Terrin didn’t know where he was. He was lost in overwhelming darkness. It was like being inside the core of a Demon, only he felt like he was being pulled by an invisible force. Abruptly, dim light broke through. Voices and images appeared before him. He was floating between worlds.
On one side loomed an unfamiliar terrain. He could see pink clouds and high glassy peaks. Strange colors assaulted his eyes, and a war raged between two species. Dark, fog-like beasts attacked golden, fair-skinned warriors. He could see more than physical appearance, though. Silver translucent points of light anchored the golden beings’ souls to their bodies. Each soul pulsed with light and emotion as alive and vibrant as the spring. The Cythraul had souls too, but theirs were the color of blood and shifted restlessly, never conforming to one shape as the Prath’s did. Piles of ash and corpses littered the field. Many glowed dully as the soul slowly relinquished its hold on the vessel. One of the golden warriors jumped through the rift, where the view was much less interesting. More of the glowing people scurried around the room. Some were dragging bodies. One was looking at a bright screen. Another was trying to pry a corpse away from a blonde girl. An older lady with red hair stared at the line of bodies, her face twisted in deep thought.
Terrin realized he wasn’t alone. He sensed others around him, watching as he did. He could hear their thoughts and feel their confusion. Silver and red clouds of translucent strands danced around him like living spider webs. Some were watching everything passively, while others were moving around haphazardly and flashing with growing intensity. Time raced by in the small room as the battle progressed in slow motion. Amid everything, Terrin felt someone calling to him. The voice was as faint as a whisper, but its presence drew him in. The voice slowly grew louder, and the words started to make sense.
“Terrin, please come back.”
The voice was soft and familiar, but he didn’t know who Terrin was.
“I cannot go on without you…”
Its tone was desperate and full of sorrow. He felt drawn to it like a moth to a flame. He saw a thin, silver thread connecting him to something through the rift. He drifted toward the dark room, following the ethereal connection and the voice. He crossed the decaying barrier between the two planets, which was like an invisible wall of ice that was slowly melting.
He floated lazily through the chaos, letting the silver path lead him. He idly noted some of the other souls were vanishing around him, although he didn’t know where they were going.
“I wanted to protect you. I was terrified of this happening, so I pushed you away, but you came for me anyway.”
Dim memories surfaced in his mind. He remembered the taste of her lips and the hard tone in her voice.
“You always swoop in and save me from my own impulsive decisions, but I failed you when you needed me most. You have always been my prince in shining armor, even when you had nothing but rags. If you come back, I will not put you in danger anymore. I promise!”
He found the source of the voice. It belonged to a pale angel with golden hair and glistening blue eyes. The lifeline led straight to her. Under her porcelain skin, he could see her soul, vibrant and vivacious. It was different than the golden warriors’. Instead of a silver spider web, hers looked like a shapeless mesh the color of liquid gold. He didn’t know why, but she filled him with a sense of urgency. She reminded him of something he had to do, but he couldn’t remember what it was. Flashes of jumbled memories washed over him in waves, but it was difficult to focus. He was fading. The rift was losing its hold on him. The silver bond was becoming faint and strained.
“Every time I lose you, it feels like I have been stabbed in the heart. Every breath hurts. I…I cannot lose you forever. After all we have been through, it cannot end this way. You have defied death more than anyone else on Incari, so do it one more time. For me? Please?” she coaxed as she squeezed a tan hand.
Stolen story; please report.
For the first time, he noticed the body on the ground beside her. He felt the pull from the other side, but he fought it. He didn’t want to leave.
“Stay with me.”
“I don’t want to go,” he thought, but everything felt surreal. He couldn’t remember why he was ignoring the attractive tug of the unknown.
Her head popped up. “You heard me!”
He felt mildly surprised. “Who are you?” he asked nonchalantly.
Her lips scrunched angrily. “Remember who you are, you daft boy.”
The strand of silver between them grew brighter as the girl forced a plethora of memories on him. The images dissolved into nothing, leaving him with a warm feeling, but no recollection.
“We’re losing them! We need to increase the temporal collapse!” someone across the room shouted.
“This is your new body. All you have to do is claim it,” she begged.
He didn’t know who she was, but he trusted her. He entered the still body in front of him and fought his initial panic when he realized how small and confined it was. However, after he conquered his trepidation, he discovered there was more room than he originally thought. The mind appeared small, but a vast amount of space was tightly packed into twisted corridors. His soul spread out to explore the nooks and crannies of the new form. He rooted himself in every nerve and organ and started to remember the different functions of every part and piece.
He gasped and sat up, his new lungs filling for the first time. His heart pounded against his chest, and his vision kept shifting between dark and light as it tried to adjust. White noise roared in his ears for a second, and goosebumps sprouted over his arms. He took in a deep breath and tried to make sense of the moving patterns around him. Then, everything snapped into focus, and he jumped unintentionally as his muscles tested themselves.
“Terrin!”
Elurra squeezed him tightly, her body trembling against him. She sobbed in relief and nuzzled her face into his shoulder. Terrin wrapped one arm around her.
“You know you can’t get rid of me that easily, Snow.”
He didn’t want to think about how close she’d been to losing him. He could still feel the attractive pull of death, like a memory from the distant past. He shuddered and pressed his lips to her forehead as he closed his eyes. Her hug was painfully tight, but he was grateful he could feel it at all. Every sensation felt new and exciting. The cool air against his chilled skin made him exuberant, and the color of Elurra’s hair was as beautiful as pure sunlight. He held her tightly, but he knew he didn’t have time to savor the moment. The world was still ending around them. Prath rushed to their fallen comrades, who were waking up like he had. The rift took up a quarter of the room. Beside the table of Kutsal Stones, Nitiri and an authoritative Guardian woman were arguing.
“Take out the last stone! We are losing their life signs!”
“Not until Terrin is alive!” Nitiri countered adamantly.
Terrin raised his eyebrows in surprise.
What happened while I was dead? he thought, grinning with a sense of morbid humor.
“Snow, can you help me up?” he asked.
She nodded and helped him hobble over to the rift. As soon as the Prath woman spotted him, she pointed with obvious irritation.
“There. He’s alive, so do as I say!”
Nitiri ignored her. “Terrin, are you alright?”
He almost stumbled over his own feet in surprise, wondering if she really was the same woman who shipped him off to the slave trade a few months before.
“Considering I was recently deceased? My health is showing marked improvement.”
“Then I will hold up my side of the bargain,” Nitiri said before removing the last Kutsal Stone.
Terrin sputtered out a protest as he remembered Anchor’s warning.
“The stones cannot be removed from the terrant steel until they are on Yamoi. If all the pieces of the Kutsal Stone gather on Incari, the rift will engulf this planet. The variant timestreams will collide, and time itself will tear the world apart.”
As she pulled it out of the crown, Gess called, “No, wait!” from across the room, his eyes wide with terror.
Before anyone could question the Prath scientist’s abrupt change of heart, two events occurred simultaneously. The rift opened fully, and the two worlds drew together until looking through the rift felt like peering through a doorway. The Prath and Cythraul on the other side stopped fighting and turned to the opening in surprise. Before either side could react, golden cracks split the world around them. There was a bright flash, and everything happened at once.
Literally.