Lucid Waking

            It took a while for Madren’s eyes to adjust from her night vision to see through the wall of blinding light and when they did, her nose wrinkled in disgust. She turned to him, blue eyes flashing.
            This is disgusting, why did you force me here?
            Conleth shoved the gun barrel farther into her back and stayed silent. She trotted along as slow as she could down into the ravine.
            “Unfinished business,” he said and continued to push her through the muck.
            She tried to file through his memories, but he kept pushing her away and all she could sense was melancholy anger. His silent persona wasn’t new to her, as they had been traveling for months to reach this dimensional pocket. The air was static with lingering souls from the bodies drowned in the muck. She sensed anger in every step underneath a begging pull at her heart. One of her hands clutched at her chest, involuntarily as her head started to throb. The mud came up to her ankles and buried in it were small sharp stones that dug themselves into her feet. She winced with pain and for once wished that she had those bizarre things called shoes that Conleth wore. At the speed he was pushing her, she had trouble sidestepping the numerous bodies.
            Let’s stop, she begged, turning to face him. He put the gun down to his side and turned to look at the landscape to his left. She watched his gold eyes scan the horizon for a moment before facing her again. 
            No, he thought, it’s too soon. We’re getting close; I can feel it.
            She sighed and knitted her eyebrows, even though her pointed ears could pick up a soft patter in the mud to her left. My feet—
            You’ll be well enough he interrupted, pulling her arm behind him as he continued. Besides, what have you got to lose? You’re family’s dead and the only people who can get you out of this mess are straight ahead.
            She pulled her arm away from his hand, with more force than she meant and stepped back. He turned around, desperation flashing on his face before his usual defiant frown. It’s all lies! You’re the murderer and I want out! I’m sick and tired of your arrogant attitude when all I wanted was my family and my voice back. You promised me that much!
            He lifted the gun and clicked off the safety. 
            Go ahead, kill me!
            They both stood in defiance for several minutes. Madren clenched her fists and stared straight into Conleth’s eyes. He stood with the gun pointing straight at her throat. Neither moved even when wind whipped up Madren’s leaf-green hair.
            “Defiant slaves? Aren’t they the worst?” a woman’s honey voice made both of them turn to the speaker. A tall fae woman stood before them. Her slanted eyes were tiger-lily orange and she wore a lose fitting white cotton dress that remarkably in the mud had not a speck of dirt. Her hair was blood red and fell to her lower back. She glided over to Conleth and put her hands on his shoulders; he looked the other way. “Pity you use guns to solve all your problems.” The woman smiled and glided to Madren. Her orange-tip-mimicked butterfly wings gently blew sweet air past Madren’s ear, making a low humming sound. “I don’t think you should worry much. It’s not loaded.”
            “Lilly, we meet again,” Conleth said, though he kept his gun still pointed at Madren’s neck.
            “I’m proud of you, Conleth. I’m surprised you remembered me so quickly; but isn’t that what your friends call you? Lightning?”
            Conleth put his gun away and put his hands on his hips, near the holster in the common defiant pose Madren knew well. “It’s loaded, Lil. One bullet. Ten Minutes.”
Lilly raised her eyebrows and turned to the cowering girl. She moved to face Madren and Lilly’s cold hands raised her chin until both women were eye level.
            You seem like the type of elf to Ped-ore. Can you understand what I’m saying?
            Madren stayed silent, slightly terrified. Behind the woman, Conleth was watching them both intently and slightly nervously. Yes, she said, timidly.
            Lilly relaxed. Good. She smiled. Then in the ten minutes I have, you need to understand that you’ll have to choose. There are two fates of souls after they die. They can either rest with their body or live on in a community. If they rest with their body, they can catch another body that is either sick or not born yet, and be reborn. If the body lives on they go to one of two otherworldly places: paradise or another dead earth, much like this place. Both the human and elf ideas of an afterlife and reincarnation are correct in these instances. To you, the important thing is that if you choose correctly, you can see your parents again.
            What about my voice?
            Lilly raised her eyebrows. I don’t know about your voice.
            “Five,” Conleth said in the background.
            How do I choose? What do I choose? Madren asked backing away from the woman.
            Lilly smiled. “If you could choose which one of us would die right now, whom would you choose?”
            Conleth sighed and pinched his nose bridge. “Damn it,” he whispered under his breath and turned away.
            Lilly faced him, “Regretting that you treated her so badly, now?”
            Madren glanced from Conleth’s turned figure to the woman’s smiling face. She thought of her parents and the time she spent as a child. She remembered the time the humans ran through killing any elf that stood up and murdering villages on the ground level of the city: her family included. But then she remembered the times Conleth had saved her life before she learned to take care of herself. How many nights had she cried herself to sleep for her family and found chocolate beside her when she woke up. It was a strange human food, but it made her feel better. Even though he did force her to walk when things got tough, especially the last stretch after he told her he needed her to kill an enemy of his. She was angry with him for pulling her into his business, but everything previously…He didn’t need to bring her along for her family. It was also around the death of her parents that she lost her voice, but that wasn’t his concern either, yet he seemed to go out of his way to get it back for her. But she could still feel the spot on her back where his pistol had dug in and her feet felt like they were bleeding under all the mud. In addition to that, she was still silent and had no family to get back to at home.
            What kind of a test is that! She screamed. Conleth pulled his hands to his ears and groaned slightly, but the woman only flinched as her smile disappeared. I don’t know you and I don’t like you she said pointing to Lilly and Conleth, respectively.
            Oh, sweet little dear, Lilly said gliding over beside her and stroking her shoulders and back. Don’t worry, just choose and it will all be over. “Besides, I believe you have plenty of time. Isn’t that right, Conleth?”
            Conleth nodded slightly but remained faced away from them. Madren felt sorry for him as he stood there ankle deep in mud, obviously biting his lip, waiting.
            Li-Light? She asked, timidly. Give me your gun.
            He turned around, worry clouding his face, and handed her the pistol without a question and stood back.
            “Well dear?” Lilly said pulling back, “what did you decide?”
            The girl pointed the pistol at Lilly and pulled the trigger.

            Rain was pouring down in buckets and the once muddy land was now a lake reflecting back the gray sky. Conleth and Madren sat under a willow tree, miles away from where they met Lilly, watching the water rise up around them.
            “I suppose I chose wrong after all,” Madren said, pulling her knees closer into her chest.
            “It’ll clear up soon enough,” Conleth said.
            “You said that for the last couple of days,” said Madren glancing up at the sky. “I don’t see any difference.”
            “I wouldn’t worry about it.”
            They both stopped talking, though the rain continued to pelt down on the eternal lake. Water slid down the branches and leaves of the tree around them, creating ripples to crash into the ones being created by the rain.
            “Who was she, anyway?” Madren said, eventually, focusing on the horizon.
            “Lilly? She was a malevolent spirit sent from Samonia to test travelers. She’ll be back after this rain. As soon as someone stumbles upon that spot, she’ll take them over. It’s the fae and elf idea of reincarnation, you know. She had something of mine that I needed back.”
            “What?”
            “My soul.”
            How–?
            “It was an accident, really. My friend and I stumbled upon the plain and thought we saw a friend we knew, so we went down there. I don’t know how we came up with that notion since you never saw anyone’s face, but there we were, stuck with Lilly and she asked him which one he would kill. We sat there for days because of his indecision without being allowed to leave and whether it was the hunger or Lilly’s charisma that finally got to him, but my friend told her he would rather see me dead. I did the only thing I could think of: bargain. I traded my soul for my friend’s life and it was a done deal. I wish I didn’t do something so stupid, but I was desperate. I wanted out and I wanted my life.”
            “How did you choose me when you decided to go back?”
            He shrugged. Did I have to choose, per se? I picked you because you were the most promising and the top of your class. I knew a couple elves in the village who taught you and recommended you. That and Lilly had something you need back, too.
            “My voice?”
            “Your voice.”
            The rain lessened when Madren stood up and looked at the sky again. Conleth excused himself and walked to the other side of the tree. She watched him go, before walking to the edge of the shrinking island. The sun shone back up at her and she smiled. Come play, it seemed to say to her and she felt as a child again. Pangs of homesickness hit her as she felt her family waiting in their new house on the ground level of the city, going about their daily chores of churning butter and making preserves.
            “Just a few more years for the sun to evaporate all this water and we can leave this place,” she called out.
            She heard a laugh from the opposite shore, “Good, I can’t wait to leave.”
 

            Within the hour, the water line had almost completely receded and dry land was visible again. The valley they had left was now covered in calla lilies and docile, but they went the opposite way towards the forest. The sun set later than usual, but the lavenders and golds in the sky compensated for the time. The moss was cool and lush under her feet when she finally stepped into the forest. Stars shone overhead as she ran towards her family house, identifying it when she spotting them eating in the window. As she reached the door, she turned around to face Conleth. She wasn’t sure if he could see her, but she waved anyway.
            Thanks.
            He nodded. The same to you, Madren. He saluted and walked off to the west, presumably home.

Filed under: Fantasy by Bri

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