died. I do not know which it was but the body has rotted. Flesh no longer covers bone.”

“That…” The one who had told her its name was Femnik peeked in and shuddered. “That was Tuzoth.”

“Are you certain, Diavach?” a pale lanky thing with dark stringy hair asked in a rasp.

“Yes. I was able to escape my cell just as they closed the door but I could not escape this place wholly. I know who is in each but I was at the far end when Yven-”

As he gestured toward her she snapped, “I am not motherfucking Yvenalyn! I’m Anna! Annabella Isabeau Fitzroy-Grenfell!” She glowered at him and the feathered creature cracked a smile.

“When Yvenalyn’s door was opened and Anna was able to escape.”

She gave him a nod, “Sorry, I’m just getting so frustrated with needing to repeat myself in this dream. How many doors are there? It was dark and I couldn't tell how many I passed on my way to the ladder.”

“There are twenty four but one was set back and walled closed. I was there working to uncover it.” He glanced at Conundrum. “Gnir was sealed and walled in. He came to demand us all to be freed but they had put power into the amulet of Osros and it was enough. If only barely.”

Anna nodded. “It’s dream logic. Osros said the necklace was like a power drain. That he was able to basically suck away the power of the confined people in here like pulling water out of a well. He said that the people down here sustained themselves with worship but he was discouraging the worship of anyone else because he thought he could make himself a god. The well ran dry and burned up the pump.”

She took a deep breath. “Whether or not anyone else can be helped we have to make the effort. Are the rest of you helping?”

“Yes.” The pale creature rasped with a faint smile. “Are you asking us for aid to negate the debt we would owe-”

“You don’t owe anyone jack for opening the doors. No one should ever have had to endure any of this and putting a wrong right doesn’t put those who were wronged in your debt.”

“We should be thanked.” Conundrum said sternly.

“If you need a pat on the back and a cookie as incentive to do the only right thing there is to do, there’s something wrong with you. I don’t expect thanks because doing the right thing is often thankless. It’s just what should be done.” Anna gave him a small smile, “I do expect not to be strangled or attacked again. I get why you did it if the chick whose meat suit I’m borrowing did terrible things but I’m not her. Wait to strangle this body until her a*s is back in it. You’ll probably want a garrote to do it but please don’t test that out until I’m back where I belong.”

He broke into a wide grin. “A reasonable request and a wise suggestion.”