With yet another rasp of metal, the hatch snapped shut. Rose was beginning to hate that sound. She considered all that had been said thus far, puzzled as to what it all meant. What did they want? She was invited, for chrissake!

The hatch opened once more, and the eyes that peered out this time were ancient and incredibly shrewd.

“What are you willing to sacrifice?” came the query.

Rose thought back upon her journey, upon the sequence of events that had led to her being here. She thought back on everything she had left behind, everyone she had ever cared about, all for the sake of following this singular calling — and she knew that there could be only one answer.

“I have already given it,” she said. “And I would do so again.”