Realm Wraith

by T. R. Briar

  “I wish you could talk back,” he remarked. “But, it is nice having you here. I really don’t know who else to turn to right now. Remember what you said before, about what happens to our souls here in the Abyss eventually creeping into our reality? I think that’s starting to happen to me. This place is twisting me into something I don’t recognize. And I’m starting to remember what I’ve forgotten, only it wasn’t what I expected. I may have terribly hurt someone who did something horrid to me.”

  His companion responded with garbled gibberish, but her face held pity, her mouth down-turned as she sympathized with his pain.

  “The things I’ve been able to do lately, the way I just look into people’s souls, and I know things. These moments I have where I just don’t act like myself—is something from here possessing me? Or have I been corrupted so badly, I’ve forgotten how to act properly?” He buried his head in his hands. “It’s just going to get worse, isn’t it?”

  He leaned back against the spiky bark of the tree behind him, and it moaned. He ignored the noise, continuing to stare upwards. The new memories continued to play over and over in his mind throughout the past couple days, a very unpleasant feeling. There was more emotion to it, more feeling than anything visual. He could hear his enemy laughing at him, his own screams as he struggled to climb back out before the earth closed in around him. The sensation of heat, of fire, that puzzled him, as there was no reason for the pit to be on fire. Something about his memory had become twisted, or maybe there was another memory mixing in, some irrational hatred of heat and flame blending itself with his past trauma.

  “He really did it. That bastard really buried me alive. I could have died, but no; it felt like I was trapped there for such a very long time. No hope, nothing but pain, but—”

  Another memory surfaced, a strong feeling deep within him. He saw a light bursting through the darkness of the crushing earth. Escape, hope. A hand, reaching into the pit for him, guiding him out.

  “That’s it,” he whispered as the thoughts grew clearer. “Somebody saved me. Someone dug me out.”

  He felt the hand leading him to freedom. Sunlight glowed around him as someone liberated from his prison. He saw a small child, much younger than himself. Something about the boy tugged at him, he knew this child, had seen him somewhere but never really talked with him. Rayne could feel a distance between the two of them, as if the boy did not trust him. This land belonged to the child that had freed him, he understood that much. The boy scowled at him, angry about something, but still could not bear to let Rayne suffer, not on his land.

  “That child. Who was that?” Rayne mused.

  A blank fog shrouded everything after that moment, and trying to force out the memory only made Rayne more lost. He suddenly shrieked out in pain, clutching at his head as a piercing sensation blinded him with agony. Just like before, when he picked up the spear on that battlefield, of being struck through the head. He collapsed to the ground screaming and twitching, but the feeling faded just as quickly as it came. Rayne looked down at his hands, and gasped at the dark, almost black blood that covered them. He felt his head, and brushed against warm wetness, as if something had struck him there.

  After a few seconds, the pain faded, as did the wet feeling. He stared back at his hands while the blood upon them crumbled, turning into black dust that drifted away in the quiet winds flowing around him. Reaching up to his head again he felt no wound, no blood. Miranda heard his screaming and jerked her head as she groped her hands along the ground to find him.

  “It’s all right,” he said, gasping. “I’m fine. Just had a hallucination, I think.”

  She calmed down, returning to huddling with her knees drawn up against her chest.

  Rayne watched her for a bit, but a sudden sense of foreboding set him on edge just then, and he glanced around in anticipation. Just as Tomordred could sense him, he had realized he could sense the demon’s overwhelming presence as well. It gave him an advantage, allowing him to flee before he could be grabbed and dragged away. Acting quickly, he grabbed Miranda’s hand. He could already see black shadows forming in a shapeless mass above him.

  “Not tonight!” he yelled at the blackness, as he pulled himself and Miranda away from the red wooded area to another location. As he shifted, he suddenly felt another familiar presence, and pulled the two of them towards it.

  They appeared on a barren mountaintop, surrounded by towering rocks that mimicked castle walls and towers. Thunder rumbled in the distance behind purple skies. Rayne found himself standing on a narrow precipice, jagged rocks on all sides.

  “Sorry about that,” he said to Miranda, who gurgled in confusion. “He almost found me again.”

  She shook her head, and remained limp in his grip.

  “Come on, this way.” He tugged at her, and she lurched beside him, having difficulty walking on her misshapen legs. Movement pained her, so he bent over and helped her up onto his back, allowing her to wrap her arms around his body. She shivered from his touch, and he knew he had to be quick.

  They wove around the narrow flatland between the rocks above an incredibly steep, practically vertical drop. In the distance, between the rocks, a figure hid itself.

  “It’s you!” Rayne exclaimed. Apolleta, recognizing his voice, gave him a tiny smile.

  “Oh. Rayne. I guess I shouldn’t be surprised that you found me. Listen, about the other night.”

  Rayne helped Miranda onto the ground. She scooted away from his frozen presence, huddling up against one of the jagged black spires.

  “Don’t worry about it,” he said. “I seem to have that effect on people.”

  “So, how have you been?” she asked.

  “About the same, I suppose. I taught Gabriel to move around like I do, so he would stop bothering me. He’s around. I suppose it won’t be long before he gets himself put on some demon’s hit list.”

  Apolleta forced out a smile.

  “And what about you? I haven’t seen you since you woke up from your coma.”

  “Yeah. I was in the hospital, the doctors told me I’d been shot but then, I already knew that.”

  “But you’re all right?”

  “Physically, yeah. I was there for about a week, then they let me go home. They said I got lucky. He shot me right in the stomach, and I almost bled out. They gave me a blood transfusion and got the bullet out. I died on the operating table, but they brought me back. And I was in a coma for all that time I was here. My sister was so glad, and her kids were worried about me too. They’ve been so helpful since then, doing chores, taking care of the baby while their mother works. Such great kids.”

  Rayne sat next to her, at a fair distance. “So how’s it been, coping with, well, this?”

  “Awful. Every time I fall asleep I’m here, just like you guys warned me. I could never find any of you. Wasn’t sure I wanted to, I mean Gabriel’s just an asshole, that lady there’s not really a talker, and frankly,” she looked at Rayne, embarrassed, “you just plain scare me sometimes.”

  “Me? Scary?”

  “Well, it’s not like you act all evil and threatening. It’s just the stuff you do sometimes. You talked with that reaper like you’re buddies. You move around the Abyss whenever you want, you get some horrific abomination trying to kill you. And you take it all in stride. Like it’s not a big deal.”

  “I do?”

  “Yeah. And that’s what creeps me out. I’m so scared. I’ve seen things no person should ever see, and it’s only been a month. Maybe when you’re here long enough it just starts seeming like it’s normal but, for me, it’s goddamn terrifying. Even Gabriel looked freaked out by the stuff here, and he’s been here longer than you, so seeing you acting like that—”

  “I didn’t realize that I came across that way. Truth is, I’m terrified too. But, at the same time,” Rayne exhaled, leaning back against the rock. “I don’t know. These past years of my life, I’ve always been a little, well, scared, I guess. I don’t act up, I do w
hat’s expected of me, and I force politeness no matter how much a person bugs me. Before the accident, my biggest worry was a meeting with a major client to keep the case out of the courts. But now, it’s like my perspective has shifted. All those stupid concerns, when you look at the big picture, and it dawns on you that you’re only on Earth for so long. Suddenly everything else seems pointless.”

  “You? Scared?” she said. “Strange, I don’t see it. But, I get it, I guess, if that’s how you used to be. You must have had one hell of a stick up your ass if it took going to Hell to make you loosen up.”

  “I suppose so.”

  He looked over at her. The occasional lightning flash lit up the dim landscape with blinding white light. In those brief moments where it was easier to see, he noticed Apolleta’s dark skin had a purple hue to it, and on her shoulder, through the tears in her shirt, he could see patches of blisters.

  “Did you burn yourself?” he asked, nodding at her shoulder. She glanced down, and looked up at him, face flushed.

  “No. They just started appearing there. I feel so hot sometimes. It’s like my skin is burning from inside.” She eyed him. “Not that you’d know what that feels like.”

  Deterioration, Rayne realized, though he did not speak the word aloud.

  “Would it help if I showed you how to travel? Gabriel got the hang of it without too much bother. You’d have an easier time getting away if something caught you, or if you got in trouble.”

  “And end up like you? With some unknowable horror making me his lunch?”

  “Well, I guess that’s always a risk. It’s either that or running and hoping whatever is chasing you isn’t the faster one.”

  She thought it over. “Would be nice to have an escape. I don’t really want to explore, though. One nightmare’s just like another. But at least I can find the rest of you.”

  Rayne took that as a yes, and began explaining things just as he did to Gabriel. Apolleta stared at him in complete confusion.

  “I don’t understand. I’m everywhere at once?”

  “Yeah. Time and space aren’t really a factor here. You ever notice time seems to flow wrong? Like some nights it feels like you’re here for years, and you wake up and it’s only been a night? And other nights it’s as if you’re only here for a moment, but then you find that hours have passed outside? It’s the same for distance, everything is everywhere. It’s like, this place is more thought and feeling than logic. Make sense?”

  “Not really.” Apolleta just looked frustrated.

  “Try not to think too much about it. Just try to feel it. Clear your head and imagine you’re somewhere else in the Abyss. And you’ll find yourself there.”

  “I can try it,” she said. “But, not now.”

  “Whenever you feel you’re ready.”

  “I’m surprised you were able to figure it out so quickly. I mean, if you were really as uptight as you claimed. You’re not exactly doing what’s expected of you.”

  “Yeah, I know. I guess it was just intuitive. And I had help.”

  “Help? Did Darrigan show you how to do this?”

  “Maybe if I’d asked him, he might have, but I think I owe him enough ‘favors,’ so I didn’t want to ask. It was another demon, after I’d already started to get the hang of it. She put things in perspective for me.”

  “A woman?”

  “Well, I guess you could call it that.” Rayne hadn’t thought much about Kaledris since he first encountered her, and he shook just recalling it. Having the goddess probe his mind the way she had left him with a creepy crawly sensation beneath his skin.

  “So, tell me,” Apolleta’s voice broke his thoughts. “Any luck remembering? Maybe figure out why you’re here?”

  “Maybe. I had a falling out with my employer. Right before I nearly scared him to death and sent him screaming from the room, I started to remember a thing or two. I get the feeling I may have done something unforgivable.”

  “What?”

  “I don’t know. What about you? Any inkling for why you might be here?”

  A heated glower told him not to bother asking. He stared at her, a thought crossing his mind.

  “Why are you looking at me like that?”

  He didn’t answer, trying to focus. That same feeling of unnatural calm spread through him. Here in the Abyss, it came far too easy.

  Apolleta turned away from him. “Knock it off, idiot.”

  “Sorry, was just lost in thought,” the lie slipped through Rayne’s teeth, but with her not paying as much attention to him, he continued to stare at her, through her, without her awareness. He thought he saw something, anger, wrath. A violent sense of vengeance, a strong protective desire.

  He snapped out of his trance as something snatched at his soul. His arms and legs faded from view.

  “—what?” he tried to gasp out as the Abyss fell away with wild force.

  His eyes snapped open, and the stucco pattern of his ceiling swirled before him.

  “Rayne, wake up!” David’s urgent voice cut through the haze of Rayne’s confusion.

  “Huh? Wha? Da-David?” he stammered.

  “Sorry, I know you were sleeping but you’ve got to see this!”

  A sleepy hand fumbled for his chair. Rayne rolled himself off the bed into the familiar seat. David beckoned him out into the living room, where the TV was on.

  “Is that the news?” he yawned. The dulcet tones of the female news anchor drifted from the television speakers.

  “…fell from the top of an eighteen story building in downtown Langfirth. There was no warning, onlookers were absolutely agape…”

  The screen changed scenes to a street corner where several people babbled into a microphone, behind them a gathering of policemen, ambulances, and crowds of people.

  “I just heard this yell and I saw a man falling. My children were right there! They started screaming; I tried to cover their eyes but they saw everything. What kind of a madman throws himself from a building?”

  Rayne looked down at his watch. It was ten in the morning. He realized David must have been letting him sleep in, and looked at his friend in puzzlement.

  “What’s this about?” he asked.

  “Supposedly this happened about an hour ago. Look at the building.”

  Rayne squinted at the TV, at the gathering of crowds before a tall, very familiar building.

  “That’s—”

  “We’ve just been informed that the man who threw himself from the roof was a partner who worked here.”

  A teary faced, portly woman appeared on the screen, standing between two policemen, addressing the microphone that had been stuck in front of her. “Yes, I was his secretary. I brought in his coffee, and he started screaming as soon as I made eye contact with him. I didn’t know what was wrong, I thought maybe I’d put too much sugar. Then he ran to the window, and started beating upon it. He kept yelling all this rubbish about monsters, saying there was no hope for any of us. After that he just ran out the door, left me sitting there all alone.”

  “He ran right past me into the stairwell.” The scene shifted to a security guard. “He didn’t seem quite right, so I followed him. He went right up to the roof. I tried to talk him down, but it all happened so fast. He just ran. Right off the edge, he did.”

  Rayne didn’t even need to hear a name. He recognized the secretary, and knew who they were talking about. He knew why this had happened. David stared at the television.

  “Do you think it was one of your coworkers?” he murmured. “What are the odds, you know? We were just there two days ago. Hope it wasn’t anybody you knew. I mean, it’d be terrible if it were anybody, but to have somebody you work with just kill themselves—”

  “No,” Rayne replied in a hoarse whisper. “I knew him.”

  David stared at him. “What did you do?” he asked, an accusing tone in his voice.

  “I didn’t mean to,” he stammered. “Something came over me and I couldn’t help myself.”

/>   “And what about your promise, Rayne?”

  Confused, Rayne turned back to his friend. David’s voice wavered, in an almost unearthly echo as his eyes pierced Rayne, a strange golden glow within them. “We had a promise, don’t you remember?” The flesh on his face melted, as did the walls around him, swirling around together in a decaying mess. Shrieks and howls surrounded him, and Rayne suddenly realized his chair was gone, and he collapsed on his useless legs. Blood rained down all around him, and rivers of black water poured over him. He cried out like a frightened child.

  “Rayne? Rayne!”

  The world shifted back to normal. He felt David shaking him, his eyes brimming with concern. Rayne twitched while staring at him, terrified he might see a melting face again. “I don’t remember a promise!” he cried out.

  “Promise? What are you on about? I asked if you knew the man, and you just started twitching. Do you remember where you are? How many fingers am I holding up?”

  “F-four.” Rayne put a hand to his temples. All in his head again. “Little too much excitement, I think. I’m fine, really.”

  David didn’t look like he believed him.

  “We have identified the deceased man as a Mr. Barnaby Bastley, who worked with the firm for fifty-two years. We’ll bring you more on this story as it develops.”

  “Oh my god, wasn’t he your boss?” David said. “Rayne, I’m so sorry.”

  “Yeah. Tragic.”

  Rayne rolled himself over to the couch and shut the TV off, not wanting to hear anymore.

  “I was watching that!” David protested.

  “Is Levi at school?”

  “Yeah, he said he was going to Tommy’s place afterwards. I told him it was all right if he was home by supper.” David sat down in a nearby chair, opening the newspaper. “Sorry about causing so much excitement. I did intend to let you sleep in, since you were up so late last night fretting.”

  Rayne desperately wished he could just rest, maybe even go back to sleep. Despite his brave face, despite seeing the waking world as less serious than he once did, and despite Apolleta’s assessment that he took too well to the horrors of the Abyss, it did not make things easier, and he still dreaded returning. His body managed to get rest in his absence, but his soul had known no peace for months.