The siblings’ joyous reunion is abruptly interrupted by Will smacking into the coffee table, the candle winking out as it falls off one side and the books fly off the other, him tumbling over the edge to the carpet below. Pages from the brutalized books flutter around him as he blinks up at the ceiling, his mind struggling to justify his continued persistence in this uncaring and unforgiving world as Elizabeth ashamedly giggles at her brother’s unfortunate plight.

Struggling to sit up, his hands catching and slipping on the pages now littering the floor, some sliding off of the top of his head, he looks up at Elizabeth in the eyes, wondering just what it is that’s so funny about his ever-raging war against the forces of gravity. She reaches her arm out to pull him up and, not learning his lesson, Will goes to grab it.

Their hands never touch, instead his fingers uselessly grasping at chilled air as goosebumps travel up his arm, a chill climbing from the tips of his fingers and rattling his spine. He stares blankly ahead, not quite comprehending the situation and his arm still hovering in the air as Elizabeth awkwardly draws hers back into herself.

Shaking to his senses, Will scrambles back to his feet, and the two stare at each other for another few painful minutes, before the eye contact becomes entirely unbearable and he hurriedly searches for literally anything else to stare at. Elizabeth, already fully acquainted with her brother’s awkward behavior, largely ignores his behavior and instead lets out the sigh of a teenaged girl thoroughly exhausted with the multitude of life, before soundlessly plopping down on the couch behind her, staring at the fireplace ahead of her. Will, deciding that there wasn’t that much interesting to find in the empty kitchen, does much the same, taking his seat considerably less noiselessly next to his sister.

A few minutes pass as the siblings stare at nothing in particular as if it were the most captivating thing in the world. Despair had given way to a messy, confused feeling within both of them, one that isn’t quite a good or bad feeling. The best description Will could come up for it is grey. But grey was never an interesting color to him, he much preferred blue, if you couldn’t already tell, so he decided to do something to do away with the grey feeling. For quite possibly the first time in his life, he initiated a conversation.

“So, uh… wanna talk about it?” he says rather plainly. He’s not terribly sure what exactly “it” is, however. Maybe “it” is simply everything. He supposes he’ll just let Elizabeth figure that part out. Which she does, sighing the same sigh, before opening her mouth and letting “it” come tumbling out into a messy pile at her feet.

---

I was reading in the living room, as usual, and Mom was in the kitchen, as usual, and we just… went about the afternoon. As usual. But, in just one second, without warning, everything was engulfed by this… red… mist, I think, and I couldn’t see anything. I felt this weird tingling feeling all over my body, like everything just went numb, like the entire world had just fell from beneath me, but it was cold too, so freaking cold, and I… I dropped my book then… I think I could hear Mom drop hers as well… It all just happened so fast, and suddenly I was moving…! My legs wouldn’t move, my arms wouldn’t move, but I just felt like I was moving… somehow… and I don’t think I was touching the ground, either.

But then I stopped, like I was on a leash. Whatever was making me move… It was like something had lassoed my neck and was pulling on me, but something else had me on a leash or something. It pulled and pulled and pulled, and it kept pulling, and I felt like my whole body was being ripped apart, atom by atom, until it all just stopped. The red mist left. I could see again. The tingling was gone, and I was back in my seat. But… I still couldn’t feel anything.

I got up and looked around and saw that Mom was gone. I tried not to freak out. “She must have just… gone outside!” ...at least I told myself. I didn’t believe it, but, I believed I believed it, so I guess that was enough. I went to the door and… my… hand went through the knob. Like it wasn’t even there. It just felt cold. I was cold. And alone. I couldn’t feel. Just… cold.

I kept trying and trying, my hands phasing in and out of the door, until I’d had enough and just threw myself at it. Of course, I went through. At that point, I was beyond freaking out. So many thoughts and fears just started bubbling up and I was starting to cry and… then I saw them. At the end of the street. So I hid in between a couple houses, holding my breath, not moving, until they left. I knew at once that somehow they were behind this, but it still made no sense how. But all of those thoughts went out the window... when I saw you.

I uh, got pretty excited… I guess… heh… But that ended pretty quickly when I realized you couldn’t see me. You just walked past in a daze, not responding to me when I yelled, screamed… cried… hit you… Then you just… passed out, and I was left alone again. I cried. A lot. I felt like the sky had just fallen on top of me, squishing me into a little red spot, but still keeping me alive for some reason. And after a while, I didn’t feel alive. I was pretty much dead.

...And then you woke up.

---

“So, uh… that’s pretty much it.”

Her final words are so ridiculously simple in comparison to the haunting monologue of Despair she had just casually tossed into his lap he might have laughed if his heart hadn’t completely gone cold. He glares intensely at the nothing in front of him, lips pressed to his tightly clasped hands in thought. His knuckles would be turning white if they weren’t already.

For the majority of his sixteen years of life, he had read. So had his sister. His life had been quite dull up until recently, with the same day seeming to pass indefinitely for years. So, he would read nearly every chance he got. From the start of each morning, to the long hours of the night, to every time off he had from his chores. He would explore worlds far beyond his own within the shadow of the Guardian Wall, ones with unthinkable creatures and technologies, magic and forces outside his comprehension. He had fathomed the unfathomable, seen the impossible become possible, and yet… after all of those adventures, the last page was always a staunch reminder that the world he had just explored did not exist. Sometimes, that depressed him, and other times he was quite thankful. But on this night, this terrible, perplexing night, so many things had happened that he could not understand. Unfathomable, impossible things. And he didn’t know what to do about that.

From the sudden kidnapping of an entire village, to magical leashes dragging his sister around, to spontaneous ghostification, none of it made any sense to him. Despite everything he had read, he wasn’t prepared for this. There was no precedent. No clear directions or solutions. And, worst of all, most terrifying of all, the thing that held his throat and froze his heart, is that this is very, very real. This isn’t a story. This is his world. And that scared the hell out of him.

As if to be reassured in this fact, he slapped his palm firmly against his forehead. This apparently does nothing to any effect other than leaving a round, red mark on his forehead in a shape just smaller than his palm. It also hurt a bit.

“Will, what do we do now?”

His eyes open. He didn’t even realize they were closed. Dragging his hand over his face from his forehead, he looks up at his sister, and she doesn’t meet his gaze. Her body is completely still, her eyes stare blankly ahead, and she does everything in her power to give herself an air of introspective serenity. But he’s not stupid. He could hear the crack in her voice, he can see her hand clutching her knee in a death grip, and her eyes. The uncertainty, the fear. Despite all of her vain efforts to hold herself together, he can feel everything she is just by looking at her. And this is partly due to the fact that they were already feeling a lot of the same.

“Ah’don’ really know,” he breathes, looking back down into his lap, his lips pressing into a thin line. “Way I see it, we got two options: We could stick around here, scrape out a living, pretty sure we’d only need to eat for one… or we could try ‘n follow th’ bastards who did this.” Elizabeth is shocked by his language; sure, he’s cursed from time to time, and “bastard” isn’t the worst of them, but she can feel something hidden beneath his use of the word. Will looks back up at her, grinning, amused by her reaction, before standing up and strolling to the window, pressing his forehead to the top of the sill as he stares out at the barren streets beyond their walls.

“There’s bound to be plenty of leftover food, farmland, etcetera… We-or rather I-could prolly pretty easily get by. I could maybe put myself to work somehow,” he says, his breath fogging up the window pane before him. Elizabeth chuckles to herself at the thought of Will in farm clothes, tending to soil in the hot sun, still stubbornly wearing that cloak of his. “Will, you haven’t done a hard day’s work in your life-” “Or we could go into th’ valley,” he interrupts, looking back at her and leaning against the wall, arms crossed. “And figgre what the hell is goin’ on.”

Elizabeth raises her eyebrow at him, giving a mocking smirk as she says, “That’s suicide and you very well know it. We don’t know what those things are capable of. Besides, what’re you gonna do when you finally catch up, huh? Call them a ‘mothershucker’ and hope that scares them off?” He expels a slight amount of air from his nostrils, raising his own eyebrow in retaliation, retorting, “Well, it wasn’t exactly in the plan, but if you think it’d work…” They stare at each other a moment longer, their eyebrows fighting for dominance, sarcastic smirks growing wider, before Will finally sighs and his face returns serious.

He glances out the window again. “I just wanna do something, y’know? Like, there’s not a lot to do here other than get weird looks and get chased by old ladies… but now even that’s gone. I just need somewhere to go, something to do, just…” His face scrunches up in frustration. “Something!” Elizabeth’s face softens, stepping forward to reassure her brother. “Will…” But he’s already starting a whole new tangent.

“I’ve never had a place in this village, I never made friends, hardly anyone even acknowledged my existence. But I don’t think I’d be able to live with myself if I just sat around and did nothing. Maybe it is suicide, but…” He takes a moment to regain control of himself. He’s begun shuddering, and he feels the sting of newborn tears attacking the backs of his eyes. Despair is taking him, but he isn’t letting it. He takes a deep breath, in his nose, holds it, and lets out his mouth. “It’s not like I’d have much of a life here anyways.”

Elizabeth looks at Will, shaking and holding back tears, and it finally hits her just how similar their feelings are at the moment. The hopelessness, the fear, the constant wondering of what the future will hold for them. She cautiously approaches her fearful brother, placing her hand on his shoulder. Miraculously, it doesn’t go through, resting directly on his shoulder. He gives out another shudder, the chills returning, but he’s still comforted by her presence. She looks into his eyes, Will struggling to return her gaze, and he sees her full big-sister powers activate. Her eyes are full of love for him despite their redness, her hand is cold, but it feels protective, and her smile is perfectly genuine. She pulls in close, wrapping her arms around him, holding him close. He tries his hardest to return her embrace, pulling his arms around her, but he just ends up hugging himself.

“I wish I had an answer, Will. I wish I knew what to do, where to go. But I’m just as lost as you are. Still, just know that I’ll always be with you. Even if you can’t feel me, hear me, or even see me, I’ll still be there to hold your hand,” she says. Will continues to tremble, unsure if it’s from the tears threatening release, or from his sister’s chilling embrace. All he knows is that he’s feeling way too much right now for him to fully identify a single emotion. He pulls away, looking back up at her. “I just wish we had something to tell us what we need to do. Some kind of sign, anything, even if just to remind us that God’s still there.”

The words had hardly left his quivering lips when an eerie blue glow began to wash over the two of them. Their heads whirl around to the window, the blue light beginning to envelope the entire room. Will stumbles back, his heart pounding, a new fear gripping him. Is this the Demon’s doing? Or something else? Their whole motif seemed to be red, so it feels unlikely, but-

His thoughts are interrupted by the arrival of the glow’s culprit in the form of a little floating blue ball of light. Wisps of blue light curl off of its shimmering surface, the creature/object being about the size of a child’s kicking ball and hovering about an inch off the ground. It slowly bobs up and down, completely silent. “Th’ hell izzat…?” Will mumbles, staring in disbelief at the new arrival, as if the night couldn’t get any weirder. (Trust me, it will.)

Elizabeth hasn’t moved, less shocked at the new friend and more struck by the ironic consequences of Will’s previous statement, hoping for a “sign.” “Matthew 7:7,” she breathes, looking in awe at the requested sign before her. She whips her head back at Will, excitement lighting her face up. “Will, I think this is it! A sign!” He returns her gaze with less enthusiasm. “This…?” he asks. “This is our sign from God…? A glowing ball?”

Her smile droops slightly at his less-enthusiastic attitude. The way she sees it, this is their sign, their hope. “Well, I mean, it might not look like much, but…” She kneels on the floorboards, approaching the object and reaching her hand out. “It’s gotta be something though, right?” Will attempts to pull her back, his hand grabbing nothing as he cautions, “Maybe you shouldn’ touch it-”

The moment her hand makes contact with the ball, the world is overtaken by a blinding golden light.

When his vision returns, Will is staring at the ceiling, his back on the solid floorboards below him. For the second time this night, he has been tossed onto his back without a clue as to how. He doesn’t even feel any aches or anything indicating he fell.

A distant voice calls to him, “Hey, Will, you coming?”

Pushing himself back off of the floor once more, somehow with even more difficulty this time, he sits on his butt and looks around dazedly for the source of the voice. Then it reveals itself through the window, Elizabeth poking her head clear through the class without difficulty. She looks around a moment, before noticing him on the floor and frowning down at him. “How did you end up down there…?” she asks. “As if ah’ve gotta clue,” Will groans as he strains to his feet. He then meets her gaze, her head still poking through the window as if it were a completely normal occurrence. “How did you end up out there?” She shrugs, “Same answer as you, I guess. Bright light, ended up out here.” She gives him a mocking smirk. “Least I didn’t end up on my back,” she giggles. Will rolls his eyes as her face returns somewhat serious. “Anyways, the blue-ball-thing ended up out here too, and he’s quite energetic. I think he wants us to follow him.” Will raises his eyebrows. “Follow it? What makes you so sure? Also, he…?”

Elizabeth’s face turns strange, looking deep in thought. “ dunno,” she mumbles, before returning to her bright self. “In any case, I’m pretty sure he/it does want us to follow it, so I say get out here!” She then promptly yanks her head back through the glass and strolls to her new friend.

Will shrugs, pulling the door open, stepping outside, but something stops him. He looks over his shoulder at his childhood home, the place he’s lived for his entire life. It isn’t quite in the best shape. Books and pages on the floor, the lanterns slowly losing their flame. He only hopes that he’ll get to return soon. He isn’t ready to leave forever just yet.

And with that, he walks out into the cool, nightly air, pulling the door shut behind him. More goosebumps crawl within his skin, but this time they’re less assaulting. The night has always been a comfort to him; dark, quiet, chilled. No man, woman, or child walk the streets this late. But now it’s too quiet. He’s quickly reminded of all of the people, the families, the children, all whisked away in an instant. He may have never felt a connection with this town or its people, but this isn’t something he’ll take lightly. The woman who cared for him all of his life, his mother, and even the kids who would bully him as a young child, he would save them all.

He doesn’t know where these thoughts came from; he never saw himself as much of a hero. But still, a thrill goes through him at the prospect nonetheless. He thinks of all of the heroes he had come to love over time: A boy who stole the thunder, another with lightning scarring his face. A slumbering champion with a fairy on a quest to save a princess. A lonesome kid blessed and cursed with great responsibilities. Perhaps, one day, he could be like those heroes.

“Hey, Will? Oracle to Will?”

His sister’s voice shakes him out of his inner monologue. Without even realizing, he was standing in the center of the street alongside Elizabeth, staring ahead into empty space. He finally becomes aware of the hand passing over his vision, that hand belonging to his slightly irritated older sister. “Dude, you zoned out again,” she chides, though her face shows no real sign of annoyance. “Sorry,” he mumbles sheepishly.

He somehow only just notices the ball, which, like Elizabeth said, has gotten quite energetic, though that may be an understatement. It bounces up and down. Hitting the ground, flying into the air, drawing invisible Ms in the space in front of him. He watches its erratic dance, before looking back to Elizabeth and asking, “So.. if it wants us to follow it… how do we get it to move?” Elizabeth thinks on this for a moment, before shrugging, “Guess we just do what we did last time,” and reaches her hand out to touch it again. “NO!” Will jumps in front of her hand as it slips past his ribcage and tickles his heart. He doubles over, clutching his heart and shivering as he recovers from one the most surreal experiences of his life, which all seem to be piling up quickly around him.

He recovers rather quickly once the goosebumps leave, so he pulls himself up, looks his sister in the eye, and points behind him, and states, “No touch.” “Alright,” Elizabeth responds. “Though, I don’t think I need to.” She points behind him and he follows her finger to see the ball at the far end of the road… at the base of the valley.

Several thoughts and feelings pass over him, all of them bad.

“That’s the forbidden valley,” Will states.

“Yep,” Elizabeth responds.

“That’s also where the Demon went.”

“Yes he did.”

“We’re not even supposed to go there under normal circumstances, but this…”

“Mhm.”

Their gazes meet, and they both know they’ve already made their decision. They have nowhere to turn, nowhere to go but forward. Elizabeth gestures forward, and Will takes the lead, his sister following close behind.

He pauses for a moment as they pass over Nalan’s street and into the grass, and he looks to his left. Her house, the house of Ms. Lingham, a crazy old bat who chased with a sandal and suffered something far beyond his comprehension, still stands there, ever shadowed by the mountains ahead. Her howl still rings fresh in the back of his mind, and he has come to know its meaning; The Howl of Despair.

A feeling he prays he will never feel himself. He almost curses himself for even saying it, as if even thinking of a poor future will set it in stone.

He turns away, gazing back at the darkness, the glow from the ball hardly even permeating the ink. A cold hand rests on his shoulder, but he doesn’t flinch or shudder this time. The cold feels safe.

They step forward in the valley, in the shadow of death, and with his sister by his side, he fears no evil.