The Silence Between

by Lara P. Ambrose

  ‡ † ‡

  He could tell that he wasn't the first person to go poking around in the community center since that day. Aside from Ignis, the footprints he saw belonged to someone else. Clearly outlined in the dust were tracks left by heavy work boots, if the tread was anything to go by. Eerily, he realized, they were super fresh. He stepped around them carefully, keeping his eyes peeled for whoever else could possibly be in there.

  Cautiously, he explored the rooms. The first room he came to had heaps of fruits and vegetables piled between the barrels lining the walls like some offering. He looked but, not finding anything, didn't linger.

  The next room was in much better shape with its cheerful wallpaper and purple carpet. What little furniture there was seemed oddly free of the dust. He searched the desk, behind the easel, under the baskets of folded cloth that sat beneath a seemingly ancient spinning wheel.

  Nothing.

  He called out to Ignis after leaving only to get much of the same from him. His frustration growing, he crossed to the other side of the building. Down the long western hall, he felt goosebumps rise along his arms. A small spattering of a dried dark substance shone on the wall at the end. To his right was an open door revealing a set of stairs that vanished into thick darkness.

  This was it.

  "Yo, I think I know where it is." Soft but hurried steps met his call even as he began his descent into the dark, narrow staircase.

  Reaching the bottom, he froze. Half of the door hung at an angle off its hinges, and the fragments of the other half lay scattered across the floor. The wall to his back was riddled with dark blotches and bullet holes, but the wall before him… Faint black-green particles still covered the wall, dancing up almost to the ceiling.

  Ignis whispered his shock from the doorway behind him.

  Mushrooms grew in the patch of exposed dirt beneath the missing stones of the boiler room floor, and near them came a gleam of light. It resonated there once, twice, three times until Griff knelt to get a closer look. An oval-shaped crystal the size of his palm that held the swirling blue and frothing white of the sea within its curves, attached to a simple steel chain. Ignis's necklace.

  He grabbed it and turned to see Ignis standing there. His eyes immediately locked onto the think and his brow furrowed in confusion.

  "I didn't want to believe it, but…" He hesitated but eventually pulled the exact same necklace out from under his hoodie. "This is really happening, isn't it?"

  "Yep."

  "So, we have it. What now?"

  Griff nodded to the staircase. "Now you go home." Just as Ignis began to protest, he stated loudly over him, "You'd done what you could, and there's no way I'm exposing you to danger. Go. Home. I need to go and give this to its rightful owner."

  ‡ † ‡

  The atmosphere of the cave was much more oppressive now. Besides having to fend off the ever-respawning hoards, the thoughts of just what was going to happen nearly drove Griff over the edge of his sanity. And there wasn't much of it left.

  Clutching the pendant tight, he stepped into the room and approached the glittering black mirror. Nothing moved across the surface at first. He almost swore it grew darker. Griff glanced around, swearing he saw shadows within—beyond—the surface. He walked a little closer, unsure of just what to expect.

  Then the surface rippled.

  Instead of Ghost, he saw himself, reflected forever. His heart pounded as he lifted his free hand and slowly extended it. The reflections did the same. He then reached out until the tips of his fingers touched the cold crystalline surface, where the reflection touched him back. He watched their eyes smolder from honey brown to a vibrant violet hue. Ghost's form suddenly replaced his…and then he grinned. He grabbed Griff's wrist, pulling him into the mirror.

  Griff barely had a chance to think before he found himself surrounded by glittering stars and fractal crystal formations. He floated in the center of that space, weightless and aware. The stars glittered brightly, reflecting a deep light that came from everywhere and nowhere at once. It was cold in here, frigid and bitter.

  And within that space countless energies pulsed and hummed. The colors were amazing, beautiful and terrifying all at once. Some danced. Some swirled. Some even ebbed and flowed like the sea. And in the center of it all lay the pendant, surrounded by a space blacker than black. This void perfectly mimicked Griff in its outline. It reached out and Griff did the same. A shiver ran through him, fear and familiarity rolled into one.

  The frosty, winter winds of the interior bit at him, though he could only feel the flush of raw, unbridled chaos surrounding him. Hot tears dripped down his cheeks. His rapid, heavy heartbeat pounded in his ears. Mentally, there was only a mantra playing over and over like a skipping record:

  The return must not be fractured.

  The return must not be fractured.

  T̗̬̋ͩh̯̓e r̼e̝̘͇̓̅ͦt͍̩u͓̽r̗̝̣͑ͮ̽n̰̦̞̓̅͐ m̾̓uͮst̥ ́n͍̜̔̂o͙̙t ̲̯̭̏ͬ̂bē̫ ̎̓fr̝̣̙̐͆̓a͚̟͓͐̄̾ctur̖̘̘eď̼͙͈ͥ̽.̙̔

  At the touch of their fingertips, he screamed. The sound came out not in audible sounds but in pulses of multi-colored light that wrapped around both him and his shadow self, forcing them together. Closer and closer until they touched, his own warmth and its frozen shade melding into one cohesive being.

  Instant and eternity crashed into that space, bringing with it all the sound and light and sensation of the cosmos, and the unbridled torrents of raw energy coursing through the universe.

  Much to his shock, rather than the soul-crushing, skull-splitting finality of whatever cosmic experience ravaged him, Griff was startled by a rough hand on his shoulder. For a moment the unexplainable shifts of energy around him faded in and out, before finally the darkness and light coalesced into his core and he flew, a jerking sensation coming from just behind his nave.

  For a moment he couldn't fathom just where he landed. He had to strain his brain to recall just where he'd seen those old-fashioned walls and the shelved neatly packed with all manner of goods on display.

  The sudden heat and smell of pizza from the boxes in his hands drew him back to reality. Early afternoon sunlight poured in through the windows. Laughter rolled down from the home above. Had he really fixed everything? Looking ahead to the staircase, he swallowed the lump in his throat.

  A sudden vibration in his pocket jumped him. Ren again.

  Another reset?

  Are you alright?

  Are things…'normal' again?

  yeah its all cool

  wasn't anything too bad

  talk later k?

  Yeah, sure thing.

  "Griff, you better not be hogging the biggest piece to yourself down there!"

  Charlie's voice—full of life and laughter and love—melted the chills from Griff's core and he smiled. A huge, invisible chain shattered and dropped from his heart. He shoved his phone back into his pocket, picked up the pizzas, and marched up the stairs.

  "Well, I was going to, but someone caught me!"

  "You pig," Ignis deadpanned when Griff entered the bedroom.

  Both of his friends smiled warmly at him, looking up from their respective drawings. Nothing shone in their eyes that they knew, that they remembered. Maybe things would finally continue unhindered this time. But…all he could really do was live each day and see where it all went. He just hoped that he had the strength left in him to continue fighting, and that he would do it with everyone at his side.

  PART FOUR

  Elder Blood

  I

  The day of the Flower Dance, they all had decided to ditch. Who wanted to dress in ancient rags and dance some embarrassing jig when magic, monsters, and mysteries were so much more fun? Not Charlie, that's for sure. She shuddered at the thought of those mystery stains…

  She sat on her porch swing, reading through the Soartei Ochii—a chronicle of the various Seers and their prophecies from the time of the Ancients—while she waited for the guys to arrive. S
he'd tried texting and calling to see what they were doing, but since neither answered, she turned off her phone and pulled out the book.

  She felt bad enough that Reiem had to watch over her during the upcoming summoning, but once Griff and Ignis found out, they asked to tag along. The poor bastards didn't even know anything about spirits outside of a clichéd spirit board or bullshit séance until she explained her recent studies. At least they weren't put off by it. Anyone else she knew would have turned tail and ran at the first mention of ghosts.

  Seeing as she couldn't exactly focus, she packed it up and pushed herself on the swing, her patience dwindling, and anxiety rising. Finally, off in the distance, she heard the guys coming down the path from town. Griff looked thrilled for their 'ghost adventure' as he'd called it, but Ignis looked more like Reiem—grumpy and unimpressed.

  "Hey, there's my two ghost hunters," she said with a smile. They paused at the bottom of the stairs, looking curiously at her.

  "What are you wearing?" Ignis asked slowly. He took in her form-fitting jeans, tank-top and plain blouse tied at her waist, her pair of shit-kicker boots, and the leather back harness and hip pouches.

  "Did we miss the memo for mountain climbing?"

  "Or LARP session?"

  Despite her irritation with their lack of punctuality and now the jokes, the corner of Charlie's mouth twitched up. "Have you guys never seen what a Guardian wears?"

  They looked to each other for a second.

  "You don't have a sword yet, do you?"

  "No… Not yet. Receiving and naming a blade is something a Guardian-to-be is supposed to do on their sixteenth birthday." She sighed. "Yet another crucial thing my mother refused to let me do. I'm still a trainee, though." Looking past them to the tower in the southern forest, she sprung down the stairs. "You both ready?"

  "Yep."

  As they set off for the southern bridge, Griff asked, "Why the fancy getup, anyway?"

  She grinned over her shoulder at him. "You'll see."

  Charlie practically skipped down the road, her eagerness pushing them forward at a quicker pace than usual. She heard Ignis mutter something about an 'evening jog' and slowed down, raising her eyebrows in mock offense.

  "Did you say something?"

  "Must be the wind."

  "Uh-huh. Well, we wouldn't have to walk so fast if a certain pair of somebodies would have arrived on time. What were you two doing anyway?"

  "Uh…Lori needed us for something," Griff said, staring intently at the river ahead.

  "Yeah."

  Charlie eyed them suspiciously. She hadn't really cared what they were doing—she was mostly just giving them shit for being late. But now that she knew they were hiding something from her, her curiosity was piqued.

  "Really? That's impressive since she and Tal both left for the Flower Dance setup an hour ago."

  Their faces both fell slightly, and she couldn't help but smirk.

  "I-I mean, we needed something from Lori's house," Griff tried again. He pulled out his phone, tapping away in an attempt to avoid the topic.

  Charlie giggled. "You're the shittiest liar ever."

  "Watching porn?" Ignis offered.

  Charlie made a face. "Oh, gross! It's even worse now that I know Griff likes men!"

  Ignis shrugged. "Will it get you to drop it?"

  Charlie rolled her eyes, turning back around. "Ugh, fine. Porn it is."

  They walked the rest of the way in comfortable silence. Charlie breathed in deep the rich scent of the flowers, berries, and trees as the gentle spring breeze ruffled her hair. She loved this part of spring—not too hot, not too cold. Just perfect.

  When they arrived at the tower, however, she forgot all about the temperature. The moment Reiem saw them approach, he slipped what appeared to be a cellphone into his back pocket. Strange—Charlie didn't know he had a phone.

  "The outfit suits you. Do the boots fit properly? And the harness?"

  "Hehe, thanks." She raised her arms and twisted her torso slightly. "It feels a little weird, but I guess I'll get used to it. And yeah, they're perfect!"

  "And here I was thinking they were hers," Griff grumbled, arms crossed. "I want special ghost hunting boots."

  Reiem scrunched his features slightly, looking accusingly to Charlie. "'Ghost hunting'?"

  Charlie grinned, the tinge on her cheeks growing bright but thankfully she could blame it on the red tinge in the sky. "That’s kinda what we're doing, isn't it?"

  "We're undertaking a bygone forest trial to call on the wisdom of your ancestors, and you call it 'ghost hunting'? Miss Charlotte, I don't know what to say. Frankly, I am shocked and appalled." He stated it with such quiet exasperation that Charlie thought he was actually serious.

  "Dude, you're a little too good at that," Griff said. Reiem shook his head in mock irritation. He was…actually attempting to joke around. "Speaking of trials, was that chunk good enough for a blade? From what Ruby told us it I think it would really make a killer weapon."

  "So that's why you weren't answering earlier." Charlie arched an eyebrow, looking at Reiem with a knowing smirk. "A blade, huh?"

  "Griffith Bryn…" Reiem sighed, looking off to the side, brows knit tight in frustration.

  "What?" Griff asked obliviously.

  "Just them being horrible liars," Charlie explained before changing the subject. She'd give them all an out for now, but they were going to catch the pestering of a lifetime about it later. "So, what's this forest trial you were talking about?"

  ‡ † ‡

  The southernmost portion of Cinder Forest was ridiculously small, but very dense. The oaks stood tall and mighty, packed so tightly together that no light from the wide-open sea just two hundred feet beyond could be seen. Reiem led them past an old, abandoned house until the waning light of dusk could no longer be seen and they had to watch their steps as they went.

  "Here we are."

  He motioned to a ring of mushrooms on the forest floor, all sizes and shapes and colors. Giant domed brown ones, and short ones with flat heads. Puffy toadstools with red and purple caps, and even some morels. At their approach, the white clover in the ring's center lit up, forming a pattern.

  "A teleportation ring?"

  Reiem nodded. "It will take us to the trial's start. Quick, easy, and quite painless. These rings are specially connected to small pocket dimensions," he explained. "Places secreted away from the prying eyes of the undesired. They're all over. One needs but look."

  Ignis made a noise, like he was going to speak, and Reiem looked to him. "I've never noticed them before. Can we not see them unless you're around?"

  "Hm, not quite. Think of them as rings of necessity. Should you require their use, they will reveal themselves to you."

  "Like the room in that wizard series? What was it…? The Room of Requirement!" Reiem looked at Griff quizzically, clearly not understanding the reference. "Er, I'll…explain it to you later."

  The immortal's eyes drifted to Charlie before he turned back to the ring. "This way, please."

  ‡ † ‡

  As the bright light surrounding them faded into a darkened pall, they found themselves descending into a forest clearly out of their world. The darkness around them turned violet, then blue, then dark green. There was an explosion of light just before Charlie tumbled onto a soft, lush piece of ground. She picked herself up slowly and looked around.

  "Was I really the only one who fell?"

  "I don't know," Griff replied slowly, looking around. "Where's Iggy?"

  "…and Reiem?"

  The landscape around them was dark. Far darker than when they'd stepped into the ring, and it wasn't from the thick canopy overhead. They weren't even in the same forest. Above them was open, empty sky, but around them swirled a thick, white fog. The darkness lent it an almost silvery sheen, glinting and shimmering as it danced. To their sides and back towered sheer cliffs, leaving only one way forward: into the mist.

  Unable to go back, the pair too
k one last look around before walking forward on the barely visible path. Their footfalls were the only sound among the dark trees, leaves and twigs crunching under them.

  "I can see why this is in its own dimension," Charlie said. "No telling how many people would get lost in here." Griff mumbled a slow 'uh-huh' in agreement.

  The rocky walls sloped away to reveal a small, grassy meadow. Pine trees towered around them, their trunks vanishing barely twenty feet up. Through the gloom to the west stood what remained of a large stone barrier. Once beautifully built for some forgotten place, only broken pillars and a single archway remained.

  Thick curtains of green ivy spilled down the sides of the archway, and just beyond that, they could see a single torch. The dancing light combined with the mist undermined the mysticality of the area, instead draping it with an eerie, ethereal presence.

  "Hello?" Charlie said once they reached the torch.

  No response.

  "Iggy?" Griff called again. "Reiem?" Still nothing. "Man, this is freaking me out."

  "You wanted to come," Charlie reminded him, forcing a smirk.

  "Yeah, yeah, I know. I didn't expect—wait, you see that?"

  Charlie spun around, body tense as she expected to see some monster. Instead, she noticed another torch flickering in the distance. She squinted past it, seeing yet another further beyond. Reiem did mention a trial, and this seemed like it would be it, so pulling up her proverbial bootstraps, she headed for the torches in the distance. They bypassed the second one, heading for the third. This trend continued to the west, where two more torches danced, then once to the north.