The Quest Across Two Realms

The encounter

Soren stared at the crack with the most puzzled of looks, he began to wonder if he was experiencing the early stages of dementia because he was more than certain that he had just finished working on that wall and covering the mysterious crack. Suddenly, almost like a little flash of an intriguing clue, Soren noticed a strange swirling pattern that was peeping through the crevice. He approached it slowly, but as he got closer, he couldn't help but feel like the air had gotten heavier and the atmosphere seemed all too eerie. 

“This feels wrong”, he thought to himself. 

It felt like he was in a horror movie and about to have a heart-wrenching jumpscare thrown at him, slowly but steadily he approached. 

“I should probably stay back”, he spoke within himself, but he knew he couldn't, after all sooner or later the truth behind that crack would make itself known whether he liked it or not. 

He peeped into the crevice to see the suspicious pattern which extended through the wall in front of him, he questioned if the fully revealed image would lead to him discovering something exciting or less desirable something scary. He began to think if he should go ahead and tear up the remainder of the wall to reveal more of this mysterious pattern, but he knew how much it would cost to repair the entire thing once he had satisfied his curiosity. He took a deep breath and weighed his options for a good 15 seconds before running downstairs to get a sledgehammer. 

He dashed back upstairs, held the hammer upright, and looked at the wall with serious intent, the feeling of venturing into the unknown becoming increasingly familiar. He looked at the hammer and shifted his gaze back to the wall, as if trying to reassure himself that he was making the right choice. He raised the heavy-duty tool above his head and with a deep breath, brought it down with all his might. 

It came crumbling down on the first hit, what was once a solid wall was now crumpled bits of drywall and in its place stood a door which resembled something made out of vines and wood, it had a knob with a red crystal embedded in it. The frame of the door was a curved one with a mystical atmosphere emanating from it. Soren was extremely bewildered, he was utterly shocked and stood there with the hammer in his hands trying to make sense of the situation.

He wasn't sure what to do at all, should he try opening the door to find out what it was? Was the door even locked? Even worse, was it open? All these questions flooded Soren’s mind when suddenly, he was startled by a knock on the front door. He quickly rushed out of the room to see who it was. He was scared senseless, he wasn't sure what to think, or even how to think straight. “Why is there a door in my room?” he wondered. “How long has that been here?" he further questioned. Well, whatever it was, he would have to assess the situation before making any irrational moves to approach the door. By this time, Soren had already gotten to the front door and met an unsurprising surprise—it was Mom. She was done with her shift for the day and was exhausted.

“"Hey Mom” he greeted with a hint of nervousness in his voice.

“Hey Soren” she replied as she smiled warmly at him.

“You're home early,” he noted .

“Really? I didn't notice, it's only 9:20 PM” she said with a hint of sarcasm as she made her way into the house. Soren realized he had been so caught up in their conversation that he forgot what the time was.

“I'm sorry” he replied in a meek tone.

“It's fine sweetheart” she responded as she made her way into the kitchen and started preparing dinner for her and Soren. Quickly Soren pitched in…

“Why don't you get some rest, I'll take care of dinner” he suggested. 

“That's interesting I guess… What's gotten into you?” she asked with a puzzled yet pleased expression. 

“Oh well, you know me, I'm just happy to help my beautiful mom,” Soren said with a sheepish smile. In reality, I think you and I know what Soren was doing, he was trying to get some time away from his room without being suspicious enough to draw his mother's attention.

“Alright honey, don't burn the house down” Liora  chuckled, making her way out of the kitchen and up the stairs to freshen up for the evening.

Now you and I both know that Soren being the absent-minded daydreamer that he is, he is probably going to burn down the house if he doesn't pay attention to the task in front of him, and given the fact that his mind was constantly thinking about the weird and somewhat ominous door that was in the wall of his room, he might as well have been given a bomb to blow the house up. While setting up the cooking station, Soren was still distracted thinking about the door. 

“Soren!!” Liora called out. 

“Oh no,” Soren thought to himself, “Did I close the door?” “What do I even tell her?” “Wait the door isn't my fault”, “But the crumbled drywall is! 

Soren slowly walked up the stairs to his room, as he did, he kept thinking about what he would say to his mother. “Is there really any excuse I could give? ”, he wondered. He slowly pushed open the creaky door to his room to reveal his mother standing in front a completely fixed and pristine wall, there was nothing on the groud or even more concerning, on the wall. He didn't know whether to be happy or worried, but one thing was for certain, he was confused beyond reasonable doubt. 

“Great job with the wall”, Liora said as she smiled at Soren. For a moment there he almost forgot about the mysterious appearance and significance of the strange door and just appreciated the warmth of his mother's smile. 

“You handled it better than I expected”, she remarked further. 

“Well you know me, I'm just full of surprises”, Soren responded. 

Liora looked at Soren with the eyes of a proud mother and then walked out of the room to her room to get settled in. Now Soren could express his internal confusion in all its shapes and forms. A cascade of “who, how, when, and why” questions raced through his mind as he tried to wrap his head around the whole situation, but just as before duty called when the smoke alarm started beeping. Soren remembered he left a pan on the stove with nothing in it and with the haste of an eagle about to grab its prey, flew down the stairs to address the Issue. The entire kitchen was filled with smoke and Soren was in the middle of it, trying his best to salvage what was left of the pan and not suffocate at the same time. 

Soren violently coughed as he squinted his eyes through the thick smoke. His eyes watering as he carefully grabbed the glowing hot pan and tossed it into sink, he turned the faucet on to douse the redhot metal. The sizzle of that came from the water hitting the pan was harsh and loud. 

“Perfect” he muttered to himself with a voice filled with sarcasm, “Just what I needed”. 

The smoke alarm continued blaring as Soren hurriedly opened the windows to let air into the house to clear the room. He took off his shirt and fanned the smoke alarm to stop it's annoying screeching. The quietness of the kitchen that came afterwards was deafening, he leaned against the fridge and awaited his mom's sarcastic rebuke which he was sure he'd receive any moment now.

And just as he had predicted, his mother came downstairs, slowly descending from each step as if to prove her point that Soren would burn the house down if left alone in the kitchen. 

“Everything okay in there?”, she asked in a sarcastic tone. 

“Yep everything is just great”, said Soren. 

Everything was in fact not “great” as Soren looked like he worked in a coal factory. Liora walked over into the kitchen and began to access the now calmed situation. She saw her beloved pan in the sink with a sad look on its face. Soren’s mom believed her utensils had personalities and even more surprising, faces. She continued her assessment, taking note of the smoke-covered person who looked like a mess and smelled even worse, oh wait, that was her son. She judged that the whole situation wasn't so bad, I mean the important thing was that her son was uninjured and the only serious casualty was the pan, even though the temptation to make her son the second casualty seemed like a good idea. 

She looked at Soren and sighed, “Now can I actually cook something?”, she asked with a look that gave the “I told you so” expression. 

“Yes ma'am”, he murmured, walking out of the kitchen with his shoulders drooping and a defeated persona. 

For a minute there he was distracted with the kitchen fiasco that he nearly forgot about the mystery of the now disappeared door. He still couldn't wrap his head around it and was a bit fearful of returning to his room. Now upstairs, he stood in front of his door, his right hand in the knob, twisting it to open felt like disarming a bomb by cutting a wire, he was unsure of the outcome but it was something he had to do. Again Soren is faced with the ever-recurring instance where he has to shape up and overcome his fears for the sake of the betterment of his person, and in the near future, the betterment of the lives of those he loves.