Beyond the Glow

Chapter 33

Instead of falling when she pushes me into the blackness, I float, and around me, I can see the strange star-like objects I saw earlier are just floating crystals. Some are brighter than others, but they're all floating in the weightlessness around me.

I paddle my arms frantically, trying to turn myself around and go right back out, but Rena has pushed me far into the darkness, and I can't seem to figure out how to move forwards fast enough. I can see her as the other side of the portal, dragging Len's limp body towards the dark portal, and then she throws him in with as much force as she did to me. Len is thrown with such momentum that he slams into me, pushing me back and undoing the little progress I had managed to make.

"Now get to work!" Rena yells with a cruel laugh, and the portal closes, leaving me and Len in complete darkness except for the crystals floating around us.

We're stuck.

The black space is crushing. Not unlike when I couldn't hear, my ears feel like they have mufflers on them, like I might have gone deaf again from just the experience. Only Len's and my ragged breathing break the silence.

Something bumps into my shoulder, making me jerk to the side, looking for phantoms in the darkness, but it's just an empty crystal, and as I watch it, the dull gold of an almost empty crystal is replenished until it's shining bright again.

Right. The wish.

One by one, the crystals around me begin to light up, glowing slowly brighter and brighter until they're full, each one taking more and more of my energy until I'm completely drained. Even the crystal in my shirt was glowing like a beacon again. My grip on Len's unconscious body loosens, and he begins to drift away in the darkness.

"No, no, no..." I mutter, my clumsy fingers grasping at him in the now illuminated area. "Len! Wake up!" I grab at him, yelling, trying to pull him from whatever dream world he's slipped into, and bring him back. He stirs slightly, his eyes cracking open, before he goes limp, and my fingers lose hold completely.

"Len!" He finally opens his eyes, this time, completely. They're disoriented, confused. I start my erratic swimming movement towards him, trying to close the distance. "Take my hand!" I call, reaching out. But it's like he can't hear me, and Len continues to look around confusedly. "Angel?" He looks at me questionably.

"Who?" I say, and he turns around, searching the darkness around him.

"Angel?" He calls again, cupping his hands around his mouth. I reach out, setting a hand on his shoulder, turning him to face me.

Finally, he turns to look at my face, and recognition sparks in his eyes. "Asra? Where are we?" His nose scrunches up, looking around him at the darkness again. "What is this place?"

"Come closer," I say calmly, "I don't want to lose you in here, I can hardly move at all, it's like there's no gravity at all. And, to answer your question, that witch did it. You know," I say, a tiny bit of frustration leaking into my voice, "The woman you so eagerly followed, and left me behind!" Reluctantly, Len reaches out, and clasps my hand. Immediately, I pull him close, scared of drifting away again. Len leans away slightly.

"What wrong with you?" I ask confused, the anger drifting away. Len never seemed uncomfortable with me before, not even when we were kids.

"It's... nothing." He says quietly. "Nothing."

"Are you sure?" I ask narrowing my eyes at him. "You seem... Different." His eyes are glassed over slightly, and Len doesn't feel like Len. He doesn't look any different, but he just doesn't feel right.

"What did she do to you?" I ask, that must be it. Rena had to have done something to Len. Otherwise, he wouldn't be acting like this.

"Who?" He looks at me, awareness flashing in his eyes for a split second, before they become unfocused again.