I look up at the entire spectrum of colours creating a paradigm in perfect sincronicity, all around us. The lights seem to float around us, whisps of colourful mist that glimmer harmoniously. It looks a lot like the Areola Borealis. I find myself at the foot of a waterfall, which glows with a rainbow of colours, melding together but yet at the same time remain separate, distinguishable. Breathtakingly beautifully. Angst rises within me, we are not in Morston anymore. I don't where but we are in danger.
" Fuckety fuck," I curse under my breath and look around. I'm standing on a plateau of charcoal grey stone. I can't see anything beyond, other than utter and complete darkness.
" I've never heard you curse before," Mason drags me out of my musing, and I realise that there is a good chance that something in this place will try to kill us.
" We need to leave. We need to get out of here, five minutes ago," I'm panicking.
" This," Mason breathes as he takes in the brightly coloured waterfall, " Is beautiful," He says on a breath, and I agree but also, we need to leave.
" We need to leave," I emphasise every word, but he takes no notice of me, tilting his head back to watch the lights dance, and swirl in the sky creating a chaotic symphony.
" Why?" He finally asks and looks down at me. The vivid colours play on his skin, making him look ethereal.
" It will try to kill us. We can't be here for long," I say quietly.
He laughs, " What makes you think that," He swallows and turns his attention towards the waterfall.
" It has happened before," I turn around and he finally lets go of me.
" When?" Fair enough. He is not the only one with secrets.
" A few times. The night I got drunk at the bonfire party. That time you took me to the hospital," He frowns, the delight etched on his face fades, " When you found me," I swallow at the memory," Half dead in Lamport, " I finish with a whisper.
" Shit," He reaches to touch my face and I take a step back.
" We need to leave," I reiterate my earlier words, and look around.
" Do you know how?" I watch his throat bob up and down, slowly. He is realising that I'm serious.
" No. Each time I end up in one of these places they usually try to kill me. And I've never done it while I was awake. I'm always asleep. For a very long time, I thought, I was a dream walker, " I pause because he smiles and I think I know why.
" You are not a dream walker. You are what I believe they call an ephemerae," So, I was right. He knows what I am.
" What is that?" I ask on a breath.
" It's a tricky question. But you accumulate power, and energy from around you. It stores inside you and when you cannot contain it anymore you release it," I'm stumped.
" What do you mean I release it?" I'm not sure what that entails but it doesn't sound good nor fun.
" What do you know about the thousand wars?" He asks and I struggle to dredge the memory from the recesses of my mind. It is ancient history. So ancient that they barely mention it anymore.
" Pretty much what everyone else knows. It was before the old world fell. People began to wage wars against each other. The bloodshed lasted for half a century and then all of a sudden everything stopped. It stopped because everyone and everything was obliterated, and razed off the face of the earth. The few survivors resurfaced, rebuilt, and created what we have now. Sixteen Districts, plus the one in the Middle East," That's all they teach us about the thousand wars. Nothing more. Nothing less. After survivors surfaced, they tried to resurrect some of the cultures that had been lost. So much knowledge was lost that very little remained. So they began anew. A new world was set in place. And it has lasted for several centuries. Things shifted, but later on, the Greater Council was dissolved and each district became independent.
" Good. Some scriptures speculate that it was a man-made weapon to end it all," He takes a deep breath," But there was no proof that they had made a weapon powerful enough to wipe everything off the face of the earth, in one go. Some have speculated that it was of supernatural origin. The long-awaited apocalypse. The only difference was that there was no second coming. There was no one. I believe it was one of your kins," He finishes and I'm speechless. I have a kind. There are more like me out there. Or maybe they were.
" Vidris asmerat," He says again, and the filaments of energy radiating from him to me appear all around us.
" I believe Anika has found a workaround for that little issue," He points behind me and I finally notice the filaments of energy flowing towards me, passing through me, then onto him, through and out.
" I'm a conduit. Whatever you take. I put back," So it doesn't accumulate. It explains some things.
" When we are not together, " I take a deep breath, " What happens?" I'm afraid to hear the answer because deep down, I already know. It accumulates and it becomes unstable. That's why I have no control over it. It would explain why it is so whimsical.
" I think you just answered your own question," He says with a small smile and I nod.
I look around and realise that we've been here for a while and we are still unharmed. He is channelling the excess. Whatever I have stored it at a stable level so it doesn't act out randomly and try to kill me. Wonderful.
" So what is this place?" I've tried to work on it for quite some time.
" It's a pocket in our reality," He looks around, " We just have to find the exit point. But it would be nice if we could stay a while longer, " He looks back at me, and lowers himself onto a rock to his side, grunting. His leg is probably killing him.
I sidle next to him and sigh. Having received some answers, it's liberating.
" For a long time, I thought I was going insane. I questioned everything. But more often than not. I questioned my sanity," He nods in understanding but doesn't interrupt. And I'm grateful because if he does, I wouldn't be able to say what's on my mind.
" I was so terrified when I woke up in Northenhay. Afraid that it was nothing more than an illusion. I'd wake up every day, afraid that I'd find out that it was nothing but a dream," He weaves his fingers with mine and gives me a small squeeze.
" It took me almost a year to accept that it was real. I spent most of my days waiting for the balloon to pop," My vision gets blurry and I stifle a sob. I don't want to cry anymore. I'm tired of crying. I'm tired of being afraid.
" When," I croak, and clear my throat, " When we...," I'm having a hard time finding the right words, " That night, when we made that deal...," I take a deep shuddering breath, " You were right. I fell in love with you. I didn't want to. I hated myself for it. I hated you for it. But I never wanted anything for myself, but then you came along, and I wanted you. It was selfish," I wipe a stray tear off my cheek and look ahead. I don't dare to look at him. It would shatter me into a million pieces, if turn and found pity in his eyes.
" I thought that if we slept together, it would shatter the illusion I created of you. Boy, I was wrong. It made things so much worse, " I laugh bitterly. Fooling myself must've been the scam of the century.
" When you offered an alternative. I knew I wouldn't be able to look at you the same way knowing that you have been with another woman. That thought broke my heart," A deep breath to gain some control. It was out. Most of it, anyway.