– … –

My eyes lazily scanned the gray engravings upon the black walls as my finger traced their lines through a silver fluid. The liquid had a strange consistency, changing with the speed of the things moving it, keeping them at the same speed. The faster I moved my finger, the more resistance the liquid had. My mind drifted away as my finger continued to trace the symbol with impeccable accuracy.

A dark figure shrouded in a red robe materialized within the engraving on the wall and pulled itself free.

“Yes… your excellency?”

– Lewis –

“What were you FUCKING THINKING?!” Aeryn yelled at me from across the library.

Her body's mental figure was slumped at the base of a pillar, weak and dull instead of the shine she usually emitted within the mental plane.

I collapsed at the doorway, resting against it. My body ached all over, a continuous pulse of pain steadily thumped within it.

“WE COULD HAVE DIED.” She continued her pained yelling.

“I know.” I whispered back.

Her pale red-violet eyes were weary and pained as they shimmered to welcome a flow of tears.

“IT… hurt… it hurt… so badly.” She stammered out.

“It felt like my soul was going to shatter…” She painfully whispered.

I cast my gaze away from her trembling figure, wanting to comfort her, but I knew that it wasn’t my place.

“Do you know just how hard it is to keep someone’s soul together while they drain it dry just because they want to fight a lost fight?” She asked me, her tone laced with accusation.

I curled further into myself, withholding a useless answer.

Pain and silence draped themselves over us like blankets, and we embraced their hold.

--~~~--

I awoke within a pile of books, opened to various pages and strewn around me.

Aeryn was within her own pile, I thought.

Why were some of her books glowing… gold?

Shouldn’t they be black or dark gray?

“Afternoon.” She said, not lifting her eyes from the pages.

“Mmm.” I mumbled back, still feeling weak pulses of pain.

“Aeryn?” I began.

“Hmm?” She hummed back, slightly lifting her gaze to mine.

“Some of your books are… mustard gold now. Did you do something?”

“Ah, you noticed!” She exclaimed, removing the damp emotional blanket that hung around her.

“I’m not completely sure what it means, but I can kinda understand any of your gold books.” She explained.

“So… I can do the same for yours…” I concluded.

“Probably. It isn’t much though, think of it like… for every hundred words you understand, I understand one.” Aeryn grumbled, unhappy at the inefficiency of it.

“Hundred to one is much better than none though!” I squeezed out in an effort to lighten the mood.

“I guess so.” She replied, turning back to the book infront of her.

“Go and check the situation outside, I’m not sure what happened after you blacked out.”

“Alright…” I started.

“Don’t worry, due to your nonsensical fighting, I can stay in here while you’re outside.” She interrupted.

--~~~--

The rough carriage wheels trekked over the uneven land as stones attempted in vain to stop its march.

Endless plains of stone and a light blue sky replaced the familiar view of grass and orange as we traveled through the unknown land. My eyes lost focus and a vignette surrounded my vision and I brought up the map.

Dinevar hovered in gold at the top, yet it was all fog. Nothing was clear like it was back in the Forest of Waking Dreams, or Mainee.

I peered out to the horizon, attempting to find some change in the barren landscape.

--~~~--

Fleeting images of scenery were scattered around my memory as I drifted between being awake and staying in the Mental Plane.

The rocky planes were replaced by flower fields of red and yellow, only for them to be consumed by dominating giant trees of a forest. Hills rose and sank and lakes swelled and dried as we passed through the land of the Dinevar.

Eventually, a tower rose in the distance. A fortress’ tower.

At least the prison looks… decent.

Small, almost warm, memories of stew by the fire under a starry sky plastered themselves over the hard days riding in the barred wagon. Days of travel that seemed to stretch on and on, longer and longer as the days went by.

I tried again and again to read the library’s tomes, but the information bounced off my weary brain like morning dew off fresh leaves.

On the other hand, Aeryn had almost merged with her ever-growing pile of books, turning black to silver to white. Helping me translate the gold ones to expand my own abilities.

She would read, read, and read, practice, practice and then practice again until her mind forcibly shut off her connection with the mental plane. I could feel her presence getting stronger, heavier, more oppressive, as the days went by.

Suddenly, a faint breath whispered into my ear, then faded as if it was stolen by wind.

“Your… time.. training.. soon..”

“It’s you, isn’t it? The girl in white?” I ask back, not concerning myself with her previous words.

The atmosphere took on a strange feel, not a heavy tone, nor one to fear, but it was unsettling.

The whisper picked up, a hint of tone could be heard within it.

“I’ll.. train you… soon… at the.. tower..” She whispered.

“Let… the girl.. take over…”

Then, the whisper faded, and the atmosphere faded to its usual emptiness.

I stood up and walked over to Aeryn’s fortress of books and pulled out a tired head.

“Sleepy head, stop studying and rest.”

A gaze so full of annoyance that it could materialize as a knife glared at me.

“Our guardian angel wants you to take over while I train.”

Days seemed to shorten as we traveled closer to that tower; my swampy mind shook off its bog and began to ponder the unknown fate that awaited us there.