Ronan led him into a small room through a door that had a plaque with his name on it. His office was clean and tidy, with two large windows at the back and an aged wooden desk in front of them. Bookshelves lined one of the walls which was rare to see but something Finlay enjoyed. The opposite wall contained a single, large painting of the city, featuring the shrine at its centre—it was incredibly detailed.

Ronan sat behind his desk and signalled for Finlay to take the chair in front. He wrote a few more notes on his tablet before placing it down and leaning over the desk. He intertwined his fingers, elbows resting in front of him to form a triangle where he supported his chin on his thumbs so that part of his face remained hidden by his hands. His golden-framed eyes were bright but rather than say anything, he studied Finlay for several minutes.

This was the second time he had acted in this manner and Finlay felt the same discomfort both times. But he also realised that Ronan would talk when he was ready so he sat down, crossed his arms and waited while studying the wide array of books that were on display beside him.

“So tell me, who exactly are you?”

The question wasn’t what he’d been expecting. Ronan knew who he was, he had been waiting for him and even greeted him, at least in a manner of speaking. But now as the man sat there studying him; without changing posture, never moving, not even blinking, Finlay struggled to understand what he wanted.

“What do you mean?”

“Are you the lost boy from the station, or the spirit that devoured him?”

His hands dropped, his body almost falling limp as the realisation of why he was here fell over him. Ronan hadn’t been curious about his experiences or what information he might have to tell them, he wanted to know if he was even the same person. Faye had been watching him as well; while he spoke to his family, she was studying him, looking for signs he wasn’t who he said he was, he hadn't realised it but it was obvious now.

“I don’t understand, I’m just me, Finlay Dunaid.”

“So you say but Faye wasn’t so sure and she’s often right about these things.”

Ronan hadn’t moved, he was perfectly still as he stared at Finlay. He couldn’t tell what the man was thinking, couldn’t tell if his opinion swayed one way or the other. He wasn’t looming over him or holding some insidious pressure, there was no threatening nature but something about the way he spoke and how he remained in that posture made him feel uncomfortable. It made this interrogation that was otherwise relaxed, very intimidating.

“I’m not sure what you want me to say, I could answer any questions but you don’t know me. My father’s coming, he can tell you.”

“That is so often the problem but that also wouldn’t help us here.”

“So what do you want from me?”

“I want to talk to you, see the problem is when a spirit devours another, it can take on their memories, their personality and if they choose, can imitate the person completely.”

“So you think I'm the spirit pretending to be... me?”

“I don’t think anything at the moment, I am still deciding. Tell me, what exactly happened to you this past week?”

It was frustrating, in his mind he knew who he was, he knew he had won out against the spirit in the tower but that experience also made him understand why the caution was necessary. The guild had lost others to spirits that devoured them, it was a known problem that happened often in the early days before they developed their systems to protect against it. But even now, it was still possible.

He was a child in their eyes, a boy who had a run-in with a spirit in the wild, one that could be dangerous. It made sense they thought he might have fallen to the same fate. But that understanding didn’t change his frustration and he wasn’t sure how to convince him.

So even though he wasn't sure, he decided the only way forward was to be honest, to tell this man everything that happened.

“Interesting, a gateway and the soul of an Ancient.”

Ronan didn’t move throughout Finlay’s recanting of the events, there was no surprise or hint of emotion, just the same stonewalled appearance he gave since they entered the office. Though from his tone and words, he did seem to accept what he was telling him. Finlay had explained everything in detail, the memories, the emotions, the battle with the other spirit and the form that showed itself from deep within that saved him. The only thing he didn’t tell him was the final memory, the one of his sister.

“This other presence, this form as you call it that saved you, what was it?”

“I don’t really know, I don’t understand it well. Maybe it was another part of me, my soul, my unconscious, it’s… confusing.”

“You should understand that everything you saw, that you experienced were representations by your mind.”

“I’m sorry, I don’t understand what you mean.”

“Spirits don’t inherently have physical forms, they don’t need to show themselves in any way that we would understand. The one in the sanctuary manifested itself as a green flame, probably because that’s how it represented spirits in its mind before it became one. When you fought with it, you represented yourself as light.”

“So that was just my mind? It was just interpreting and trying to understand what was going on?”

“Yes, more or less. Everything you saw and experienced was an interpretation by your mind over what was happening within it. It's not that unlike how we see and experience the world around us every day.”

“I guess that makes sense but I’m not sure how it helps anything.”

“Your mind had already represented yourself, your soul, consciousness, everything as this white light that was losing the fight. But it represented something else that came to save you, the question is what that was?”

“I don’t really know, even with that explanation, I can’t think of anything.”

He wasn’t lying. He wondered if it might have been the sanctuary itself but that didn’t make sense. The building was trying to help the spirit, it wouldn’t defend him at the last minute and it had been reluctant to listen to him afterwards. He had assumed it was some deeper part of him but if his unconscious was already included in that white light he thought of himself, that didn’t answer it either.

There was one piece left, the piece he hadn’t told Ronan about, the memory of his sister which stood out not only because of what it was but when he saw it, it felt selected. If that was the case, this memory was important and whatever the blue form within him was chose it for him to see. But that still didn’t help him understand what that form could be and he decided telling Ronan about that would only make things worse.

This tale has been unlawfully lifted without the author's consent. Report any appearances on Amazon.

“I didn’t really expect you to," Ronan said, relieving him of the pressure. "However, your answer has sufficiently convinced me that you have not been devoured, at least not entirely—at least not yet.”

“You think it could still happen,” fear was evident in his reply, which seemed to make Ronan happy.

“A good response, reassuring me further that I was right. I don’t think you’re in any immediate risk.”

For the first time, he lowered his hands back to the desk and sat upright. He replaced that stonewall expression with a smile though his eyes still gave away that he was continuing his search for something within Finlay.

“We still haven’t addressed the time difference,” Ronan continued.

“I can’t explain that any more than I already have. It makes no sense to me.”

“It is possible that the attack from the spirit lasted much longer than you understood it to but your mind simply played it out in a timeframe that made sense.”

“You’re making me feel like I have no control over myself, like I’m just an observer to whatever whims my unconscious has.”

“It’s not quite the same but you’d be surprised how much people can fool themselves without realising it.”

“But even if my mind was tricked, my body would have suffered from a whole week without water or anything else.”

“This is the perplexing point that I haven’t managed to get around and I have a feeling I may not find the answer. You did say the sanctuary would destroy itself?”

“It seemed that way and that’s what the spirit told me.”

He started to spin his chair around in an idle manner looking away from Finlay, “Could he have gone to the spirit world; is that even possible, or was it something to do with being between worlds, could we access it through the gate?”

Ronan was mumbling to himself rather than talking to Finlay, lost in his own thoughts at this point and seemed unconcerned about his presence. He continued to turn around in his chair, mumbling thoughts about the spirits and the sanctuary to himself and Finlay was starting to wonder if he should say anything when a knock came on the door. They both turned to it instinctively as a man poked his head through the doorway.

“The boy’s family is here, they’re being rather insistent on seeing him.”

“Well then, I guess our time is up.”

“It’s okay if I go home?”

“Yes. I’m satisfied you aren’t a threat, though I suspect we’ll be seeing one another again soon.”

“I’m actually applying to join the guild,” throughout this, he had come to realise Ronan was definitely someone important and thought it might be worth mentioning.

“Interesting, even after your experience?”

“It only reinforced my desire to join.”

“A good answer again. Well, I shall look forward to seeing your development. You had best be off now, thank you for your time.”

He stood and thanked Ronan before following the other man out of the door and back to the main entrance he had entered with Faye. His father saw him immediately and marched over with Keira hobbling behind with a crutch under one arm.

“Finn, thank the gods you’re okay.”

“I told you on the phone I was fine, you really didn’t have to come.”

Keira smacked him in the shin with her crutch as soon as she reached him, “I told you not to do anything stupid without me.”

“I didn’t exactly do it deliberately,” he protested, hobbling back and rubbing his leg.

“Thank you for your time, Finlay, we’ll contact you again if we need anything further,” the man who guided him said and then turned to walk behind a large desk in the middle of the room.

“Come on, while we’re here we might as well get some city food, you must be starving,” said his father.

He hadn’t thought about it until now but he was in fact starving. The events had been so chaotic that he never had the chance to feel anything other than exhaustion and confusion but it had been a week since he’d eaten after all.

It took them a while to leave the guild area, Keira in her determined nature wanted to prove she was still faster than both of them even when his father kept telling her to take it easy, but to her credit, she found a late-night cafe. The sky was darkening and though he wasn’t sure what time it was it was late enough that lights started appearing around the streets and shops.

There wouldn’t be very many places open in the outer ring's villages at this hour, let alone a small cafe like this but he was thankful it was. They settled into a small booth that felt like the most private location and ordered some baked treats. Finlay being the only one actually hungry ordered a curry special that the waitress informed them was the hottest in the city.

Spices were dependent on the western woodlands, with a few exceptions but there was a type of hot pepper that was abundant this time of year. It wasn’t common in the southern village so he was looking forward to it. Once they settled, they insisted he tell them what had happened, both with the spirit and the guild which he explained for the second time today.

“I’m going to hit you again.”

“For the third time, I walked there in my sleep, it was out of my control,” he had deliberately avoided telling them he woke up outside the sanctuary and chose to enter it.

“Are you sure everything’s okay now, there’s no risk to you doing anything else in your sleep?” His father was being more reasonable and his concern was clear.

“No it’s gone, even the sanctuary fell apart.”

“Gateway,” said Keira.

“Sure.”

“You keep calling it the sanctuary, but you said it was really a gateway.”

“I guess I’m just used to thinking of it as the sanctuary.”

“Doesn’t deserve the name though, it nearly killed you, trapped you in there, not very sanctuary-like.”

“I guess you’re right.”

“We could think of a more insulting name, it deserves an insulting name.”

“I don’t think the name really matters any more.”

She continued to mumble to herself various insults and derogatory names she could think up for a building—they were all terrible. His father decided to move on and told him what happened on their end for the week.

He explained that when Finlay went missing, he, big-Al and some of the other miners went looking but couldn’t find him. They spent three days searching for him without success and then the guild arrived. At first, it was one party of three, but they sent for more help when they found out what happened. By the next day, there were over thirty members out searching for the birds but none appeared after that.

It was the day after that the miasma started to ease off and by the following day was completely gone. He continued to search for Finlay but there wasn’t anywhere else to search so when the guild insisted they leave, his father gave them his details and told them to look for him.

Most of the miners got shuttled back on the train, though they were all debriefed by the guild in the city before going home. Keira had insisted she stay at their house against many protests from her family.

“She was sure you'd turn up randomly sometime, if not she was going to go after you again.”

“You say that like I was lying, I’d have broken into that stupid building if I had to.”

“We did try that by the way,” his father said. “I tried everything I could think of to get inside but it didn’t respond to me at all and none of our tools worked on it.”

“I’m not sure even the guild could have gotten in, had it not let them.”

“Yeah, I asked them about it when they came but they didn’t have any answers either. Though they did say it wasn’t their speciality, they were there to fight the beasts, not examine buildings.”

He suspected Ronan would be more involved in that side of things. They continued catching up and reassuring each other that everything was okay. He enjoyed his meal and enjoyed Keira struggling to drink as much water as possible mid complaints of her burning tongue after stealing his curry even more. He made a mental note to always buy spicy food in the future.

After enjoying being with one another in a safe place at last, they decided it was time to head home. Keira had declared she was staying one more night to make sure Finlay wasn’t going to wander off in his sleep again and they found a tram back.

In the house, after his father had gone to bed, they remained in the living room that Marcas had been charging around what felt like forever ago. He was holding the same book the boy had picked up and looking over the back cover when he finally said the one thing he had kept from everyone else.

“Keira, there’s one last thing, a memory I saw. It was about my sister…”