The door swung open.
Kaelen expected darkness. He expected the weight of ancient evil pressing against him, the suffocating presence of the demon that had been waiting for centuries.
Instead, he saw a garden.
It was beautiful. Flowers of every color bloomed along winding paths. Trees laden with fruit stretched toward a sky that was impossibly blue. The air was warm, sweet with the scent of blossoms and fresh earth. A gentle breeze carried the sound of running water from somewhere nearby.
"This is the demon's prison?" Lyra asked, her voice full of disbelief.
The figure spoke from behind them, its voice distant now, fading like a memory.
"This is what the demon chose to remember. The world before the wound. The home it lost."
Kaelen stepped through the doorway. The moment his foot touched the garden's grass, the beauty began to crack.
