Shadowsphere Part 2: The Vicious Book

They walked along an almost invisible path in between misty whirlpools, through which unfamiliar strangely-coloured shapes were visible here and there. The noble alchemist Somnius was leading the way.

Arthur – an ordinary boy who had suddenly found himself catapulted into the mysterious Shadowsphere, somewhere between waking and sleeping – followed closely behind, taking great care not to lose sight of the alchemist’s purple cloak. Lily skipped along a few metres behind him, her evanescent hand tearing off wisps of mist here and there and throwing them at the others.

When the first misty ball hit Arthur’s back, it dissolved into thin air with a muffled plop! But Somnius was worse off – he didn’t seem to have the same protection, and jumped every time Lily’s mist balls hit their target on the back of his neck. Still, he carried on as if nothing had happened. He walked briskly, straight ahead, muttering something under his breath, and the hem of his cloak sparkled slightly as it touched the swirling mist. Arthur could only hear fragments of the what he was saying:

“...it's going to hurt... her teeth... well, brute force... probably a bad idea…”

The boy couldn’t make head nor tail of it, and he decided it was better not to speculate. Besides, he had enough to worry about already. A shadow had started following him. It seemed to be trying (without much success) to be inconspicuous. Every time Arthur looked behind him, the shadow pretended it wasn’t there, but so naively and stupidly that he would have laughed out loud if the whole situation hadn’t been so desperate.

After just a few minutes, the colourful mist suddenly parted for a moment and a solid wooden door appeared in front of Somnius. It was set…