Veil of darkness

The tremor was negligible and if he was distracted he wouldn't have noticed it. But never the less he had noticed it and couldn't help but wonder what it was. He shook his head, trying to clear the remnants of sleep and closed his eyes.

He tuned out everything and focused on the vibrations. In the silence of the pathway, he could hear the sound of his breathing, the rhythmic beating of his heart. Hell, as annoying as it was, he cold hear the breaths of the beautiful woman adjacent to him. But no matter how hard he tried, he couldn't narrow down what direction the vibrations came from.

 'What is that?'

He couldn't explain it. He opened his eyes and looked to his left, then to his right. Squinting his eyes as hard as he could to see anything at all past the border of his lantern's light and the darkness of the pathway.

It was almost as if everything outside the ring of light no longer existed. But that didn't make any sense. He was sure he walked down that path on his way there. Looking to his side he picked p a loose stone from the floor and tossed it towards the border. The stoke skipped across the light covered ground, the sound of its impact echoing each time. Then it crossed the border, and there was nothing.

Mathew's eyes widened in shock. He quickly rose to his feet, and took a cautious step forward. Then another, then another. Soon, he was stood at the border. Staring down at where he thought the stone should have landed, a thought surfaced.

'What lies beyond the darkness?'

Crouching low, he reached out. His heart pounded against his ribs as he edged closer. He wasn't drawn to the darkness by some strange force, or a presence like before. He was just curious. Curious about what could be casing such a strange phenomena. Suddenly, the tremor rumbled through the ground, this time stronger than before. But he ignored it and continued reaching out. The tremor came again, stronger than the previous two combined. They were becoming more frequent, but still he ignored it.

But why?

Was he that curious about what lay beyond the border? No he couldn't be. So what was it that was driving him forward. The tremor came again, almost five time stronger that the previous time combined and he fell back.

'Okay. This isn't normal.'

He glanced back at the lantern, its bright white light radiating beautifully. Then shifted his gaze to the shadows beyond it. His instincts were screaming at him, telling him something was terribly wrong, but he couldn't put his finger on what.

He looked back a where the stone should be, then to the lantern, then the arch, and finally the sleeping woman. Wait, how was she sleeping through those violent tremors? Suddenly, another tremor came. This one shaking everything around him violently. The lantern toppled over and so did he. Sprawled on the ground, his gaze was locked on the archway before him. After staring intensely at if for a few seconds, is gaze shifted to the woman who was still sat perfectly as she was before, fast asleep.

'What's wrong with this woman?'

How could she remain so blissfully unaware of the chaos unfolding around her? The tremors were relentless and getting worse with every second and she hasn't once stirred. It almost felt as if he as....

'Wait,'

A thought popped into his mind.

'No, it cant be!'

As he stared at the woman with burning intent, another tremor rolled through. Yet again, it was stronger than all the ones before it. And yet again, the woman was fast asleep. Mathew finally understood what was happening to him. The strange tremors, the border between light and darkness, the disappearing stone. And now the woman.

He turned to the border and grimaced. He thought about what he needed to do to get out of this, but thought for a moment. If he was wrong, this could mean the death on him. But if he wasn't... 

Turning back to the sleeping woman he took a deep breath. Then turned back to the wall of darkness, closed his eyes, and stepped forward.

In the next moment, he felt like he was floating in the air but when he moved, he couldn't feel the air against his skin. Taking a deep breath, he opened he opened his eyes and saw nothing but an unending darkness. He looked left, then right and wondered where he had found himself.

His heart raced at the thought of the consequences of his decision. But before he could spiral into despair, and as if on que, the voice of the codex echoed.

[You have resisted the corruption of ???]

Mathew stared on stunned by what he had just heard. So e was right after all. When he saw that the woman was still despite the violent tremors coming from beyond the darkness, he became suspicious. But what confirmed his theory was the arch. When he looked at the arch previously he felt a strange full. But this time when he looked at it, he felt nothing. 

With that train of thought, he came to two conclusions. He was either asleep and having one hell of a lucid dream. Or, he was trapped in some sort of illusion. 

But what could have done that to him? On his way to the arch, he and the woman made sure to check every nook and cranny for something suspicious, or dangerous and found nothing. But now he understands that the suspicious and dangerous thing was right under their noses all this time.

It was nothing.

Whatever that strange darkness that swallowed the pathway was dangerous. But what could it be, and more importantly, why was it there and nowhere else in the maze? Was it just a coincidence? Or was it there for a reason. If so, what could that reason be? Was there something special about that part of the maze.

Mathew racked is brain, desperate to understand what it is that was happening. Then an idea surfaced. He pondered on it for a bit and the idea blossomed into an epiphany. There was something in that part of the maze.

The arch.