That which refuses to be seen

“If you also come from earth, just like I do, then you must know that this place is nothing like it. Maybe the only things they will tell you that you can believe wholeheartedly are the explanations regarding the dangers outside the city. That is not cause for relief, as being outside is as much of a death sentence as remaining in here to be sacrificed.”

City is a kind word to refer to this rundown village, I thought, reading the notebook. I noticed I was getting distracted, so I continued reading after insulting my lodgings.

“Be particularly careful around the veils, and follow every precaution they teach you. They are trying to keep you alive for now, after all. The time period may range from weeks to months, but they won’t let you die until the day comes.”

I heard rustling, Lyra was returning. As fast as I could, I put the notebook back into the crack on the wall and then threw myself into my place, feigning to be bored out of my mind. They had finally bothered enough to fix the door, but still left the crack where the book was in the first place. To be honest, it may be for the best, it may not be safe to be caught carrying it around.

Lyra had returned with Howard. At the very least, they didn’t seem to want to admonish me now.

“Hey, you seem a lot better now.” said Howard, with a friendly tone that ringed fake in my ears. He’s probably still sorry for sticking my head in the darkness out of nowhere.

“Yes, my arm also feels better now. How long will I need to use this?” I said, raising my cast. Asking the truly important questions.

If I want to escape, I’ll need both arms, at the very least.

“Soon enough, for your safety, I would recommend at the very least another week.” He said, dismissing the matter quickly. “Anyway, I came here because there’s something else that you must see, and don’t worry, I won’t stick you again into the veil, I promise.”

Well, I hope I can trust in his word. I am quite reluctant to follow him after last time, but I do need all the information I can get as soon as possible. I still don’t like it but if he tries to push me in the veil again I’ll swear I’ll kick him into it.

“Fine, but you better be telling the truth” I said, rising up and following him outside.

The notebook said that they would sacrifice me after an indeterminate amount of time. It is true that I have been here for some weeks already, so I should be more wary of them, but I did notice something else. If they are trying to kill me, then they would have no reason to nurse me back into health as they have done, to make sure that I didn’t get infected or more hurt was enough.

So, the only thing that makes sense is that they are waiting for me to be healed before doing anything.

“We are here.”

I collided with Howard who had stopped suddenly. I was so immersed in my head that I hadn’t noticed when we arrived at the village border.

We were in front of a veil. Not the one I did an experiment in, nor the one that Howard stuck my head into. This was the final veil of the village, and also, by far the biggest one of them. This one extended far away both at my left and my right, more than I could see with my naked eye. It looked like an enormous wall, impenetrable, and utterly inescrutable.

“This is what we call the great veil. As you can see it extends quite far, and going around it can turn a trip of half a day into one that takes several weeks. We don’t have the resources for such a trip, which means that our only option to get to the other side is through the darkness.” He said, motioning his hands towards it. It reminded me of a teacher explaining something to a very little kid so they wouldn’t get bored.

Which in a way I found slightly offensive, but not enough to bother him for it.

“These are the people that are going to go across. To do so, they need a lightstone lamp for safety, but they are extremely scarce. That’s why they only use a single lamp, and its light can only keep three people safe.” Said Howard, pointing to a group that were now approaching.

The three were adults, two men and a woman, probably around the thirties, although I can’t be really sure. They all have a very deep frown that makes no favor to any of them. Can’t blame them, as the scars they are covered with tell the whole story of how they became this jaded at such an age.

The three of them sported similar outfits, long sleeved ragged gray shirts that extended down to their knees, held together at the waist by a very wide leather belt. One of them had a very heavy looking backpack, while the other two were carrying small pouches.

It would have been unfair, if the ones with the pouches were not also carrying very long spears. The tip looked quite dull, but it didn’t look like it was badly made, they looked like they had been severely worn down by use.

“Now, take a step back. Entering the great veil is the most dangerous part of the process, and you should not be anywhere near it when someone does.”

Lyra grabbed me by the neck and started pulling me back until I was several meters apart from the veil. I turned around and swatted her hand away, and she simply looked at me annoyed when I did.

The three adults just kept moving forward, ignoring us. The man who was carrying the enormous bags raised his hand, and tied to it with several pieces of rope and cloth was a wide and curved wooden stick. On the tip, fixed with a similarly wide metal wire, was a metal lamp. Or at least, it looked like it. It was more like an empty round cage at the point of a stick.

Howard walked toward them. For a moment, the deep concentration and seriousness that hung over them dispersed, greeting him with words that I could not comprehend. Howard also responded in the unknown language, looking at them, with a mix of both optimism and resignation in his voice. The woman gave a chuckle, and hugged him for a moment, while the other two whispered something between them.

For a moment, I could swear I heard the woman say something in English, but soon enough their conversation turned into gibberish again. I may have imagined it.

Finally, Howard took a sizable light stone from his breast pocket and put it in the lamp. I could not see it while he had it in his pocket, but it was so dazzling I had to look away so as not to be blinded by it. After giving them a pat in the shoulder, he stepped aside. The warmness lasted for a moment, but soon enough, the solemn heavy air returned and they resumed their walk towards the darkness.

Howard reached my side, and then pushed me back a bit more again. When he did, Lyra pulled me from my scruff again until Howard stopped pushing me.

“Hey, leave me alone! Just ask me and I’ll walk!” I finally complained.

“Sorry, just, go back a bit more. Believe me, it is for your safety.” Howard said. He did not look me in the eyes, a complicated feeling hanging over him after talking with the three people.

Once he stood at my side, the three of them finally reached the veil. The two with the spears stayed a couple of steps behind while the man with the lamp approached it to the veil.

As soon as the darkness started receding, something shot from it. A black indistinct figure tried to grab the lamp, but the man pulled it back immediately and gave an enormous leap back, three meters in a single jump at least. When he did, I also jumped back from the surprise, but Lyra simply grabbed the back of my shirt to keep me in place.

I looked at Lyra, she seemed unimpressed. Didn’t she see them jump three meters backwards? Is that normal around here?

I had no time to think about it, as what attacked the lamp was coming back.

Falling to grab anything again, the strange appendix pulled back and returned to the veil. As soon as it did, several more shot in all directions, some of them several meters long, all of them looking for something to grab.

It was similar to when you take a photo with a phone, but the camera refuses to focus on the element you want to take a photo of. The object remaining, blurred, indistinct, a shape distinguishable but unclear.

All the strange tentacles were like that. I rubbed my eyes, but nothing changed, all of them looked as if they were distorting space around themselves, refusing to be identified or recognized in any way that made sense.

Not only that, but they also were completely silent. I didn’t notice it at the time, but not only I didn’t hear any growl or screech like I expected, but the tentacles themselves did not make any noise while moving. Not even the air around them made a sound, even when they were moving at quite a high speed, looking for any foolish prey that remained in their range.

One of the tentacles extended far more than the rest, shooting towards us, missing me by only a meter of distance, hitting the place I was in before Lyra pulled me back. A chill shot through my back, as I tried once more to step back.

Lyra, once again, made me stay where I stood, refusing to let me escape or even look away.

The two people who had the spears had gracefully dodged the tentacles that extended where they used to be, and in every chance they could, they started stabbing the dark. the more than two and half meters long spears disappeared inside the veil again and again until finally something changed.

The tentacles, just as silently as they had come, pulled back and all disappeared at the same time. The spears kept attacking the dark, moving side to side expecting to hit anything else with their wide, but blind, strikes.

When a minute passed and nothing happened, the man with the lamp approached again and dispersed the dark. A three meters wide bubble of light appeared around him, and where there used to be dark, now was an undistinguishable blot in the ground.

After attacking the dark for a moment more, finally, the three people entered the light bubble, and soon after, disappeared, advancing through the darkness.

I stayed stunned, unsure of what to do, trying to process what I had seen. I looked at Howard, but his eyes were looking somewhere I could not identify, probably lost in the place where those three had now gone, out of our sight.

I looked at him in silence, until finally, he looked down, and noticed I was looking at him.

“Sorry, I spaced out. I… think that was enough for today. I hope you now understand why it was so dangerous to stick that meat into the veil, and why you should never try to go into them alone. The other two veils are smaller and there’s no registry of any shadows in them, but you should always exercise caution. At all times, with no exceptions. Do you understand?”

The severity of his speech increased the longer it went. I could only nod in response.

“Good, you can go, I… have things to do, still.” Howard said, sighing, and walking away somewhere. He scratched the back of his head, walking slowly, something weighing on him that was not there before.

I stayed for a moment, but then started walking back to the infirmary. I had to get my thoughts in order. Lyra walked behind me, but before I arrived, I turned around to look at her.

She looked me in the eyes, her eyes seemed to say a lot of things, but I could not understand any of them.

“I know you can’t understand me but, thanks, for pulling me back there. I shouldn’t have shouted at you.” I finally managed to say. Giving the slightest of bows, hoping that at least my intent got through.

Her expression changed ever so slightly, giving a small nod in response. At the very least, it seemed like I did manage to communicate with her. Was this the first time she did not ignore me?

Whatever the case, now I know why the notebook was so adamant about the veils. Seems like if I want to get out of here, first I need to discover the dangers that await me outside the village.