When I woke up, I was surrounded by white. White formed the sky. White covered the ground. White was the world.
Except in a thin strip of gray, one that separated me from a black landscape. Why did this place seem so familiar?
“Hello, Eriadren. Congratulations are in order. You appear to have won this time.”
Shooting upright, I barely stopped myself from screaming. My friend… my daughter… myself… we’d all died!
Still, that voice cut through thoughts that had been scattered in the wind.
“Alouin.”
How many times had I caught a glimpse of that man in the brief seconds after my many deaths? Unlike before, however, I wasn’t going anywhere this time.
“I’m sorry that the backlash caught you before you’d processed what you read.”
Dazed, I lifted my head, staring at Alouin. The fuck was he talking about?
Shifting in place, he cleared his throat.
“Here. I’ll recite it for you.”
He pulled himself upright, folding his hands in front of him.
> “Eri,
>
> If you’re reading this, please know that I never hated you. You weren’t to blame for our conflict. In fact, if anyone should take responsibility for it, it’s me. I’m the one who pushed you toward our lives’ destruction, and others, in their hate, took advantage of our weakness. Please, Eriadren, forgive yourself for something you had no control over.
>
> “Before I lose myself again, I must set this into writing, for when I next see you, I may not have control. Since our disastrous experiment, I’ve been trapped in Corruption’s sway. Every day, its madness overtakes more of my mind. I don’t know how much longer I can resist its influence, but in the end, how can I do that? I’m fighting a god.
>
> “Instead, I marshal the remnants of my sanity to delay Corruption, one last fight to convey my wishes before I no longer can. I would make a final request of you, my friend. When next we meet, please kill me. I cannot live under the control of a god whose sole aim is to destroy creation.
>
> “I know what I’m asking of you. I do not ask it lightly, but you’re the only one who can end me. I’ve placed myself in harm’s way more times than I can count, even attempting suicide as my desperation has increased, but still, I’ve found no release, only a continuation of life.
>
> “We share a unique bond, Eriadren, one that I hope will let me slip free of this prison. I beg you, for the friendship we once shared, to do what must be done. End my life. Stop the misery that I may, in my insanity, wreak upon the world. You’re the only one I’ve ever known with the strength to do what’s right.
>
> Ever your friend,
>
> Arivor.”
As when I’d first read the letter, I was cast adrift, and in agonizingly slow movements, I craned my head toward the man that many of my people considered a god.
“He wasn’t in control?” I numbly asked.
“By the time he joined the humans, Arivor had lost his fight with Corruption, yes,” Alouin said.
You might be reading a pirated copy. Look for the official release to support the author.
With a growl, I shot to my feet, tugging at my hair.
“Why didn’t he just say something?” I hissed. “Why leave such an important message in a letter I might not read?”
Alouin let me pace for a moment before saying.
“You’ve done your research since our first meeting. You understand what Ele and Daevetch are now, meaning you probably have a glimpse of the predicament you’ve landed yourself in.”
Halting, I mutely nodded. Stupid. I’d been so stupid to experiment with the unknown.
“Given that, do you think that Arivor had any choice about how he gave you this information? Frankly, I’m amazed he snuck that letter past Corruption. Daevetch’s avatar indeed,” Alouin said with a headshake. “Also, can you blame him for wanting to be nowhere near you when you learned the truth?”
As if to emphasize his point, a pained cry ripped through this strange place, eventually morphing into intelligible words.
“No! What… what did I do?”
I jerked my head toward the noise. On the other side of the gray line, a familiar form was hunched on himself, sobbing with shaking shoulders, while Alouin’s twin stood over him.
And I took off. I didn’t care how impossible my current circumstances were. I had to reach my friend.
Alouin stopped me before I could.
Interposing himself between me and the gray line, he said, “Stop. If you enter the balance point, it will tear you apart. If you must speak with him, do it from here, but be quick about it. Your time here is running out.”
In this moment, I didn’t care who this man was or how powerful he might be. Stepping toe-to-toe with him, I bared my teeth.
“Get the fuck out of my way,” I snarled.
Alouin slapped me. It was a bitch move, to be sure, but in this case, it was effective. With fury dampened, I clutched at my cheek, glaring at him. He’d better have an explanation for me.
“You cannot go to Arivor, not in this place,” he said. “When you experimented with my body so many years ago, it ended with the formation of yet another rip in reality, one that reached though those layers until it touched the bedrock. This is where Arivor went when his essence slipped out of his body. Later, it’s where I sent you.
“You were lucky, landing in the balance point as you did. Arivor was less so, and Daevetch eagerly latched onto him, making him an easy conduit into your layer of reality.
“So, I did my job. I pushed you into Ele’s sway as a way to counter him. If I hadn’t, it would have thrown every iteration into disbalance.
“What this means? You’re bound to one of the primal forces, Champion of Ele, just as Arivor is to Daevetch!”
Oh. Was that all?
“I figured as much. I had ten years to do research, when I wasn’t focused on other goals. Did you think I wouldn’t put that together?” I said. “The only thing I didn’t know was how little control my friend had over the last decade.
“It doesn’t matter now, though. Arivor and I are dead, the same as everyone we ever loved. The threat that we posed has been neutralized, so as I was saying, would you kindly get the fuck out of my way? I don’t know what sort of afterlife this is, but I’d like to use it to reconcile with my friend.”
…Why was Alouin looking at me with such pity?
“You’re not dead, Eriadren,” he said.
After a beat, I snorted, bursting into laughter.
“What are you talking about? My body is ash,” I said. “Over the years he controlled me, Reive may have killed me in many ways, but he never tried immolation. Reconstructing a body from that is impossible.”
“Which is why another one will be provided.”
My laughter cut off as my eyes widened.
"What?" I shouted.
Crossing his arms, Alouin said, “Did you think that the loss of your bodies would stop Daevetch and Ele from using you? That will never happen, not when they have their claws so thoroughly embedded in your essences.
“Once they’ve reasserted their control, you and Arivor will be returned to the physical plane, where he will once more go mad, and together, you’ll repeat the tragedy of your lives in a representation of the Eternal War.
“I’m sorry, Eriadren.”
Silence fell while I absorbed everything he’d said with my fingers twitching. Eventually, I cleared my throat.
“How long?” I gruffly asked.
How long would my friend and I be trapped like this? How long would this torture last?
“For as long as the primal forces’ War persists,” Alouin said, “which if I have any say in it, will be for eternity.”
At those words, I didn’t know how I stayed on my feet.
After a moment, Alouin stepped aside, letting me approach the gray line where my friend was already waiting, and I sank to my knees opposite him.
Tear tracks were streaked across his face, and I badly wanted to wipe it clean, but… I couldn’t. Instead, I listened to him blubber at me, offering so many apologies, which I didn’t understand. We both had things to be sorry for, both had wronged the other in unforgivable ways.
All the while, a sheet of black rolled over his body, the same as one of light was doing for mine. Somehow, I found my voice before either sheet could complete their journey.
“I’ll fix this, Arivor,” I said. “I promise. One day, we’ll be free.”