He stood there in a daze for a long time, as if some force from the unknown was driving him, enticing him. Like an inexplicable impulse, the boy took a step forward and turned into the deep corridor.
The boy's steps became increasingly swift; he recognized this place—his father's Forbidden Land, where no one was allowed to approach, not even his children. It used to be guarded heavily, yet following seven days of revelry, all the soldiers had been moved away from the Pillar of Royal Authority, leaving this place exposed, no longer impeded by any barriers.
An inexplicable curiosity drove the boy. No... Rather than curiosity, it was more like a maddening, wicked force, disrupting the boy's mind, tempting him onto a path of fate's divergence.
The surroundings grew darker. Soon, the boy discovered an elevator suspended in the depths of darkness, surrounded by various steel gratings like a cage bristling with spikes.
The cage door was open, as if it were welcoming the boy in.
