Shadowbook

Chapter 3: The Shadow Realm

The darkness swallowed me. I was floating and falling at the same time. The darkness was tangible -- I felt it against my face, as though I were submerged in water, or being caressed by cool silk, or passing through a soft breeze. It was a peaceful, gentle kind of fall, not at all panic-inducing. Dreamlike. I almost wanted to stay in that formless and bottomless darkness forever, until my body suddenly hit the dirt.

Vertigo assaulted me as soon as I opened my eyes. It was suddenly weird to be on solid ground. That sensation was familiar; sometimes I experienced it when climbing out of the pool.

"Well, that was... uncomfortable..."

"Senka?

I sat up. Senka was beside me, rubbing her head, staring upwards. We seemed to be in a forest of bare trees, with black branches that twisted into an eerie canopy, like stiff tentacles. They appeared stark against an orange sky — it was sunset here. "I saw this forest in my vision," I said. "It was night, though. Not sunset."

"Look at these trees..." Senka whispered, standing up. "Creepy."

I stood up, and walked a few paces forward. I turned around to see Senka standing behind me. Good, it wasn't like in the vision — I could actually move forward. I wondered for a split second where the graveyard was. There was no door in sight, either. At least I still had the key. "Well... we're here. You want to explore?"

"I think I see a path," said Senka. "It's a bit hard to make out, with the mist and the dark and all, but it looks like a path to me. The trees are a bit less tangled."

"Let's follow it, then."

We walked through the silent forest, our footsteps the only sounds. "There's no underbrush..." Senka remarked as we walked. She was right, there was no underbrush at all, no crunching of leaves under our feet, and no rustles of animals. Only mist, stretching in every direction, clinging to our clothes. Nothing else. I almost would prefer if there were unseen things moving in the dark; somehow, this dead silence was worse. At least we were following a path.

Eventually, we reached the edge of the woods. It was much darker now, and the orange of the sunlight reflecting through the mist had faded to grayish blue. The shapes of buildings materialized out of the mist, barely visible in the gloom. "It's a town! Oh, thank God," said Senka.

We came to a small wrought-iron fence. It was about as high as my waist, and could be climbed over if it didn't have sharp spikes. The gate wasn't locked, but it made a horrible rusty screech when I pushed it open. The town on the other side looked like a small medieval village. We stood at the end of a street of half-timbered houses, facing a tall building that looked a little like a church that you'd find in Hell. Its spire looked sharp. To our left was a small graveyard, half-hidden in the woods.

"This is spooky," said Senka. "Looks like a set for a Halloween flick."

"I like it," I said. "This is my kind of aesthetic."

"Yeah but, I mean... it doesn't seem like a real place."

Maybe it isn't, I thought. We still didn't know where we were.

Senka and I began to walk towards the churchlike building. The street was very dimly lit, with lanterns placed sporadically but few other sources of light. Though it was well past sunset by now, there were people everywhere. Many walked past us, talking amongst themselves. Some pushed vegetable carts, or carried cases full of bottles, or hurried past with armfuls of books, or carried what looked like animal carcasses on their backs. After the quiet of the woods, the noise of the town was startling, especially in the middle of the night. People were going about their daily lives, as though it were midmorning. How can they see where they're going?