ELSIE WOODWARD
Growing up as a Halfspur—a child of a dweller and a venturer—was a unique experience for me. My father had settled down in the town of Avylrath after falling in love with a Dweller woman and deciding to spend his life here. In those days, the dwellers welcomed venturers with open arms.
As a child, I often heard stories of his homeland, Earth, and the wonders of science that he brought with him. My father was always willing to lend a helping hand to the citizens of Avylrath, using his knowledge and skills to make their lives better.
However, my mother passed away when I was born, leaving my father to raise me all by himself. Despite this, my father did an excellent job of raising me, always encouraging my curiosity and nurturing my dreams of exploration.
He would often tell me about his adventures in other realms and tales about his homeland. His stories sparked a sense of wonder and excitement in me that only grew stronger with time.
But the reality of our situation soon became clear to me. Dwellers like us were restricted to our realm, unable to leave or even see the passage to other realms. Many had tried in the past, but none had succeeded. It felt like being trapped in a cage, and I longed to spread my wings and explore the world beyond.
Despite the restrictions placed on us, I never lost hope. I knew that the blood of a Venturer flowed within me, and I was born with a Ventureseal, albeit a distorted and half-sized one compared to my father’s.
I believed that there was still a chance for me to explore the unknown, to discover the wonders of science that my father had brought with him, and to see the world beyond our realm.
As tensions between the Venturers and the people of Avylrath continued to escalate, my hopes of exploring beyond our realm began to dwindle. The animosity between the two groups grew, but I still believed that not all humans were selfish and greedy.
However, things took a turn for the worse when the Venturers were finally banished from Avylrath. With the Venturers gone, my chance of discovering the passage to other realms was lost. Only they had the ability to see the passage, and only the elite members of the Avyls, known as the Council, knew of its exact location.
As a result, the possibility of finding and entering the passage was beyond my reach. As if the situation couldn’t get any worse, the Dwellers began to see my father and me as outcasts. It was as if we were not meant to exist in their world.
However, due to my father’s contributions to the community, we were allowed to continue living in our town, and we tried our best to live a normal life. Unfortunately, tragedy struck when my father, who was investigating an organisation that had colluded with the Shadowhorns to attack Dwellers, was assassinated.
I was only twelve years old at the time, and the loss of my father was devastating. The organisation had noticed my father’s progress and wanted to silence him before he could uncover their plans.
I was trapped in a town where I felt like a stranger, a girl with no family or friends, living in a world that refused to acknowledge my existence. The feeling of isolation was overwhelming, and I felt as if I was slowly suffocating with no escape in sight. I was left with no choice but to teach myself the art of survival in a world that showed me no mercy.
With limited resources at my disposal, I had to rely on my wits to survive. It was a tough journey, but I persevered. At the age of seventeen, I finally managed to escape the confines of Avylrath and decided to seek refuge in the wild lands of the Avlyrra,which was a harsh and unforgiving place.
I learned how to forage for food and trained myself in the art of self-defence using the energy of sol. It was a difficult road, but I was determined to become self-sufficient. I spent two long years living alone, waiting for my chance to leave the realm.
Venturers rarely passed through the areas near Avylrath, so I had to venture deeper into the unknown, risking my life at every turn. The shadowhorns were a constant threat, and I had to be on guard at all times. I pushed myself to go further and further away from Avylrath, determined to find a way out of this place and discover what lay beyond this birdcage.
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I could finally see a glimmer of hope as my efforts finally paid off. I eventually spotted four Venturers living in a crystal structure. They appeared to be searching for the passage, so if I could follow them, I would undoubtedly find it.
But they came under attack from shadowhorns, and although they eventually managed to repel them, the Avyls caught them. It appeared as though God was joking around with me. But I was unable to give up on this dream. By disguising myself as one of them, I was able to release them from their imprisonment and eventually guide them to the city’s outskirts.
One of them had been successful in retrieving a map, which would enable us to finally find the passage, and I felt a touch of relief. When the Avyls chased us, I felt a sense of excitement and adventure, and I was relieved when we were able to get away from them. I wanted to enjoy this emotion.
Yet, this euphoria was short-lived because my dream collapsed in front of my very eyes. I was blind to it. The passage. The realm perceived me as a dweller rather than a venturer. All of my efforts over the past decade have been in vain.
My face welled up with tears as I lost all hope. Everything was finished.
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WALLACE GARRET
As we sat under the tree, taking a break, the sound of rain hitting the leaves provided a calming atmosphere. Elsie sat next to me, her back against the trunk, her face devoid of emotion. It felt like I was looking at a doll.
"We can’t leave her alone. She’ll be easy prey for the shadowhorns out here, and we’re too far from Avylrath," Davy said, his voice low.
"I agree. We owe her our lives," I replied. "There must be a way for her to perceive the passage. After all, she has a Ventureseal."
"It’s not that simple, and the seal isn’t even proper." Cliff interjected.
After hearing Elsie’s story and realising our shared desire for adventure and thrill, I felt a pang of sadness. Unlike me, who was encouraged by Gary to seek adventure, Elsie was denied that opportunity due to her circumstances. We were different sides of the same coin.
I still couldn’t believe that Elsie was forbidden from leaving the realm. It just didn’t make sense to me. If she couldn’t see the passage, then what if she could touch or feel it? I didn’t want her to give up hope just yet. "Come on," I said, trying to encourage her. "We’ve come this far. Let’s see if there’s anything else we can do."
Elsie stood still for a moment before slowly getting up, her face downward. I knew she was trying to hide her tears. I led her towards the passage and said, "I’m going to descend down the stairs. Even if you can’t see them, maybe you can feel them. Just grab my hand."
She hesitated for a moment before finally taking my hand. As we walked, it felt like I was dragging a child who had just thrown a tantrum. But I kept going, determined to help her see the world beyond our own.
Finally, we reached the stairs. But something strange happened. When I took the first step, Elsie couldn’t follow. It was like she was stepping on thin air instead of the stairs. This happened every time I took a step, and eventually, my hand slipped away from hers. I was on the fifth step, and Elsie was hovering just above me.
"It’s pointless," she said, her voice choppy. "All I can see is grass where you stand. I can see your figure, but it’s half-submerged in the ground.
With a sigh, I walked back to Elsie, realising that her perception of the world was different from mine.
"Wallace, check for any kind of sol circulating in the region. Sol may be involved because it governs the realms." Davy’s voice was loud enough to be heard by us, as he meant. He continued to sit beside the tree.
I decided to follow his advice and closed my eyes, focusing on the sol flowing throughout the realm. At first, I couldn’t sense anything different, but as I approached the stairs, I could feel a kind of dissimilarity in the air. Elsie was still standing on thin air, and as I descended down the stairs, I could sense that the flow of sol was split in two directions, each flowing in its own way and unaware of the existence of the other.
I wondered if we could converge these different flows into one, which might solve the problem. But my hope turned to despair when I realised that we cannot control sol, only guide it, and in this case, it would be impossible to guide the two flows because they were completely unaware of each other.
Still, I focused all my willpower on guiding the two flows together, but nothing happened. I tried harder and harder until I forgot where I was and who I was. The only thing I remembered was that these two flows needed to converge.
Everything I had thrown away came back as I opened my eyes due to an abrupt, severe headache. My vision was fuzzy, and the headache was identical to when I battled the midnight maw. I was seeing everything in twos since my vision was split in two, yet something seemed off.
Elsie was standing on a patch of grass on one side of my vision, and I could see the stairs on the other side of my field of vision. I felt as though I had a window into Elise’s universe.
The two scenes began to slowly but steadily merge as a result of my intense concentration. I exerted all of my effort, and at last, as they accelerated, they converged, engulfing my eyes in a blaze of white light. When I opened them, Elsie could be seen falling down the steps from nowhere.
Wha-?" she shrieked. "I instantly fell because of this distortion in the air." She spoke.
Wait, are those stairs?’ She inquired, her voice now tinged with surprise rather than gloom.
"You can see the passage now." I replied, my face drenched in sweat and my body barely able to stand. Tears streamed down her cheeks, but this time they were tears of joy.
"All right, let’s go." Davy spoke in a commanding tone.