After the boy John provided a useful clue, Shade shared it with the witch beside him. Audrey also believed that the two missing boys might have encountered the door that occasionally appeared by the river.
The two continued onward. Before long, they reached the area the boy had indicated. Megan shared the Seven-Colored Mushroom Magic Potion with Shade, and they each dripped it into their eyes.
Because this was a diluted version of the potion, it certainly could not compare to directly consuming the mushrooms. They could not fully see the black rifts in the air, only distorted patches of light and shadow. And because they could not observe them completely, they could not touch them either.
They continued forward, carefully watching the areas along the river channel where a door might appear. Shade had thought it would take some time, but less than five minutes later, they both saw a door standing abruptly before them.
The street stood much higher than the river channel, and roughly every mile, a small opening led from the riverside edge of the street to stairs descending to the actual riverbank. This was both for the convenient transport of goods and for city hall to maintain the river channel.
At that moment, at the end of the small dock beneath those stairs, a wooden door stood quietly in the thin daylight, as though inviting anyone who saw it to open it.
"Whisper Element."
Shade spoke softly, and Audrey nodded gently.
"Yes, an artifact. We still can't be sure what it is. Let's get closer and take a look."
They descended the narrow stone steps, stepped onto the dock's wooden walkway, and reached its end. The door was made of wood painted white. It looked quite old, its surface mottled with peeling color, yet it