Vre sat on the side of her bed, half tucked under the sheets, the weight of the night’s events pressing heavily on her shoulders. Her encounter with Xerith, running from the rain men, seeing a real-life angel—all of it had left her shaken. She had stripped herself of her normal clothes after taking a bath in the washroom down the hall. Now, she sat in a silky, long nightgown that was nearly as pale as her skin, her damp blonde hair falling in loose waves down her back.
It was cold and it was late. Her room was dimly lit only by a single, ornate lamp beside the bed. The soft, golden light cast shadows that danced across the cracked-paint walls.
Exhaustion tugged at her, but sleep felt elusive. How could she sleep with these oddities running through her head? Every time she closed her eyes, Xerith's inhuman face loomed in her mind, his intense gaze haunting her thoughts. She had no idea what to make of him. Part of her wondered if it had even been real.
“Thinking of me?” A voice, deep and resonant, sent a shiver down her spine.
Vre’s eyes snapped open and she glanced around. Standing there, she saw his tall imposing figure leaning against the doorway that led to the hall. His luminescent skin cast an eerie glow, and his deep golden eyes pierced through the shadows, locking onto hers.
“Xerith. So you’re real, then?” she breathed, her voice trembling with disbelief.
“Did you doubt, so soon, that you would see me again?” He smiled, his jaw making his features look lopsided. “My apologies. I thought it too soon to explain myself to the man who lives here, so I decided to reconvene with you when you were alone again. May I come in?”
She shifted in the bed nervously but nodded. She sat up a little taller in her bed but pulled the blankets over her legs.“Yes, you can come in.”
He stepped closer, his footsteps making no sound, until he was beside her. He took a seat at the end of her bed where the mattress dipped slightly under his weight. The bed creaked. For a moment, they sat in silence, the air between them thick with unspoken words.
Vre’s heart pounded in her chest the more she looked at him. “Why are you here, Xerith?”
Xerith's expression softened. His golden eyes were reflecting a peculiar mix of longing and sorrow. “I know you have many questions, Vre, and I promised to help you understand the taint and the darkness that plagues this world. We will get to that. But there’s something else you need to know, something that goes beyond this immediate threat.”
She met his gaze, her curiosity apparent. “What is it?”
Xerith hesitated. She might have been imagining it, but he didn’t appear to have that same confidence he had in their first encounter downstairs. This time he seemed a little restrained. Gently, he lightly brushed his long fingers against her hand. His touch was cold but not unpleasant. “You and I… Vre, we have met many times. You don’t remember, but we’ve known each other for a very long time.”
She stared at him wordlessly for a long moment. Xerith seemed to be gauging her for her response, but she didn’t know what response to give him. “What do you mean? How is that possible?”
He smiled. He reached for her again, this time to touch the side of her face but she shrunk back from him with a flinch. He instantly pulled his hand back and his smile diminished.
“Sorry. I’m getting ahead of myself.” His face looked bitter. “Vre. Would you allow me to tell you a story? About when we met for the first time.”
“Um. Sure?” She wasn’t sure she believed him, but he began anyway.
“Long ago, before there were so many worlds and before the cosmos was spread so thin, the nature of things was simpler and more easy to define. The universe was like an eternal womb--full of potential but empty of anything real or alive. There were beings of spirit and beings of entropy, and different locations to house those beings. Cold places, like the maw and the Abyss and bright places, like Elysium. But these beings, these places were not made of anything you would recognize and not like man. Complicated man--who is not just spirit but matter, too.”
“One day, the Great Spirit--the big one, you know who I mean. Call it what you like, the cosmos has had many names for its creator, and from what I understand He’s not particular--breathed life into this lifeless womb and since then, eons of changes, lives and stories have since taken place.”
“You and I were not around for this part. Technically, I came first. In the grand design of things I was fashioned to be a guardian, like I told you, to keep the entropy and the taint contained and away from this new material form of creation. There are many like me. We are not born--we are just made. Though I have a body here, I am mostly spirit in nature. If you cut me open, it doesn’t matter. I can’t physically die. But I can be corrupted and influenced. Long periods of guarding the abyss can do things to a person’s soul no matter how stalwart one tries to be.”
“Sorry - I’m getting off track.” He grinned slightly, “I was made first, was my point. A spiritual guardian meant to keep the barrier intact. But humans have a way of wanting to know what is beyond their borders, even borders of reality--even if it hurts them. Just like when you walked into the darkness downstairs in the basement, you must have been afraid. But your curiosity spurred you on, didn’t it? You might have died. It was the same so long ago. A curious little girl, covered in the dirt of the earth about to enter the darkest place she was not supposed to go. But she just had to know.” A corner of his mouth turned up briefly.
“I just happened to be there when you found the rift where the abyss and its taint was seeping through. Mankind was nothing at that point--hardly more than civilized animals. But you were just a little girl--rebellious and beautiful. You were a child so you could see the veil more easily. The abyss would have consumed you had I not stepped in. You were both scared and so brave. Yet when you saw me…” His face curved into a pained smile. “You smiled at me. You were so bright and thankful. It took a mere second for me, for my entire existence and purpose, to go from just endlessly protecting against the taint to suddenly wanting to protect you.”
Xerith paused, looking pained, his eyes glistening as he looked down at his hands. “I feel like I am not doing this story justice, but that’s okay. In this World Between, there is a way for you to get these memories back if you would like to. So that they are not just my memories anymore.”
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Vre was speechless. Of course she didn’t remember any of that--it sounded like something completely made up, something fantastical. Was he saying that there was such a thing as previous lives? She could see the weight of the words he was saying, the burden he carried. But she didn’t know if she could just believe him blindly. What if he was just trying to trick her?
“I don’t think I understand.” She said, “You said you met me when I was a child? In what...some kind of different life? I don’t ever remember seeing you before. Are you saying that I have been…reborn?”
“Not exactly. A human body only lives once. But I mentioned you are both matter and spirit, did I not? Though your body may pass away, the spirit is eternal as long as it meets certain criteria. You have not always been Vre. Your personality, your genetics, your DNA and your body are not always the same. I have watched you be a child countless times. I have watched you grow, fall in love. Become old. It is all transient. Yet you keep returning to the material world for reasons that are unknown to me.”
He looked thoughtful, but then a smirk suddenly grew on his face. “Though I must confess, I do extremely like the body your spirit resides in now.”
She gave him a confused look. “What did you say?”
“I said, Vre,” Xerith slid closer, placing one of his large hands on her side and pinning the blankets beneath her. He leaned in, his breath a cool whisper against her skin. “It has been a long time since I last saw you like this. As a young woman within my reach, so close I can touch you. You have no idea how badly I want to.”
Her throat went completely dry, and heat flooded her face. She squirmed to get away from him, untangling herself from the sheets to stand up and stepped a few feet back. Standing there now in her nightgown, she wished she could cover herself more. She crossed her arms over her chest, feeling exposed. She felt like prey being watched by a predator, the way his gold eyes tracked her every move.
The smile on his lips was playful, yet there was an intensity behind it. “Sorry. Getting ahead of myself again, aren’t I?”
“I have a boyfriend,” she stammered, her voice barely more than a whisper. “Back home. His name is Liam.”
Xerith's smile remained, though it seemed tinged with a hint of sadness. “Yes, I know. You always were the loyal type.” He trailed off, his gaze distant for a moment as if lost in memories.
Silence filled the room as they looked at each other, the weight of unspoken words hanging heavily between them.
“You said there is a way for me to reclaim these…memories you’re talking about?” she asked tentatively.
Xerith nodded, still reclined on her bed. “If you wish to, yes. Nothing is ever hidden from us completely. There’s always a way to know the truth. I can help you.” He hesitated briefly, his golden eyes searching hers. “And we can also help this World Between, if that is your wish.”
Vre sighed, feeling the enormity of it all pressing down on her. “When I first came here, the villagers really helped me get oriented. But no one really knows what to do here. We stay out of the way, we keep quiet and we just survive. They say things have been this way forever. It’s no wonder people just spend their days drinking at the Bellisade. There isn’t much to do. I’ve been researching the taint alongside Drake, who’s been interested in beings like you from other worlds, but I’ve been struggling to figure out what’s the point of doing that, too.”
“But that is the nature of this World Between, Vre. It is a crossroads for us spirits, but for your kind, it is a sort of prison. A purgatory you wind up in when you are listless and void of purpose.”
“What? Is that why I came here?” she asked, her voice tinged with frustration. “Then how come no one can get back?”
“Because the way is sealed for humans. Your matter prevents it.” He smirked, the expression both charming and sad. “Don’t take this the wrong way, but you’re too thick and too dense to pass through.”
To her surprise, she smiled, amused by his bluntness. “You don’t say.”
Xerith grinned and rose from the bed, walking closer to her. His height was imposing, a good head above hers, but this time he kept a respectful distance. “It doesn’t have to be that way, though. Like I said, nothing is impossible, and as someone who has guarded the veil for a long time, I happen to know many ways to help you return home. Even from the World Between.”
“You keep mentioning doing what I wish.” She shook her head, feeling a mix of confusion and hope. “What about what you wish? I thought you wanted my help to seal up the taint?”
“I do. Guarding against the abyssal taint and keeping the balance is my duty. But I’m also curious about your wishes, Vre, because having a desire and a wish is the first step to getting out of purgatory.”
She felt something stir within her as she looked at him. Everything he told her was so fantastical and hard to believe, but as her eyes trailed over his bright eyes, his gray skin, his strange armor-like attire, his jaw, and his long hands, she found herself wanting to know more about him. A guardian who had watched over her for a long time… It made her feel very small and insignificant just thinking about it. She still didn’t know what she wanted.
“How do I get those memories back?” she asked in a small voice, barely more than a whisper. “The ones where I would remember you?”
Xerith’s smile crept back on his face. “We’ll first need to leave Demure and the people you’ve met here. The World Between is so much more than just this little dreary village. I can take you along the trade route, to the Silver Cathedral. We will need something that only they can give. A key, metaphorically, if you will. Once we have that, the secrets of the World Between will be more apparent.”
Her head swam as he said more things that she had no idea about. She was still wary to trust him, but it was obvious he knew much more about everything here than she did, and if she wanted any chance of figuring this place out and returning home then he was certainly her best bet.
“Alright.” She nodded. “Should we leave in the morning, then?”
He nodded. “Sure, we can. There isn’t any significant rush to get there. It is just the first part. But don’t let me keep you from resting…” He smirked, and extended his arm towards the bed to indicate she should return there.
Vre frowned, looking at him seriously. “And what will you do when I am resting?”
“Oh, I don’t know. What would you like me to do, my dear?”
“I’d like you to give me some privacy and peace.” She said, a little strongly. But his playful antics were not something she was sure she could trust, especially when trying to sleep. There’d be no way she’d ever fall asleep with him hanging around here.
The smile lingered on his face, but there was longing in his gold eyes. “Of course, Vre. If you need me, don’t hesitate to call on me. I can always hear you, no matter how far away, especially when you say my name. I hope you sleep well. I look forward to our journey tomorrow. It is quite the trek from here, so get some rest.”
She nodded politely. “Yes, I will. Thank you.” She fidgeted a bit with her hands. Shyly, she chanced a small smile at him. “Goodnight, Xerith.”
The light in his eyes intensified briefly, a warm glow in the darkness, before he vanished completely. Vre was left standing alone in the old bedroom, accompanied once again by the shadows cast on the walls and the creaking and blowing of the wind outside. She let out a long breath, her mind still racing with thoughts of Xerith and the journey that awaited them. Climbing back into bed, she pulled the covers tight around her, hoping for sleep to come.