Hazel reluctantly opened her eyes, quickly shielding them from the sun with a hand. This place was not the train she had just been on just moments ago. She's been in locations like this before, it always felt the same, but they never looked the same.
Shaking the dirt for her hair, she took in her surroundings and all she could see for miles was long honey gold grass. It all felt so real, it always did—the sun on her skin, the wind on her cheeks. Taking a deep breath, finally getting to her feet. The grogginess caused her to fix her footing before taking the first step forward.
"it's silent this time." Hazel thought to herself. The Ather, the realm outside the living but not quite the afterlife. It's always changing, always another person's view of reality, taking another look around, trying to take in every detail of this place. "Hello?" calling out to anyone who'd listen.
"Are you going to make me wait?" A voice echoed behind her impatiently, it was close yet so distant. It sounded soft and strangely familiar. Hazel could feel a massive knot start to form in her stomach. "Hello?" she called out, her throat felt like she hadn't talked for years. Getting to her feet, Hazel decided to find the owner of the voice. Slowly making her way through the grass, the voice chirped back up, beckoning her closer and further into the endless sea of gold. The sound started as a whisper, slowly growing in volume as Hazel walked seamlessly ever forward.
Many questions raced through her head that it became painful to think straight, but she knew she had to keep going. Swiftly like the blink of an eye, the day had set into the night, and like a billion little stars, fireflies filled the air. She wouldn't have noticed the change if a few hadn't smacked her face to snap her from the racing thoughts. A few feet away, there stood a girl in a white dress; she was facing away, and Hazel couldn't make any features.
"What kept you?" The question sat in the air for a while, not sure what to say; Hazel stared at the girl. "You know that this path you're walking leads to some dark tides." Hazel watch in silence as the girl twirled around; she wore a soft smile on her face. "Just be careful, friend. most importantly, wake up."
With a jump of the train, Hazel rocketed awake. She frantically looked around her, but she was alone in the passengers' cabin. Taking a deep breath and slumping back down in her seat, Hazel tried to remember what had made her jump so hard, "The train? No, this felt more primal than a sudden bump." Hazel turned to look out the window, that had always calmed her down after entering the Ather, and so tired green eyes met in the clear surface, and that's where they stayed. She studied her own features, the dark bags under her eyes, the mess ginger hair. "You look like a mess dude." She teased herself.
The train came to many stops without anyone disturbing Hazel, but like all good things, they come to an end. A small tapping on the door to the compartment broke her trance; on the other side of the door stood two figures; A tall, lengthy male, dirty blond hair, khaki pants, and a black sweater vest a white undershirt. The other was a shorter female with longer darker brown hair and olive skin, a tucked-in black tank top with no sleeves, and tan khaki shorts. Hazel waved her hand to invite them in.
"Thank you so much; I swear all the other compartments are full." Claimed the girl, now closer, Hazel could see that the pair shared similar features. "I'm Arryn, and this is my twin James." Hazel sheepishly greeted them with a week wave.
"I'm Hazel."
Arron sat next to Hazel with a bounce, "So sweet ginger child, where are you from?"
"I am-" Stammering to find her response. "I'm from a small town in the southern kingdoms; you probably wouldn't know it." Hazel waited for some remark, considering the reputation of those areas. Still, nothing came but a reassuring hand on her shoulder.
" From what I hear it's pretty rough down there, you gotta be one tough cookie." Hazel locked eyes with the girl; they were a warm green color and almost relaxing to look at, but she broke away feeling too awkward to keep eye contact for that long.
"Uck, I wouldn't get to close sister. I hear all those southerners have magic that deals with death." Shot a cold voice from across the compartment. "Maybe just touching her will null your magic." Hazel could feel the rocks in her stomach grow heavier. Though instead of agreeing with her twin, the girl tossed a bag at him.
"Don't be an ass; They could say the same about us stealing their kids for experiments or some shit!" again putting her hand on Hazel's shoulder as reassurance, though with a small jerk she could tell she didn't appreciate the violations to her personal space this time. "Besides, look at her. She's just so cute to be evil." Hazel could feel the daggers that James threw with his eyes.
"no, my village has no part in the wars or the night cults. My parents were simply just the town healers and wanted me to have a good education. " Hazel could feel her nerves tense up more and more as the conversation went on, even more so as the pair continued bickering about her.
The arguing progressed for the following 2 hours before James abruptly rose. "Well, this has just been lovely. But I can no longer stand the sight of my sister. While I go for a walk, would you mind not sucking the life out of her southerner? she's obnoxious, but I do need her to return home at some point." Arryn promptly gave him the bird as he left.
"Don't take what he says to heart; he might be a dick now, but once you get to know him, he's a real darling." Hazel gave her a questioning glare. "That's IF you stick around Gingersnap, but I feel you're going to try and disappear in the crowd the moment this train stops." Hazel opened her mouth to object, but Arryn wasn't wrong.
"I mean, I could simply slip away while you guys sleep." She shot back sarcastically. Arryn snickered. "You could, but that's not what friends do." Arryn stretched, letting out a long yawn. "I'm going to hit the sack; I recommend you do too; this bad boy has a handful of stops before we finally get to the school." Hazel nodded. She hadn't even noticed it was night now.
Opening the top bunk from the wall and locked in position with a click. Arryn climbed above and slid beneath the covers, allowing her boots to plummet to the floor with thuds. "And hey, if you're still hanging out when I wake up, we can officially be friends. How about that?"
"Deal, but what about your brother?" Arryn laughed at the question, "Don't worry about him; he's like a church mouse." after that, the two remained silent and not too long Arryn had fallen asleep; Hazel could feel her jealousy of the girl above her grow as her snoring grew louder. But the truth was she was afraid to fall asleep; her chest became more burdensome, which made sleeping anytime soon but a sweet thought.
Hazel had spent hours staring at the bottom of Arryn's bunk, even after her brother had come back and joined her in slumber. Putting her hand over her eyes to massage them, she could remember the feeling of difference between the Ather and a dream. Hazel missed dreaming, most of the time spirits that needed help plagued her nights. Not that she didn't like helping them, but the years of no sleep was really hitting her hard as she got older.
Frustration started to set in as Hazel waited to whisk back to the Ather, It was only a matter of time. She could feel her eyes getting heavier, and she blinked but when she opened her eyes again her cabin mates had disappeared. "It's about time." she thought to herself. Looking around she could tell that her surrounding had not changed all that much, but taking a look outside there was nothing but an empty void.
Making her way to the door, she opened it peaking her head out to get a better idea of what kind of trip this would be. "Short and sweet or long and drawn out?" She tried to joke with herself. Stepping out into the empty hall. She started walking, trying every door as she passed it. Making it to the very end of the train car, trying the door that leads to another part of the train. The door opened with ease but not to another car but an almost empty theater.
Hazel was on the stage of the grand theater, facing the crowd of empty chairs. Suddenly the room filled with slow, loud clapping. There in the farthest left corner sat an alone elderly man, dressed in a suit. Hazel tried to focus on his face but a stage light moved, momentarily blinding her. "Can I help you with anything, sir?"
The man stood, using a cane to balance himself. He began to speak but his voice sounded like a choir of people instead of just one; "Oh no, there's nothing here to help, young lady. Actually I need quite the opposite, I'm happy just where I am." Hazel could feel her face turning red for frustration.
"Then why am I here?" She demand, stomping her foot in an attempt to be frightening. The old man seemed unfazed by Hazels' anger, slowly making his way up to the stage, still having the stage light obscure his face.
"Oh, I do believe that was an accident on my part. You know how strange this place is, you better than most living souls how twisted the shores of his pace can be." He was standing just inches away now and yet she couldn't make out any kind of features on his face.
At this point Hazel was clenching her fists, she felt like melting steel. "Okay, Spirit can you show me the way out then?" she couldn't tell if she was yelling or not, the sound of her heart beating had become deafening at this point. Hazel thought she could make out a smile on the old man's face for a second but couldn't be positive if anyone were to ask.
"Of course darling." He raised one shacking, wrinkly hand up to Hazels' forehead, pressing gently into the center of it, "Sleep child until we meet again."
And everything faded to black until she could feel a small tapping on her foot, whispering, and a loud bang. Slowly opening her eyes, she had found herself leaning against the compartment door and her two roommates already bickering. "AH HAHA! See, she isn't dead!" proudly announced Arryn, with her brother nodding his head with interest. "And you, I'm glad you're finally alert; that means we can all go get food."
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
On their way to the dining car, Hazel's mind kept flashing back to her trip to the Ather last night; as strange as the Ather is, she never had encountered something so odd. With spirits, there was always a face to talk to, a mask of the past but not this one. The Ather is the in-between of life and the afterlife, a reality made by spirits in need of a guide. The fact it is always made up of the sum of a person or people's minds, depending on how many souls are in the area. "Also why did he just will me into his reality if he didn't need help."
"Who was that?" she mumbled to herself, crossing her arms to help feel safer, though that had just caught the attention of her new friend.
"Are you feeling alright?" Arryn asked. Hazel looked at her, though she didn't say anything. Instead, she just nodded her head in silence. Not that she didn't enjoy the worry she expressed but more so that she was scared of what Arryn would think. "Okay, well, lets me treat you to some sweet, sweet breakfast." Hazel nodded. Entering the dining car, Hazel could see that not many of her soon to be classmates would be from the south, not that she didn't know that. Much to Hazels' pleasure, they took a seat in a booth on the car's far side.
After a few minutes of bickering between the twins, the trio finally decided to share a pile of apple cinnamon pancakes. Arryn volunteering to get them herself, leaving the other two to stew in the awkwardness. "You know, you talk in your sleep." James' statement sat in the middle of them as if someone had just kicked the table out from in front of them.
"I'm sorry?" Instinctively Hazels' clenched her fists, trying to make sure her hands wouldn't start to shake.
James' expression stayed blank, only cocking his head as if trying to read something upside down. "No, I'm sorry for whoever your roommate will be. It'll be hell to listen to someone spouting gibberish all night." taking a deep breath, Hazel placed her hand on the table once more. "Listen, the things I said yesterday-" James' stopped himself from speaking, closing his eyes and nodding to himself. "I wanted to apologize; it was out of line."
"It's alright, I guess, I know the southern territories don't have a shining reputation." She could tell that he didn't mean what he said, there was no warmth in his apology. "So how much longer do you think it'll be till we make it to Candle-Light?" Hazel knew the answer but wanted to fill the empty space with more conversation.
"Too long." The short answer hurt like a burn, deciding it would be better to fidget with her hair than to try and make any more small talk with James. What felt like three centuries for the two had finally come to an end when Arryn returned with food, most of the conversation was dominated by her asking Hazel question and talking about some story about a pet they had back home. "This girl is like a machine gun of energy." she thought, barely able to keep up with the spitfire of a conversation.
"So I was thinking last night, How about we be roommates when we finally get to school?" snapping Hazel back to the conversation. "What?" "and I know what you're thinking, What are you talking about Arryn? But hear me out, okay?" Now convinced that her mind is being read, just nodded, "Okay so where we're going I don't know anyone besides the jerk and now you, and from what I understand you don't either so I figured it must be fate!"
"Or desperation." She reasoned with herself. "Ah hell, what do I have to lose. Sure." Arryn squeaked in excitement but was abruptly cut off by the conductor coming over the loudspeaker.
"Ladies and gentlemen, we have reached our destination Candle-Light city." Hazel and James glared judgingly at Arryn.
"You planned that didn't you? "Hazel questioned, but Arryn just smiled widely in response.