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I don’t know how long I waited—it could have been minutes or hours—I would never know. Because I was there, in the place that never changed. Even when the Auriel was lost to us, the Sea did not care. If I was lost, it still would not care. It would keep on pulling and pushing until one day it pulled too hard and sucked the World right into it.
I rallied myself in fury against the sand and stood to my feet. A boil inside of me blew through my lungs and I screamed, “Give me a reason!”
The broken cry barely reached the crest of a small swell of her water, maybe twenty paces in front of me, but it would not have mattered. Just as I’d cried out, an intense, snapping sound seemed to split the air. My ears buzzed and my mind scattered. I turned toward the sound and watched a cloak of white light waft out behind the dunes that surrounded me.
My heart began to race, my stomach curling itself into a tight ball as I waited, and forwhat? The light, so clear just moments ago and still floating towards me, was gone in an instant. There was a crunch of the reeds that embroidered the bottom of the dunes, and then silence. I took one step from the shore, my pulse firing through my wrists so violently I could feel the thump, thumping of it against my skin.
Great, I thought.
My little outburst earlier must have been the early signsof my impending insanity. I was going to be hallucinating splashes of the Auriel everywhere I went, probably forever. Had the Auriel even existed at all? Was it possible I had been shoving these colors into the sky before every sleep? My mind’s way of healing from the abuse I had endured under the East Bright. I’d always been alone. I would always be alone.
Turning in the direction of my grove, I walked with a purpose that felt only slightly paranoid. I was nearing the border of day and night, when I felt the air around me change once more. It was subtle at first, then sharp—a crackling against the nape of my neck that raised the hairs on my arm. I couldn’t have been more than a thousand paces from the Sea, yet as I took a shallow, nervous breath through my mouth, all I could taste was a dry, tangy sweetness. It was nothing like the Sea air I’d grown so familiar with.
Then came a shift in the sand, the only warning I had that something loomed behind me. I turned to face the current of charged air, unsure of what lay in wait. A small mountain beast? One that had wandered too far in the wrong direction? An angel? Some effervescent god that had finally decided to answer my prayer after all this time?Whateveritwas, I wasn’t even sure the gods could have saved me.
The thing stood proudly, towering, stark against the sand dressed in dark robes and metal plating, haunches bent to strike, arms outstretched at an odd angle toward the ground. That was all I could make of the being; tall, adorned, and on the attack. I could see nothing else. Nothing other than the light. Gods, the light that poured from the center of a pair of hands stretched out around it in a halo, refracting off the sand where we stood, a white flame, eclipsed as I hid my eyes from it behind my forearm.
I held my breath and counted the seconds to what should have been my end, before the light left my periphery, and the thick, cloying, unknown taste left my mouth. I looked toward the being, swallowing what I could of my fear. There was a face, or there must have been. Though the hood of the being’s robe covered most of its features, eyes glowed softly out under the darkness.
Carefully, the being took a step toward me, the apprehension in its gait was unmistakable. Was it just as afraid of me as I was of it? I opposed the gesture, stepping backward and nearly fumbling on the uneven ground. The being bounded forward, and I watched as light began to fizzle into the air once more. A half-gasp, half-yelp shot from my throat and the being stalled, twisting its head toward the sound.
“Who are you?” I shouted weakly across the space between us, hoping that it might understand me, but there was no answer. I tried again, “What do you want?”
In reply, the light reappeared, spouting across the beach, racing toward me like a liquid fire. I was confused, and desperate for answers, but I knew I wouldn’t get them this time. I never did. And the power tailing me was so forceful and so sure, I knew I couldn’t escape it. On my right was an opening to the valley that lay just below the Mountain. A path that melded the land and sea floors, leading from the dayside shore to the nightside cliff. If I could find a way through the forest, perhaps the being would become fearful and stop following me.
Wiping the sweat from the back of my hands, I took a step toward the light. Distracted by my sudden compliance, the being stalled. I took two breaths, and then a voice sunk into my mind. Unlike the ghost of my own, this one was deep and reverberating. As if it came from outside and within all at once.
Don’t, it said.
The next moment, I sprinted for the valley, then up thehillside of the Mountain, dodging through the trees and leaping over the rocks. I had the advantage of knowing my World in a way no one else possibly could have, but I could stillfeelthe being behind me, pacing me as if it had turned each leaf and stone in this place as I had done countless times.My breath was leaving me in ragged blades of air, scraping up my throat.
I was almost to the forked path in the center of the Mountain’s ascent where I could grab the stone marker I had placed there. I could use it as a weapon, I supposed, or at the very least a deterrent. I hadn’t ever thrown a stone before, especially one so heavy, but I didn’t imagine that the accuracy of my arm would have much effect on how this would all end.
Stalling. That’s what I was doing, delaying the inevitable fate that awaited me once I reached the Mountain’s summit. Was I going to die? After all this time?
The wind seemed to pick up around me, and for a moment I thought maybe the Sea had come to my aid. Feeling the brush of air against my cheek, the hairpin pricking of energy that had been there moments before, simply disappeared. I made the mistake of glancing at my surroundings, only to find that the brush to my right was rustling. The being was running beside me.
I cried out into the forest, shoving my feet harder and harder into the dirt, ignoring the burning in my calves as my muscles grew taught. I swerved further into the vegetation, to the center of the Mountain’s forest where the trees would provide the densest protection. In front of me, a strap of light reached out, merely inches from my face. It was the same light I’d seen on the beach, but far more controlled, three strands that were braided around each other and glowing gold. I watched as it wrapped itself around the trunk of an old willow about a hundred paces off.
A grunt came from my right, and then a crashing thud in thenear distance. The willow came tumbling down, rolling atop the forest floor directly in front of me. I glanced to my left, nearly sobbing at the plait of ivy thickets that ran around the trees, closing off my left flank. If I wanted to get out of the willow’s path, I’d need to feint right, into the path that my assailant now ran through.
The willow leaped down a bed of rock and flew wildly into another tree, the strap of light still gripping it, guiding it to the very end. I had to choose now: be crushed or submit. Unless…well, I had only tried it once. Merely for play, and I wasn’t much for strength in my arms. What other options did I have?
I forced myself to move faster, racing toward the willow, crumbling dirt flying beneath the soles of my feet. The trunk rolled faster, too, like the Mountain knew my plans and was pushing the two of us toward each other. When the fallen tree was close enough for me to reach out and touch, I jumped, my arms screaming as I reached for one of the sturdy branches in the tree line above and hauled myself up and up, through the air.
My feet hit solid ground and the being let out a gruff laugh, almost like it was amused, as if thiswasall play. To my amusement, I realized not only had I survived the jump—thank the gods—but I landed right next to the marker. With gritted teeth, I plied it from the center of the stump just as a hand dove for my ankle, twisting it, and me, around to face the being. I could see it had a face, one like my own, or at least the bottom half was similar. A jaw, peach-colored and covered in a light bronze fuzz.I looked at that jaw, admired it for the briefest of moments, and swung hard through my shoulders.
The marker slammed into the side of its face and an awful, shattering crack sounded in the quiet forest. The being jolted back, moving a hand to the wound. I didn’t think twice about pulling myself from the ground and heading for the cliff of the Mountain.
When the summit of the Mountain and I finally met, there were no questions left unasked and no confessions to be made. I didn’t have time for visions or goodbyes. I would turn my back on the Mother. Listen to her scream as I took the last thing in this world she had.
But, again, what choice did I have?
“No!”
The being crested the summit at a run, bellowing at me from across the cliff. Yet, something about the way it spoke was almost desperate, as if killing myself would ruin us both. I froze, only for a second. My mind—my will to keep living—catching itself.
Maybe I could face it, this Death. Maybe I could face this Death and prevail. But that power…that endless, depth of power that had chased me to this end...the being would just kill me anyway. Worse yet, it would take my fate as its prize.I heard the sounds of footfall deepening. The being was catching up to me with nothing left than a stride between us. I took one last, fleeting glance at my World, my home.
