Darren couldn't help but feel a little excited. He hadn't fought or leveled up since the last breach many days before, and he relished the upcoming challenge. He saw Kaycee draw her Knight's Armament from her inventory and he did the same. Hardy drew a solid black handgun from a concealed holster at his waistline. Then, the Duskborne broke through.
Guttural screams tore from the monstrous looking creatures as they flooded from the now widely-opened breach. Darren couldn't help but feel a bit afraid as he took in their appearances. They were humanoid, and their skin looked like dark ash. It was mottled, and crimson and black veins ran over their bodies, or at least those parts that were visible.
Their eyes were deep-set and shown a sickly yellow, and their dark, red-streaked hair was long, wild, and disheveled. They wore primitive armor and carried no advanced weaponry. There wasn't a lot of variation between them. All of them appeared to be over six feet tall, and gaunt, with sinewy muscles. They looked like untamed predators.
Darren took it all in in a moment before meeting their charge with one of his own. He bolted forward, becoming lighting itself, and struck the lead Duskborne with a rather untameable power of his own. He kept a loose grip on the lightning as he re-took his regular form, allowing it to arc to all of the enemies nearby.
Almost comically, the ten or so creatures that had already made it across the bridge and into the realm of Earth halted and convulsed for a moment. The electric power quickly dissipated, though, as Darren brought his blue-green sword up and across the neck of the enemy he'd first struck, removing its head completely. The creature's body fell to its knees as its head hit the ground, before slumping to the side.
Darren didn't stop to watch. As arrows and bullets flew into the flanking Duskborne, ending their lives, Darren carved a path through the center. In moments, all of the invaders that had come through the breach were dead.
Darren kept his eyes on the breach and held his sword at the ready. When no more enemies came through, he relaxed his posture slightly.
"Is that it?" Faulkner yelled from the road.
"I don't think so," Darren answered, speaking loud enough for Faulkner to hear him. "We'll need to enter the breach, now."
"Okay," the captain replied. "Hardy, take my AR and armor with you!"
"Yes, Sir," Hardy replied, re-holstering his handgun and jogging the short distance to the road. Darren continued watching the breach in case any other enemies emerged while Hardy dawned a vest carrier laden with rifle plates and multiple extra magazines for both the rifle and the handgun.
Hardy grabbed the AR-15 and slipped the sling over his head so that it went over from the weapon, over his left shoulder, around and under his right arm, and back to the rifle again. He nodded to Captain Faulkner and quickly went back to Darren and Kaycee. Looking at his companions one last time, Darren then walked forward toward the breach.
As he drew closer, the jagged lines forming the edges of the hole appeared to faintly glow and shimmer. The empty space inside the hole seemed to shimmer as well, and looked as if it was spiraling away from Darren. He didn't hesitate. He'd been through a breach before, so now was not the time to balk.
This breach, however, wasn't like the first breach he entered. This one emanated a higher degree of power, and somehow felt more stable. As he stepped through the tattered, glowing hole in the air he felt his body pass through a barrier of energy. It was cold, and it felt as though Darren's body was being compressed. Fortunately, it only lasted a moment, and Darren felt the cold dissipate, though the pressure on his body remained. He found himself finally able to see inside the bridge.
When he'd first seen the breach, it had appeared like a torn, jagged hole in the air. Now that he was inside and through the energy barrier at the breach itself, he could see that the bridge was actually a bright, translucent arc of light and… mist? It stretched out like a ribbon through the void all around. As he watched, the bridge shimmered between different shades of red.
Along the edges of the bridge, Darren could see flashes. They looked like glimpses of landscapes, beings, and more. Darren turned to see that Kaycee and Hardy had made it through, too, and they were just as in awe of what they were looking at as Darren was.
"EDS, this is insane," he muttered softly.
"It is a rather unique experience, isn't it?" EDS replied.
"What are these scenes flashing in and out of existence along the edges of the bridge here?" Kayce asked.
"Those are echoes, memories of worlds and events that have had some interaction with the energies here," EDS explained. "Energy cannot be destroyed, and its memory never fails."
Darren was suddenly struck by the enormity of what was happening. He, the woman he loved, and his new friend were standing literally between worlds, on a bridge made of light and memories. He grinned, enthralled by the unbelievability of it all.
Darren's attention shifted as he took a step forward. The bridge felt, somehow, both tangible and intangible, like it was only partly there. It was solid enough to walk on, but it vibrated with the hum of overlapping dimensions. He knelt and looked closer and could see interwoven strands of what he could only assume was energy and magic. The threads looked ethereal, and untouchable.
As he stood, Darren took a longer look at the void-like space around them. It seemed to be filled with swirling currents of a bright substance. The word stardust floated into Darren's mind as he observed the beauty of the shifting flows. Shadows shifted in the distance, ambiguous and undefinable to Darren's eyes.
He thought he could hear something from out there, a voice calling, perhaps. There was a sudden desire to walk off the bridge into that space, to see who it was, if anyone, that was calling, but an internal alarm began sounding, keeping him from doing so.
The air Darren was breathing felt heavy, too, and carried a distinctive, unsettling scent. It was like a blend of iron and damp earth, like blood-soaked soil, with underlying hints of decaying wood and smoldering ash. Beneath that metallic sharpness was the faint aroma of night-blooming flowers, sweet but overripe, tinged with something sour and cloying. It evoked memories of beauty and rotting death. It was a surreal combination in Darren's mind.
"I guess this world is aptly named Twilight, judging by the smell," Darren muttered quietly.
EDS, ever present as he was, replied with, "Indeed."
Darren shook his head, shaking free of his reverie, and began walking forward with Kaycee and Hardy to either side of him. His body was tense and his senses were on high alert. The bridge didn't appear to be very long, perhaps only a half mile or so. The journey across seemed to take far longer than it should have, though. The bridge had a slight incline, leaving the middle of the bridge higher than either end. By Darren's estimate, it took them at least an hour just to reach the top of the incline.
Darren stopped, prompting his companions to do the same. It wasn't a difficult walk, but the high level of alertness was wearing on him. He took a deep breath, allowing his sword to disappear back into his inventory. He knew he could get it again extremely quickly, and with no enemies in sight he felt it was at least somewhat safe to give his hands a break from gripping the weapon.
"This is surreal," Kaycee said. "I swear there's a voice out there in the darkness calling to me."
Darren looked at her, "I hear that voice too," he said.
"Do not worry," EDS said, "It, like the visuals you see appearing and disappearing, is simply a resonant memory of things long past."
"Well that makes me feel a little better," Kaycee said softly.
"I'm more worried about why it's taking so long to cross this bridge," Darren said. "Why do you think that is, EDS?"
"Perception and reality are bent, expanded, contracted, stretched, and twisted in bridge spaces," EDS explained. "How long do you think it's been since entering the breach?"
"About an hour or so, I'd guess," Darren said.
"An hour?" Hardy said, "It's only been twenty minutes."
A bewildered look crossed Kaycee's face. "What are you guys talking about? We've only been walking for, like, 90 seconds max."
A chuckle resounded from nowhere as EDS observed the confusion of the three humans. "What's so funny?" Darren asked, completely confused.
"Oh, I find it funny when people are confused," EDS said, laughter still lacing his words. "Anyway, we've been on this bridge for exactly 7 minutes, 32 seconds. 33 seconds. 34 seconds."
"Okay, okay, we get it," Darren said, flustered. He did not like not understanding. "How is that even possible? We've all been beside one another the entire time."
"Yes, but as I said, perception itself is bent here. The only reason I know how long we've been in here is because my awareness extends beyond this space and to every other Knight in the world. There are some Knights sleeping, some working, some in other breaches. There's even one other group that is about to enter a bridge not unlike this one on the other side of the world. Many Knights are working on recovery efforts in coastal regions around the globe. I have a pretty good handle on what time it is," EDS finished.
Darren could just imagine that if EDS had a face, it would be lit up with a grin right now. He shook his head. This was just one more thing he'd have to accept, otherwise the impossibility of it all would keep him up at night.
"Well, I guess there's nothing for it but to keep on," Darren said solemnly. With that, the three warriors started forward again. Darren was flabbergasted, though, as it only took about two more minutes for them to reach the other end of the bridge.
"Well, that was fast," Darren said once they reached the entrance to this bridge's Gate House, as EDS had called it.
"That literally felt like the longest walk I've ever been on," Kaycee said.
They both looked at Hardy, who's eyes were wide. "I actually just took one step and it brought me here," he said.
Kaycee humphed, mumbling, "Well, you were the lucky one on that I guess."
Darren leaned forward and kissed her on the cheek, drawing a dazzling look and a smile from her beautiful face. "Feel better now?" he asked.
"Maybe a little," she said, still grinning.
"Well, I say we just go for it," Hardy said, looking toward the exit.
"EDS, any last bits of info you want to give us before we cross over?" Darren asked.
EDS was silent for a moment, then said, "Nothing you won't know soon enough. Be careful?"
"You know, EDS, you don't act anything like you did when we first met," Darren chuckled, gazing at the exit.
"What does that mean?" EDS asked.
"Oh, nothing," he returned. The entity really had been changing slowly. At first he was almost robotic. Now, though, he seemed more and more human every day. Of course, Darren knew EDS was more than just human. No human could access and retain that much information, or have the kind of awareness and abilities EDS had. Still, though, he couldn't shake the feeling that EDS wasn't telling all there was to tell about what, or who, he really was.