Lyle looked up at the sky. Maia was half lit and a full breadth closer to the horizon than he had ever seen before. Below, Comet's Corridor dispersed the maialight into all the jagged rocks and deep crevasses that draped the vast, expansive valley. Everyone in his regiment was asleep, but Lyle was far too nervous to join them. Nomuan bonfires could be seen with the naked eye, how in all the stars could he possibly sleep? So, he stared at the sky, at the stars.
Corin Star shone brightly as always, next to him was Trost Star, outshone again, like every other night before. And below both of them gleamed Sofia Star, passionately twinkling as if she was listening at this very moment. Always there, listening to Maia, but never anyone else. The stars listened to Maia, and the people listened to the stars. One couldn't help but feel small in the face of the heavens. Why should anything matter at all when the world is so much bigger?
All was quiet. The low hum of night reverberating against the valley below. The air smelt crisp and clean, the chilled breeze making a comfortable home at the back of Lyle's throat. It was the calm before an inevitable storm, a terrible storm. Amidst the swirls on Maia, you could just make out flashes of light. The raging storms looked so serene from so far away. It was such a calming sight that Lyle just sat, staring.
Every scholar in Selles tried to make sense of the intricate network of storms that pierced Maia's clouds. Every mother had their superstitions of bad omens and good favour. Lyle was too intimidated to make any sense of it. Maia just, was.
As he stared, the air around him grew quieter. The stars appeared to twinkle more passionately, and Maia started to change. The storms grew angrier. The lightning, fiercer. The swirling clouds became more erratic. Lyle slowly sat up, the small rocks crumbling against his tired boots. He narrowed his eyes and gazed as the shadowed side of Maia detached from the light. She began to warp and melt, the raging storms bleeding out into the surrounding ether. From the crack between Maia's light and dark, an avalanche of sand, its grains fell from the sky, washing the ground. A muted swish, just audible. The low hum of night still persisted.
Lyle stood up in a panic. He rushed to the edge of the lip and watched the whirlwind of insanity that lay before him. What in Maia's name was happening? Was the world ending?
Lyle's mouth hung wide open. He scrambled over to his sleeping comrades and shouted, but no one answered. He shouted again, no one answered. He saw Jax's back and stumbled over to him. He turned him over, and a crumbling skeleton gazed back at him. Lyle recoiled and fell to the ground, shaking. What was going on? Lyle sat, unable to think. The world was ending. The world was ending.
And then, it stopped. Time froze. Everything froze. The Nomuan bonfires, motionless. The twinkling stars, dead. The sand sparkled like the edge of a sword, still. Maia's scattered body, a painting in the night sky.
Above, a gold light started to materialise, a glitter of pure energy. Lyle still sat shaking, his arms wrapped around his knees. The world was ending.
From the light emerged a foot, from the foot a leg, and from the leg a body. It was a man dressed in pure white, there was not a single grain of dirt anywhere on his person. The fabric bore no creases or stitching's, no buttons, and no other accessories, just, white. Yellow sparks of energy crackled around his stern face. No emotion seared through any pour. His hair was short, and he stood as if he were the most important man in the world. He floated in the air and gazed at the frozen chaos. His gaze then turned and fixed on Lyle.
"Give Myr my regards. I'll be seeing you soon."
"What?"
Wake up!
Lyle's eyes snapped open. He gasped and bolted upright, the morning light a searing dagger into his head. The engrossing glow that stormed through the cracks in the window and walls gave a sudden realisation. A dream. Just a bad dream. Myr sat on his chest with a concerned look smeared across her face. Lyle was pouring with sweat, its beads soaking his shirt and hair. The room, now not in the coat of darkness bore further recognition. Wooden crates rose to the ceiling in precarious fashion, the room half in shadows and half in light. The door at the right of the room was wide open and splintered. It had been ripped from his hinges and lay on the floor into the narrow hall, someone did break in then.
Are you alright?
"Just the usual."
Are you sure? I felt something. Or someone…
Myr was acting weird, like always. She always spoke with an air that screamed she was something more. Something, beyond the world he knew. But he couldn't believe it, he couldn't. As soon as he did, he would be officially insane. A lost war boy who has completely lost his mind. But what other explanation was there? He felt like the world would be torn asunder if he kept this up for any longer.
"Who are you?"
Myr
"And who is Myr?"
Myr paused and shook her head side to side, her head and ears making a subtle after image shrouded in azure.
Never mind that, we have a problem. It's Gord…
***
Lyle shifted on the spot outside of Gord's room, the woods creak, echoing in the narrow hallway. His room was concealed in darkness, but the stench of bile and blood, bled all the way out, and into the roof of Lyle's nose. He dared step foot in the room, in fear of what he might find. However, he knew exactly what he'd find.
Lyle placed one foot into the room and darted his eyes to scan for Gord. His heart was trapped in a prison of paranoia as his eyes adjusted to the unlit space. Silhouettes began to emerge through the dimness and one all too familiar. Gord lay face up in a pool of blood, his recognisable bald head stained with a mosaic of pain. Lyle stared down at Gord's body, staring, staring. He started to breathe heavier, gasping for air as if he were summiting a mountain. His head started to vibrate. His back hit the wall, numb. He sank. He floated. He…Where?
"You gonna stare down there all day? I can push you down there if you'd like?"
Where?
"Helloooo, Maia to Lyle, The Corridor is far more interesting when we move the legs to get to a desired destination. Now, let's go!"
Lyle felt a thump in his side. Where? A vast valley stretched out before him. Where? A young man loomed over him, a sarcastic enthusiasm rolling off his shoulders. Where am I?
His eyes languorously wandered up to meet the eyes of his taunt. The young man offered a hand to help him up. Lyle slowly took it and was brought to his feet. He stared at the world as if he was watching it through a blanket of mist. None of it felt real.
"Where are we?"
Jax gave a heavy chuckle in response, "I wish I could daydream half as much as you. To just forget all this starry-eyed bother," he paused and his smile subsided. "Corridor's Veins Lyle."
Lyle stared blankly for a second, then his eyes swelled with colour.
"Right. We're heading to The Rift."
"Your brain still works! Maia has performed a miracle this day!" Jax said, a heavy-handed amount of sarcasm frothing from his mouth.
Lyle smiled.
"Come on, let's go. Haren marches as fast as a Starpriest giving a sermon, we'll catch up within the hour."
The two set off down the narrow pass, a light breeze whistling in the air. They were assigned to an outpost past The Rift, putting them dangerously close to the Nomuan advance. Lyle and Jax had seen combat twice and had walked away with no injuries thus far, but it was only a matter of time. The detritus of the conflict draped every Vein with casualties, it was only a matter of time. They walked further and further until Lyle could just make out some signs of life in the ridge ahead.
"Hey look," Lyle exclaimed.
Jax stopped and looked up from his kicking boots, the afternoon sun gleaming in the sky just beside Maia.
"Gord! We were supposed to meet for the drop this morning! Where were you?"
"Jax we're too far away they won't hear you,"
"Gord!"
"You have an impressive voice but not even you- ", Lyle turned towards Jax expecting some extravagant display to garner attention, but his face was emotionless. His eyes were dead. His skin, pale.
"Jax?"
"If I find you up there in bed, I'm flipping it over!"
"What are you talking about?"
"Maia above… Hey you! Boy!"
Jax still dead faced, rushed over to him. He grabbed him by the collar of his uniform and pinned him to the rock, "Did you do this?!"
"Do what? What's happening?" Lyle croaked.
"You crazed savage! He treated you with kindness, and this is how you repay him?"
Jax heaved Lyle from the rock to the floor and all his surroundings changed. He was in a dim room, dead man to his left and the silhouette of an advancing anger. He stared up at the man poised to strike.
"Where?"
Blackness.