Lucas flew through the portal, screaming in terror. He felt as though a magnet were pulling him down the swirling tunnel of colors as his body flailed helplessly. Luckily, the journey only lasted a few seconds before he suddenly found his feet on the ground. He felt no impact and was standing upright, completely uninjured despite the high-velocity he had just experienced.
Speechless, he observed the surrounding landscape. He seemed to be in a small field surrounded by trees. However, the environment was completely colorless. He could see the outline of each plant as bright white lines filled in only with solid black. It was most intriguing, appearing as though the entire landscape had been drawn by a large pen with white ink on a black canvas.
Lucas bent down, mouth agape, and touched a small flower with his index finger. It felt normal enough. Looking up at the sky, his eyes were treated to a sea of stars. Despite the fact that it appeared to be a night sky, he had no trouble seeing the area around him. “Where am I?” he muttered to himself. Grandpa! He has no idea where I am! I need to get out of here. Lucas quickly turned around. The portal had disappeared. “Roshan?” he shouted. “I need to go home! Let me out of here!” There was no reply. Lucas felt fear, but this time it was definitely his own.
He turned around toward the direction he was originally facing. Didn’t Roshan say someone would be waiting for me? I don’t see anyone. After standing there for several minutes, Lucas finally decided to walk forward. He took small, slow steps at first. Gradually, he increased his stride to a normal walking pace and reached the edge of the surrounding forest. He gazed into it, unsure if he should continue onward, or return to the spot where he initially arrived. After a few moments of consideration, he slowly proceeded into the mysterious forest that lay before him.
Reaching into his pocket, he felt the disk fragment. As he walked along, Roshan’s words zipped through his head. Damiano’s Disk... If what he said was true, my father was killed because of this damn thing.
He walked deeper into the woods, hopping over a small creek of gray water. Halting momentarily to look over his shoulder, he could now barely see the field. Maybe I should stop here. If I go too far, I might not ever find my way back. Why me? Why am I here right now? I don’t want to be involved with any of this. I just want to go home and forget everything that’s happened to me. Roshan was right, some things are better left unknown.
He reluctantly continued walking, occasionally glancing up at the sky which was hardly visible through the branches. Even though he expected it to get darker as he ventured deeper into the forest, the lighting never changed. He walked for several more minutes and was about to turn back when he felt it. Emotion... someone’s nearby. As he slowly walked forward, the feeling grew stronger, though it remained too complicated to describe.
Suddenly, he heard a rustling in the trees overhead, not far in front of him. Lucas became frightened and unsheathed his sword. “I don’t want any trouble,” he said nervously, looking in the direction of the rustling, attempting to see what had caused it. Unfortunately, the leaves were far too thick and he was unable to make anything out.
He heard no reply from the stealthy lurker. Maybe this is the person I’m supposed to give the fragment to. Lucas spoke up again. “My name is Lucas Bardsson. Roshan sent me.” After a few seconds of silence, he heard the rustling again. Suddenly, someone dropped out from the concealment of the tree branches and landed on their feet on the ground in front of him.
It was a girl with blue eyes and thick, shaggy, black hair which didn’t extend far past her chin. She was wearing all black, dressed in a long-sleeved shirt accompanied by a skirt which went down below her knees. Her boots were similar to Lucas’s, with the exception of their color. A brown sack was tied to the belt on her waist and a scythe strapped to her back. She was noticeably shorter than him and appeared to be around his age.
“Roshan sent you?” she queried with her arms crossed, raising an eyebrow.
“Yes,” Lucas replied, cautiously sheathing his sword. “I’m supposed to find someone named... uh...”
She stared blankly at him as he stammered.
“Zoe?” she asked, irritated.
“Yeah. That’s it. You’re her, right?”
She rolled her eyes and slumped her arms to her side. “Seriously? Is this a joke or something?”
Lucas shook his head. “I’m still, very... very confused about what’s going on here. Where am I?”
Zoe looked puzzled. “You really don’t know?”
Lucas shook his head again. “No. It all happened so fast.”
Zoe paused for a moment. “So what you’re telling me is that Roshan sent you here without explaining where you were going?” Lucas nodded as Zoe continued to stare at him in disbelief. Finally, she elaborated. “This is the In Between. It’s a dimension between Aria and the Netherworld.”
Lucas was shocked. “I’m in another dimension?!”
Zoe nodded. “Now that we have that cleared up, why did Roshan send you here?”
“Well, from what I understand,” Lucas replied, “I’m supposed to give you this.” He took the disk fragment out of his pocket and handed it to her.
Zoe’s expression changed to a mixture of surprise and confusion as she snatched it out of his hands. “What the hell are you doing with the disk fragment?!”
She examined the fragment before stuffing it into her bag. “Well? What happened?”
Lucas cleared his throat. “I was on my way to Cymbeline to visit the blacksmith, when I came across an old man being attacked by imps. I fought them off of him, but it was too late. In his final words, he asked me to take the fragment to Roshan. So when I got to Cymbeline, I found his restaurant and gave it to him. After he took it, he started to fill me in on some... interesting background information about the Knowms and the Spades. But we were interrupted when we heard the front door burst open and someone shout for everyone to get out. That’s when he handed the fragment back to me and sent me here. From what I gathered, some Knowms made their way into the restaurant and–”
Zoe’s eyes widened as Lucas experienced a surge of fear and worry. “Roshan!” she gasped, nearly knocking him to the ground as she bolted in the direction he had walked from.
Lucas ran after her. “Wait!” She was quick, but he managed to keep up. That is, until his right boot slammed into a tree root. He fell to the ground with a thud. The impact was painful, but he didn’t suffer any major injuries. After getting back to his feet, Zoe was nowhere to be seen. Still, he continued in the direction she had run. Only this time, he walked.
A minute later, in the distance, he heard her angrily shout, “Where’s the stupid portal?!” He soon reached the small field he had materialized in to find Zoe with her back turned, gazing where the portal should have been.
Lucas approached her, sensing sadness. “Is there supposed to be one on this side too? I don’t remember ever seeing one.” There was a pause.
Then Zoe spoke softly, “He destroyed it.” She turned around and faced Lucas. Her tone returned to normal. “Follow me.” She went back into the forest.
“Where are we going?” Lucas asked as he walked behind her.
“I’m taking you back to Aria,” she replied.
Lucas was delighted. Thank goodness. As they continued to walk, Lucas could feel Zoe’s sadness and worry growing with each passing minute. “I’m sorry about Roshan,” he finally said. Zoe didn’t reply. After another moment or two, he spoke again. “So, is what the Knowms are doing legal?”
“Yes,” she replied rigidly. “King Ashraf stupidly gave them the same level of legal jurisdiction as any other member of his royal guard. As long as they can come up with some bullcrap reason for what they did, Roshan’s fate is sealed.” Lucas sensed her emotion shifting into a deep sorrow, accompanied by the distinct feeling of frustration.
He took a few quick steps and walked beside her. “You know, it’s okay if you’re sad. You don’t have to–”
“Are you reading me?!” she screamed as Lucas’s heart jumped. After shooting him an ugly glare, she stopped walking and said, “Umbra animi motus tego.” Immediately, the feeling of sadness left Lucas. She continued walking, muttering, “Stupid Light magic.”
Lucas was intrigued. “Light magic?”
“I know what you can do!” she snapped. “You won’t fool me.”
Lucas continued to follow Zoe. “I’m not sure what you mean. I don’t know anything about magic.”
“Sure,” Zoe scoffed.
Lucas caught up and walked beside her again. “I’m serious! I’ve always been able to sense other people’s emotions. My grandpa is the same way. It’s one of the main reasons we continued to live outside of the city when the monster invasion began. Spending too much time around all of those people can be torturous.” Zoe didn’t reply. After a short pause, Lucas asked, “So, what did you do?” Zoe looked at him with a raised eyebrow. He explained, “To stop it, I mean, just a minute ago. How did you do it?”
“I didn’t stop it. I possess Shadow magic. All I did was block my emotions from your dumb little ‘feelers.’” She glared at him. “What I feel is none of your business.”
Lucas was puzzled. “I didn’t even know there was such a thing as Light magic or Shadow magic. I’ve seen mages perform Ice magic and Fire magic, but that’s all. Granted, I’m not around mages very often...”
“You’re always around mages,” Zoe argued. “Everyone has the potential. It’s just a matter of taking the time to learn the art. That’s the part that stops most people. It takes a lot of practice just to learn basic conjuring.”
The pair jumped across another creek. Lucas glanced back at the gray water. “Everything here is so bizarre looking.” Zoe said nothing and continued to walk. Eying the scythe strapped to her back, Lucas asked, “What’s that for? Do you grow wheat?”
Zoe suppressed a smile. “Not quite. It’s a weapon.”
Lucas observed the woods around him for the next few minutes of their trek. “The In Between... what’s the difference between this place and the Netherworld?”
Zoe shrugged, “I wouldn’t know the specifics. I’ve never seen the Netherworld. No one who’s alive has. It’s where souls go to rest.”
Lucas raised his eyebrows in curiosity. “So what’s the purpose of this dimension?”
“It’s a buffer,” she explained, “Things are a lot different in the Netherworld. It’s very abstract. Trying to comprehend the way it looks and feels to be there is impossible. It’s nothing like the physical environment of our dimension. Think of the In Between as a little bit of both worlds. If souls stop here before moving fully into the Netherworld, it becomes somewhat of a playground for them. They can become anything they want or do anything they please. But there are consequences. While they’re here in this ‘clay’ form, they’re weak. The In Between can be accessed from the physical world using things called ‘gateways,’ such as the one you went through. A mage well trained in advanced necromancy can go through one of these portals to hunt and transform these ‘lost souls’ into any shape they choose and enslave them. They can then be taken back to the physical world in their new form.” Zoe paused for a second. “That’s how the Knowms get their monsters.”
Lucas gasped. “All this time... all those monsters I’ve killed. They were once people?”
Zoe gave a single nod. “The truth hurts sometimes. But don’t worry about it; you’ve done them a favor. Hopefully they’ve learned their lesson and moved on to whatever’s on the other side.”
Lucas thought for a moment. “Why did Roshan even have a gateway in the first place?”
“You ask way too many questions!” Zoe quickly snapped. “Do I look like an information desk to you?!” Lucas turned away. After a few seconds, Zoe apologized. “Sorry, I don’t have the best people skills. If you must know, we have a base here. The In Between is much larger than Aria. It’s easier to hide from the Knowms, though they have found two of our hideouts so far. Luckily I wasn’t there when the most recent event took place, but from what I was told, it was brutal. There was a lot of bloodshed. A few managed to slip away with the disk fragment and handed it off to Morice, who lives in Krywood Forest just southwest of Cymbeline. The majority of us live at the base, but we have some members still stationed in Aria. Mostly, they’re small business owners who provide funding, though they also lend a hand in situations like the one I just described. Morice held onto it until we relocated to our current base. Today was the day he was supposed to deliver it to Roshan, then him to me... but...” She ceased talking.
Lucas didn’t need his sense to be able to tell that she was upset over what had happened. He decided to change the subject. “Where’s this Temple of Damiano, anyway?”
“Nazareno Island,” Zoe replied. “It’s isolated in the middle of the Western Ocean. No one’s really sure who built the temple. All we know is that it’s been there longer than recorded history.”
The two continued to walk for several hours through fields and forests. Lucas knew that they had traveled quite a way, but all of the surrounding landscape looked to him as though it were repeating itself. Eventually, they came to a large field bordered by massive mountains. In the middle was a bright vortex of swirling colors. After a little more walking, they reached the portal and stopped in front of it. “This will take you back to Aria,” Zoe explained. “I hope you’re ready to walk some more, because you’re going to have to do some traveling to make it back to Cymbeline.”
“How much traveling?” Lucas asked.
“A lot,” Zoe bluntly replied.
Lucas stared into the portal. He was happy to be returning home, but simultaneously anxious about the frightening journey back through the colorful tunnel. He clenched his fists and prepared to make the dive. “Goodbye Zoe. Thanks for everything.” There was no reply. He looked over his shoulder to see that she had already begun to make her way across the field back into the forest. Turning his attention back to the portal, he jumped inside.