Words for Wednesday ~ Gylfi & Thora 7

Keeping up this "speed" I'll never ever use all the Words before a new batch is given to us in 1½ days.
I used one word, Lizard, for this part of the story.

Of course they were wary following Gylfi after this. The door looked like a dark hole to an even darker room, As they crossed the threshold one by one the world spun around them in a dizzying, sickening way leaving them retching and gasping for breath.
"Wow," Tähti said, "your portals are tough. She sat down hard on one of the chairs and held her head until it stopped buzzing. Then she looked around. Sleek, grey stone walls made out walls, floor and ceiling in the long broad corridor stretching ahead of them. Slowly she turned her head and looked behind her, a grey stone wall was covered in a shimmering, vaguely blue substance, like sparkling smoke.
"Is that the portal?" she asked, pointing to the oblong cloudy thing.
"Yes. This is what we came through, Gylfi said, carefully nodding. "The dizziness will get better with each use, I hardly feel anything any longer. Are you ready to go on?"
The three wizards stood up, shook their heads carefully, felt their heads and legs, and realised that they felt much better already.
"Yes, we're ready," Thora said. "Lead on."
Gylfi led them through smoothly hewn corridors of that same grey stone. Everywhere were doors and a irregular intervals corridors branched off. Some of the doors had strange blue symbols over them, some still lit, others faded almost away.
"What is this place once again, and who made this?" Thora asked.
"As far as I have been able to find out from reading old, and I mean really old, moulding texts, this is the main portal room of all the magic world from back when wizard or witch was an honourable occupation. I don't know who made this. They fell into oblivion in the early middle ages. I surmise, that the black death, that almost halved the populations also decimated the knowledge. I further guess that the portals actually helped spread the pest, and that wizards and witches in many cases carried the disease with them through the portals - only to die from it themselves as well. What ever the reasons, after 1500 those portals were only known to a few wizards here and there throughout Europe until the persecutions in the 16th century killed them off as well. My rediscovery was pure luck. I was riding here one summer on a trip to circle the ice caps, I followed a very beautiful lizard into the natural cave. I then fell in the darkness, waking up again near midnight, and stumbling around, looking for the horse - who had of course left me and returned home - and the stuff that had spilled from my backpack, I literally stumbled through the portal. I returned, and studied over the years, and now I suggest that we go to Helsinki. Follow me."
The other three looked at one another at a loss for words, and just followed Gylfi to a door with a glowing blue symbol over it.
"This here symbol means Finland." Gylfi said, certainty in his voice.
"How so?" Taavi asked.
"It's an ancient language, or maybe just symbols. I have made my own small booklet with a list of the doors' symbols. I suggest that you copy it for yourself later on." He opened his backpack. "And now, before we jump through this portal, a snack is a good thing. At least I have found that eating helps with the sickening feeling and with not getting exhausted. Thora's cookies are very good for this."
"That's where all my cookies went!" Thora exclaimed,  "I never understood what happened to them!"
They all ate a couple or three of Thora's cookies and then Gylfi opened the door to the room, where yet another blue, shimmering oblong portal waited fro them. He then bade Tähti go through the portal as the first one.
"I go first?" Tähti said, at the same time eager and afraid to go on.
"Yes. Ladies first," Gylfi said, bowing in a very old fashioned way before her.
"If you do not like what you find, you can just return," he said in a teasing tone.
"I'll do it," Tähti said, and walked through the portal head held high and walking with dainty steps.
"Now, who's next?" Taavi asked.
"Thora, you go now," Gylfi said, then Taavi, and lastly me bringing up the rear."
They did as suggested and soon all four wizard stood shaking and breathing heavily in another stony room.
"Where do you think we are?" Gylfi asked Taavi and Tähti.
"Not in Helsinki!" Tähti said with determination in her voice. "It feels wrong."
"You're right, we're not in Helsinki. But we're close."
"Hey," Tähti said, "now you're telling the truth. What you said before were half truths, not far enough off for me to notice, but now, now you're telling us an unlikely truth. I see our glow!" Gylfi looked at her, astonishment etched on his face. But Tähti shook her head: "Later. If we are in Finland, and I see your truth there, but still not in Helsinki, I am certain that we are in Turku. We could be in the crypt below the cathedral of our Lady."
"You hit the bullseye!" Gylfi said smiling.

 ..... to be continued