Sometimes we get tricked by our doubt.
We tend to question the faithfulness of the people around us, try to foresee the moment of their betrayal simply not to get too attached and be heartbroken when it happens. We push people as far away as we can from our hearts and minds and use them only when necessary, for nobody likes being betrayed. But every now and then we falsely judge, for people occasionally portray themselves as they truly are. Diane Hunster was raised to be a weapon, and she never had the need to rely on others. Then she lost her pride and with it the conviction that she was larger than this world, this space, and this time. So, now, after spending the night in solitude, she was waiting for the son of an unnamed father and a lying mother.
George Brown had just become one of her worries, and now she completely lost count of how many things made no sense. Was Clara Heal’s will really important enough for the Judge to tell her to reconnect to such an awkward acquaintance? Was she trying to lead Diane towards somethings else? Something Diane had left behind with the part of her memories she had lost. George Brown used to be her world, that was what she had been told, but she felt nothing but silent fear upon meeting him again. How did he fit in this picture, taking into account his probable connection to Him? And why did he know everything? She had a faint idea: someone had lied to her. A glimpse of a prior duty was there, only slightly out of her reach. Once she had found that will, she was certain, everything would make sense again.
It will all come to an end soon. It must. And then, if I survive…
“I just wish… just let it be over soon,” Diane said to no one but the trees and the destiny.
A branch broke somewhere near. Diane jumped up and pulled out her sword. The fog was thick in the mornings and at night, so she couldn’t see more than two meters ahead. The energy was strong, but subdued; someone was restraining themselves. The leaves were rustling. She felt chills all over.
One. Two. Three.
She counted to calm down. She formed a small sphere of energy above her index finger; if she is precise, she could harm them enough to use her sword. But then there was a thud. She recognized the grunt and put her sword back in. He was punctual. Right when the clock was about to strike, Diane could see Thomas Hammer wobbling through the fog, panting in exhaustion from running. His cheeks were all flushed when he reached her.
She sighed and started walking. “I must say, I didn't expect you to show up.”
“I promised, didn't I?” he let out. “Mom gave me an earful, so I was almost late. She locked me in my room, you know. But I escaped through the window.” He showed off the cuts on his fist. “I guess she didn’t expect me to come either. I’ve never done something so wild before.”
Diane gave him the warmest smile she could. “Well, you can always say it was a royal command,” she said while walking through the mud, the perfect creation of yesterday’s rainstorm.
“You didn't come home yesterday,” Thomas commented, pulling up a branch so she wouldn’t get wet.
“Home, you say. How interesting,” she mumbled.
Thomas wiped his hands on his pants. Diane had provided him with a Raven uniform which he found a bit uncomfortable. “So, how do we know we’ve reached Nowhere?” he asked, just to avoid the silence. The heaviness and gloom hovering over Diane’s head somehow seemed more prominent than the day before.
“It reaches you.”
“How so?”
“You’ll see.” Diane wished she could show him she was glad he didn’t abandon her, but the thought of her lovely castle didn’t help with calming her nerves. There were so many little thoughts, little strings, and large paths intertwined in her mind, and they all lead to a moment in the past and the memories she had lost; she knew that somewhere in a cave she couldn’t find was the answer to the confusion she had been constantly feeling for five years. Something was out of place, something she couldn’t pin down. She was hoping a Flamer in Crystalia would help her solve her mysteries, but he only added more burden on her shoulders.
“Was Nowhere created by someone?”
“No, it was always there.”
“Do you need to be in a forest to reach it?”
“Yes.”
“Why?”
“I don’t know.”
“Who was the person who discovered it?”
Diane sighed. “A caveman. Thomas, are you nervous?”
“No, why?” he lied so obviously Diane smiled.
“Then stop asking so many useless questions. You are getting on my nerves.”
“I thought I got a free pass for showing up.”
Diane narrowed her eyes. “That is the dumbest thing you’ve said so far. Taking pride in keeping a promise…”
“I was joking,” he mumbled.
Thomas didn't have a chance to hear the rest of her nagging; as they stepped deeper into the forest on the opposite side of George Brown’s house, his breath was taken away. Somehow, he had never seen it before. It was huge, bathed by the bitter sunlight, covered by silken grass. The forest around them disappeared and Thomas found himself in a place he had never imagined existed. It was so ordinary, yet the endless clearing that spread before him was so ancient and magical it left him speechless. Overgrown with weeds and moss, bosky and old, a temple rose in the distance.
“Where in the world are we?” Thomas asked.
“Nowhere.”
“That's nice. I like being nowhere.”
Diane was a lot less excited. “Come on. We have to walk a while longer.”
Thomas was wonderstruck by the endlessness of the sky above him and the ground it never met. He knelt to touch the grass, but he couldn’t feel anything. Then he realized he couldn't smell anything either.
“This place is not exactly real; it’s an illusion of some sort. Don’t worry, we all feel the same,” Diane reassured him before he had the time to ask a million questions about everything besides what actually mattered. “Let’s go. We don’t have all day.”
“Do we have somewhere to be or?” Thomas asked, sensing urgency in Diane’s steps. She was nervous, more nervous than him; he could see her hands shake and she sighed more than usual. The circles under her eyes were also more purple than usual.
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“My father doesn’t appreciate unpunctuality,” she replied. “Now, more than usual, he looks forward to m…our attendance. We should be on time.”
Thomas scratched the back of his head. “I can’t believe I’m meeting the king and queen! This is such an honor.”
“I see.”
Thomas stayed quiet after that, either baffled by her lack of excitement or amazed by the scenery. The temple and an impossible amount of grass were the only two things there, yet it felt grandiose. The temple was further away than he initially thought, but the overall lack of sensations made him forget about his tired feet; it was a lot larger as well, which he only realized when he stopped in front of the entrance. There was no door. Still, he couldn’t see inside: the darkness was like a veil concealing the temple’s insides.
“Are there no lights inside?” he asked Diane, who was biting her nails and ignoring his presence. “Are you alright?”
“Of course. Now listen carefully. Nowhere has one rule: whatever happens, do not look back.”
“And what if I do?” Thomas asked.
“Well, you’d better not.”
“And what if I do?”
“A giant monster with diamond jaws will bite your head off and then chew on the rest of your body for eternity, or something like that.” Thomas opened his mouth to express his horror and probably suggest finding another way to Painron, knowing it was impossible, so Diane cut him off and said: “Don’t turn around and you’ll be fine. Just follow me. And don’t let go of my hand.”
Inside was a white, well-lit, circular room with five wooden doors, each leading to one of the five lands. Thomas continuously spun his head around, admiring the timeless creation. The ceiling was painted with a horrifying scene of a monster biting someone’s head off; it looked like it was staring right into Thomas’s eyes, trying to tell him something.
“What does it say?” Thomas asked Diane upon realizing that something was written in cursive on the ceiling.
“Fortune favors the brave,” Diane replied. “Don’t ask. I don’t know.”
The atmosphere alone was somehow holy and made Thomas feel smaller than he was. Not a sound spread around during the time he stood frozen, looking at the monster with diamond jaws. There were light stones engraved everywhere, making the room seem almost white; he couldn't understand how it could have possibly been that way, considering that it looked raven black from the outside.
“Do you like it?” Diane asked outspokenly, still not turning to look at him.
“It's beautiful,” he let out.
“I always thought it was incredible. I’ve gone through Nowhere countless times before yet I enjoy it the same each time. It’s like a last glimpse of freedom, or something.”
It was chilling, cold, and sudden. He felt a presence behind him, breathing into his neck.
“Don't turn around!” Diane pulled him closer to her, looking ahead. “We need to leave.”
She pulled his hand and stormed through the first door to her right. A narrow hallway, barely lit, spread before them, seemingly without an end. It was completely opposite to the marvelous entrance they had been admiring seconds ago. As they made their way towards the end they couldn't see, Thomas was suffocated by the humidity of the air. The floor was covered in something that looked like a mixture of moss and seaweed, which made it harder for him to move. Their footsteps covered the growls of the monster following them.
“What is that thing?” Thomas yelled and impulsively let go of Diane. Cold sweat was dripping from his forehead. Then his vision also became hazy and he could hear the growling less and less.
“Diane!” he screamed at the top of his lungs before he lost all sense of hearing.
“Idiot! I told you not to let go!” she yelled, knowing he couldn’t hear her.
The hallway suddenly spread into seemingly a hundred smaller paths. Diane grabbed Thomas’s hand again and instinctively pulled him into another hallway. Thomas could no longer feel anything, and it made him, for the first time in his life, focus on himself. And he could feel something he had only faintly felt before; it was in his stomach, or gut, or throat, he couldn’t tell. He only knew it felt unfamiliar and scary yet strangely comforting. It would protect him, no matter the circumstance; he only had to accept it.
When they reached the end of the hallway, Diane opened the last door. Once she did, a gush of smoke covered the small space and Thomas cursed under his breath. He saw particles of emotions, chaos inside his brain. He sat on a chair and stared at the sun. He moved his hands, light-years away from his face. He felt every single motion, experienced their every contact with the surface. There was fire all around him in an intensity he had never seen before. He felt superior, not knowing it had all been designed before. Designed by the one and only Her. “I shall see you again, Fool,” the whisperer of destiny informed him.
“Thomas!”
Thomas inhaled so deeply he choked. The moment he opened his eyes a liquid rushed up his throat and he started puking blood right next to Diane Hunster. He saw in circles, so he grabbed onto Diane who was kneeling next to him. She patted his back; there was blood on her spotless uniform now. “It’s alright. This is normal.”
They were back in front of that hellish structure, again. Everything was peaceful, with Thomas’s coughing echoing through the empty space. “What in the world was that?” Thomas asked. His nausea and pain stopped suddenly, leaving only a metallic taste in his mouth.
“First times are always like that.” She continued making shapes on his back. “I fainted the first time.”
His eyes lit up. “Really?”
Diane nodded. “Well, since you are alright now…” She pulled him up and marched in the same direction they came from.
“Where are you going?”
“Home,” she emphasized jokingly. “I must apologize, for my home is nowhere as nice as yours.”
Thomas snorted. “You live in a castle.” He hated how there was blood all over his face now and how the awful taste refused to disappear.
“Would you like to trade?”
Thomas took the handkerchief she gave him and got rid of all that red. “Why would you want to trade?”
Diane smiled again, only not for real this time. “You’ll see.”
Thomas was thinking about her words when the scenery changed. They were in a forest again but not the same one they were in before. This one smelled heavier, more bitter.
“What is that?” Thomas asked when he saw something purple moving in the distance.
Diane frowned. “Great.”
As they dived out of the sets upon sets of leaves, branches, and poisonous bushes, they were face to face with an army of about a hundred soldiers encircling something. Once they saw Diane, some of the soldiers moved and they all knelt, revealing a dark purple coach. The door was open, a man in a purple uniform and with a crown on his head sitting cross-legged with a bunch of papers on his lap.
“Would it kill you to be on time for once?” he asked; his voice was deep and monotonous. “Where is Nigel?” he asked and a little round man dived out of the sea of muscular soldiers. The king pointed to the paper he was holding and he and Nigel proceeded to discuss whatever was written on it.
Diane noticed Thomas was about to explode, so she interrupted them. “Nigel, I believe nothing will change if you wait a little.” The round man only bowed and disappeared again. “I am happy to see you too, father,” Diane continued, not as disinterested as she wanted to be. “What do I owe this pleasure?”
“Your mother. I just do not understand why she could not be the one to come if she was so insistent on having someone greet you. It is not your first time coming to the castle by yourself.” He flipped a few pages, not once looking at the two. Thomas noticed that he didn’t say home. “What a waste of time.”
Diane turned to Thomas with a smile. “Welcome to Painron, Thomas Hammer!”
Then the king’s eyes abruptly widened and he looked right at Thomas. He put away the papers sitting next to him and said: “Ah, yes! Forgive me, my head is always in my work. Millions of papers to sign nowadays. Here, sit next to me.”
Thomas looked at Diane in astonishment and barely managed to mutter something before sitting next to Brandon. Diane sat opposite them, looking out the window.
“Have you ever been to Painron… Forgive me, what did you say your name was?” the king inquired, the papers now sitting on his lap.
“Thomas Hammer, Your Majesty. And no, I have not. But, my mother has. In fact, she told me she’s met you before,” Thomas said in a single breath, forgetting his resolve not to mention his mother.
Diane glanced at Brandon and was once again amazed by his lack of emotion. He didn’t care about Thomas or his mother, as long as he got what he wanted from them; Diane couldn’t bear looking at him anymore.
“Has she really? How wonderful!” Brandon replied with a little smile on his lips. “What did you say her name was again?”
“Kelly Hammer, Your Majesty.”
Brandon pretended to think about it, even though he had never heard the name before. “Well, I am certain she is a wonderful lady.”
Smiling weakly was the last thing Thomas remembered. He suddenly felt extremely lightheaded and then he fell asleep, to his horror. When he opened his eyes again, he was in a completely different place.