Hello, Door
1709 Words
POV: Celine Ashvale - The Girl Who Was Pulled
The key turned by itself.
My fingers locked around it. Cold. Metal. Heavy.
Kael’s arms were around me, pulling back. “Drop it!”
“I can’t,” I said. My feet dragged in the dirt. “It’s pulling me.”
The iron door opened an inch.
Black light spilled out. Thick. Like ink.
And a voice. A man’s voice. Deep. Amused.
“Hello, Door.”
My blood froze. “Not Alistair,” I whispered.
“No,” Kael said. “Not him.”
The voice laughed. Soft. Like he’d been waiting years to say that.
“Celine Ashvale. The girl who swallowed a door. The girl who broke a game. The girl who won’t sit.”
He knew my name.
The door opened another inch.
I saw an eye.
Gold. But not like mine. Not like Future-me’s.
Older.
“Let go of her,” Kael snarled. He pulled harder.
The key burned my palm.
Click.
The door opened fully.
POV: Kael Blackthorn - The Man Who Faced Him
The door opened.
He stepped out.
Tall. Cloaked in black. No crown. No sword. No ring.
But power.
It came off him like heat. Like the air before a storm.
His face was not old. Not young. Ageless.
And his eyes were gold.
Not human gold.
God gold.
He looked at Celine first. Not me.
“Hello, Door,” he said again.
“Who are you?” I said. I didn’t let go of Celine.
He smiled. “I’m the one who built the game.”
Celine gasped behind me.
He looked at her. “You thought Alistair was the king? He was a pawn. You thought the Drowned King was the threat? He was a dog. You thought Future-you was Player Three?”
He spread his hands.
“I’m Player One.”
POV: Celine - Player One
Player One.
The words hit harder than the door.
He built it. All of it. The chairs. The throne. The cage.
He built me.
“Why?” I said. My voice shook. “Why me?”
“Because doors need to be made,” he said. “And keys need locks. And games need players.”
He stepped closer. The ground didn’t move under his feet.
“You were born with two keyholes, Celine. Gold and black. I put them there.”
Kael moved in front of me. “You lie.”
“Do I?” Player One lifted his hand.
The black iron key flew from Celine’s grip.
Into his hand.
He held it up. “This is mine. I made it. To lock you. To use you.”
The keyhole on my chest hurt. Like something was being pulled out.
POV: Kael - The Key is Taken
He took the key.
Just like that.
No fight. No magic.
He took it because it was his.
Celine cried out. She clutched her chest. “It hurts.”
“I know,” Player One said. Not cruel. Clinical. “The door is trying to leave you. It wants to come home.”
He looked at the key. Then at her.
“You did well,” he said. “You broke three chairs. You refused two thrones. You kissed the shield. You made Future-you. You were supposed to sit. Instead you ran.”
He tilted his head. “Entertaining.”
Kael drew nothing. He had no sword. So he used his body.
“Touch her again and I’ll—”
“You’ll what?” Player One asked. “Stand? You always stand. That’s why I made you.”
He pointed at me.
“You’re not a warlord, Kael Blackthorn. You’re a lock. Made to keep her in the game.”
POV: Celine - The Truth
“A lock,” I whispered.
Kael went still behind me.
Player One nodded. “Every door needs a shield. You were made to love him. To trust him. To make him stand so you wouldn’t run alone.”
“No,” Kael said. But his voice was wrong. Hollow.
“Yes,” Player One said. “I wrote you both. Celine, the Door. Kael, the Shield. One to open. One to hold. Together, you open the way.”
He lifted the key.
“The way to what?” I asked.
“Out,” he said. “Out of this world. Into mine.”
The iron door behind him widened.
Inside was not black.
It was sky.
But wrong.
Purple. Cracked. Stars bleeding.
POV: Kael - The Sky That Was Wrong
The sky through the door wasn’t ours.
Purple. Cracked. Stars like open wounds.
“This is not Earth,” I said.
“No,” Player One said. “This is home. And your world is the cage. Your game is the lock.”
He looked at Celine. “You’re the keyhole. He’s the key. Together, you open it.”
Celine shook her head. “I won’t.”
“You already are,” he said.
The key in his hand turned.
By itself.
And my chest.
My chest turned with it.
Click.
POV: Celine - The Click in My Chest
Click.
Inside me.
Something unlocked.
Not pain. Not fear.
Open.
Air rushed out of me. Not from my mouth. From my chest. From the place where the door had been.
I fell to my knees.
“Kael,” I gasped.
He caught me. “Celine! Stay with me!”
Player One watched. “Don’t worry, Shield. She’s not dying. She’s opening.”
The iron door behind him pulsed.
The purple sky pulsed with it.
And from inside, voices.
Hundreds.
All saying one word.
“Open.”
POV: Kael - The Voices
“Open. Open. Open.”
Hundreds of voices.
All from the purple sky.
Celine shook in my arms. Her eyes rolled back. Gold again. But wrong gold.
Not light.
Hole.
“Stop it,” I said to Player One. “Whatever you’re doing, stop.”
“I’m not doing anything,” he said. “She is. She’s always been the door. I just gave her the key.”
He tossed the key.
Not to her.
To me.
I caught it.
It was hot.
And it wanted me to use it.
POV: Celine - The Key in His Hand
Kael held the key.
I could feel it.
Like it was in my chest again.
“Don’t,” I said. “Kael, don’t use it.”
He looked at me. Brown eyes. Human eyes. “I won’t.”
Player One smiled. “You can’t help it, Shield. It’s what you were made for. Open the door.”
The key in Kael’s hand turned.
By itself.
Click.
The iron door opened wider.
The purple sky poured out.
POV: Kael - The Sky Pours Out
Purple light hit us.
Cold. Not temperature cold.
Soul cold.
Celine screamed.
The voices got louder.
“OPEN! OPEN! OPEN!”
I held the key.
I could feel it.
One turn and the door would be fully open.
One turn and everything would end.
Or begin.
Player One stepped aside. “Your choice, Shield. Open it. Let her be free. Let her be god. Let her be mine.”
I looked at Celine.
Her eyes were open. Gold holes. Tears of light.
She shook her head.
“No,” she whispered.
So I didn’t turn the key.
I broke it.
POV: Celine - The Key Breaks
Kael didn’t turn it.
He snapped it.
Metal screamed.
The key broke in half in his hands.
The purple light stopped.
The voices choked.
Player One’s smile vanished.
“You fool,” he said. Soft.
The broken key fell.
One half hit the dirt.
The other half stayed in Kael’s hand.
And it was bleeding.
POV: Kael - The Bleeding Key
The half-key in my hand bled.
Not metal.
Blood.
Red. Human.
Celine’s blood.
“Kael,” she whispered. “What did you do?”
“I kept you,” I said.
Player One’s eyes went black.
All gold gone.
“Do you know what you’ve done?” he said. “You’ve locked the door. From the inside.”
The iron door slammed shut.
The purple sky vanished.
Silence.
POV: Celine - The Silence
Silence.
No voices. No sky. No door.
Just us.
And Player One.
He looked at the broken key in Kael’s hand.
Then at me.
Then he laughed.
Not angry.
Amused.
“Good,” he said. “You’re supposed to break it. That’s the next move.”
Kael stood up. Pulled me up with him. “There is no next move.”
Player One’s eyes were gold again.
“Always is, Shield. Always is.”
He pointed at the broken key.
“Because you didn’t break the lock.
You made two.”
POV: Kael - Two Locks
Two.
The broken key.
Two halves.
One in my hand.
One in the dirt.
And between us, Celine.
Player One’s smile was sharp. “One key opens. Two keys? They bind.”
The dirt under the broken half moved.
It sank.
Into Celine’s shadow.
Her shadow moved.
On its own.
And from it, a hand came out.
POV: Celine - The Hand From My Shadow
My shadow moved.
A hand came out of it.
Small. Mine.
But black.
It picked up the broken half-key from the dirt.
I tried to move. I couldn’t.
“Kael,” I said.
“I see it,” he said.
The shadow-hand held the half-key up.
To me.
Player One clapped. Once.
“Perfect. The Door now holds the Key. The Shield holds the Key. And the game?”
He pointed at us.
“Is finally balanced.”
The ground cracked.
Not under us.
Between us.
POV: Kael - The Crack Between Us
The ground cracked.
Right between Celine and me.
Not wide.
Thin.
Like a line.
Like a door.
Player One stepped back. “Three players. Two keys. One game.”
He looked at me.
“Shield. You broke the key to save her. Now you’ll have to choose.”
“Choose what?” I said.
“Which half to use,” he said.
The crack widened.
And from it, a voice.
Not his.
Not mine.
Not Celine’s.
A child’s voice.
“Mommy? Daddy?”
- Writer
