by D M Wozniak
There’s only two.
He had three.
My mind flashes back to before the collapse. The one which turned white—it melted. It separated from the gold setting and chain forever.
I rise to my feet.
Could he have left it back on the beach?
No. Marine is trapped inside it. He would have taken it with him.
Using my two fists on his thin emerald shirt, I pull him out of the water. His head falls backward, facing the bluff.
He’s too heavy to hold, but when I set him back down on the churning surface, he floats on his own.
I clutch his shirt with one hand to stop the waves from taking him, while I begin searching his body with the other.
His pants pocket.
There’s something heavy in there, dragging the thin fabric down.
A larger wave crashes into my back, and I stumble, falling onto Mander, but then I pull him back out again.
My hand digs further, ripping open the seams of the wet pocket.
Blackness.
As I grasp what’s inside, the sunlit world disappears.
I am in the void.
But this time the sounds are different. A voice being carried above the wind.
Dem. Can you hear me?
I let go.
For a moment, all I can do is stand there in the harsh sunlight. Then release my grip on Mander’s shirt and fall back down to my knees, the rolling waters coming up to my shoulders.
Marine.
When I’m able to blink away the sweat, tears, and confusion, I see the voidstone directly below me in the sand, looking exactly like it did before. It’s on the seabed, a blacker stone than any other shell or pebble could be.
Good Unnamed.
Only the waves reply as I stare down through glittering waters.
I knew that she was in soteria. I came here for her soul as much as Mander’s death. But now that I’ve accomplished both, I am more uncertain than ever. I don’t feel like I’ve won.
Mander’s dead body slowly floats away. I know that his soul has moved on, to whatever dark place he deserves. But in some way, he still feels here. The sun is prying. The waters battering. The gulls taunting. Nothing seems private.
I lunge for the body, bringing him back toward me before he’s out of reach. Pulling hard upon his shirt, I rip a handkerchief-sized section of it away.
Lowering my hand below the surface, I pick up the voidstone with the fabric, reverently folding it within layers of emerald.
I carefully place Marine’s prison into my pocket, and then stumble back to shore.
As for Mander, I leave his body for the sea.
She is Both Here and There
Once I make my way back, I sit down on the sand next to Marine’s altar. The sun has started its slow decline in the west, hovering over the waters with heaviness. The slab of stone casts a shadow between it and the bluff, and I rest inside of this darkness. My shirtless back rests against the cold tableau. Marine’s elevated head lies directly behind me, and past that is the sea and the sun. Her hair brushes the bare skin of my neck and shoulders. I know that it’s only the wind, but I imagine that she’s fidgeting with it—something she always did for attention.
I assume Blythe, Chimeline, and Colu are on their way. The long way around will take them down through the crowded streets of Winter’s Baiou until they reach the crimson pier, and finally the trek along the beach.
I am content to wait. The prying world is far away here, and the two of us need to speak.
Four voidstones lay out in the sand before me, between my bare feet. All various sizes—from cherry to plum. The leftmost three are in gold settings. The fourth one rests free, the most priceless of the collection.
I reach for it, and the void takes hold.
One voice—louder than the others—speaks to me in words that I can understand.
Dem, is that you?
Even though I was expecting this, it takes me a moment to reply. I have never spoken in the void. It isn’t the same as speaking with the body.
Yes.
I hesitate. Mander’s dead, Marine.
More silence, until the wind in the cave picks up.
We know. They thank you.
It is I who should be thanking them. The enervated protected me.
Yes.
Another hesitation, as if both of us are circling around a fountain. I think back to the moment that she fell into the pool, screaming out, white on black.
Are you in pain?
No. Not any longer.
Because your body died?
No. Because Mander died. He forced us to do things that we didn’t want to do. We had to fight it.
Like the sandstorm?
That, and other things. It felt like when I was alive. When I had a body, only much worse.
What do you mean?
Do you know how it felt when we used too much voidance? How the enervated ripped into us?
Yes. The first sign of voideath.
It is how you know you must stop. That you must let go of the stone. The body knows its limits. Do you remember the time I set your room on fire? I didn’t know any better.
I remember.
Inside here, when you fight it, the feeling is the same. But there is no voideath, because the body is already dead. There is nothing to let go of. So the pain never ends. The feeling of being ripped apart by the voider, endlessly. I dreamt of having a body again, only to be able to let it die.
I stay silent, thinking about the horror these poor souls must have endured. And for how long?
When Marine continues, her words come to me slowly, perhaps because this is all new to her. Or maybe she is simply numb or exhausted.
What any voider does in here is a command to us. But sometimes we can subtly affect things. Like a horse under the whip, we can change direction, but then the pain gets even worse. We have to be smart. Rebel when it matters. It is a contest of wills.
I’m so sorry, Marine. I didn’t mean for this to happen.
The sound of wind has died completely. The enervated seem to be listening, their voices having gone silent.
I’m sorry too, Dem. For everything that happened between us.
A heavy pause in the colorless world.
I was wrong. Leaving you for him.
The words emanate from my mind before I even think them.
Marine, I forgive you. And I hope you can forgive me.
A gentle funnel of wind builds around me again.
Dem, forgiveness is the only thing I can give you. It is the only thing left.
Despite her words lifting this weight, overwhelming sadness washes over me. In a few moments, I will let go of the stone, perfectly able to walk away from this muted place and continue my life in the sunlit and star-studded world.
While Marine is trapped here with the enervated.
Very soon, I’m going to free you. When Blythe returns. We’re going to perform eleutheria.
I know. But...
What is it?
I’m afraid.
Eleutheria is not painful. We’ve done it once before, and the feeling was... It is wonderful, Marine.
That’s not what I’m afraid of. I’m afraid of where I’ll go when I leave this place.
I don’t understand.
Don’t you want to be free?
Silence.
I fear that I’ll go to a void beyond the void.
Then it dawns on me what she means.
You’re afraid that you’ll be punished for the choices you’ve made?
No answer.
What about Chimeline? You saved her life. And in doing so, you’ve redeemed yours.
The sound of wind in the tunnel picks up so rapidly, I have the sensation of being gently lifted, even though there is no body to lift. And then it dies down again.
I wish we could understand what they are saying.
They are pleased with us, Dem. They say that we do not own the dark. Except for my
fear, which they say is not mine to own.
A thought hits me.
Wait. You can understand them?
Partially.
How?
I don’t know. I hear their words. What we always thought was the wind—there is meaning inside of it now. Like one of those hidden picture drawings where you see things only after staring at it for a long time. But many things I still do not understand. There are strange concepts. Like what happened to Chimeline.
What do you mean?
She was in soteria, but then...not.
I saw what happened. She touched the pool, but then got pulled away from it when the room dropped.
She is not the same.
Her abrupt response shocks me into silence. The recent memory of Chimeline flashing white and going slack in my arms adds to my dread, as Marine continues.
What happened is very rare. There is a name for it which I do not understand. Axionlighter. I can feel her—even now. We all can.
What are you talking about?
She is connected to us, yet her soul is still within her body. The cage was not fully opened. In a way, she is in the void with us right now, just like any voider.
Chimeline is here?
I know that it’s hard to believe, but in some ways, she is the most powerful voider to ever walk the land.
Marine’s words stun me into silence.
I don’t doubt them. Marine would know, being trapped in here with the shared knowledge of the enervated. Still, it’s beyond comprehension that Chimeline could live her entire life untrained in voidance to become the most powerful one in the land.
I’m lost, Marine.
She is both here and there.
But what does that mean?
She doesn’t need to touch an axion fragment in order to work voidance. She only needs to be near one.
How can you enter the void without touching a voidstone?
She doesn’t have to enter the void, because she’s already in it.
I pause in thought, considering that idea.
I know that it’s hard to believe. She didn’t believe it either, when I explained it to her.
Wait...You talked to Chimeline?
Yes.
What did you say to her?
I relayed their message.
Who’s message?
The enervated.
I pause. You mean you translated for them?
Yes.
Another hesitation. What was their message?
They wanted her to slow your fall, so you could destroy Mander.
No. It was Chimeline who told me to jump. She said that the enervated would protect me.
Well, that is true.
I wait for her to explain.
Mander was getting away. You were the only who could stop him.
That’s why I jumped. And the enervated saved me.
Yes, except the enervated can’t create voidance on their own.
What do you mean?
We need a bodily actor to use us. A voider. Voidance just can’t happen on its own. You know that.
Good Unnamed. She’s right.
I am quiet as the logic connects, piece by piece. It was voidance that stopped my fall on the beach and saved my life. And voidance always requires a voider. Marine was already dead.
It was Chimeline.
Yes. When you jumped, it was Chimeline who worked the voidance. She used my stone. I talked her through it.
I stay silent.
But there is a problem, Dem.
What?
Chimeline. She’s in danger.
What danger?
She’s near voideath. Creating the membrane was too much for her.
The indivisibles seem to close around me.
How do you know this?
As I said, she is both here and there.
I don’t have time to try to understand Marine’s cryptic explanation. Instead, I am wondering how to help Chimeline.
Can the enervated save her?
Only through you. You need to start a fire.
A fire?
To raise her body temperature. Just as you did for me, so long ago...Although I’m ashamed to admit that I was trying to get your attention at the time. Chimeline did it for justice. When we asked her, she didn’t think twice.
How close is she? To voideath?
I can feel her pain and confusion. Her coldness. She doesn’t have much time.
No. This can’t be happening.
I begin to panic. The void now feels like a prison to me as well, as if I were an enervated. I cannot—I will not—let anything happen to her.
I told her to hold on, Dem. Not to let go of the body and the outside world. I told her that you saved me once before, and you can save her now...I think in some way...she is holding on for you.
The winds slowly return, overtaking Marine’s voice, making her seem distant.
She is strong. And she loves you. Start a fire, Dem. She is coming.
Marine?
Use us. It is alright. They say it is alright.
Marine!
You must save her!
The wind-like voices are so loud that when I drop the voidstone back onto the sand, their chorus melds into the sound of crashing waves behind me.
Despite sitting in shade, it takes me a moment to adjust my eyesight to the light.
Turning to my left, I see a small group of people far away, walking down the beach near the crimson pier. Dark, hazy shapes in the afternoon heat. I cannot even count their numbers or tell who they are, but I don’t need to. I heard what Marine said.
“Build a fire,” I mumble to myself, frantically looking around.
I place my palms on the stone altar and push myself up.
Pain shoots throughout my right hand. I quickly take the weight off, letting it hang uselessly by my side.
I most likely fractured it from ceaselessly battering Mander’s membrane earlier. If that’s true, it was a cost worth paying.
Wood. I need wood, and lots of it.
Directly next to the altar and up against the bluff are a few tree trunks, twisted and gray with sun-bleached decay. They look like the remains of lemon trees that fell from the sandy cliffs years ago. Their branches are still attached, the finer ones spread with cobwebs and dune grass.
I bend down to grab one of the voidstones.
And pause.
My good hand hovers over the stone I recently used. The one containing Marine.
Instead, I choose another, pulling it up by its golden chain.
“I’m sorry,” I softly tell them.
Grabbing the stone, I reenter the void, and begin my work without taking a single step.
First, I strip all the finer branches from the trunks, making a giant pile of kindling. I spread the dry dune grass as well. A circle ten feet in diameter and a foot high.
Then I cut the trunks into pieces, dragging them away from the sheer bluff.
I’m sorry.
Over the mound of kindling, I place the moderate-sized sticks, and then finally the largest logs on top. I clear the area around the campfire of all debris, ensuring the cleanest bed of white sand.
Moving between the indivisibles in the air, I float toward the density beyond. The center of the pile. Within the heart, two sticks in a dry bed of dead dune grass.
I begin moving the indivisibles together. Faster and faster.
Before long, they change. Old ones die and new ones emerge. Rising.
Enough.
When I let go, I must shield my eyes with my left hand due to the sun and smoke. I toss the voidstone next to the other three.
The fire already snaps with fury.
I take a few steps away from it and head toward the water. The waves hit my feet as I look north toward the pier. The group is much closer. Only a hundred yards away.
There are only two of them.
One is the dark form of Colu. He’s carrying Chimeline with Blythe at his side.
They’re b
oth running.
“Dem!” Blythe yells out in the distance. “She needs your help!”
“I know,” I answer quietly, and only to myself.
Somewhere
Colu arrives carrying a trembling Chimeline crosswise in his arms. Her head tilts back toward the sea, eyes closed and lips blue.
In his large arms, she looks like a child.
“How long has she been unconscious?” I ask, as I step forward to meet him.
He talks as he runs. “Since you jumped. We came as fast as we could.”
I let out a deep breath. “Alright. Lay her by the fire,” I add.
Colu blinks away sweat and plows through the sand, crashing to his knees. He sets her down, then stays near her side, bending over her body while he catches his breath.
The man seems near exhaustion.
I follow in his footsteps, kneeling next to him by Chimeline’s side. The fire burns almost painfully warm on my face.
“Thank you for carrying her.”
He nods, wiping his forehead with his shoulder.
“She’s been flashing white,” he says.
I turn to him. “Again? Since I jumped?”
He nods.
“When’s the last time it happened?”
He hunches his wide shoulders. “The pier, I think.” He pauses. “No. It was after that. When we passed that fucker’s body.”
Blythe arrives. He stands a few feet away from us where the water hits the beach. The bottoms of his pants are sodden, and he leans over, his hands on his knees. But his head is tilted up in attention.
“Did the empowered perish from the moonspit?” he asks.
“No. It slowed him down, though. Allowed me to catch up.”
“Did you use black arcana?”
I shake my head. “He drowned.”
Blythe doesn’t say anything. He looks back down at the sand.
“Well done, by the way,” Colu says, slapping my back near my wound, which makes me wince.
I glance back at Blythe and our eyes connect briefly. I expect a look of judgment. Some oblique comment about me owning the dark. That I sought revenge instead of justice. But he only nods.
Turning my attention back to Chimeline, I touch her cheek with my palm. It’s frigid.
Colu stands, rips off his shirt, and walks into the sea, passing Blythe along the way.
