[ WP ] Today , you went into the room your parents told you to never go in .

Once upon a time, there was a kingdom, and in that kingdom, a castle, and in that castle, a dungeon. Two of that nation's youth stood in front of a great, ornate door hidden in the deepest, dankest depths of the dungeon. 
 
 `` Have n't you ever wondered what's inside?'' 
 
 `` Of course. Every day, when I was little.'' 
 
 `` But you never once peeked?'' 
 
 One was a boy in dark, scruffy clothes getting too short for him around his arms and ankles. The other was a girl, slender, fair, wearing a light pink summer dress with blue lace, her hair styled artfully to the side in a braid in the style of that country. 
 
 `` It's so dark down here, I never thought to come back often,'' said the girl. Her eyes were bright. She reached out with a hand, and touched the rough-hewn stone. 
 
 The boy was the one who held the torch. He was too afraid to touch the door, fearing that the stone would know his touch was not a nobleman's touch. But he put on a fiercely brave expression. 
 
 `` What secrets do you suppose are inside?'' he asked. 
 
 
 `` I do n't know. My Father would be very upset if he knew we were down here,'' the girl's tone became absentminded. She kept her fingers to the stone. `` It's warm.'' 
 
 
 `` What, sorry?'' 
 
 
 `` The stone. It's warm. When I touch it. Like there's a fire on the other side. Here -- feel it!'' 
 
 She snatched his clammy hand before he could protest, and placed it palm first onto the stone. There was a moment where he hinged between confusion and anger. He felt nothing but cold, dead rock. Was she mocking him? Was she lying to him? Was she insane? 
 
 
 `` Do n't you feel it?'' she asked. Her eyebrows were drawn together in polite puzzlement. 
 
 
 Hanging around an old dungeon with a King's daughter. The boy felt suddenly very foolish, and very much wanting to get back to the stables before he was found out. 
 
 
 `` We ought to go, before your Father misses you,'' he mumbled, putting his hand back at his side, and turning to go. 
 
 
 She kept the pretty look on her face, as she had been trained to do by her mother. She turned away from the stone door, but inside her thoughts were churning. 
 
 __________________ 
 
 Some years later, that kingdom was in shambles. A bitter civil war tore the land, and finally, the castle walls had been breached. The same girl, a Princess, in a long-sleeved dress of green instead of pink, raced through the dungeon, escaping from the hoots and howls of men who had formerly sworn an oath to her Father. 
 
 
 She had been roused by her handmaidens before the walls finally fell. There had n't been time to ask any questions. The girl had heard horses, men screaming, men yelling, and smelled the stank of blood, death, and magic. Where else was there to run? She had gone deeper and deeper into the castle, until she found herself here -- gathering her dress, and running through that abandoned dungeon. 
 
 She had almost completely forgotten about the Door, as she had entered the years of womanhood. Gone from her mind were stableboys, thoughts of magic, replaced with the names of the kingdom's houses, and neighboring nations' sigils and songs. She skittered to a halt, ragged, heaving, looking up at the stone door. 
 
 `` Let me in!'' she panted, slapping a palm against it. She gave a shout -- it was _hot_ now, it seared her skin, and seared it with memory. _Torch. Warmth. Cold. Clammy._ 
 
 `` Please let me in, I need to get out of here!'' she whispered, now, even as the clangs and clashes of swords seemed to come nearer. 
 
 She did not slam her ham against the stone this time, but eased herself near. The door stayed warm, but it did not burn her. She touched it lightly, ever-so-lightly, eyes screwed shut, thinking of summers spent across the sea, late lunches in the garden. 
 
 `` What are you? Why was I told to stay away from you?'' she leaned her body against the door, now. Her voice was still just the barest glimmer of a whisper.. and the door whispered back. 
 
 It was a strange language she had never heard. The girl's eyes widened in shock. Before her very eyes, the edges of the door gleamed a bright yellow. A groaning sound filled the chamber, along with a whole host of noises that she had never heard before in her life. The stone rolled away, flooding the chamber with light. 
 
 Afraid for her life, and so taken with this spectacle that she saw fit to abandon all sense, the princess gave something of a shout, and plunged her way through, to the other side.
