Fly or Fall

Chapter Three

Andy clutched his hand over his chest, gasping as he fell to his knees. Tears stung the edges of his eyes when he stared ahead at the blinding light that encompassed everything.

"Anna!" he yelled into the emptiness fumbling for her hand.

"I'm here," she called back, her voice echoing, making it near to impossible to tell where it was coming from. He could hear her but not see her and that alone was like a lump of ice falling into his stomach.

"Where?" He rose to his feet, his eyes searching the area around him. He couldn't make out anything past the bright light.

A voice, cold like the chilling wisp of winter's first breath, slithered against his neck and whispered, "Behind you." He shuddered and whipped around but there was no one there. A laugh, shrill and sinister, rang in his head and his stomach twisted. "This is going to be fun," the voice whispered again then it was gone.

"Hey," someone placed their hand on his shoulder. He jerked away before he saw Anna. She stood next to him, her brows knit in worry. "Are you okay?"

His vision was clearing, the light that had blinded him was dissipating. He looked around again. They stood in an archaic stone room. It was large, with tall ceilings from which massive black crystals were suspended using steel chains. The crystals dropped down to touch the floor—touching the edges of the large circle drawn on the floor. The circle had three lines, drawn from circumference to circumference, intersecting to create a triangle. At the tip of each of the triangle's points was a symbol. The room was lit by blazing light from the torches in the sconces mounted to the walls. The light cast long shadows on the stone floor.

"Where are we?" he asked his gaze landing on the girl who'd saved them from the man who'd tried to kill him and his sister. She stood with her long dark hair falling over her shoulders and onto glimmering iridescent armor. It reflected the light from the torches, shining a blue-grayish color. Her black cloak was gone.

"The Kuth," she said meeting his eyes. Hers were blue, bright and intent. She stared at him with a searching gaze. Looking for answers to questions Andy didn't know. After a second, she dropped her gaze as if realizing her answers weren't here. "Technically, just outside of it." She turned, gesturing for them to follow her.

"The Kuth?" Anna asked at the same time Andy asked, "How did we get here?"

The girl looked back to Andy. "I brought you here."

Andy frowned. "I mean how exactly did we get here?" he gestured to the room. "Last thing I remember we were in our living room then..." then the floor swallowed them. But that couldn't be right.

"Oh," she scrutinized him again, searching for something in his gaze. "You don't know, do you?"

"Know what?" Andy furrowed his brows.

She smiled sympathetically. "I opened a gate between your world and mine, that's how we got here."

"What do you mean our world and yours?" Anna asked apprehensively.

"I mean, Earth, your world and this world, my world, Omora," she gestured to their surroundings. "I opened a gate from Earth to Omora."

"You're not making any sense," Andy said.

She sighed heavily. "I know you're probably a little confused right now but—"

"A little?" Anna scoffed interrupting her. "That's an understatement. Who are you?"

"My name is Sage Logan," she said, "and I wish I could tell you more right now but I can't. We have to get going." She turned and started walking. Anna followed after her.