Shalom's ears popped as the portal screamed and howled as they passed through a thousand colours in continuous rotation. It was like falling through marshy swamps and then suddenly free-falling from a cliff. The air inside was suffocatingly humid until it suddenly cooled to freezing and then to unbearably hot. Sweat dripped down his spine as he was thrown around in the vortex of shifting scenes and glimpses of sky and earth.
Karsyn was held tight in his arms, her head hanging limp. Dread had curled low in his gut when he had seen her lying there. Her skin had been void of colour and the blood was jarring. It stained her face and her clothes. The veins under her skin were turning oily black and all he could think of was she was going to leave him. She was going to leave him alone and that she had chosen to do that. All he could see was her knowing she could die and still emancipating all that power. Her life force itself.
Shalom remembered the first time she did something like this. It was before Jenny was born. Trystan and he had gone for routine patrols in the city. Karsyn had decided to tag along. She was painfully thin and her clothes hung loosely on her body. Her hair had been streaked with a pink so light it was almost white. Shalom had not wanted her to come in her state, but Trystan let her come along knowing that she would just follow them and it was better to have her in front of them than hidden in some back alley where they couldn't keep an eye on her. They were at the borders of the slums when the Tem attacked. They were taken by surprise and barely held the monsters off. Karsyn had screamed and flashes of black lightning skewered the Tem. She had been bedridden for almost a month. She had refused all medication and exercise that would have improved her health. It was like she wanted to die. The lack of self-preservation had stopped after Jenny was born. Looking down at her now, Shalom wondered if the emptiness was just lurking beneath the surface waiting to come out again.
...
Twyll could barely see anything through her half-closed eyes. Flashes of colour and lightning glanced across her closed lids as the maelstrom pulled her deeper and deeper. Trystan and Kyan's warm hands were the only anchors in this spinning, polychromatic world. All of a sudden, the pressure dropped and then she was free falling. Twyll thought she was screaming but she couldn't be sure. Trystan and Kyan had been ripped from her with astonishing force and the ground was spinning closer and closer until she slammed face-first into a sandpit. She sank through and landed on a pile of spongy moss which was weird but her eyes were still closed. Six thuds sounded as Twyll slowly turned around and opened her eyes. The first thing she saw was the face of a devil baby, or at least it looked like one. The baby was pale-skinned with devil-horns and sharp silver teeth It had tiny bat wings protruding from its back and its feet were more claws than toes. Its eyes were fiery red that shifted like flames and its mouth was dripping red liquid that looked suspiciously like blood. The bizarre creature was, she realised, only a painting on the ceiling. Part of a ridiculous mural of the devil and angel babies with dark silky hair and glacial blue eyes and feathery wings of swan feathers. A battered face came into view as Twyll slowly got up. Her sides were burning and a pounding headache was forming in her head. Trystan slowly rubbed her back as she sat up. He offered her a water-skin that she gratefully took from him and guzzled down half of it before remembering that the others also would probably want some.
"Where in the world are we?" Cadence's dry voice calls out.
This prompts Twyll to look around the space. The room was more forest than enclosed space. Trees of white poplar were everywhere. Ant-hills of silvery-green moss grew everywhere and tiny streams of sparkling water spread out from the foggy corners of veiled walls. The streams looked like the cracks in the fractured glass. The room was brimming with vitality. She could already feel the calm wash over her and filter out the anxiety. Trystan's cheeks had colour in them. The shadows under Kyan's eyes were all but gone and Bren was looked more energised. She wasn't going to question Bren on her powers, yet. Karsyn was being laid on a patch of moss by Shalom and Twyll knew that there was something she didn't know. Something that had put that look of resignation, anger, of betrayal.
"It's the house. We have to start moving it." Bren huffed out as she walked towards the edges of the fog. Her hands waved and the mist parted to reveal a door. She opened it and vanished into the darkness beyond.
"I'm confused," Twyll declared.
Trystan sighed in exhaustion, "The house is built with magic, it can also be moved from one place to another through dimensional pockets. The energy needed for this type of magic would be used up instead of being channelled. It is a long and tiring process so we'll have to rest and conserve our reserves. Bren is going to get the staff that takes care of the house and let them go with a sizable payout. We will probably need you as well so you should also get some shut-eye."
"Alright, What about Karsyn? I can heal her..."
"No, she will be fine. I'll coax her into a coma. She'll be fine." Shalom interrupted with finality.
Twyll scoffed. She knew Karsyn was far from fine. She was suffering through something and Twyll knew what it was to suffer. To go through those dark phases that seem impossible to get out of. It had never been easy for her. She had been constantly hidden away from the outside world and constantly isolated until all she had were her energies. The calm and thrill of wielding, controlling the elements that are so often deemed uncontrollable. Twyll had never explained the depth of dependability she experienced with her abilities. Of how her wielding was ingrained in the understanding of who she was, what she was. Wielding was her life and she had moulded it to slowly destroy her. Like delayed suicide. Slow, yet effective. She remembered her aunt running out with her hair flying out behind her, rippling in the breeze. The ragged breaths that ripped through Twyll's windpipe, struggling to get in much-needed air. The energies in her were dull and spent and she had felt the life in her ebb away until it was a distant memory. Her aunt had seen what was happening and then forced her heart to start beating again. She had forced her healing energies in her dried out body and the resurrection was painful. Twyll went through weeks of rehabilitation and every second of those weeks was agonising.
Karsyn did the same thing. Disguising suicide with self-defence. Letting her emotions run through her, overpower her and then in the end took so much without giving anything in return. Putting her in a coma would make not fighting for her life easy for her. Karsyn would let go. Twyll needs to heal her so that Karsyn will fight. She doubts Shalom is going to listen to her.
"You put her under she won't come back," Twyll warned.
Shalom laughed bitterly, "Wasn't that the goal?"
Twyll's eyes softened. "You don't know what goes on in her mind. How she interprets each loss. Don't assume that everything she does is somehow about you. She might not even be thinking about you. You have both lost someone, a part of you along with it. Karsyn needs kindness and strength. Not indifference or even ignorance and coddling. I may not have known her for years or been through the things you have been through together, but I know what it feels like to want to just give up. Stop keeping control and a leash on everything. To just let go, of the grief, the loss, the anger." Twyll backed away from them, "I respect you and I believe you will make the right choice." She turned away and called out over her shoulder, "Find me when you change your mind. I'm familiar with this kind of ailment." And then she walked through the fog and into the hallway outside. Away from that enchanting indoor forest and the fear that hung in the air like mist.
...
Trystan stared at Twyll's vanishing form and sighed. Everything was hurting. His body was healing slower than usual and exhaustion made every bone in his body heavy. He looked towards Shalom, Kyan and Cadence. The latter two were getting up and brushing off their suits which were nothing more than tatters at this point. Shalom was bent over Karsyn's sleeping form. The anger and desperation on his face felt like a shock of energy to Trystan's body. Blood was dripping from Shalom's temple and his suit was darker in places with blood. Trystan made to move towards him but Shalom raised a palm.
"Twyll is right."
Kyan raised his eyebrows, Shalom never admitted he was wrong. Well, technically he didn't say he was wrong. He just said that Twyll was right.
"Okay... Why don't you freshen up and come down to the infirmary? I'll take Karsyn down." Shalom didn't put up a fight. Just nodded and walked out of the enclosure. His hands twisted at the ring on his finger. His engagement ring. As he left, he removed it and it vanished from his hands.
Trystan looked at Kyan and they shared a pained look. Shalom had reached his limits. They had no idea if he would ever come back.
Cadence silently cradled Karsyn to his chest and teleported. Trystan sighed again and shifted to a butterfly. Kyan rolled his eyes and followed out.
The room darkened. The trees disintegrated, The paintings smudged until all that was left was white plaster. The moss dried until all that was left was a powder that drifted into the air. All evidence that the room existed vanished until all that was left was a wall and nothing beyond but dimensional strings and magic.