The box came to an abrupt halt several minutes later in a region of empty space. Eluvie could see clouds far below and far above them, but nothing in the immediate area seemed worth stopping for.

  She cast glances around the rest of the enclosure, but no one else appeared alarmed.

  "You will need to let us in," Mirab said. "Fly directly upward. In a few hundred meters, you'll find a platform. Release the ladder there, and we can climb up."

  When Eluvie nodded her understanding, Mirab opened the door and gestured for her to step out.

  For a moment, Eluvie wondered why she wouldn't just run away. Then, she recalled the barrier that kept her from traveling too far from the company.

  She stepped to the edge of the open door, transformed into a form with wings, adjusted her clothing to fit the new form, and flew off.

  The flight was thrilling. It was cold, comfortable, and brought a sense of relief. None of her problems had disappeared, but when she flew with nothing else in sight, it felt easy to imagine that they could.

  She almost missed the platform. It was made of glass, just like the box, and almost invisible among the clouds. Only a glint of light reflecting off it saved her from searching in the wrong place.

  She landed easily on it and took stock of her surroundings. The platform, like the box, was just large enough for their group. It had a wall on only one side while the other three lacked even railings. One determined push would send anyone tumbling to their death. Between that, and the transparency of the glass floor, she was impressed that any human could visit her without soiling their trousers.

  The sole wall had a pair of double doors in it. Though made of glass as well, they looked just as solid as if they had been armored steel. They had no handles, knobs, or handholds of any kind and no hole for a key.

  So, how do they open? she wondered.

  "Excuse me," she whispered to the door. After all, if a box could speak, why wouldn't a door?

  Speak the entry key. The voice immediately blossomed in her mind. Oddly, it sounded old and solid, just as she imagined a door's voice would be.

  "Um, how would I know it?" she asked.

  Speak the entry key, it said again, in the same tone as the first statement.

  Eluvie frowned. She couldn't tell if it was being flippant or obtuse.

  "Is it 'biscuits?'” she asked.

  Speak the entry key.

  “My mother is a red duck.”

  Speak the entry key.

  Eluvie sighed. Clearly, not all objects were equally intelligent. She guessed that this one could only understand the passcode.

  She searched the platform for a clue, but it was as empty as before. Except...

  She moved closer to one end of the platform, crouched, and examined some odd etchings on the ground. They formed an odd, tangled shape, like a pile of rope. She reached for them, found them to be solid, and came away with a fistful of rope made of the same glassy substance as the platform.

  It was a rope ladder; soft as cloth, but surprisingly sturdy.

  She contemplated ignoring it, but only for a second. There was nothing to do here, after all, unless she could guess the code.

  So, she threw the free end of the ladder down and waited for the others to climb up. She spared a moment to pray to the Creator that some of them would fall to their deaths, then she resumed her attempts to guess the passcode. None of her guesses elicited a new response from the door, however, and she was forced to stop when the first of Mirab's company became visible.

  The guards came up first, followed by Mirab. Then, the rest of the company slowly climbed onto the platform. Disappointingly, none of them were dead.

  Mirab gave Eluvie one of her bright, friendly smiles, making Eluvie nauseous, and gestured towards the door.

  Unlawfully taken from Royal Road, this story should be reported if seen on Amazon.

  "Have you tried to open it?" she asked.

  "I don't know how," Eluvie replied. Thankfully, that was true. And thankfully, Mirab did not notice that it was not a direct answer.

  "That's concerning," Mirab said. "Typically, it just opens. I've heard that it requires a passcode, but no one ever actually speaks it. Presumably, it just plucks it from their minds."

  "I don't recall a passcode," Eluvie said.

  Mirab nodded thoughtfully. "Naturally," she turned to Amu. "What do you think?"

  Eluvie noted that Amu appeared oddly exhausted. Part of that was attributed to his growing stubble, but the exhaustion reached his eyes as well.

  Amu looked thoughtful for a moment, then he scratched his head as he spoke. "I don't think her memory loss should be a problem. Illrum regularly lose their bodies and have to be regrown. It would be inconvenient if they forgot their passcodes every time." He turned to Eluvie. "Whenever you make a seed, you give it enough information for a fresh start. For example, you always remember your name. You should have added the code to your seed as well. Sort through the things you remember. The passcode will be something you did not learn in the last few days."

  He was doing an impressive job of pretending that she had lost her memories.

  "Try your name," he said.

  Eluvie had already tried that, but she did it again. Nothing happened. She tried speaking it out loud as well, to hide her mindspeech.

  One of the Radens - their king, she guessed - gave a disgusted sigh. "We've climbed all this way, and you couldn't even prepare properly."

  Mirab glared at him, but he was eyeing Eluvie and missed the look.

  Mirab turned back to Eluvie with a kindly expression. "Just relax," she said. "You'll find it. Try to order your memories. Is there anything that you remember but cannot recall why you know it? Something that fits with nothing else but somehow seems important?"

  Eluvie turned back to the door and pondered the question.

  She went back to her first memories, but all she found there was pain and confusion.

  A different tactic suggested itself to him. If she wanted to pick a passcode now, what would she pick? What had any significance to her? It was a difficult question. Everything she knew and owned was tied to her captivity. She considered using the boy's name but dismissed the idea. It wasn't significant enough.

  It came to her like a thunderclap.

  There was one thing that was always present in her mind, without rhyme, reason, or roots. One thing that she couldn't shake off despite how pointless it was.

  The Creator, she said.

  The doors opened.

  Mirab laughed in joy, while the others broke into relieved commentary. Only Eluvie was displeased.

  The creator? she thought. Her past self was clearly a fool of significant quality. Why assign so much significance to someone so useless?

  "What was the code?" Mirab asked.

  "I think it should be a secret," Eluvie said. She began to move towards the doorway, but Mirab quickly caught up to her.

  "It doesn't matter if you tell me," Mirab said. "No one can use someone else's code."

  "Then there's no point in your knowing it," Eluvie said.

  Mirab looked confused for a moment, then she smiled knowingly. "Ah. I'm prying, am I not?" She elbowed Eluvie jokingly. "Is it a boy?"

  Such a playful tone from her captor and tormentor proved too much for Eluvie's current state of mind. She beat her wings to rise off the floor and flew ahead, pretending that Mirab's pursuing chuckles were only rubber balls bouncing off her back.