Demoa - Nightfall (3)

“I walked through the forest in... that foreign realm. Not for long, only long enough to understand that a desolation, a malevolence, had taken hold of it. You know, I’ve journeyed astrally once before, yet it wasn’t like that. It was more beautiful, peaceful, almost inspiring. That forest, though… so bleak. Harsh brown foliage had fallen from old gnarled trees that seemed to watch my every step like judging sentinels. The half-dead leaves crackled beneath my feet and tickled, and there was a smell in the air I didn’t recognize. It was slightly acrid and smoky, yet strangely sweet. Too sweet. With every step, it grew stronger, and soon it was as if the trees and the earth were bending toward me. As if they wanted to mockingly welcome me, the traveler from a better realm. As if they wanted to show me what darkness dwelled in that forest, what parasite had nested there…”

“That sounds awful. Weren’t you afraid?” Demoa whispered.

“Afraid? No! I was in a panic, which is far worse. Instincts warned me, yet I also felt drawn in. I had to know what was there, you see?”

“No. You didn’t have to,” Eri said flatly.

Let laughed. “Perhaps not. Perhaps you would have tried to turn back, to end the astral journey. Don’t you see, though? It was a chance to learn more. A new story to tell! Isn’t the greatest drive to explore, to share what we’ve seen with others?”

“I think it’s more important to understand that reckless exploration can have terrible consequences,” Eri said quietly.

His eyes seemed to glow more intensely than before, and that faint red aura had returned around him. His hand clenched the old staff so tightly that the knuckles stood out white.

“Yes, yes! Yet I didn’t think of that. It never even crossed my mind. Maybe that was foolish... still, I couldn’t help it. I had to bring back a new story from the journey. So I kept going. Darkness suddenly rose in front of me. Between the trees it was like a gateway into blackness. And inside... something whispered. I could even see it, vaguely. A creature, formless, floating before me, staring with greedy, empty eyes, blind and unblinking, as it opened its countless mouths to whisper with its countless tongues. The voices... oh, they sang the same lines again and again. Over and over they fired those words like arrows at me, and I was unprotected. I gave myself to them, so that even now, after my return, they still whirl around in my mind…”

Let suddenly leaned even farther forward and began to hum low and deep. Then, in a voice that was rough and wrong and hoarse, he boomed out the words the creature had whispered to him in that other realm:

"The Sun will fall and leave behind

Let leaned back, and a strange smile twisted his lips. The words seemed to echo from the walls around them and follow Demoa into her thoughts. She looked nervously at the woven vines surrounding them, which once felt like protection from the outside world, yet now seemed brittle and fragile.

“What does that mean?” Demoa finally asked.

She whispered, afraid that something outside the building might be listening, might hear her. She knew it was probably stress getting to her, still... what if there was something out there?

“I’m not exactly sure. Though, when I told people about it, there was first excitement, then panic. You see, the Sun had just appeared, and at first everyone was ecstatic. They laughed, danced with joy. Then, when I shared what happened during my astral journey, people took it as a kind of omen, even though I doubt that myself,” Let went on, scratching his chin.

Eri nodded slowly. “Yes, I’ve never heard of a real prophecy. There are people who can perceive things others can’t. That may look like prophecy, but it isn’t a gift of Light. It’s only another kind of sight”

Demoa thought of Gima and the strange things she had said to people after arriving in the Dream.

Chicks… what did she mean by that? Demoa wondered.

“Did you wander to that dark place before in your astral journeys?” Eri asked.

“No, it only happened that one time. And I’ve tried often. At least, I think I have. It’s hard to say precisely, of course, since there’s no way to measure time here or really keep track of it. By feeling, though, I’d say it wasn’t uncommon for me to try. That was my role here, as I said. Most of the others in Glune have always been caught up in their daily routines, rarely interested in anything else. Yet when I shared one of my stories, I saw more life in their eyes. They lit up in the glow of distant tales. The favorites were always the ones I based on my astral wanderings. They were peaceful, comforting. They brought a sense of belonging, or so I liked to believe… but the one from earlier… that forest and that horrid creature… gruesome…” Let continued, lost in thought.

“So you visited another realm and encountered that creature. Do you think it knew where you were from?” Olver asked, carefully laying Ray down on a fur mat near the wall.

Let fell silent, and his face grew more troubled. “Possibly. Or... Light help us... maybe I made it aware of our realm for the first time? A connection can go both ways. Do you think I somehow attracted it? By the Sun, what if it can come here?”

He glanced fearfully toward the entrance of the hut.

Demoa began biting her nails.

Could that be possible? Could something be lured from another place? What if the monster is already on its way?

“There are rumors that you can pass from one realm into the next. Elga believed it,” Sars said thoughtfully.

Eri snorted, though a flicker of pain crossed his face and he briefly twisted his mouth.

“That’s not relevant. We’re far from the Voids here. It would take an eternity to get here. I don’t believe the people here are panicking and building defenses because of that creature. I think it’s more about what the creature supposedly said—the eternal darkness,” the Pilgrim remarked.

Let looked at him for a long time, then nodded.

“Well, the rest you probably already know. We noticed, as you must have too, that the Sun is sinking, threatening to vanish behind the horizon. It’s nearly there now, and things are growing darker. Once it’s gone, blackness awaits us. And in that darkness, disaster and terrible fates. The Sun is radiant, yes, yet it is not eternal. The others are preparing to defend against whatever comes to attack us,” he explained.

Demoa felt a wave of nausea. The floor seemed to shift beneath her, though it had to be her imagination. As quietly as she could, she stepped over to the nearest woven wall and leaned against it. She searched for the light within her and focused on the glowing white circle Ray had described. She and Elga had both noticed that the symbol strengthened their connection to the light, and so Demoa had made a habit of not only thinking of light but of that radiant sign whenever she tried to use her Lucidity.

The ring flared within her, and she called forth the calm Elga had once taught her. A tingling spread across her skin, though this time it was harder than usual to grasp that sense of refuge and weave it into her light. Still, her breathing began to slow, and soon Demoa felt better. She looked over at Eri, who gave her a subtle nod. The room now felt a little warmer again.

If something comes, I’ll do what I can to help everyone stay calm. I’m not Elga, yet I’ll give it my best, she decided, biting down on her lip with resolve.

“What about her?” Let suddenly asked, nodding toward Ray, who still lay motionless and withdrawn on the fur mat.

“She’s tired...” Demoa began, but Eri cut her off.

“…because the sight of the Sun left her with too much to process. She’s very close to the light. That’s probably why it affected her more.”

Demoa looked at him, confused, but there was an unsettling firmness in his expression that silenced her. She simply nodded to Let and quickly turned her gaze back to Ray.

“I see. That sounds unpleasant,” Let said, stroking his chin again. “I’d really like to speak with her at length some—”

He didn’t finish the sentence, as Krud appeared in the doorway, his face stony as he looked in at them.

“Could you please come, Wanderer? All of you? It’s urgent,” he said, motioning for them to follow. Without waiting, he turned and left the building again.

“What could it be?” Sars asked, fiddling nervously with the shaft of his spear.

“We’ll find out. Do me a favor, though: don’t wave that thing around like a fool. The mood is tense enough already. We don’t need to add more trouble,” Eri said, moving slowly outside, where a chorus of voices could now be heard.

The sound came through the woven walls muffled and warped, which only made Demoa shiver again, a cold chill running down her spine. She shook it off and once more used her Lucidity to calm herself, focusing on the image of the glowing ring. Meanwhile, Olver stepped over to Ray without hesitation and gently lifted her back onto his shoulder.

“Why do you care so much about her?” Demoa blurted out when his eyes met hers.

He furrowed his brow. “Elga would’ve wanted it that way.”

“But… she caused Elga to… you know…”

Demoa bit her tongue. She wasn’t sure if Olver was fully aware that Elga had been awakened by Ray. It was likely. Still, since no one had talked about it... what if only she and Eri knew?

“Yes. Elga moved on because she believed in that young woman. She mattered more to her than her own life. I don’t know why. Maybe her strength, maybe something I can’t understand. Yet I trust Elga. I saw her face when she rode away with Ray. I want to honor her by protecting what she believed was worth protecting,” Olver said after a moment of deep thought.

“I couldn’t have said it better myself,” Sars added, nodding solemnly.

Demoa let out a relieved sigh.

“I couldn’t have phrased it much better either. What wonderful words. So poetic. I’ll remember them and immortalize them in a story—if the darkness gives us a little more time. At least a bit of light in the distance…” Let said, mesmerized, bowing slightly.

The two hunters looked at him with narrowed eyes, clearly confused, but said nothing.

For a moment, a wave of unease swept over Demoa as she saw the greedy gleam in Let’s gray eyes.

Did we say too much? Should he not have heard that about Elga? she wondered, and it took all her concentration to hold onto the circle in her mind and the calm in her heart.

“You’d better come now,” came Eri’s voice suddenly, a low growl.

Demoa turned quickly and saw the priest had reentered the room. His face was grim again, and a faint red aura had returned around him. He ran a hand through his black beard and continued in a whisper.

“Olver, Sars. I think you should keep your weapons ready. It might get tense. Olver, keep an eye on Sparky! I hope she comes to soon, we may need her. Just don’t do anything rash. Let me do the talking.”

Demoa tried to stay calm, but she felt the light inside her flicker. The circle was still there, though it was getting harder and harder to hold it in her mind’s eye.

“What’s going on?” Let asked. He looked concerned, yet there was also a glint of curiosity in his question. Eri ignored him.

“Come. It’s Inga. She must’ve followed us. She’s asking for us. I think she knows what happened with Elga, probably even how she woke. She’s completely out of her mind. With how tense things are already, this could cause real trouble. We need to be careful,” Eri said, and disappeared through the doorway again.

Demoa shook off her daze, swallowed, and followed him as fast as she could.