Graced by Sophia Sharp Page A

stood out everywhere, and caverns and entrances dotted the side wal s indiscreetly. The entire place seemed to twist and curve upon itself innumerable times, so much so that Laura imagined it would be impossible to discover everything in here unless you had, wel , generations.
    She fol owed with the others as Rafael continued to lead them down the narrower tunnel. Eventual y, up ahead, the path split up, and they took the one leading right. They kept on for some time, until Rafael stopped abruptly, nearly causing Laura to walk right into him. He held one hand up, and turned to face the side wal . His hands moved in a blur, so fast that Laura had no idea what he did, but when he was done, she realized that the outline of a doorway had appeared in front of him.
    “How did you…?” she began, astounded, but was cut off by another sneer.
    “I have been in here for a very long time,” he said. “And I’ve gotten to know the secrets of this place.”
    He pushed against the inside of the doorway to reveal a smal room. He ushered everyone in before him. When Laura stepped across the threshold, she felt an… unseemly… wave of shivers pass over her. It felt as if she had come into a different plane, a little nook of reality that had been tucked away and kept secret. She looked around her, and could guess that everybody else had similar reactions. Everybody looked a little bit unsettled. Everybody, that is, except Rafael.
    In the middle of the room stood a single rock. It wouldn’t have warranted comment, usual y, but something about the way the angles of the room were carved drew your eye to it immediately. It was only a little higher than Laura’s waist, and – on second inspection – Laura found that the entire top of it had been cleaved off. It was a pristinely clean cut, with not a single ragged edge or imperfection visible on the top. Rafael took a step towards it, and as he came closer, Laura had to gasp. The top of the rock started to glow in the same greenish-blue luminescence of the vault door, the same eerily familiar color which lighted the writing on the smooth wal that once stood below the entrance to the sanctuary. Laura looked around her, and saw that the others – although maybe not quite as shocked as she was – were nonetheless impressed. Madison stood there with her lips pursed, while Alexander stared openly at the strange rock. Even Logan had his eyebrows raised.
    “What is it?” Laura heard Alexander ask.
    “A torrial ,” Rafael replied.
    “And what does it do?” This time, it was Laura who posed the question.
    “Wel , it is what I said. A relic of an ancient time. An example of the artifacts I spoke of. This one in particular lets the user see the entirety of the caves.” He motioned his arms around him. “You can see if there is anyone here, and – in particular – you can see exactly where they are.”
    “How does it work?” Madison asked.
    “There are two components to it. One is the rock you see in front of you. But that is not the most important. The controls for it are. Come around.” He stepped around the side of the rock, and motioned for the others to fol ow. When they did, Laura saw that hidden behind the glowing rock was a complex grid carved onto a smooth glass-like surface. The surface was similar in texture and color to the crystals that grew in the entrance cavern. And on the grid itself stood two figurines – more like levers, actual y – that looked like they could be moved into a hundred different directions.
    “This is the control ing mechanism,” Rafael explained. “The two handles can be positioned in thousands of different combinations, and each one al ows a glimpse into something different. You adjust the two controls, and the torrial adjusts to what you want to see.”
    “But how does it do that?” Madison asked. “ How does it let you see that?”
    “I believe it to be a phenomenon of the dream realm,” Rafael began slowly. “The torrial – and not