What Following Brings

by S. E. Campbell

  Eden had chastised Aaron for bad timing, but she was in a world of darkness and all she could think about was a stubborn guy holding her hand. She shook her mind to clear it and then glanced around again. Every step she took, she felt more and more uneasy. And guilty. The two of them were in this other world because of her. If she hadn’t charged into the prison without thinking about it, then Yuri wouldn’t be here. Yet she had not asked Yuri to rescue her, but he had.

  “Yuri,” Eden said. “Thank you.”

  “For what?” he asked bitterly.

  “For coming after me in there,” Eden said. “I… I made a mistake. How did you know I was in trouble, anyway?”

  Rolling his eyes, Yuri sighed. “Jared let me out of the prison while you were distracted and I escaped through a hidden back entrance of the prison. I was angry at you for thwarting me. Nobody has managed to get under my skin the way you have. I’m not sure why. I look at you and I feel… I feel…”

  She gazed at him hopefully.

  “I feel confused. I get why Sergeant Dale and Aaron did what they did,” Yuri said. “I followed you because I was certain I could re-capture you and return you to Satan to regain my honor. But then I began to question whether it was something I really wanted to do. Then I saw you headed toward the abandoned prison and knew you’d be in trouble. I knew Asag lived there. He was the reason the prison was abandoned in the first place. Only the higher-ups got told to avoid panic. I heard you calling my name and I charged in. Heaven help me, I thought I had to save you.”

  Silence fell between them as they continued to walk. Eden gazed at Yuri again and saw he appeared troubled. His mouth was tense and his eyes were downcast. She squeezed his hand and he gazed at her. When their eyes met, she was surprised by the feelings of warmth that were created by a man that was unsure of whether he wanted to send her to her doom or not.

  Eden felt she had to say something, and she opened her mouth. “Yuri, I—”

  “We aren’t going anywhere,” Yuri said, cutting her off.

  “What?” Eden blinked.

  “We aren’t going anywhere,” Yuri repeated, and Eden could tell by his hard expression he was deliberately keeping her from continuing their conversation. He released her hand and she felt disappointment.

  As Eden spun around, she realized Yuri was right. They had not gone anywhere. They were in the same place they had begun. The white lights were no closer, and everything around them was black, bleak, and despairing. Yuri groaned and threw his head back.

  “Let’s just keep walking,” Eden said. “Maybe we’ll find something.”

  Yuri frowned. “And maybe a talking unicorn will come and lead us out of here.”

  Eden scowled at him. “I did a paper on theology in high school. Unicorns were mentioned in the Bible a whole bunch of times. It is highly possible.”

  “I have never once, in my entire time here, seen a unicorn,” Yuri said. “Nor will I ever see a unicorn.”

  “You are so stubborn,” Eden said, scowling.

  “And I have no idea why I decided to rescue you,” Yuri said.

  Then Yuri turned on his heels and stormed through the darkness. As Eden paused for a moment and watched him, she thought, What went wrong? Just a second ago, we were fine. One thing she knew, though, was if they wanted to get out of the “other world” they were going to have to work together. Yuri was going to have to learn how to trust her.

  Chapter Eleven

  As Eden walked, she thought of her mom. She missed her so much she felt as if her heart could burst into flames from the pain of it all. In the bleakness, holding onto the good times was all she could do. She sighed as she remembered a time not so long ago when she was fourteen. Had she gone to school then? It was so hard to imagine. High school and school lunches, friends and teachers.

  As Eden sat at the table doing homework, the light in the kitchen was dim and she worked merely under the beams of the tableside lamp. She did not know why, but she preferred it dark. The dim light had a peaceful quality to it. As she worked, her mom entered the room carrying nail polish, nail polish remover, and a package of fat white cotton balls. She glanced at the light as if wanting to flip it on, but she had her hands full and just dumped everything on the table instead.

  “Eden, do you want to put on some of this nail polish?” her mom asked, sitting at the table with a smile on her face. “Look at it. It’s called luscious strawberry.”

  Eden stared up from over her math book. “I still have some homework to do, Mom. I got a D on my last assignment. If I can’t figure these equations out, I am going to fail.”

  “You can study later,” her mom said, flipping Eden’s math book closed and sitting unceremoniously on the table. “Look at this. Such bright colors. With glitter.”

  The red was gorgeous. It was dark, too pink to be the color of blood but still close, with pieces of bright glitter in it. Her mom uncapped the nail polish and placed her foot on the table. There was still last week’s nail polish on her nails, a bright, exotic blue. Her mom put nail polish remover on a cotton ball and the smell of ammonia filled the air. Her mom then began to cleanse her nails with the cotton ball and the blue dissolved and tainted the white bit of fluff.

  “Mom,” Eden said, “why do you put nail polish on so often? The blue is still pretty.”

  “It’s more than just the nail polish,” her mom said. “It’s the feeling of putting on something new. At least, that’s what my friend used to say.”

  Eden rarely heard her mom talk about her past and was shocked. She picked up the nail polish bottle and spun it hoping, if she did not speak during the pause, her mom would not shut the gates between them again.

  “My friend Lizzy and I always put on our nail polish together every Sunday,” Rebecca said. “It didn’t matter how busy we always were with modeling, we’d always do it together, even if it was three o’clock in the morning.”

  Smiling, Eden uncapped the nail polish and gazed at the oozing brush. She was curious about Lizzy. Her mom had mentioned her several times during the years, though had never called her up. Is she like my grandma and grandpa? Did she abandon my mom when she went off with my dad after she got pregnant with me? She couldn’t hold the question back, despite how she wanted to.

  “Mom, where’s Lizzy now?” Eden asked. “If you miss her so much, maybe she misses you too.”

  “She’s dead,” her mom said coldly, jumping off her chair so fast she caused it to shift.

  The uncapped nail polish spilled across the table, and at that moment, Eden truly thought it looked like blood, even while pinkish. The awful stench of nail polish filled the air tenfold.

  “Mom, I’m sorry,” Eden said.

  “Forget it,” her mom said, waving her hand in front of her. “Let’s just get the mess cleaned up, okay?”

  Then her mom chucked a cotton ball at Eden’s face, and Eden laughed and grabbed it. Now that it was obvious her mom was not mad, she felt much better. Eden closed her math book and pushed it to one side, out of the way. Her mom glanced at her.

  “You’d better turn on the light, Eden,” her mom said. “You are such a strange person. Of course you can’t do equations in the dark.”

  Eden was brought back to reality when Yuri groaned. He stopped and raised an eyebrow at her. She, however, was still caught up in her memory. “You are such a strange person. Of course you can’t get anywhere in the dark.” She had had the answer to their problem all the time. There had to be an exit to this place, but it was just that she could not see it among the darkness. The darkness kept her here. It was a trap.

  “We need light,” Eden said.

  “Great,” Yuri said. “Let me get a flashlight.”

  She ignored his comment and grabbed her necklace, which Yurk had returned to her after the fight with Asag. If there was one thing the necklace was good for, it was giving her light. She didn’t know where she’d be without it.

  “I need light,” Eden said, and the necklace shone brightl
y.

  She beamed at Yuri, whose mouth had dropped open and eyes had grown huge. When she grinned at Yuri, he clamped his mouth shut and frowned at her, though she could tell by the gleam in his eye he was impressed.

  Turning around, Eden held up the necklace and illuminated her surroundings. The darkness moved away from the cross, and Eden saw something strange. All around them were what appeared to be mirrors, similar to those which Asag had in his prison. The panes reflected darkness. Eden stepped toward one of them, pushed through it, and realized what was going on. The entire “other world” was an illusion. These mirrors were somehow causing them to repeatedly be pushed back to the beginning. It was like a trap.

  “A demon trap,” Eden said out loud.

  Yuri glanced around and she saw his confusion.

  “Satan or Asag must have put these mirrors here,” Eden said. “They’re keeping us here. We have to walk around them.”

  Yuri spun and glanced at the pane. He stuck his hand through it and then withdrew, wrinkling his nose.

  “A demon power?” Yuri asked. “Just like the mirrors?”

  “Asag’s mirrors were created by his powers?” Eden asked.

  “Yes,” Yuri said. “And by the look of the mirrors, we aren’t the only ones who were trapped in here. I doubt Asag had time to create these right away.”

  “So what do you think happened to the other people who were trapped?” Eden asked.

  Mouth tightening, Yuri just shook his head.

  ****

  Yuri hung behind her, following her for the first time since they had come to the other world. Everywhere she looked, more mirrors appeared. Eden had to walk slowly to avoid the panes while keeping her necklace aloft. As she walked, she began to gain confidence. Finally, the lights in the distance grew so close Eden could see they were not lights at all. They were souls.

  Glistening white souls floated through endless darkness.

  “They don’t look like us.” Eden’s eyes widened.

  They appeared to be shapeless now, which made Eden question whether they were like them at all. They were almost like unformed Raiders — white drapes floating upward through rivers of infinite darkness.

  “I’m not sure they’re aware of their surroundings,” Yuri said. “We only look the way we do because our minds make us this way. You think you have long hair, a pretty face, and big eyes, so you have long hair, a pretty face, and big eyes. I’m guessing these souls are in a state of stagnation and don’t have a sense of self. It wouldn’t be so surprising. Few have memories of their past lives when they enter the earth world again.”

  This made Eden feel uneasy. How would she feel, floating through endless darkness? Would she recognize herself? This was much more hell-like than Eden had expected. She bit her lip, turned, and continued to walk. As she went, the mirrors faded away completely. She found herself turning back to look at the progress they had made. It appeared they had come a long way, and if they got out of the trap, Asag was surely to be shocked when he came here and found his prisoners gone. When Eden managed to get out of the “other world,” she would be sure to celebrate by imagining the horrified look upon his ugly, diseased face.

  As she journeyed, Eden noted something strange. One of the souls in the river had stopped going up and lingered at Eden’s height. The soul kept hovering there as if vibrating and the soul’s features kept changing at a rapid and alarming rate. At first the soul had a long nose, and then it had short hair and then long hair. It opened a mouth wider than any human could hope to possibly do outside of a soul world and then made an awful sucking sound.

  “What is that?” Eden whispered.

  “A soul,” Yuri said. “I think it wants to get out of the stream. Think it can help us? Maybe it has some memory of how to get out of here.”

  She gazed at it and had the distinct feeling of melancholy.

  “I don’t think we should go near it,” Eden said. “Normally, I am gung-ho about helping others, but this being doesn’t appear normal.”

  Once again, she remembered the prison where she had uncapped an imp by mistake. But the imp hadn’t been human like this soul, right? She frowned.

  The soul offered its hand through the stream, and Eden stared at it blankly. Another soul lingered by it, and the two of them grabbed hands, or more rather, stubs. The only part of the soul that had permanent features was the hand sticking out of the stream, and that hand was thin but long. Judging by the long, feminine nails, Eden guessed the soul was a woman.

  Yuri reached forward and frowned at the hand. He began to sway back and forth, back and forth. The soul let out the horrible, gasping squelch again.

  “She has a beautiful voice,” Yuri said. “She wants to get out.”

  “Don’t, Yuri,” Eden said. “Listen to me, for once.”

  Yuri had already grasped the hand of the soul. He stepped backward and pulled the woman and her partner out of the strange crowd of flowing souls. The woman hit the ground, rolled, and released the second soul. Yuri moved to grab the second soul’s hand, but Eden forced his arm away and the soul began to flow back with the other shapeless spirits again.

  The female spirit on the ground was covered in a black veil which meant only one thing — Morsus. Her hair was long and black and flowed around her like a cloak, and she wore a white nightgown which clung to her body as if it was wet, which was impossible because souls could not be wet. At least, not unless they wanted to appear that way. The female spirit struggled to her feet and spun to glare at Yuri. Eden was completely ignored.

  “She is so beautiful,” Yuri said, continuing to sway.

  Eden stared at the woman and did not see her beauty. The woman had a frail face and large eyes that glowed white, but Eden saw there was a crazy, crooked smile on her face. A mad smile. Eden realized what she saw then. She had seen evil in demons and in Satan, but now she was truly seeing it in another human being for the first time. This woman was a soul, but she was an evil soul, just as Eden had known since she appeared at the edge of the soul stream.

  “Yuri,” Eden said, grabbing his arm. “We have to run.”

  “Why?” Yuri asked.

  “What is the matter with you?” Eden asked. “Snap out of it.”

  The woman walked closer, once again ignoring Eden as if she did not stand there, and touched Yuri’s arm. Eden could smell blood on her and did not like it. Eden grabbed her arm and tried to wrench her away, and she spun toward Eden for the first time. She lifted her arms, grabbed Eden by her shoulders, and shoved her toward the stream and then whirled back toward Yuri. The woman drew her hand back. Eden saw her nails sharpen into knives on her hand. This soul had learned the ability to change her appearance and make herself dangerous. Even her teeth grew longer and longer, and sharper and sharper, until her face lost all of its humanity and became ugly and mangled. Her brown eyes became pure white and a low, croaky growl left her throat.

  “You,” the woman said, grasping onto Yuri’s neck. “I shall have you.”

  “Yuri, no,” Eden said.

  Eden ran forward and tackled the woman. She hardly budged but did release Yuri. With sharp, cold, angry eyes, she faced Eden. Her mouth opened wider and wider as she revealed her deadly teeth. The woman grunted at Eden, and Eden heard Yuri gasp. She did not have long to understand what this meant. The soul was holding her up by her neck, and though she did not need to breathe, she knew this was the end. Since she was a soul, Eden’s necklace would have little to no powers over her. Eden grew desperate.

  Eden heard the sound of running beside her and then Yuri collided with the woman, shocking Eden. Whatever abilities the woman must have had over men must have disappeared. Yuri held the woman, and she pushed him over easily and pinned him to the ground by his throat. Eden had no idea how one person, one soul, could have so much power, but she didn’t care. She wasn’t about to lose to such a soul.

  “Go,” Yuri said. “Eden, run.”

  Shaking her head, Eden ran forward and grabbed the wo
man by her hair. She tried to haul her off of Yuri, but she got nowhere. The woman was so powerful. Yuri finally rose up his leg, buried it straight into the woman’s stomach, and she fell backward, onto her side. Her strands of long hair fell in her face, shadowing the cold evil in her eyes.

  Then the woman stood up again.

  Yuri let out a growl, tackled the woman by her waist, and fell on top of her. The woman struggled beneath him, glared at him, and then said, “You find me beautiful.”

  Yuri’s eyes grew blank. “I find you beautiful.”

  “You will forget all about your girlfriend,” the woman said. “You belong to me.”

  “I belong to you,” Yuri said.

  No way. Is she a human soul? I don’t believe this. Eden ran at the pair as Yuri lay back in submission again. The woman reached back, claws still extended, and buried her fingernails straight into his stomach. Eden’s eyes widened in horror as Yuri’s soul began to flicker weakly.

  “No, Yuri,” Eden said, feeling the urge to cry as she kneeled beside him. Why now? She didn’t feel despair because he was one of her five, but because he was somebody she cared about. “You evil, evil woman.”

  As if Eden did not exist, the lady stumbled away from her with a blank look on her face. She muttered words Eden could not make out and headed toward where Eden and Yuri had been before. Eden shuddered and stared upward, expecting a discus to appear in the sky.

  No hole appeared. Instead the river of flowing souls began to get a mind of its own. Though Eden had at first not noticed the difference between the areas where the souls flowed and where she stood, she did now. Whatever made the souls flow was thick like a gel. She could see a limb of the river, or more rather, a stub, flow outward and seize Yuri around his arm. It wrapped around him, about to pull him inside. Yuri groaned and threw back his head.