Visioness

by Lincoln Law

  Her emotions welled in her throat like a choking bubble, threatening to burst. But she held her feelings in, and continued to speak.

  “You and I were stronger when we were together, and I never gave you the opportunity to show your strength, and now, when you step in and show how truly strong you are, I cannot thank you. I cannot hug you and have you hug me back, because you’re gone. I underestimated you one more time, and it will be the last time I ever do.” She wept into her hands. “Goodbye. I’m sorry.”

  Rhene gave Adabelle the time she needed to be alone. He didn’t want to bother her while she was alone with her sister; she had to say what she needed to say. Rhene had already said his goodbyes.

  Rhene stepped out onto the greens to discover that the battle had indeed ended, when Lady Morphier had been shot, and Matthon revealed to have gone insane. None could explain it, so when he had the chance, Rhene took the other generals aside to inform them of Matthon’s lies, of his ability to Dream.

  They all seemed shocked, and rightly so. Their entire worldview had been built around this single idea: that Dreaming was wrong. And their own leader and master had been lying this whole time.

  “What do we do, then?” asked General Ferrant, who stared at Rhene with the greatest surprise on his face. “We can’t exactly continue to fight now we have this knowledge. It would be wrong. It would be…hypocritical.”

  “We disband,” Rhene said. “We end this now. If you look around, we can see the cost of our actions. The lives we have lost today will serve in memory of those who fought in a pointless war, and will remind us all to never do as we have done today.” The rain had already begun to wash the streets clean.

  “And what of the Oen’Aerei?” asked Ferrant. “Lady Morphier is dead.” He pointed behind him, stepping aside to allow Rhene a look. Indeed, Lady Morphier lay on the grass, arms and legs splayed, a bullet hole sitting cleanly in the middle of her head, blood flowing down her face like a crimson tear. The police had arrived and were questioning those involved.

  She died knowing her love was unrequited, he thought, feeling a tinge of sadness at her passing. At least she died with the truth.

  “They will remain,” Rhene explained. “They will get a new leader. Now that Therron is gone, I think we can be sure it will be in good hands. Someone will step forward and take that place, I’m sure.” He looked up at the Patron of Dreams, Melréar, and her stag companion, its face shattered in places by stray bullets. “Someone who understands what it means to Dream.”

  “But Dreaming will continue!” one of the Dreamless retorted. Rhene did not know his name. “They will continue!”

  “But not under the rule of someone with malevolent intentions,” Rhene replied. “Besides, they need training, to avoid having events like this. They need to be taught the proper way, to respect their gifts. That’s how it’s meant to be, and that is the end of it.” He was technically the second in command of the Dreamless armies, thereby making him their leader for now. He announced in as loud a voice as he could manage. “The Dreamless have ended. You may disband now. Collect your things and find yourself a life somewhere. This all ends here.”

  Rhene unbuttoned his coat, letting the cool morning air blow against his chest. People were beginning to wake in the city now, as the sun continued its ascent into the sky. It was a new morning for many. For all, really. A fresh beginning.

  A second chance, Rhene thought. It wasn’t something everyone got, and not something everyone deserved, but he was appreciative regardless.

  Thank you, Charlotte.

  Epilogue

  Washed Up on the Shores of Oblivion

  Adabelle and Rhene were given their own room in the Halls of the Oen’Aerei for the day, so they could be close to Charlotte.

  “Time goes on,” Rhene said, “and so must we.”

  “I know,” Adabelle said. “But for now, I just want to stay here.”

  She could feel the Frequencies at the edge of her mind, her thoughts naturally reaching out for them; searching. She hoped to hear that voice, to feel that mind, to sense that same sensation she had when Charlotte’s mind had first unlocked.

  “There has to be a way out of Oblivion,” she whispered, mostly to herself, but Rhene listened anyway. “She can’t be down there forever, can she?”

  “It’s what Oblivion is,” he said. “A sea of nothing.”

  “But if anyone could do it, she could.” Adabelle felt herself grow angry now. Angry at Rhene for his inaction, angry at the world for its cruelty. “She gave us all a second chance, and lost hers.”

  “She chose that herself. She told me so.”

  “And you kept that from me,” Adabelle retorted angrily. “You kept that secret? You betrayed my trust?”

  Rhene had nothing to say to that, and for that Adabelle was happy. He lowered his head in shame.

  The waves of shadow pushed her onto the shores of nothing, tossing her once more into the inky abyss. She had watched Therron drown only minutes ago—or had it been hours—his form too weak to withstand the tumultuous storm of shadows. Yet she had stayed afloat, pushing on. She could still hear his final words, cursing her trick. Those words were meant to hurt, to scathe, but they only made her stronger, more willing to push through the darkness.

  Adabelle would tell you to be strong, she thought. Stay strong and Oblivion won’t end you.

  After a while—how long, she didn’t know—she stood up, and walked the remainder of the way through the darkness to where it would not toss her any more. The current pushed her forwards, but never receded backwards. The way it pushed was oblivion, the way back was reality, and there was no way to fight that current. No one had told her otherwise, and yet she knew it. That current went in one direction; no one went back into it.

  She found a spot in the shadows, where the ground was firm, feeling somewhat more firm than anywhere else had been before. Everything was darkness and shadows, shifting onto itself, forever and ever. Yet there were spots that seemed more…real…more sure of its own existences. And in those spots, Charlotte found she could sit and think and remember and wait.

  There she sat on the shores of Oblivion awaiting the end of the world.

  The day dragged on, and when the detectives arrived to question her, Adabelle was quite surprised to find Detective Olin not involved.

  “Where’s Detective Olin?” she asked, staring at this unfamiliar man.

  “He’s being charged with bribery and police corruption,” said the detective in reply. “I’m the new detective put on this case. I’m Detective Kerr.” He extended his hand, smiling warmly.

  Therron’s touch had indeed gone deep, she thought, smiling as she returned the handshake.

  Rhene stared at Charlotte’s body, Adabelle’s words running through his head.

  If anyone deserves a second chance, it’s her.

  He bit his lip, glancing down at his hand with the hole in it. A nurse had already checked it and had told him it would be fixed. They’d cleaned it, dressed it in fresh bandages and sent him on his way. It would not need amputation.

  I’ve emerged from this with all my limbs, thank goodness, he thought, stifling a chuckle as he looked down at Charlotte. People have died, though.

  Charlotte looked out on that shadowed ocean, with its impossibly black waters and impossible sky, with the sun she could not see, but somehow knew was there. That sun seemed a goal. Something about it called her, reminded her of where she came from, though she could not see it. It was all just darkness and shadow and chaos. It was like a weight against her heart, the echo of a memory. She knew that sun was a place she had to be, and knew somewhere in those shadows was a brilliant, wonderful light. But the waves pushed ever towards the shores, away from the sun, and she was so very tired.

  The sun called her, though, tugged at her being, wanting her back there.

  “I’ve proved them wrong before,” she said. “Time to do it again.”

  She rose up to her feet, looking towards the
sun she could not see and into the shadow that had no end, and she began to walk, pushing against the current that did not recede.

  Adabelle’s thought tendrils only took a few hours after Charlotte’s death to pull back into her own mind. She stopped her subconscious from searching, having accepted, in part, that Charlotte would not be coming back. Oblivion was the end, and that was it. There was no return.

  She had already promised herself she would not go back into the Dream again. The desire to reach Oblivion would consume her, lest she expend the rest of her days with research as she attempted to break the unbreakable. A part of her wondered, whether she would ever dream at all. Did she even want to? Would she be haunted by the memory of her sister, by the way she tried to hug her to make her troubles go away? Probably. But a part of her wanted to be troubled. A part of her needed that reminder, so she couldn’t forget.

  Rhene entered the Dream Frequencies, feeling odd to be back amongst the shadows and darkness. He kept to the border of thought, wondering what he would see in the lines that blur between.

  There was very little a Sturding couldn’t do in a Dream. He had already proven so many things wrong. He could break a black glass barrier, he could unlock a shackle; surely he could reach into Oblivion and retrieve that one thing to make Adabelle happy again.

  It’s the only thing I can do now, he thought, to make up for the secret I kept.

  He stood between the boundary of two minds and stared deeply, through that thin, blurring line, searching for the point where the Dream ended and Oblivion began.

  Charlotte swam against the current that didn’t stop, towards the sun she could not see. She knew it was a goal, but a goal to what, she did not know. Perhaps there she would find the end. A part of her told her she would find reality again. She would find the Dream, and her body, and return to her mind the memories it had lost in taking Therron into Oblivion.

  “I can do this,” she said to herself, as she swam through the darkness. “Be strong! Be brave!” She repeated that over and over again, all the while pushing against the waves that barraged her back towards the shore.

  “Be strong! Be brave!”

  And on she swam.

  Rhene reached out with his finger, pressing at the very edge of the boundary between dreams, and noticed it seemed softer there. He touched it again, and in that he felt only coldness and blackness, and an endless sea of nothing.

  Oblivion, he thought, as he reached through that gap.

  Adabelle finished her discussion with Detective Kerr, who assured her that all legal matters with her have been rectified. With Morphier’s journal, they were able to put blame on Therron on all counts, and on Lady Morphier, too. As far as matters with Giles Corbine, in that case it would be classed as manslaughter under duress in the courts and Rhene would be free to continue his life.

  “He might be requested to perform some kind of service to the community, but that’s a big maybe. It’s really not his fault he did what he did.”

  “And Aunt Marie?” Adabelle asked.

  “Will be given compensation for what Therron did to her through the treasuries of the Oen’Aerei. I can assure you, she has nothing to worry about. And we can take her aside and explain everything, too. Save you having to do it.”

  “Thank you,” she said, smiling. She turned to leave, but stopped. “And my money?”

  “The account is still in your family name, so it all goes back to you,” the detective explained. “You have nothing else to worry about now. My suggestion: go to your sister and sit with her a while.”

  “But Rhene is there,” she said. She was still angry with him. It had only been hours since Charlotte’s death. The pain was still too fresh and she didn’t really wish to see him right now.

  “And he will always be there,” the detective said. “He loves your sister, too, judging from what he told me when we spoke to him. He misses her. My suggestion: forgive him for what he did. He’d do the same if things were the other way around.”

  Adabelle nodded, thankful for his words.

  “I’m off to see my sister then. Good day, Detective Kerr.”

  “And to you, Miss Blaise,” he replied, dipping his hat in farewell.

  She began her way to the room where her sister was at rest, preparing her words of apology for Rhene.

  Charlotte saw up ahead a bright figure, glowing with the light of reality. It surrounded the figure like a brilliant halo.

  “Charlotte!” he cried, his body appearing in the sky, surrounded by the corona of the sun she could not see.

  “Rhene?” she replied, in surprise. “Rhene! I’m here! I’m coming!”

  She reached out her hand, desperately kicking through he shadows, grasping for the hand and the light and reality.

  A wave crashed against her, but she pushed on, determined. Unwilling to drown, unwilling to concede defeat.

  Be brave, she thought, too weak to talk. Be strong!

  She reached out again, desperately, hopefully. That light felt so warm, so inviting, so real! She stretched for it, against the force of the waves.

  “Rhene,” she muttered, straining her arm, grasping. And then…

  …Rhene felt something touch his hand, wrapping around it, grasping it tightly like a vice.

  “RHENE!” Charlotte’s voice boomed from within the shadows, sounding over the thunder of the waves, the howling of the storm.

  He pulled that weight up through the boundary between reality and Oblivion, and with that weight and the shadows and the impossible darkness, came Charlotte, dressed in her red coat, smiling that beautiful smile of hers.

  “Rhene?” Adabelle asked, knocking on the door. “Are you in there?”

  No reply.

  “Rhene, if you are, I’m coming in. I want to talk.”

  She pushed open the door.

  “How did you…?” Rhene asked in amazement.

  “I just swam,” she said, “and I kept going until I found you. I knew where I wanted to go, and so I went. And I’m back.” She jumped with excitement. “I’m back! I get my second chance.”

  “Well all do,” Rhene said. “Now let’s go tell Adabelle.”

  The pair snapped back into wakefulness.

  Adabelle could barely contain her screams at what she saw.

  Rhene stood beside Charlotte, and Charlotte was standing there, hugging him. Her eyes flowed with tears, streaming into his sleeve.

  “Charlotte,” Adabelle said, a moment after she’d screamed.

  “I’m back,” Charlotte replied, smiling.

  “You’re back,” Adabelle said, still standing in the doorway, paralysed by shock. “But…how…how did you break out of….” She couldn’t finish the sentence.

  “Rhene helped me,” she said. “You didn’t think I’d just take Oblivion sitting down, do you?”

  Adabelle’s shocked expression turned into a grin. “I should have never underestimated you.”

  “No you shouldn’t have,” Charlotte said, beaming. She broke free of Rhene, who was crying now.

  Adabelle opened her arms wide, welcoming the hug that would take all her troubles away. Her sister ran for her, embracing her tightly into a hold that was impossibly warm and welcome and brilliant. The shadows receded from Adabelle’s mind, and she could see light once more.

  Rhene stepped forward; extending a hand which Adabelle took hold of. She gripped it tightly, not wanting to let go.

  She held her sister in one hand, and Rhene in the other, and there they would stay. Even from her wildest dreams, she could ask for nothing more.

 

 

 
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