Elisha woke, dazed and confused. Her mouth felt like it was full of sand, and she quickly realized it was. She sat up and coughed for a while, until all the sand and water was gone and she could take a clear, deep breath. She was soaked to the skin and cold to the bone.
Twilight was upon the world, and she could see the Gate casting its shadow over everything. She made for higher ground and looked out at the world from an overhanging rock. Sanctuary, the only place she had ever cared to call home, was gone, its many residents dead. Pandora had gone crazy, her magic out of control. The White Ship had been destroyed, and a gate to some other strange, demonic dimension had been ripped open. Her friends were probably all dead...
She screamed from the rock, screamed at the Gate until her throat was raw. She had thought she couldn’t feel any worse than she had last night, grieving for Arietta, but this was much worse, grief unlike any she had ever known. Everything she had worked for was gone. Friends she had loved were dead. It was all her fault, she realized... If they had just stayed on the island, they would have been out of range of the ancient weapon. The Moral Revolution had probably been waiting all along for them to be stupid enough to come back to the world.. and once they had found out they had returned, it had been a simple matter to use the technology they had uncovered to hide and destroy the island.
“I’m sorry!” she cried, “I screwed everything up! I was so selfish going after Arietta... Please Gods, let me take it back! Let me take it back!”
There was no answer but the wind.
She sobbed for a while. She thought she had expended all her tears, but there was another well opening up deep inside her. She had a headache, but she didn’t care. Inside her, there was only darkness. There was nothing to look forward to, nothing to care about. Everything was gone. She pulled out her dagger and looked at it. Perhaps it would be simpler to kill herself. Perhaps then she could end the pain, and never cause any more. Nobody would miss her, not after what she had done...
“No.” A voice came from behind her, “That’s not the answer.”
“Lady Thea...” Elisha could not bring herself to look at her, “I did this... If I hadn’t come to look for Arietta...”
“Do you honestly believe we never would have left Sanctuary again? We needed livestock, new recruits. Stop trying to blame yourself. You don’t have the power to see the future.”
“Everything you worked for is gone,” Elisha said, “Aren’t you going to be angry?”
“Of course I’m angry,” Thea said, sitting down beside Elisha on the edge of the rock, “But not at you. Not at Pandora. It was the Moral Revolution who did this. It was Garania and the Arian Empire and San Ria and Haven’s End who murdered our people. Never forget that.” Then she started to cry.
Elisha was disconcerted. She had never seen Thea in such a state. Thea had always been the strong one, the natural leader. Apart from the time on the island when she had almost destroyed everything, Thea had always been able to hold it together... Even then she had not wept like this.
“Now what do we do?” Elisha said, “We have no place to go, no ship... Luna, Pandora and the rest of the crew are missing...”
“We should start by finding survivors,” Thea said, “We washed up here, so chances are the current carried others here too. One thing at a time, Elisha. One thing at a time...”
The image of Thea vanished, and Elisha realized she had been alone all along. Was she losing her mind, like Arietta had in the cell at Garania? She stood up and looked out at the world again, her resolve to die fading away. Night was falling fast. She threw the knife off the rock with all her might, as though she might pierce the Gate with it, and turned her back. The image of Thea had been right. She had to find her friends. Thea, Pandora and Luna were still out there, among others. She had to know if they were alive or dead, but it was dark, and she could hear demonic shrieking in the distance.
Combing the shore, she found a small beach cave. Gathering some wood, she resolved to make a fire until she realized she had nothing to light it with. Exhausted, she gave up caring about demons and the cold and fell into a dark sleep, filled with nightmares.
She woke as cold as she had lain down. A chill had set in, and she realized she was going to get sick if she didn’t find dry clothes and warmth soon. She stripped down and left her outer clothes to dry in the sun, just taking her sword Twilight with her as she headed out to search for friends. If she was lucky enough to find them, the last thing she would give a damn about would be them seeing her in her underwear.
The morning sun was warm on her skin, even though part of the sun was blotted out by the Gate, and she started to feel better as she combed the beach. Occasionally she would come across a crate of supplies, or a body. She would rush to their side and turn them over to see the face of a crewmember. She felt guilty when relief set in that it was not Thea, Luna or Pandora. She wanted to dig graves, but she had no shovel, and resolved to come back if and when she had the tools for the job.
“Don’t feel so bad,” the voice of Thea came again, “You just love your friends. There’s no shame in hoping they’re alive.” Elisha turned to see her standing there.
“You’re just in my head,” Elisha said, “Go away and leave me in peace.”
“Am I?” Thea said, then she disappeared.
Elisha shook her head and continued searching, but hours had passed and she found nobody alive. She returned to the cave and was relieved to find her clothes had dried. She dressed, feeling much more comfortable in her uniform, even though it was filthy.
As she headed out again, a demon landed on the beach. Elisha drew her sword, backing up, “What do you want?” she cried, as it rounded on her, muscular and hungry-looking.
“Who dared open the Gate?” The demon looked at her with red, angry eyes, “Do you know what this means for your world? Do you?”
“No,” Elisha admitted, “I didn’t even know it existed until Pandora...”
“Pandora, the mage with green hair... Her rage and power is what opened the Gate,” the demon said, “I see her in your mind. She has doomed you all.”
“Why?” Elisha asked, “What is the Gate?”
“The Gate is a portal between dimensions. Demons once lived in this world, but were expelled to a parallel world by the Ancients. Since then, we have built a civilization of our own. But now that the Gate is open, demons can enter your world as they wish... I will tell you, human... We have not forgotten what your people did to us. We will kill and slaughter and take back this world if you do not find a way to close the Gate.”
“Why are you telling me this?” Elisha asked, “Why don’t you just kill me?”
“I liked the way our civilization had evolved,” the demon said. “We had reached a new level. We had moved on from the murder we were famous for, and built a world based not on revenge, but on our skills. The Ancients expelled us to a barren world, but we made the best of it. Now the Gate has opened and destroyed all that. Old oaths of revenge have been renewed, bloodlust is at an all-time high. We have yearned for your world since we lost it. Now we intend to get it back. The only way to stop us is to close the Gate, or we will kill every last one of you!”
“How do we close the Gate?” Elisha asked, “I don’t want our world to be destroyed. I want to save it.”
“I see it in your mind,” the demon said, “That is why I did not just tear you limb from limb and feed on your remains. There is only one way to close the Gate. The mage that opened it must go to the Shadow Tower in the heart of the Ancient Citadel and give her life to recreate the seal. It is the only way to close the Gate. Once this is done all the demons in your world will be banished and the breach closed.”
“Pandora is my friend... I cannot sacrifice her! The Ancient Citadel is in Garania, anyway! Besides, I don’t know where she is!” Excuses poured out of Elisha’s mouth before she could stop them.
“She did this... Friend of yours or not, she owes it to this world to undo her mistake.” the demon said, “I have told you all that I can. Finding your friend is your problem. She is an Ancient, I doubt she would have perished that easily. Unlike you weaklings, your ancestors were powerful.” He gave her a dismissive wave and flew away.
“I can’t...” Elisha whispered into the wind... “Pandora made a mistake... I can’t allow her to be punished for that...”
“You don’t have much choice,” Thea was standing next to her again, “She will understand, once you find her. If she is herself, that is. Otherwise she might just destroy you where you stand.”
“Stop it,” Elisha said, and Thea disappeared again.
Elisha sighed, pushing away thoughts of the future and focusing on the here and now. She decided to press ahead into the forest, since she had searched the entire beach and found nothing. She remembered the last forest she had traveled through, where her past had come back to haunt her. That all seemed like another lifetime now. A time where she had dared to hope that they could find Sanctuary and live in safety. Now that dream had been torn apart.
Cutting through the forest, she found a path that had been created by somebody passing through. It looked freshly cut, as though the person was less than a day ahead of her. She followed their trail, trying not to think of what the demon had said. If she found Pandora, what would she find? Would she still be out of control, or would she have reverted to her former self? How would Elisha tell her what needed to be done?
She almost tripped over the small encampment as she was so deeply lost in thought. Some provisions lay about, as well as a small, dirty blanket and the still-smoking remains of a campfire. This camp was still in use, she realized.
Just then, she saw pinkish-red hair jutting out from the trees and smiled as she saw Luna.
“Elisha!” Luna ran to her and embraced her, “You’re alive! Did you find anybody else?”
“No, I’m alone,” Elisha said, and she cut off the next question before Luna asked, “I’ve seen no trace of Pandora. I’m sorry.”
“Oh,” Luna said, downcast, “I’m so worried about her, Elisha. The way she went out of control like that...”
“I know,” Elisha said, “I never knew she had so much power.”
“Neither did I,” Luna said, “I wish I could wake up, Elisha. I want to wake up and find it’s my wedding day again and everybody’s okay and Sanctuary’s still there...” She started to cry and Elisha hugged her, the demon’s words still on her mind. Give her life to recreate the seal...
She couldn’t tell Luna. Luna was frightened and sad enough, she didn’t need to hear that the price of closing the gate would be her wife’s life. She had to keep some hope... at least for now.
“We’ll find Pandora,” Elisha said, “I promise. I’m sure she’s fine, and herself again. She was just overwhelmed by what happened, that’s all. We all were. If you’d had power, wouldn’t you have used it?”
“I guess,” Luna said, “But why that portal thing? Wasn’t destroying the ships enough?”
“I don’t know,” Elisha said, “I suppose she felt she needed the demons’ power, so she opened the Gate.”
“The Gate? Is that what you’re calling it?” Luna nodded, “I suppose it makes sense. I mean, it opens to a demon world or something, right?”
“That’s what Lady Thea called it,” Elisha said, “That’s not our immediate concern, though. We have to find Pandora as soon as we can.”
“Lady Thea, too,” Luna said, “She’s an Ancient as well. She probably knows about this Gate.”
“It’s her well-being I’m most frightened for,” Elisha said. There, at the corner of her vision, she could see Thea again. A ghost of a dead woman? No, she was just having side-effects from everything she had been though, that was all. That was all.
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