Chapter 04: Into the Depths
The tunnels beneath the royal palace were nothing like what Roxie had imagined. Where she’d expected cold stone corridors and dreary walls, she found herself in a labyrinth of ancient, winding passageways—each more sophisticated than the last. The walls were lined with glowing crystals, their soft blue light casting eerie shadows as they walked deeper into the bowels of the palace.
Roxie kept pace with Dorian, who walked with a quiet confidence, his every movement calculated and purposeful. She had to admit, there was something unnervingly mesmerizing about the way he carried himself. As though he belonged here, as though nothing could surprise him.
But Roxie wasn’t fooled. She wasn’t some helpless damsel to be shielded from the world. She had her own skills, her own knowledge—skills she intended to use. The idea of standing by while Dorian handled everything made her skin crawl. She wasn’t sure if she should trust him completely, but for now, she had no choice but to follow his lead.
“How much further?” Roxie whispered, her voice echoing slightly in the damp, hollow space.
Dorian glanced at her over his shoulder. “Not much farther. The exit is just ahead.”
She raised an eyebrow. “That’s it? No more traps, no more hidden guards waiting to ambush us?”
Dorian didn’t answer immediately. His eyes darted around the tunnel, ever vigilant. Finally, he spoke. “No. These tunnels were built for escape, not defense. But it’s not the guards you need to worry about. It’s the ones we’re running from.”
Roxie couldn’t help but ask, “Who are they?”
His jaw tightened. “I told you—bounty hunters. Smugglers. They’re from the outer rim of the galaxy, and they’ve been hunting down anyone who has anything to do with this technology.”
He didn’t elaborate further, and Roxie didn’t press. The weight of his words lingered in the air, and for a moment, she felt a twinge of unease. She had known that her sudden teleportation to this strange world had to have consequences, but the reality was beginning to hit harder than she expected.
They reached a door, its surface sleek and metallic, unlike the stone walls of the rest of the tunnel. Dorian placed his hand on a hidden panel beside it, and the door slid open with a soft hiss. The dim glow of the passageway was replaced by a much brighter, flickering light from beyond.
“What is this place?” Roxie asked, looking around at the strange new room. It was a large, cavernous chamber, the walls lined with high-tech equipment and holographic displays. It was an underground facility, far more advanced than the royal palace above. The air was thick with the hum of machinery, and the faint smell of ozone lingered.
Dorian stepped forward, motioning for her to follow. “This is where the royal family kept their most sensitive technologies. It’s off-limits to everyone except a select few.”
Roxie couldn’t help but feel a sense of awe. “And I’m just supposed to sit here while you go fight off bounty hunters?”
His lips twitched, the first hint of a smile breaking through his usually serious demeanor. “I never said you had to sit still. But yes, I need to take care of things here first. And you’ll need to be careful. There are systems in place here that are even more dangerous than the ones after us.”
Roxie didn’t need any more encouragement. She had no intention of being left in the dark while Dorian played the hero. She stepped past him and approached one of the control consoles. The holographic interface was like something out of a science fiction novel, the lights shifting and flashing as Roxie placed her hand on the console.
“Wait,” Dorian called after her, his tone sharp. “I said be careful.”
But it was too late. The moment her hand made contact, the system flickered to life, a series of lights cascading around the room. Roxie’s heart raced as a massive screen on the far wall began to display a set of coordinates, a grid of planets and stars marking the location of her device—her portal technology.
“This is it,” she muttered, her fingers dancing over the interface. “I can trace the signal from here. I can get us back to Earth.”
Dorian stepped closer, his brow furrowed. “What do you mean, ‘get us back’? We haven’t even begun to figure out how to stop them yet.”
Roxie didn’t have time to explain. As the interface unlocked a new set of data, a loud alarm blared throughout the chamber, flashing red lights across the walls.
“They’re here,” she said, a sense of urgency filling her voice. “We need to go—now.”
Dorian cursed under his breath, his hand reaching for a hidden weapon at his side. “You’ve just activated the palace’s emergency protocol. That means every guard in the palace will be heading our way, not to mention the bounty hunters. We need to get out of here, fast.”
Roxie barely had time to process his words before the room shook, the ground beneath her feet vibrating as if some distant explosion had just occurred. Dorian grabbed her arm, pulling her toward another door, one she hadn’t noticed before. It slid open, revealing a narrow, winding stairwell that seemed to descend deeper into the earth.
“Come on,” Dorian urged, his voice full of urgency. “We have to get ahead of them before it’s too late.”
They ran, the sound of their footsteps echoing in the narrow passage as they descended into the unknown. With each step, Roxie’s mind raced. What had she just uncovered? What had she activated?
And, most pressing of all: How was she going to get out of this alive?
The deeper they went into the labyrinth, the more Roxie felt the weight of everything pressing down on her. Her mission was clear: find her way home. But as the walls closed in around them, she realized that the path back might be far more dangerous than she’d ever expected.
And Dorian—though he had proven himself in the face of danger—was as much a mystery as the world they were on. Would he keep his word, or was she simply a pawn in a game she didn’t understand?
Before she could voice her thoughts, Dorian stopped abruptly, his hand held up in a signal to stop. Roxie froze. The hairs on the back of her neck stood up as a new sound filled the air—footsteps, approaching fast.
“This is it,” Dorian whispered. “Stay close, and don’t make a sound.”
