The Road After

11

11

i. Indri.

She tried to focus her eyes. It felt like they had stayed closed a very long time. She had been asleep, but she didn't remember laying down, only the light and then the dream. The nightmare. Memories of that foul dream flooded back and she felt her stomach twist. She wanted to vomit.

"It's alright. You're back now." The words were distant, familiar. "We're all going to be alright."

Rubbing her eyes, she tried to look at the figure leaning over her, becoming sharper, more clear. Her sister!

She sat up and grabbed Chisi, embracing her as if she had lost her for years. Or was it she who had become lost. It was all so clouded and muddled. One thing was for certain, she wasn't letting go of her sister. Not for one second. Not literally or figuratively.

"You were dead, in my dream. I couldn't save you." Her hand clasped the back of Chisi's head and held her tight. "I couldn't save you!"

"We've been toyed with. Someone has been twisting our fears." That voice was Breena's and Indri could see her now, rising to her feet wearing the expression that Chisi would call 'Frowny-face number four'. The one that usually preceded a lot of bloodletting. "If your dream was anything like mine, that is. A sick game."

"It wasn't a game." Chisi didn't try to pull away, but she turned her head to look at Breena. "It was a test."

"A test? Tested by who?" The Eass woman had drawn her sword, the lavender scent catching in the breeze, filling their nostrils. "What kind of person does that to people?"

"The White Lady." Haavo was sat a distance away, his back against a tree, his hand rubbing his eyes. He sounded strange. Defeated. "We were judged and found guilty."

"There was no guilt or innocence in my judgement. Only your truths." Everyone's head snapped towards the voice. A warm/cold, male/female, deep/high voice. It was all of those things and none of them. Spoken out loud, yet it could be only heard in their minds.

Indri glared at the figure that had spoken to them. It hovered before them all, an indistinct form. A vague humanoid shape, but with no distinguishing features that they could focus upon. At once, the figure was 'dressed' all in white, wide sleeves almost touching the floor, robes flowing in a wind that was not there, but it was also not 'dressed' in anything at all.

There was no way that their minds could make sense of what they were seeing. It was beyond their comprehension. Beyond anything they could imagine.

That didn't stop Indri from pushing Chisi aside, drawing her sword and swinging at the creature with every ounce of furnace hot fury. Only to see the blade swing through the creature without even disturbing the air. She caught herself before she lost balance and launched another attack, screaming in anger, and then another and another, all to no avail.

"Indri." She could hear Chisi calling, but all she wanted to do was to kill this thing that had tortured her mind. "Indri! Stop!"

It was Breena that soon caught hold of her, holding her arms tight to her chest, denying her the chance to express her anger the only way she knew how. She struggled against Breena's powerful arms, but there was no breaking free. Instead, she broke down, tears pouring from her eyes, her body falling limp to the ground.

"I know. I know. I want to kill it too, but I don't think we can." Breena continued holding her, kneeling on the ground, but it was a comforting embrace now.

"No. You cannot." The White Lady spoke soft, now. More feminine. Even the shape of its body became more like a human female's. "All who participate in my tests must be taken to the ends of their abilities for me to evaluate them. You have been evaluated and you will prove to be useful when the time comes."