Revik felt his body sweating buckets. He felt his skin growing too hot.
He gasped as blisters broke out on his skin. He stared up at the Barrier space as the bridge continued to fall, coming down towards Earth.
It wasn’t falling fast enough.
He watched it, keeping what structure of it remained flooded with that gold-white light.
He’d promised Allie.
He fucking promised her.
All you do is break promises, runt, Merenje whispered in that space. You’re worthless to her. Worthless to all of us. You’re nothing… you’ve never been anything…
Lying, whore-mongering murderer…
We’re here because of you. You did this to us… to me, to all of us…
You’ll drop it. You’ll drop it, because you always drop it. You’re weak. Spineless. Best to just go. Go now, escape now, while you can. Your family’s waiting for you. You can at least be there for them, lick your wounds until we come…
Go on, you little prick bastard, Stami laughed. Run back to your whore girlfriend. Get your runt cock sucked. Why are you playing the hero? That was never you. You were just a horny little fuck who liked getting his ass beat. No one will blame you if you just let go this time…
Menlim’s voice broke through them all.
Calm. Certain.
So familiar it caused a hitch in Revik’s light.
Nenzi, his old guardian sent. You’ll die if you don’t let go. You’ll die, and all for nothing. Go to your wife. Go to your children. Go, or you will never see the face of the new child your wife carries. Go live the life you always told yourself you wanted.
Revik gritted his teeth, holding onto the gold-white light with every particle of his being.
He watched the bridge fall through the night sky of the Barrier.
He watched the sun chase it down––slow, inexorable.
He willed the bridge to come down faster, to break up, to close, even as he felt the door behind his back start to spark and react.
He felt it dimming, changing.
Throwing the last of his light, the last of his aleimi at that bridge, he watched it fall.
The heat grew unbearable.
He felt it even in the Barrier, heating his blood, making it hurt inside his skin. His skin hurt, his flesh, his bones.
He imagined he could smell cooking flesh.
The light grew brighter.
All he could see was the sun.
It filled his eyes, filled every particle of his light, and still he held on.
He stared up at it as the light grew brighter still.
It was beautiful.
He’d never seen anything so fucking beautiful.
As he looked at it, something in him slowly opened to that light. Peace came over him, an understanding of more than he could put into words. So much peace, the pain, the heat on his skin, the burning air––none of it mattered. Nothing else would ever matter but this.
Like Allie said, this was the work they’d come here to do.
This was what it all was for.
All of those souls transitioning over, going to new worlds, going to new places, going to new lights. Escaping the darkness, even just for a short time. Encountering it again when they needed to be hammered and pounded and burned and carved into something new.
They would return. All of them would return.
Lily. Maygar. Jon. Wreg. Balidor. Cass.
His wife. His wife would come back.
And in the end, nothing else mattered.
She’d always be with him. She’d always live inside his light, just as he lived inside hers.
Inexplicably, he smiled, even as the light blinded him, growing so bright he couldn’t see anything at all.
I SCREAMED HIS name.
I screamed it the whole time the light spun and flared around me, throwing my body and light through a vortex of bleeding color and shadow.
I screamed at him, furious at him beyond belief, beyond rationality or reason.
I screamed for him, so filled with terror and love I couldn’t see past either.
It couldn’t end this way.
It couldn’t fucking end this way.
I watched the sun recede behind me. I saw the bridge we’d created together falling towards the Earth, the sun following more slowly in its wake.
I saw the Dreng following…
Then I saw him.
I saw Revik standing there, facing the sun, a lone dark slash with that giant orb in front of him. I saw him standing there, defiant, his hands in fists at his sides, his body and light exuding hot flames of coiling aleimic light.
He looked like a god.
He looked like a mythological being––like something not real.
Then there was a flash, and I spun and turned, flung in a different direction, thrown faster through the twisting tunnel than my mind could keep up with or comprehend. I fought to slow my fall, to stop myself, to go back to him, but it was futile.
All of it was futile.
In the end, I closed my eyes, letting myself be thrown through the flickering vortex, fighting to relax, to breathe, to will myself to Lily, to will Revik to follow us.
Then, abruptly––
I was there.
Wherever there was.
THERE WAS NO transition.
I didn’t see any flashing lights.
I lay on the grass, and it was night.
The moon was setting in front of me. It was the first thing I saw when I opened my eyes––so big and round and still, my breath caught in my chest. It shocked me into not reacting to the rest of it right away. Its silence shocked me, its utter calm.
I watched it, stunned by its beauty as it sank heavily into a dark blue sea.
A few breaths later, and I looked around.
I was on a cliff. Below me was an endless stretch of ocean, untouched by white swells. I saw only a few tiny clouds scuttling across the sky.
There were so many stars, once more my breath caught in my chest, shocking me.
I didn’t know those stars. I didn’t recognize any of their constellations.
I lay on the grass, and it was wet with dew.
I lay there, panting, gasping for air. It hit me that the air was deliciously cold and wet, like a thousand soothing kisses by minty lips. Each breath I inhaled cooled my throat, made me feel more alive, more sane, more clear, more calm. It was like drawing living aleimi back into my light with each inhale, filling my skin and lungs with water, replenishing everything I’d lost in those caves underneath the red rock cliffs.
This air smelled of life––of vegetation and mulch and rich earth.
I smelled something muskier too, something danker and darker, what might have been animal, or perhaps decaying plant.
Then I realized that particular smell was probably me.
I don’t know how long I lay there.
Eventually, I sat up, pushing myself up on weak arms.
I looked down at the red dust on the organic combat pants I still wore, the blood from Angie’s arm and shoulder. It was dark, but I could see it all in the bright light of the moon, reflected on the water.
It hit me that I was alone.
Grief clenched my throat.
For a few long-feeling seconds, it paralyzed me.
Then I gritted my teeth.
Crawling up to my hands and knees, I pulled myself to my feet.
Stepping closer to the edge of the cliff, I looked down, gazing at the long stretch of white beach, broken by a line of strange-looking trees.
I decided I would go there.
THE SKY WAS starting to grow the tiniest bit lighter when I saw the first figure walking towards me across the sand, their footsteps pock-marking the white, pristine surface.
Then it was two figures.
Then it was four.
I felt my heart beating harder in my chest as I stared.
I was too far away to see much, and I didn’t dare use my light, not knowing wh
ere I was, or what else might be here with me. I sped my feet instead, gritting my teeth as I walked faster across the fine, white sand in my combat boots, aiming stubbornly for those dark figures I saw walking towards me at roughly the same pace.
Then one of them shouted.
“Al?” The female voice rose louder. “ALLIE! Is that you?”
My name drifted across the beach, paralyzing me briefly, stopping me in mid-step.
Then I didn’t think.
I broke into a run.
Pounding across the sand in the dark, I stumbled once on a grassy hillock, caught my balance, and ran faster, sprinting across the sinking silky-soft surface of the beach.
I nearly ran into the two people walking there.
“Allie!” Cass grabbed hold of me, her voice holding nothing but delight. “Allie! You’re here! How did you get here? When?”
I stared at her, then at Balidor, who stood next to her, tears in his eyes. He beamed at me while I watched, leaning closer to kiss my cheek.
“I am so glad to see you, Esteemed Bridge,” he said, touching my face.
Then he seemed to realize something, looking behind me.
“Where’s Revik? And Lily?”
My throat closed.
I fought to answer him.
I was still trying when two other forms approached. Before I could make out their faces in the dark, Maygar enveloped me in a hug, squeezing me against him.
“Bridge.” He kissed my cheek, relief in his light and voice. “Thank the gods.”
Angeline grabbed one of my hands with her good one, beaming at me, tears in her eyes.
Then Maygar seemed to realize the same thing Balidor had.
“Where’s my dad?” he said. Frowning, he stared down the beach past me. “Where’s Lily? Are they here?”
I looked at him, then at Balidor.
When I still didn’t speak, they all moved closer, enveloping me with their light, rubbing and touching me with their hands.
“He’ll be here,” Maygar said reassuringly.
“He will,” Balidor affirmed, his voice firm. “We didn’t all land in the same place. Cass and I were pretty close, but we didn’t run into Maygar and Angeline until a little while later.”
“Rotation,” Angeline blurted.
I turned, looking at her. “What?”
“Rotation,” she said, returning my stare.
When I and the others only continued to look at her blankly, frowns furrowing our foreheads, she gazed around at all of us and sighed.
“I was thinking maybe that was why,” she explained. “Maygar and I went through at more or less the same time, so we landed in roughly the same place. But the planet rotated a bit, between us and ‘Dori and Cass…”
“Of course.” Maygar snapped his fingers, leaning over to kiss her cheek. “My genius. That makes total sense.”
He looked at me then, frowning.
“But didn’t my dad and Lily come through when you did?” he said. “Why wouldn’t they be here with you?”
Shaking my head, I opened my mouth, about to try and speak again.
That time, another voice interrupted me.
“Yes.” The voice was warm, full of satisfaction. “Yes, rotation. That’s right. That’s quite smart. I’m sure the others will be along soon.”
I turned, staring at the being coming out of the tall grasses just beyond the beach.
It was Feigran.
Hands shoved in his pockets, he strode out, smiling at me.
His light, his face, everything about him looked… different.
Calmer. Sane.
I tried to remember when he’d passed through the door, and realized he’d gone through not long after Torek, just before my art school friends lined up to pass through. So he’d likely been here a good twenty or thirty minutes longer than the rest of us.
“The others?” Balidor stared at him, obviously thrown by whatever he saw in the Elaerian’s light. “Did everyone come here, Feigran? Will we just find them here, wandering different parts of the land and beach?”
Feigran cocked his head, as if listening.
“Not everyone, I don’t think,” he said after a pause. “I think just our kind.” He looked at me, then glanced apologetically at Balidor and Angeline. “…And their mates, of course. Wouldn’t do to separate mates, now would it? A package deal, so to speak.”
He looked back at me when we all continued to stare at him.
“You’re saying this is a planet of Elaerian, Feigran?” I said, to clarify. “Is that where we are now? A planet where Elaerian go?”
He nodded, a faint smile quirking his lips.
“I believe so, yes,” he said. “Although maybe not only the one planet. There may be more around here, somewhere.” Pursing his lips, he cocked his head, as if listening. “But yes, Elaerian. That’s all I’ve felt so far, apart from our friends here.”
Again, he nodded at Angeline and Balidor.
“…What about you?” he added, smiling at me. “Have you checked out the Barrier space yet, my lovely sister?”
I hadn’t.
Briefly, he managed to distract me from Revik and Lily long enough that I sent my light up in a cautious plume, checking out the light of the planet as a whole.
Immediately, lights popped up all around me, checking me out.
I glimpsed a city, then more than one. Skyscrapers reached up to the night sky in one. In another, flatter neighborhoods were filled with organic-looking homes, people with pale, glowing eyes, organic machines unlike anything I’d ever seen.
I clicked out, shocked.
“Jesus,” I said.
I looked at Balidor. He quirked an eyebrow at me, his eyes holding a similar wonder. Clearly he’d taken a look when Feigran suggested it, too.
But Maygar wasn’t about to be dissuaded.
“Hey,” he said, his voice sharper. “Where’s Lily? Where’s my dad? Why didn’t they come through with you?”
I looked at him. Clenching my jaw briefly, I forced myself to answer him that time.
“Lily came through before me,” I said, my voice short. “If Feigran’s right about all of the Elaerian coming here, then she should be here… somewhere.”
“Where’s my dad?”
I swallowed. I forced myself to hold his gaze.
“Revik stayed behind. To close the door. It looked like the Dreng might get through if one of us didn’t stay behind to make sure they couldn’t get through.” Clenching my jaw, I added, “He claimed it had to be him. That he couldn’t do it with me there, with my structure propping open the door. So he…”
I bit my lip, shaking my head as I remembered the look on his face as he pushed me into the crystal-lined door.
Exhaling, I met Maygar’s gaze.
“You know your dad,” I said, blunt. “Let’s just say, he didn’t give me a choice.”
Pausing at the silence this produced, I looked away, back towards the sky lightening over the water. I swallowed, fighting to blank my mind.
I couldn’t think about this.
Not until I knew more.
I couldn’t think about this.
I cleared my throat.
“We should look for Lily,” I said, hands on my hips. “And Stanley. Kali and Uye should be around here somewhere, too, if Feigran’s right about the Elaerian thing.”
Feigran nodded in approval.
“Yes,” he said. “I agree.”
Turning away from the ocean, he pointed somewhere in the distance.
If we’d been on Earth, it would have been roughly west.
Here, I had no idea if those directions meant anything.
“There’s a town over there,” Feigran said, his voice still casual. “They’re already curious about us. They’ve sent scouts to come guide us back, help us get set up here. They have a lot of questions,” he added. “But they seem friendly. Very friendly.”
I nodded, biting my lip. “Okay. Maybe they can help us find the others.”
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Balidor was looking past me though, squinting in the rising light.
He held up a hand, shielding his eyes, even though the planet’s star wasn’t yet over the horizon.
“Someone’s coming,” he said, a faint humor in his voice.
When I looked at him, he jerked his chin, smiling, indicating for me to look behind me.
Seeing the expression on his face, I jerked my head around, following his eyes.
“Gaos di’lanlente,” I heard Maygar chuckle. “Why am I even surprised?”
I stared out over the dune.
Revik walked there.
He smiled at me sheepishly, his long hair looking singed, his clothes looking like they’d half-burned off him. His skin was red, and from the blisters on his arms and hands, he was obviously burned. His face looked the same, though.
He looked relieved, relaxed, and exhausted.
Next to him, Lily trod through the sand, gripping his fingers and swinging his arm slightly as she walked. With each step, she sank into the soft grains, tugging on Revik to pull herself back up to take the next step in the white dune.
I stared at him, half in disbelief, half in a kind of breath-holding relief that made me question briefly if I was dead. I wondered if I’d actually died, if this was all some kind of hallucination, or maybe a wishful-thinking scenario conjured by my mind.
Then Revik raised his voice.
“You ditching us, wife?” he called out. Glancing at Lily with a quirked eyebrow, he shouted at me again. “I get why you’re pissed at me. But what did Lily ever do to you?”
Bursting out in a laugh, I fought the half-frustrated sob that wanted to follow.
Even so, I didn’t think.
I ran, unthinking, at both of them. I flew over the sand, kicking up plumes of white grains behind me, despite my heavy boots, despite the fact that I should be angry at him, despite how exhausted I was, despite how dehydrated and hungry and low on light.
I ran faster than maybe I’d ever run in my life.
I ran, and as I did, it felt like I was flying.
I don’t think I came back to my body until I was in his arms, Lily holding me on my other side, all of us crying and laughing and talking at the same time.
I’d never felt him so tired, or so low on light.
Even so, the grin on his face was wider and happier than any I’d ever seen on him.
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