The archway glitters in the sun as if it were platinum. I move closer to it to get a better look at it. It is very odd as it does not look like it is painted but as if the stone is actually blue. What kind of stone is blue and shines? This house keeps getting weirder and weirder the more I search.

Looking at the other features of the archway, I see that there are two stands that have stubs of wax on them. That explains all of the candles in the room. There are also words engraved into the stone that are in the same language as some of the books in the library. I finish observing the archway very confused, what is this doing here? So many questions and no clues to help answer them.

Suddenly, there is a noise behind me. Frightened, I quickly look behind me to see what it was. I stand still in fright as I look around the room. The only difference I can really observe is that there is now a lit candle on one of the tables that was not lit when I entered the room.

The hell is with this place? Is it actually haunted by some sort of poltergeist? If so, then they really don’t mind their stuff being moved around. Cautiously, I head towards the candle to see what is on the table. Slowly moving towards it, I start to look at the contents. There are a multitude of hand drawn maps and letter similar to the one on the door leading to this room.

Picking up the letter I see that this is the same person who gave the warning note outside the door. ‘If you have gotten this far, you are curious to say the least. If you want answers, place a candle on each of the stands on the archway and light them. Once that is done, it will happen. You will have to decide if you take that step or not.’

Why are these letters so cryptic? What is this person trying to warn me of? Whatever. I put down the letter and look at the archway once more. Maybe I’ll entertain myself and do what the note says to do.

I look around the room to find the least burnt candles. A few minutes of searching leads me to find a crate of unburnt candles under one of the tables. I take two of them and place one on each of the stands carved from the archway. I grab the burning candle from the table and light the two candles on the stands. They quickly light and I stand back to see what happens. … Nothing

Arounds 30 seconds pass and nothing happens. I should’ve known that the person was a crazy man. But of course, my curiosity got the best of me. It’s dangerous to keep the candles burning, so I move to blow them out. Before I am able to though, a force of some kind of energy emits from the archway.

I am blown off my feet as the energy hits me. I hit the ground hard, trying to catch my breath as the force knocked the wind out of me. After catching my breath, I look to see what the hell is happening with the archway. As I look, the air around the arch seems to distort and twist. The air itself seems to crackle with some unknown energy as the stone of the archway changes color from blue to a dark red.

This phenomenon continues for a while as I look upon it, terrified and mystified. The air then seems to tear open, revealing somewhere else. I can’t really tell right now as the distortion of the air makes it nearly impossible to see anything. The tear gets wider and wider until the whole interior of the arch becomes some sort of gateway. After the tear reaches the stone, it stops growing and the disfigured air slowly returns to normal.

I then see where the tear leads to. It leads to some sort of forest. I sit in complete shock, not knowing what the hell is going on. This isn’t real… this can’t be. My mind frantically searches for any reasonable answer to what is happening. An illusion, it has to be an illusion!

I chuckle in fear as I set my mind on believing it is an illusion. I slowly get up, still looking at this illusion. It is a really good illusion, whoever did all of this must be an expert at whatever they do.

“Okay then, that was really good! You can stop now!”

I desperately call out to anyone who is here to stop the illusion and say that this is all a prank and we can go on with our lives remembering that one time a kid entered an abandoned house and got tricked. I wait for a reply from someone, anyone. But no reply comes, no hint or sign that anyone else is in the building or outside of it. I look towards this new doorway once more… what if it isn’t a joke?

What if this is real? Should I try and walk through the door? No, no that would be ridiculous. I would be making a bigger fool of myself if I did that. But maybe it’s real… maybe… if I just try.

I take a few minutes to ponder if I should try to go through or not. The doorway stays there, unmoving as I think about what to do. After some careful deliberation and a few mental breakdowns, I decide to try and go through.

I walk towards the archway and take a closer look at the forest on the other side. There seems to be a slight breeze as the leaves are all blowing in one direction. There is no sign of any animals nearby and no exit in sight. This forest must be either very thick or very big.

Ok… here goes nothing… I slowly put one hand out in front of me. My hand is almost at the doorway when I quickly jerk it back. No… if I am to see if this is real or not I am going to walk through, no questions asked.

I take a few breaths and close my eyes. Ok, here goes nothing. One step at a time I walk closer and closer to the archway. I continue walking slowly until I feel grass under my feet and hear the slight gust of wind. Slowly opening my eyes I realize that I am on the other side of the archway.