The sky terminated abruptly, its edge a serrated tear. The fractured-firmament mirrored the land beneath; both wounded in a cataclysmic event. Beyond The Sundered Cliffs, where one world was severed from another, there was nothing...
In place of life, sky, land and love a vacuous-blackness prevailed; an empty and star-barren void. Spectacular to behold, the panoramic-slash in reality offered a sight unlike another.
All along the toothed-edge the land was dead and barren. No plants grew; not a moss, lichen nor mould. No creature scuttled, flew or burrowed. Only one aspect broke the endless stretch of wind-polished stone. One tiny wart on the lip of eternity; an imperfection not even time could hope to remove…
Resting on stilts, which leaned out over the edge, was a dilapidated, wooden house. It was the kind of dwelling most sane people would mindfully-avoid. Even if you overlooked the distinctly-hostile location, the residence itself was unwelcoming. Its face was altogether more sinister, wicked and downright-evil than it ought to be.
Additionally, to reach the building’s crooked-stoop one was required to negotiate a path of wooden columns. Thirteen steps, to be precise. A metal signpost, driven into the ground at the foot of the crossing, offered an ominous warning.
You stand before The House of Styx,
Wherein, we three descry.
For a rate-unknown, one fate will be shown,
Fail to pay and the cost will be high…
An addendum, letters angrily-gouged into the metal, beneath the rhyme read;
This is not a guest-house; tourist information, gift shop, sight-seeing opportunity or entrance to another dimension. Consider yourself warned…
Nocturna stared at the sign from under her cloak. She shook her head disparagingly and lowered the hood. Her moon-hue skin shone against the blackness around her. Turning her back on the stilted-shack she searched the landscape for sighs of movement. The horizon was still, disappointingly so. Nocturna folded her arms and tapped her foot impatiently.
She had been waiting for what felt like an eternity. In all honesty she really couldn't be sure of time’s stride; not when she was this close to the edge. The Sundered Cliffs had a way of distending things like time and thought. Over the edge such concepts did not apply.
Nocturna searched the distance again. At last spying the signal she sought. A white carriage, mounted between two large racing-snails, charged across the horizon at tremendous speed.
The lightening-fast molluscs were gleaming white and their shells golden. Behind them two iridescent ribbons, streaks of viscous rainbow, marked the hasty-trail.
The passenger-cabin, strapped between the sizeable shells, bore a striking resemblance to a boat. The front bow provided a deck from which the driver navigated. Queen Natura turned a large, captain’s wheel and steered the vessel toward the wooden house.
The carriage hurtled across the rocky tundra and skidded to a halt, kicking up clouds of grey dust, a few feet from the edge. Natura waved enthusiastically from the lofty deck. She removed a pair of filthy goggles and lobbed an anchor over the side. “Look out below!”
Thwack!
The anchor struck the ground, kicking out sparks, a short distance from Nocturna. “You took your time,” she complained, producing a bone-white wand from beneath her cloak. She waved the magical-pointer and the specks of dust on her outfit vanished.
“Oh, pish-posh. I wasn’t that long. Besides, the old-girls needed a descent run,” Natura replied flippantly. She laughed and tapped the snails affectionately on their shells. “It certainly cleared the cobwebs out of my ears too.”
With a good deal of sighing she hoisted herself over the railings and, unceremoniously, shimmied down the anchor’s mooring.
Nocturna waited for her sister to touch the ground before scolding her. “We are facing a Red Ryder, the first in half an age, and you take the scenic route?”
“Well I’m sorry, your high-and-mightiness. However, unlike you, I don’t often get the chance to relax. My life is hectic. I have a Queendom to rule,” Natura blustered. She produced her own wand, soot-black and sharp. With a flick, the dirt on her gown disappeared. “Then there's Narsci. Goodness knows how many sleepless nights that girl has given me lately? On top of that lot I’ve got a tournament coming up and the preparations for All Sun’s Day are still to be finalised. Honestly, there just aren’t enough hours in the day.”
“Will you shut up,” Nocturna snapped, she pinched the bridge of her nose, hoping to relieve her mounting stress. “I have little patience for your incessant jabbering today. Our very crowns are at stake and you’re worrying about garlands and fireworks. Wake up! We are in peril!”
“You’re right, of course. Forgive me,” Natura apologised.
“That’s more like it. Now, I’ve sent my wolves into Sanctorium. The attack was faultless. Nevertheless, other than a faint scent, they found no sign of the girl.”
“Have they tried looking for the lion? If memory serves she’s likely to be with him.”
“Leoracle was present but the child was not,” Nocturna elaborated, she paced worriedly. “Mark my words, something is different this time. I can’t fathom what, but there is a variance in this Ryder. She possesses a quality the others did not.”
“I can’t say I’ve noticed anything peculiar, but then again I’ve not been looking,” Natura laughed nervously. “Look on the bright side. On her own she’s less of a threat.”
“On the contrary my dear, dumb, sister. The girl is now more dangerous than ever,” Nocturna countered. Natura’s brow furled with confusion. The dark Queen sighed and then explained. “The child has nobody to escort her. We know the path The Ryder must take, we know her goal. But she is not following her allotted path. She is trying to side-step her fate. This is an unguided-Ryder, and a Ryder who wanders free is…”
“Unpredictable?” Natura suggested.
“Precisely,” Nocturna agreed. Her mood darkened as a storm of thoughts drifted in. She looked to her elder sister and added. “There is something I have not told you, Natura. I received news from the mundaine world.”
“Oh? What news is that then?” Natura asked as she scattered some food-pellets for the snails.
“My howler witnessed Nova, fade to dust…”
Natura dropped the bag of feed. The sack split, scattering pellets across the stone and sprinkling them over the edge. She turned, her head shaking in disbelief. “That can’t be true. Your dog must be mistaken. She is immortal, just as we are…”
“He spoke the truth.”
“I always thought Nova would find a way back. I never imagined she’d die there,” Natura sobbed, her eyes glossy with tears. “So this is the last Ryder? Hold on, this is only the sixth girl. I thought the prophecy said there would be seven?”
“I have noticed that too. It’s a discrepancy we must look into,” Nocturna noted. She beheld the cruel-faced house. “When this child dies, so too does our curse. At last, the end approaches.”
Nocturna smiled. The expression took considerable effort to produce and did not look at all comfortable. Though her air implied happiness, internally she brooded. Their curse was also their bond. What would become of the sisters without their common enemy?
“We did the right thing, didn’t we?” Natura asked, shattering the woe-heavy thoughts. “Casting Nova out, the way we did, I mean,” she continued
“We did what was required of us. Our actions were for the good of all. Nova was too powerful and I dare say she would have done the same to us if she’d thought of it first.”
“Oh I know you’re right. I just feel guilty when I think of her alone in that world. She must have been terribly angry with us,” Natura sniffed, tears glistened in her eyes.
Nocturna scowled at her sister’s emotional display. It was the trait she found most irritating in her elder sibling. This instance was no exception. They had wasted too much time already and Nocturna was growing impatient.
“Will you stop faffing,” she snapped. “Let us make haste and go inside. I have no wish to linger in this place any longer than is necessary.”
With haughty-indignation Natura barged past her dark-sibling. She muttered to herself, clearly upset. Nocturna shrugged, she really didn’t care how her sister felt. Her only concern was the Red Ryder.
Nocturna crossed the stepping-posts first. With a wave of her wand she summoned seven squid-like tentacles from the fold of her dress. The slithering, black limbs snaked around the thirteen posts and hoisted her over the hazardous path. As she stepped onto the porch the appendages retreated.
The summoned creature was known as a Mab. It was a symbiotic-entity hosted by a witch in return for power. The creature’s appearance always represented the hostess, a glimpse of her truest self for all to see.
Whilst Nocturna's were black and sinister, Natura's were equally characteristic. Effortlessly-light and ethereal, they radiated beauty and poise. They looked much like the tantalizing stamen of an exotic flower, though considerably longer of course.
Natura’s Mab, though soft and gentle, was by no means feeble. The tendrils were easily as strong as their darker kin. With little effort they lifted the plump witch across the endless drop.
With her sister by her side, Nocturna rapped her knuckles three times on the wooden door. The force of her knock, whilst not overzealous, caused several tiles from the porch canopy to break off. The loosened slates drifted away and disintegrated, crumbling to dust, a few feet from the queens. The sisters exchanged a nervous glance.
The house, the location, the crossing, every detail of this place oozed danger. Yet all laughably-paled when compared to the beings within. The House of Styx was residence to three hags; all immortal, powerful and devious beyond measure. Even in primeval texts, timeworn tomes gathering dust on library shelves, the three were referred to as ancient. This house was home to The Nexus Sisters.
“Who is it?” asked a dry, croaky voice.
“The ruling monarchs, Natura and Nocturna, humbly seeking your guidance,” Natura answered in a trembling voice. The tone was inconsistent with someone claiming to be a queen.
“Ugh. What do you two want?” the woman within barked.
“Open the door, Lachesis,” Nocturna retorted. “We have come about The Prophecy.”
“Do you have any idea how many prophecies there are? You’ll have to be more specific,” Lachesis replied exasperatedly. She opened the door and glared at them. “Well? Don’t just stand there. Come in already, you’re letting The Void get in.”