A meow reminds me that I can't just leave my cats. Blinking away tears, I retreat from the doorway and gather up my cats in their carriers. Tuna immediately starts to yowl.
"Hush! We're going someplace better!" I tell him. Locking the cage, I return to my computer and pull up my email. There's no way I can explain this all to my mother, so I tell her not to worry, that I love her, and I've finally figured out what I want with my life. "Hopefully I can come say hi again someday." Saddened at leaving her, I'm nonetheless convinced more each moment that this is what I am meant to do.
Clicking send, I stand and go to the door, gathering the three carriers.
Resting my hand on the doorknob, I hesitate one more time. "Black Moon Draw exists. It always has. It always will." Please let it be there. If I open the door and see my hallway, I'll never recover.
With a deep breath, I open the door to my destiny.
It's not the corridor of my apartment building outside the door but the smooth stone walls and floor of the castle at Black Moon Draw.
I take one step and then another into the shallow hall. The one adjoining it is bright, lit by torches and natural light. No trace of the destruction is present, and the fortress no longer shakes.
Cautiously, I pull the door closed behind me, releasing my breath. The castle is standing. It's a good first sign. I tread down the hall to the major corridor. Dazzling sunlight pours through windows while the brilliant blue sky above shows no trace of fog. The mountains still stand and I glimpse hills of mythical green beyond the stone walls.
Hope balloons, its warmth flooding me. My thoughts turn to the Shadow Knight, who I left dead in the banquet hall. I spin and look expectantly at the torches. "Take me to him," I whisper. One of them flickers as if to signal me, and I balance the cat carriers so I can move as fast as I can.
This time, the path is much shorter, the hallways no longer reorganizing in a maze at each turn. Down stairs, through two floors, and down more stairs. Anticipation sets my body on fire. Emotions are percolating, contained only by the sheer terror that I might've saved the kingdom but not the man. I float through the castle, too frenzied to know for certain to experience exertion.
The torches lead me to the foyer, and I pause, confused. It's empty. My eyes sweep over the tapestries that still hang by threads after a thousand years and the wooden furnishings that have rotted in place. The dust is gone, along with the cobwebs, though the wear of time remains. The neglected fortress will need extensive repair - but it's in one piece.