Anne stood outside Darius’s chambers as she struggled to calm her shaking body, with the torches beside the door flickering behind her and casting her face in shadow. Thinking about what Darius had said sent a stream of horrible images rushing through her mind. Ripples of darkness, loneliness, and the gripping emptiness that stretched across familiar concrete hallways flooded her thoughts, though the images were intense and distorted.
Are these… memories?
Anne grabbed her stomach in an attempt to fight off the searing pain rising from inside her.
No! Please, no!
Not again.
The inferno was back, yet it was struggling and weak, unable to rip and tear at her like the times before. Like a chained beast unable to hunt. Then it was gone. Quiet.
She was laying on the floor when she got hold of her senses and felt the rhythmic beating of her heart in her chest slowing down to a steady pace.
An image was etched into her mind, and closing her eyes made her see it vividly.
Darkness surrounded her, and the only thing she saw was a giant steel door in front of her. It was smooth with no imperfections visible across its entire surface that stretched up into the darkness above, unending. A single slit ran down the middle of the door where it would open, and from that slit, a strange red light glowed through.
I… have been here.
Anne was inexplicably drawn towards the door. She needed to be closer. Her feet slid across the floor towards it as if pulled by an unseen hand. She glided towards the door and stopped an arm’s length from it. Her arm stretched out, and she pressed her hand flat against the hard surface. It was hot to the touch and an intense sense of comfort flooded through her arm and over her body.
‘NO!’ A horrified shriek of a woman shattered the silence. Anne yelped, pulling back her hand and jumping back. The door vanished and she was back in the small corridor outside Darius’s chambers. The comfort was violently replaced by the loneliness that gripped her before. Enveloped by the silence and unable to make sense of her thoughts, she curled up on the floor and cried.
When Anne came to, Kate was sitting on the floor with her, holding her and humming a soft tune to comfort her. Her voice was shaking and her red hair covered half of her face.
“Kate,” Anne said softly.
“Shhhh, it’s going to be ok,” Kate whispered and tucked a lock of Anne’s hair behind her ear that dangled over her cheek.
Kate’s hand was bloody, and Anne saw the scarlet hue around her face on the floor.
“I’m sorry you had to see this,” Anne said, avoiding eye contact. “Are you kidding? If you get your hair bloody enough your hair might just look as good as mine.” Kate teased as she tried to lighten the mood. It was crude but was met with a giggle and a small smile from Anne. Darius was standing silently in the doorframe behind them.
“Anne listen, I-“
“I will go,” Anne interrupted Kate.
Darius’ eyes slowly widened, relieved.
“I will go,” Anne repeated louder.
Kate helped her sit up. Anne looked at Darius with a sterner face than they were prepared for.
“But not to that hole you crawled out from.”
Darius nodded slightly.
“That was never the plan,” he said as he slowly walked closer. “We will be going where you came from and we will look for anything, and everything, to find answers and to find your brother. We need to find him, or else…” Darius paused when Kate scowled softly under her breath.
“Not now father, let’s get her up and cleaned. We can talk about the details after.” Kate pleaded.
Darius agreed with a slight nod. “I will finish up packing our provisions. We will be gone for quite some time. Please, Kate, make sure you two are ready and at the front gate within one hour. And bring extra crystals.”
“Yes father,” Kate replied. Darius turned back to his chambers and closed the door behind him.
They both sluggishly got up and made their way down the stairs. It wasn’t long until they reached the bathrooms. It was quiet as everyone was still busy in the main hall, so Kate quickly unrobed and slipped into a shower block.
“Hurry up redhead.” Kate jested.
“We don’t have long to prepare, and these showers are amazing!”
Feeling a little nervous, Anne undressed and neatly put her clothes down next to Kate’s. A sudden tug from Kate sent her sliding into the shower with Kate, who promptly pulled a big shower curtain over the entrance. The shower was a large community shower shaped like a square, with six showerheads; two on each side, with a few sponges hanging below a small soapbox that sat between each pair of showerheads.
“You will love these,” Kate said excitedly.
“We only finished these showers two months ago.
Ever since then I couldn’t stand a day without at least one shower, though I’m not sure if we will get this chance again soon, so take full advantage of it!” At those words, Kate opened both her and Anne’s showers to the maximum. A rush of freezing water hit them like a wall of ice, resulting in squirms, yelps, and giggles from them both. But then the water turned hot quickly. Steam soon filled the large cubicle, and true to what Kate said, it was amazing. They both stood with their eyes closed, relishing in the warm water for a minute before finally starting to wash.
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“Want me to help with that?” Kate pointed to Anne’s hair.
"Please". Kate smeared her hands with soap, then dug her fingers in between Anne’s blood-crusted locks. They both giggled again while Kate playfully washed her hair when the crystal that hung around Kate’s neck caught Anne’s attention.
“What… is that?” Anne asked while pointing to the necklace.
“Yeah, don’t touch that,” Kate said shortly, making Anne quickly lower her hand.
“It’s my Kua crystal. It’s a little hard to explain now, but this has saved my life numerous times. It… keeps me alive.”
Anne frowned intensely as she repeated her words in her head.
“Oh wipe that frown off your face, will you. I really will explain more soon. In fact, I hope that you will be getting your own crystal very soon.”
“What? Really? … Why?” Kate ignored the question, so Anne reluctantly agreed to save her questions for later, though she could hardly keep her eyes off the crystal.
It’s so beautiful. I can see a faint glow coming from it, even through the steam.
“There, now your hair is not red and awesome anymore.” Kate laughed, poking Anne in her side and making her jump. “Come, let’s finish up so we can go packing.” Anne agreed, and they appreciated their last few minutes in the warm shower. She could not help but feel relieved that Kate never gave any attention to the sockets that dotted her body. At least not now.
Kate jumped out of the shower and grabbed a towel, throwing a second towel at Anne, which she caught at the last moment.
“Yes! I see they brought you clean clothes. Quickly now slowpoke. The last one to finish has to carry the other’s bags!” Kate said drying her hair. They finished up as fast as they could and ran out of the bathroom and down the hall to Kate's room. She turned to Anne when they reached the door, then pressed her hands together. She lifted one hand to her chin while bowing slightly.
“Welcome dear Anne, to my messy room. Please don’t touch anything,” she said with a wink and rushed inside.
Kate’s room was several times larger than the room Anne was sleeping in. The first half of her room looked rather normal, with a bed in the corner and some drawers, a small mirror, and a bookshelf that had a few lost books on it. The rest of the room was hidden behind a hanging curtain divider. Anne stood in the doorway and watched Kate grab a dusty backpack from under her bed, unzip it, and empty it out onto her bed. A mixture of dull and shiny rocks and pebbles rumbled across her bed in a cloud of dust.
“Sorry!” Kare coughed and flailed her hands to clear the air, giving Anne a slightly embarrassed grin. “I love exploring the surrounding areas now and again, and I always come back with some useless loot. Haven’t been out spelunking in a while though, but I guess I just… really like rocks!”
Kate winked and pointed to her crystal necklace.
“Oh… so does that make you as dumb as a rock? Rocks for brains?” Anne teased.
“You little weasel!” Kate yelled and threw a pebble at Anne, who dodged it just in time. They heard the pebble clatter down the hall, echoing in the distance until it finally came to rest somewhere, and they both roared with laughter. Anne held onto the doorframe to keep herself standing. “You are crazy!” Anne said rubbing tears from her eyes. “That is obvious,” Kate replied, recovering from her laughter.
“Hold on, I need to get something from the back.” Kate moved towards the back of the room and pulled the divider aside.
She turned around to face Anne, intently contemplating something. “You can look if you want to, but I think it’s best if you don’t come past this partition.”
She disappeared inside, and Anne immediately approached the gap in the divide. Her curiosity got the best of her.
“Kate!?”
Anne gasped.
The rest of the room was a warzone. The floor, walls, and even the ceiling were covered in burn marks. Even worse were the several upright tree stumps that stood staggered near the far wall, with crude red target patterns painted on them. Two of these stumps looked like they were pulled straight from a fire, and another was blasted into pieces.
Kate was rummaging through a drawer off to one side of the room. The clear sounds of crystals chimed as she carefully picked a few from what sounded like dozens and stashed them in the backpack.
Anne stuck her head in further to try and get a closer look when a bright yellow glow suddenly shimmered from inside the drawer. Cold shot through Anne’s body, flowing through her and gathering behind her navel.
Anne grabbed her stomach and retreated backward, and the cold left her as quickly as it came.
What was that? It felt like I was going to freeze over. Kate did warn me.
“I warned you.”
Kate mumbled from behind the curtain.
Yeah yeah, I know.
It was not long until they were on their way to Anne’s room. Kate had haphazardly stuffed a bunch of clothes and other things needed for the trip in her bag after packing her crystals. They arrived at Anne’s room to find a small backpack waiting on her bed. Anne teared up at the sight of it.
“Is that for me?” She asked. “Well duh,” Kate said, gently shoving Anne towards it. “But I don’t really have much to pack.” She mumbled softly.
“Hey, pack the new clothes we gave you, and then fill the rest of the space up with things you gather from our little adventure. How does that sound?” Kate said as she stood behind her and pulled her into a hug. Anne gave a grateful nod.
She fetched her extra clothes and opened the backpack to pack them, when she suddenly froze, staring into the backpack.
“Show me, show me!” Kate clapped her hands together enthusiastically, and Anne slowly reached into the bag and pulled out a pair of small, blue-maroon shoes. They weren’t brand new but were clearly cared for and cleaned.
“Those once belonged to someone very dear to me,” Kate said fondly. I’m so glad that they finally have some cute feet to keep warm, and I can’t have my Anne going on an adventure barefoot, now can I? They are also very comfortable, which is good because we will be walking a lot.”
Anne turned and gave Kate a long hug. “Thank you so much.”
“You will find a few pairs of socks in there as well. Now get those shoes on your feet, and let us be off. Darius should be waiting.” They finished up and made their way to the chapel’s main entrance. The large double doors that lead into the front courtyard were open, and they saw Darius waiting for them, resting against the large stone arch. He straightened up as Anne and Kate approached. Kate clenched her fist, placed it into the palm of her left hand, and held both against her naval, bowing deeply. Anne quickly followed with the same greeting and Darius greeted them back, smiling warmly.
“Hello there, you two,” he said gently. “I hope you packed everything you need. Whatever you forget you will have to go without.” Darius carried a large rucksack on his back. After fiddling around in one of the rucksack’s side pockets, he pulled out a rolled-up map and opened it up. It showed a topographic view of the region, with handwritten notes and points of interest that Darius had added.
“This is the chapel, and there is the general area where we need to look to find the facility you came from. Now this will not be quick or easy and we will do a lot of walking, but we will see to using other forms of transport if it is safe to do so.”
Darius put away the map and took a deep, long breath.
“Are you ready?” He asked. After he received an enthusiastic yes from both, they set off down the path that lead away from the chapel.