Arn awoke to a dull distant rumbling. The damp stone wall behind him vibrated, the floor too. At first his mind struggled to make sense of his surroundings - the complete darkness of the cell blurred the line between sleep and waking. The vibrations grew more intense and Arn jerked his hand from the floor but still felt them on his back and legs. He got up to his feet and looked about, a defeated chuckle escaped him. “It’s dark, what am I going to see?” he whispered.

The rumbling was now close enough for Arn to pinpoint - it came from the wall opposite him. The vibrations continued to grow. There were no guesses in his mind as to what may be causing this, he knew of no beast or phenomenon that might explain his experience. He tried to convince himself that it was a dream, but the falling dust and small pebbles bouncing off his head disproved that theory. Arn blinked at the darkness, his heart pounded, sweat ran down his back. “I don’t want to die here,” he whispered.

Faint silvery light shone across from him, it grew in intensity and spread through the cracks between the rocks of the wall. It soon became too strong for his eyes and Arn had to cover them. The rocks rumbled thunderously, he heard some of them crack and creak. Arn feared that the wall would explode and shower him with rocks, he crouched and made himself small for all the good that would do. Just as he watched, a dull thud shuddered the wall, followed by another, then another. One of the rocks fell to the ground. He closed his eyes, redying himself. A thunderous blast erupted and Arn felt the shockwave together with small pebbles and dust which left shallow gashes on his skin.

Complete silence fell, only his heart pounded furiously in his chest. He heard footsteps. Where were the rocks, he wondered, why didn’t they hit him when the wall exploded? He peaked through one eye and jumped, hitting the back of his head against the wall. A large rock floated in midair mere inches from him. More rocks floated all through the cell, backlit by the silvery light. Arn gawked at the surreal scene until his eyes fell upon a figure standing in the newly made opening.

“I think you saw them - I said, 'don't see them' but you did see them,” he heard the familiar voice. The man walked into the cell and dusted off his robes.

“De'al?” Arn whispered, “what in the name of Elar'Saga?”

“They watch - but not you, to see is theirs,” De’al said.

“H-how?” Arn stuttered “w-what?” he looked around at the rocks hovering in midair, they moved away from De'al as he walked.

“Too early,” the man said.

“Too early?”

“Yes - we haven't met. You don't remember,” he replied.

“We've met...you're De'al, I know you!” Arn said.

“You've met me then; I now refer to the not yet - whom you have yet to meet.”

“That doesn't make any sense..." Arn said, then waved at the rocks "how?"

De'al came closer to Arn and sniffed him” fruity!" he said.

"What? what are you doing?"

"Fruity smoke hangs about your clothes, but crisp and clear your mind appears," De'al said. He walked the perimeter of the cell and touched the door as he passed it.

“That's just the smoke from her pipe.”

"Just smoke, yes - but more. Yet to you it is just smoke. That is in proper order. Good."

"What are you - can you free me? Can I come with you through there?" Arn pointed at the opening.

“Rana is watching!” De’al cut in “always!” he came closer to Arn and their eyes met. “She and others,” he whispered, covering his mouth with one hand.

“This is not real” Arn muttered “I lost it - I am seeing things.”

“No no no!” De’al whispered “they!” he said and grabbed Arn by the shoulders “they are seeing! You” he paused “you don’t see yet - no no, not yet.” he released Arn and took a few steps away. “Not yet, no - you don’t see, but they see.” De’al continued to mumble and Arn couldn’t understand his words anymore.

It’s hunger, I am too hungry, and I am hallucinating - rocks don’t float! Arn pushed against one of the rocks and it floated back a short way.

"Come with me. It is time for you to see," De'al said and started towards the hole he made in the cell wall.

"You're not real...this is a dream,"

"Dream, this is not a dream. You had a dream before, in the forest, this is not."

"How - how do you know about that?"

"Come! you must follow - must see, you can see where they can't, but where they see you shouldn't yet."

Arn watched De’al disappear into the passage. He looked around the cell, rocks still floated about, and dust hung in the air. Shafts of the silvery light bathed the small dark room and it almost looked majestic. It must be a dream, he told himself, but stood up nevertheless. “We must go!” he heard De’al’s voice, growing distant now.

What was he waiting for? Rana had no plans of letting him go, this was his chance. Even if it were a dream, he might at least enjoy the open sky and fresh air. What if it were a trick? He wondered, what if Rana set this up as a trap? Arn shook his head. No, it couldn’t be, it just couldn’t. Deep down he knew that this had nothing to do with Rana.

“I’m coming!” he yelled.

The passage was unnaturally round and straight. Ambient silver light softly illuminated the two feet of stone that made up his cell. Beyond that the passage walls were through solid ground. Roots hung above his head; some thick and gnarly, while others thin and willowy. He spotted De’al nearly a hundred feet ahead and hurried to catch up to the man.

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They walked in silence for nearly an hour until Arn saw a small point of daylight far in the distance. He looked at De'al but the man was moving his lips and whispering unintelligibly. Was this man real, was the tunnel real? Could he be dreaming this?

"Do you have a Tjoreal?" he asked De'al.

"Tjoreal, no not that, not now. I was under the eyes, but I am seen no longer." he said.

"What eyes?”

“Shh! Silence, they see and hear both.”

Arn frowned. “How did you do this?"

"Unseeing you are at present - but you don't yet know, too early."

Arn stopped himself from asking more questions, he couldn’t understand the man anyay. They soon approached the distant light and the ground sloped upwards. The light grew large enough to be an opening. We're almost out! Arn thought with excitement.

Arn had to shield his eyes at first despite the overcast sky. After days in the darkness even this was too much for him. When he could finally see properly, he realized that they were in a forest. Tall pine trees stood all around them and untouched snow covered the ground. There was no sign of the city, not a smell nor a sound. He looked at De'al, who looked back, then started walking again. Arn followed.

"Am I free? Where are we?"

"Come." De'al said.

Arn felt a pull, a sensation in his gut that manifested in his thoughts as well. He wanted to walk towards it, to follow De'al. He looked around but saw nothing but trees. A distant deep croak echoed through the woods, followed by a few others. It soon faded.

"What was that? Ravens?"

"Perhaps, but I don't know, I heard nothing but the wind and trees," De'al replied.

"Just now...never mind." Arn said. He stared into the distance, not knowing their destination yet feeling something pulling at him to go on. A pale green and blue light shimmered among the trees. Arn stopped and looked at it, his heart beat faster and a small part of him wanted to go back to the cell.

"What is that?" he asked, motioning to the light.

"Welcome to the sighted," De'al said.

The light grew as they approached. Arn noticed a grey skeleton in the distance. It must have been a deer, but it looked old, very old. How'd it stay uncovered and exposed to the beasts and elements, he wondered. Soon, the light stretched dozens of feet in each direction, like a wall, or a dome of some sort. De'al stopped when they were about twenty feet away. Arn looked around and saw another skeleton, this one of a predator judging by the skull, and in similar condition to the others - he'd seen at least seven or eight as they approached.

"What are these?" he asked.

"The skeletons? They are part of your sight, they come from there," he pointed at the light.

It didn't make much sense to Arn, but his thoughts were overcome by the light. It mesmerized him, and the longer he looked the more details he saw. The colours shimmered in waves and he caught glimpses of a honeycomb lattice, though when he looked directly at it the dome seemed a hazy blur before him. Arn felt a hand on his shoulder, De'al had stopped him. Why'd he do that? Arn wondered.

"Not so fast."

"I can hear it," Arn said and turned back to the light, it was closer now. When did he come closer to it?

"You should rather say that it can speak to you," De'al said and tightened his grip, then pulled Arn back.

Arn tried to resist, but his body was uncertain whether to obey the light or De'al. A faint voice within him whispered to let De'al guide him. He chose to follow it despite the beautiful sight ahead. They stepped away from the light, back nearly fifty feet. Arn felt a weight lessen, and his own thoughts became louder and clearer.

"What was it?" Arn asked.

"I don't know, but you need to see it, and you need to see them too."

"The skeletons?"

"No, look ahead of you."

Arn looked towards the light but saw nothing beyond the undulating colours and the pale lattice they formed. He squinted and changed his eyes' focus, but nothing appeared. Then, a slight disturbance in the snow, just mere feet ahead of the shimmering light, caught his attention. It moved slowly towards him, not footsteps exactly, but a thing which makes its way forward. Arn recoiled and took a step back.

"You see it? No, perhaps not." De'al said.

"Can you?" Arn asked.

"We aren't here for my sake, at least not as far as your concern extends."

Arn noticed the change in De'al - the man spoke clearer and with more certainty. What was causing it? The light? He was almost certain that De'al could see whatever was approaching them. The thing came slowly, at least judging by the slight path it made in the snow. It covered half the distance between them. Arn's heart raced. Goosebumps washed over him, rising along his neck and back in waves. Panic bloomed in his belly, a cold empty sensation.

"We - we should go," Arn said.

"Good."

"What's good? I don't know what this is, but it feels wrong, it's dangerous, we need to go!" Arn stepped back. The path in the snow moved faster, accelerating with each of Arn's steps.

"Can you stop it? Is it after me?" Arn yelled.

De'al turned to Arn and watched him carefully. His uncharacteristically clear eyes felt to Arn as questioning orbs which pierced him through. De'al raised an arm and Arn saw a faint wave, like the disturbance above a fire, move towards the invisible thing which was coming to them. The thing in the snow stopped.

"We met earlier than I had expected," he said.

"What?"

"You've taken but a handful of steps on a long journey, and seemingly a shortcut or two."

"I don't understand what you're saying!" Arn said, "can we please leave?"

Out of the corner of his eye Arn saw more movement. Several disturbances at once moved out of the light. They all came at them, slowly yet steadily. De'al broke his eye contact immediately.

"Perhaps we should leave," he said.

As the two of them stepped back, the snow moved faster, whith each step it accelerated.

"Stop them!" Arn yelled, but De'al was shaking his head. "Why did you bring me here?" Arn yelled.

Just then a gust of wind blew between them and the phantoms. Another gust followed, snow rose from the ground and flew upon the wind. With each second it blew faster, picking up more snow and small debris. It was then that Arn noticed the silhouettes the snow made above the disturbances.

"Are these people? What the pit is this?"

"We are fortunate," De'al said "come, run!"

Arn didn't need to be told twice. He followed De'al, and looked back at the phantoms, they still stood in the wind, unmoving. Soon they were gone, and he no longer heard the gusts, but De'al didn't stop. They ran all the way to the passage from which they came. De'al reached it first and beckoned Arn to enter.

"I am not going back!" Arn said upon realizing what was taking place.

"It is not the time! Mine isn't the hand which takes you to freedom."

"Yes, it is! I am already free - look!" Arn motioned all around them.

"Free you say, then what were we running from?"

"That's, that's not," Arn said then looked back, "there is no one, we ran away, we lost them."

De'al shook his head and the spark in his eyes dimmed, no longer quite as sharp as it were when they just reached the shimmering dome. He came upon Arn quickly, too fast, and grabbed him by the shoulder in a powerful grip.

"Too soon! You are but barely sighted - too soon!" he said in a harsh voice and pulled Arn into the passage. Arn did his best to resist but it made no more difference than resisting an ox. How is he so strong? In Elar'Saga's name, what is this? He struggled while De'al dragged him through the passage, he looked back and watched the daylight dim and shrink in the distance. In a last-ditch effort Arn channeled his inner Esarel to his feet and willed himself to stand fast. The energy flowed through his body and into his legs, then right into the ground. Arn stopped, his feet rooted to the earth, he looked at De'al's bewildered face. The man was confused but only for a moment.

"Fruity sees," he hissed at Arn, "she awaits - but another finger of the hand comes too!" he jerked Arn once, twice, and on the third his feet left the ground in a small explosion of earth. "Another step you take!" De'al exclaimed, "your path continues, and soon we'll meet." Arn struggled, he tried to root himself again but could no longer muster the will. De’al had barely noticed his attempts and kept on dragging him back into the cell. While ineffective, his efforts exhausted him.

"Freedom comes upon your path, you must see before we meet, I left, soon I will be gone..." De'al kept repeating until Arn lost consciousness again.