Chapter 20: The Portal, the Panic, and the Place Without Lava
If there's one thing I've learned from all of this, it's that life has a strange way of laughing in your face when you think you've figured it out. I was all dressed up for what I assumed would be a dramatic horseback exit—the wind in my hair.
We'd travel for days, because that's how it normally was, right? Travel for days or even months to get to the demon realm. I was ready for that. But instead, Zorathys turned to me, lifted his hand, and snapped his fingers.
A slit of light tore open in the air, humming like a living thing. It wasn't the soft, glowing gold of magic I knew—it was deep crimson threaded with veins of black, as if the air itself was bleeding open. The edges shimmered like the crystalized chandeliers in our kingdom, warping everything around it. Inside, I could see faint swirls of mist and shadow.
So much for my dramatic horse ride.
