A small section from the book: What lies behind the Umbra. By Simon Lightner
INTRODUCTION
In my travels around the world we call home I have begun to notice a strange phenomena that I have dubbed hidden doors. While they are not as important as the main methods of entering the Umbra, or the monsters and items that come from it, they are something that I felt the need to explore to better our understanding of the Umbra. To put it simply hidden doors and passage ways that lead to and from the Umbra, and are a secondary form of entry to enter inside of it. However this does not mean that they are easy to see, or locate; its my understanding that even someone trained in the Umbra and its many shapes and forms would struggle to locate them consistantly.
It should also be noted before we dive in that if somehow you are able to idenify a hidden door, it is imparitive that you approuch them with care and a understanding of the danger these doors present. These doors are dangerous and take many forms, they seek only their own amusment and will drag you into the Umbra without a care. Now if you are a little loopy in the head like most Umbral Researchers are then you will disregard this warning, in which case more power to you, all the same just be careful.
What are Hidden Doors?
Hidden doors are small tears in the veils between our world and the Umbra that take on physical form, or can appear as raw tears in the air that have a opalescent sheen to them; although raw tears are much more rare then them taking of a form, or possessing something.
These hidden doors allow a person to pass though one world and into the next, however the way this is done can change from one hidden door to another and is only consistant between some passages.
Some only require a touch to pass though, while others may require a full ritual for it to work. As for as I can tell the reason for this is because of what part of the Umbra has touched the object or created the tear. The lowest part of the Umbra the Wilting wouldn't require anything to pass, and would actively try to pull people inside, while a hidden door form the highest part of the Umbra the Mirror might need a key to accesss it; something like a object related to the hidden door, or even a specific kind of person that the door resonates with.
Hidden doors from my understanding are aware of their surroundings, as I have encountered many that have taken the forms of living people who could talk, but also buildings that shifted and changed structure in a attempt to stop me from leaving. This sentience that is displayed by all hidden doors is something that has made me question if each door is its own "person", or apsects of something in the Umbra that is trying to pull people in. None of these theories are confirmed and are fully my own ideas on how they may work however, so please do come to your own ideas and do your own research on the matter. Something I also want to adress before diving into the nitty gritty is why would a person wanting to go into the Umbra seek Hidden Doors when the normal route though old shadows exist, which to that I would say is because its a lot safer. Going though old shadows like ones cast by buildings or trees can be easier to not only locate but pass though, however there is no telling where in the Umbra you will end up. There is also the trouble of elevation diffrences compaired to the Umbra and our world; walking into a old shadow by a tree on the ground could very well cause you to plummit from a thousand feet in the Umbra. Not to mention the fact that the government has seemingly made it their mission to make sure old shadows are heavily gaurded both in our world and in the Umbra. Personally for me and others in the field its just easier to find Hidden Doors once you get experienced enough and understand how they work.
Hidden Doors from different parts of the Umbra
As mentioned in previous chapters there are around 6 diffrent parts or Shades of the Umbra that we know exist, and while I understand that this is a contentious topic among my peers I am going with the most agreed upon number of shades that we know to exist. A final thing to note before starting this section is that figuring out what Hidden Door leads to what Shade can be difficult, on top of even finding one in the first place. The most commonly found solution to this is called Umbral Feedback, or the process of holding something from within the Umbra close to a object, and if it responds in a certant way, its a Hidden Door, and often reveals what kind of Shade it belongs to. This doesn't necessarily make it easier to find them, as you have to be aware of the triggers and catch that they are happening, but it is the only real method we have found so far. Because of this I recommend that you attach something from the Umbra to your clothing or person at all times to make it easier. Often others in the field will leave notes or messeges to denote Hidden Doors that have been used multiple times miles away from the actual location, and instructions on how to enter. These messeges have to be miles away due to these Hidden Doors destorying any mention of themselfs within a 1 mile radious. It is unclear as to why exactly the Hidden Doors to not want to be writen about or marked when it is within their interest to bring people into the Umbra. With that out of the way, below are a list that should help you in the field when locating a Hidden Door.
The Mirror: The highest shade and closest to our world.
(Umbral Feedback: The thing regardless of what it is made of relfects the thing againsts its surface.)
The Mirror often creates Hidden Doors that require things to enter, often called keys by others in the field. What exactly these hidden doors want differs from each other and none are the exact same; a friend I had made while on a expadition to the Umbra talked about a hidden door though a gas station that took the form of a hotdog roller, and in order for him to enter inside, he learned he needed to place another kind of food onto the roller. Hidden Doors that lead to The Mirror require something related to the form it has taken, whether a person or a object of somekind. In my friends case it ment placing a food that wasn't ment to be on a roller. I have found these to be one of the more confusing Hidden Doors to go though, because trying to figure out what exactly the key is isn't exactly a easy process. Going back to my friend, he said it took him more then a half hour to figure out exactly how it was he was ment to enter the Hidden Door. While looking at what the thing is and trying to make connections based on the helps, I find that the best method over all is to try everything regardless of how stupid it might sound. Because there are a near infinit amount of things you could do to open a Mirror Hidden Door, trying to open it in spurts is best as to avoid frustration or burnout.
The Dream: The second shade from our own.
(Umbral Feedback: The thing's shape, size, texture, begin changing each time sight of it is gone for a short period after exposure.)
The Dream creates Hiiden Doors that often times require you to have had certaint experiences happen during your life time. This for a long time was the cause of some discourse among people in the field of Umbral Research, as for the longest time we couldn't figure out exactly what allowed people to enter into these Hidden Doors. It was only until Lily Guo conducted a conjoined research effort with a number of other Umbral Researchers in 1923 that she discovered that each of the people who could pass though the door had near death experiences. There doesn't seem to be a consitant experience that Dream Hidden Doors seek out, and can be anything from having eaten a stake in their life, to being born on a specific day. It is because of this that these Hidden Doors are often rarely used by many people, and its extreamly rare to find more then one person using it at a time. I would recommended that if this door doesn't open for you the first time you come near it, just leaving and trying to find a new one is best; in the event that you do manage to pass though it just accept that you fit the requirment and move on.
The Flesh: The third shade from our own.
(Umbral Feedback: The thing will do one of two things. It will either gain a subtle heart beat, or whatever it is made of will become red pulsating meat.)
The Flesh creates Hidden Doors that most often requires a sacrafice of somekind, most of the time being one of blood, meat, or killing. These Hidden Doors are considered by most in the field to be off limits, even to those who wish to enter the Umbra, due to their rather unsavory way of entering.