Darkness.
It was everywhere.
Deep, infinite, swirling blackness.
Under my feet was silent, rippling black water. I took a step, and the darkness seemed to shift, like smoke. There wasn't a noise to be heard. The absolute silence was suffocating.
My heart pounded slowly, but strongly, in my chest. I looked around me, hoping to find some way out of this place... I raised a hand in front of my face. It was so pale it looked skeletal as I moved my fingers. My throat bobbed. Where was I now?
This didn't feel like Somnium.
It wasn't magical, and it didn't have the same allure. It was dark and heavy, and seemed to want to swallow me whole. Goosebumps rose along my neck, and a shiver scurried down my spine.
A sudden faint splash sounded in the distance and had me turning my head in the direction it had come from. The silence returned, and I waited, my blood pulsing.
Then, a sound.
A sob.
Then another.
"Hello?" I whispered, my muscles locking tight. The sobbing continued. It was such a horribly sorrowful, raw sound. I looked around again, trying to figure out where it was coming from.
But it was everywhere. All around me.
As if it were within the darkness. Part of it.
White light flared ahead, so far away it looked like just a speck. My heart started beating faster, and I took another step forward, towards that light. It was pure, like a piece of fallen starlight in a sea of blackness.
Something told me it was important. Maybe it would lead me out.
Or maybe I was dead and was now walking into the light.
I really hoped it wasn't the latter.
One foot in front of the other, I walked towards that light. The sobbing in the background kept growing, louder and louder, until the sound seemed to consume me, making it difficult to draw breath. I needed to get away. I needed to get out.
My slow pace shattered as I broke into a sprint, running towards the light. The shadows seemed to pull at me and try to drag me back, their grip growing stronger with every step. The sobbing was so loud now I swore it reverberated in bones, my skull.
That light was my only way out. It had to be.
And I was so close.
The flare of white seemed to get bigger, until it became a bright, blazing pillar of pure energy. I was so close, when the crying abruptly stopped. The silence returned like a clap of thunder, somehow feeling louder than any sound. I froze in my tracks. There was rustling in the distance. And whispers. Whispering voices speaking of sorrows I would never understand. Then came the voice.
It was dark and soothing, but cold as ice. And it whispered in my ear.
"You do not belong here, little bird," it said. "Do not come back."
The ground beneath my feet caved, and I fell into a pit of darkness.
_____________
My eyes wrenched open as I sat up, ramrod straight.
I brought a hand to my chest, to calm my heart which felt ready to shoot straight out of my body.
Breathe.
Calming myself took a minute, but I managed it quickly enough. The sun was setting over the ocean, and I was lying on a pile of blankets on the docks.
I was also drenched.
A warm hand held my own. Koral, her brow creased with worry. Torin stood beside her, his white hair was messy, like he'd been running his fingers through it. His shoulders sagged and his eyes were wary, but... relieved.
"You're alive." He seemed to chew on the words, as if he couldn't believe it.
I blinked, and looked at Koral, who dragged me into a bone crushing hug. "What happened?"
Koral stilled. "When you jumped... we assumed you had gone home. I thought that..." That the berry hadn't worked.
I wasn't sure whether or not to be angry about that. Hadn't I almost drowned? I couldn't fully remember.
"Your... you floated to the surface, and we thought..."
My eyes widened.
"...that you were dead," Koral finished with a wince. "But you're alright. You see, Tor, I told you she would be fine," though she still looked shaken.
The way Torin just stared between Koral and I looked like I had died. His frown deepened as he turned towards me. "What I'm wondering is how you're still here. Unless..."
He suddenly turned towards Koral, his eyes narrowing.
"What?!" she gasped, taking a step back. "Why are you looking at me like that? You know I would never do anything to hurt Wren!"
I slowly managed to somehow sit up, coming between them. "Um, yeah, and trying to drown myself isn't exactly on my bucket list so..."
Torin didn't skip a beat as if he didn't hear me at all, stepping straight past me to Koral.
"You know exactly what I'm thinking," Torin snapped. "I've known you long enough to recognize one of your schemes," he sneered at Koral, who simply crossed her arms and pouted.
"And I've known you long enough to know you would never openly accept this solution."
"I would never accept this solution at all, openly or not," Torin glared.
"Point proven."
My hands were now folded in my lap as I watched this back and forth like it was a tennis match. Both of them turned back to me, and Torin clasped his own tan hands. "I'm not going to ask how or why you're still here. We're just going to have to find another way to get you home."
"Torin!"
"What," he asked not really caring, already intent on formulating a plan while gathering the few things he had with him. "I told you I wouldn't change my mind."
"What if I can help," I said, finally gaining the courage to speak.
Torin stilled, bowing his head towards me. "No."
"No? That's it? Just no? I can help you and you know it! I don't know how, but I can feel it."
His only reply was, "We should get moving. You need to get home as soon as possible."
"Tor, don't you see? Even she realizes it. Why can't you?!" Koral insisted. Torin didn't answer, just tugged me to my feet. "You know, I thought you were the bravest person in the world. But I'm not so sure anymore— maybe you're just a cowardly pawn of the council."
"What's the council?"
"Do you really want to have this conversation now?" He sighed, ignoring my question.
"Yes! It is time you moved on from what happened to—"
Torin's voice had turned to ice. "Don't you dare. And in front of her? Really?"
All the questions that I'd kept bottled up or that had gone unanswered rose to the surface though the most random one seamed to burst out. "Who is Dhalia?" I blurted.
Koral and Torin paused, their gazes sliding to me slowly, like the eyes of predators. A chill swept through me. Torin spoke slowly, his voice filled with a deathly calm.
"How did you come across that name?"
At the same time Koral demanded, "What do you know about Dhalia?"
I suddenly felt a whole lot more awake with the weight of their stares beating down on me.
"I— nothing," I searched for the words. "I overheard you talking last night and I... I need to know."
Koral averted her gaze to the floor, wringing her slender hands. Torin just looked plain suspicious. "Why?"
"You speak of her as if... as if she's special. You said something about me being the solution. And she has something to do with that, doesn't she? So... who is Dhalia?" I repeated, albeit a bit more less confident.
This time, it was Koral who spoke up, still not meeting my eyes as she said: "I wish I could tell you, Wren. But we can't."
Torin nodded. "We need to focus on getting you home."
I stood, nodding absently. Dhalia had to be someone important, and I wouldn't settle for no answers. If they wouldn't tell me, I would find out myself. I had never let lack of help during my quests for knowledge get in my way before, and I wouldn't do so now.
As for Torin taking me back home... A spark of determination lit deep within me; My moms could wait.
I was in freaking faerie land for god's sake. And I had no intention of leaving any time soon.