d6 Doors

Maybe there is more of the magical

in the idea of a door than in the door

itself. It’s always a matter of going

through into something else.

—Marge Piercy

1. A handmade wooden wardrobe, carved lions for feet and a leaflike pattern inscribed on the doors. A maker's mark was once visible, but has worn away with age. Currently located in the private collection of an eccentric antiques dealer.

2. A ruined arch of time-weathered stone, cloaked in moss. It lies secret in the forests of the north, in a clearing all its own among the trees. It bears no sign of having been part of another construction, and cannot be found by those who seek it without having visited it before.

3. A door under the stairs of an unassuming suburban home—things stored in it have a habit of disappearing, and that which is found is often not what was left. The owners take little note of this; a collective refusal to acknowledge the truth has convinced the family that uncle Darrell died in a car crash.

By Alexandra Petruk

4. A mirror, currently stored in the bowels of a cathedral. Rectangular in shape and tall in size, its gilt frame depicts dozens of animals and plants. Its inscription, a rhyming couplet in the tongue of snakes and foxes, advises all those who enter to "keep one eye in front and one behind". 

5. A cave, hidden behind a crashing waterfall. Stalactites dot the ceiling, and the air is heavy with the rank scent of mildew. Fog drifts out from some hidden source deep within the cave; those who exit discover themselves somewhere different, most often dizzy or confused.

6. A barrow mound containing the bones of a nine-foot tall giant, buried alongside a sword half his height and a dozen desiccated rats. It can only be properly entered at auspicious times of year—solstice or equinox most particularly.