Of Light and Darkness

[Caira Ayryn]

A soft burst of air gushed into her lungs. Smoothly it rolled from her nose when she exhaled. In... Out. Loud in her ears, but almost as if time had slowed to a creeping halt.

There was no hourglass, no slowly sifting sand, nor rain to fall, or sun to rise. There was no way to measure time, or even space if she had attempted to walk forth, in this gate of darkness. Caira straightened her posture, it had crumpled to an invisible force. Almost fitting, that she would be weighed with the gravity she felt at the beginning of her journey in the Nexus.

Ah home... She had been ripped from it and tossed here, into this unimaginable world of light and darkness. That seemed to follow her everywhere. The light in someone's eyes when they smile, verses the depthless darkness when you cross them. Or the plain white of the Nexus, verses this dark and strange void.

Yes, from what Caira could see, standing on her little square in the warped twists and turns that the unknown held under latch and key in this mystery, there were only lines traversing the land that lay ahead of her. They were to be her light in this maze of muddled thought and fear. She simply hoped they would not lead her to death.

One misstep. That might be all it would take. To end her journey. She had gotten so close. Too close, to dare make a fool's mistake to take her back to the beginning.

The Nexus. A room of light flashed from below her eyelids, then the memory blurred into the darkness of betrayal. Merik's face as he had sealed her, completely immobilized, in the same coffin that the treasure map that they had came for was hiding... Waiting to be found.

His was the face of betrayal. Truth, honor, compassion, it had all been a lie. Caira had been scammed, taken advantage of, by both her kidnapper, Omni, and this strange prisoner she had met in the dunes. Still, there was something about it that didn't fit, as Caira remembered the single moment Merik spoke of a curse that had conquered every aspect of his life. Every meaningful aspect. He almost seemed as though he thought it would have been better for him to have been trapped in that cage below the sand, for the duration of his immortal life. Even after all of this, the fiery chill of betrayal, Caira thought it better a man be free and have the potential to be stopped, than to be trapped and never have the chance to change his ways. But... Maybe that was the monk speaking.

Caira wondered if she could summon in this striped world of black and grey, but decided if the results were catastrophic (and perhaps explosive) she would regret her decision. Instead, she extended her hand out, directly forward, and immediately felt a weight slam I her her empty palm. It felt like a thick slap, done by air, or a similarly invisible force that stomped her hand with immersive pressure.

The Mage gulped and pulled her hand gently away, with the slight fear that it might be ripped from her limb.

"Forward, that's a no." She determined, and then pondered if she could use sound to guide her through the darkness, but her ears weren't keen enough to allow for echolocation, so she sat down for a moment on the ground, almost meditating, before she tore off her shoes and tied the strings together.

It almost resembled a windmill, or a version of a boomerang. It would be more effective than extending her hand, and risk losing it, and well, losing her sword would be a liability too. She tossed her circling shoes to her left, and seeing how they didn't float from the ground, or run into an invisible wall, Caira determined that this was her way to go.

Her bare feet walked along the straight line, and every few yards she continued her procedure, and the gentle thump of shoes quickly filled the murky shadows with sound, and stirred awake the darkness.