Worlds of Waves and Shadows

Fifty Eight

Kaenisa never imagined it was possible to fall through darkness, and yet here she was, body weightless, mind empty, watching the bursts of colour painting images she'd never seen before flash past her, or rather, she fell past them, the strongest pang of Déjà vu hitting her right in the middle of her chest.

It bloomed into this strange, almost unshakable sense of familiarity. Kaenisa couldn't understand it. How could she remember faces she'd never even seen before? Was it some kind of sick joke that her Darkside was playing on her?

But if that were the case, why were the faces of the people she loved most contorted in pain? And most importantly, why was Kaesnisa there? Looking happier than she ever remembered feeling? What made her mother look so...broken? And why was Deimos looking at her like she meant more than the world to him? Who was the boy, and why did he look at her with such desperation?

She had no answers and no one to give them to her, only a tortuous, unsated curiosity that grew each time she was here. It scared her, overwhelmed her to the point where Kaenisa thought she'd go mad any moment. And just when it was too much to bear, everything changed.

Suddenly, her world flipped over, and she found herself upright again, the darkness rippling beneath her feet as if it were a lake. Her reflection stared back at her with a disarrayed stare. They were the same amber eyes she had witnessed, laughing, crying, hurting, all in seconds.

There was clarity, unlike any other, in the darkness that reflected her face, her fears. Kaenisa could see the dismay across her features and the vulnerable expression dawning on her face. She wanted to go home.

But no place had ever felt like home. Neither her house nor Atlantis. So where was she supposed to go when it was too much to take? How could she escape her maddening reality when no place would shelter her from it?

A single tear formed behind her eye, falling into the fluid darkness, triggering another wave of concentric ripples. But when the liquid settled, it wasn't her face that stared back at her.

Kaenisa gasped, scurrying backwards, horror pouring down her spine as she stared at the face in the darkness.

Deep sangria eyes replaced her amber gaze, staring at her with an expression she couldn't quite decipher. Was it hatred or regret? Kaenisa couldn't tell. All she knew was that the longer she looked at that girl, the harder it was for her to breathe. It was almost as if someone had dropped a boulder on her chest.

She didn't know why she felt that way or why tears were streaming down her face. It wasn't as if Kaenisa knew who that girl was. Then why did her face feel so familiar?

"Taara." A soft voice whispered, startling her.

She whipped her head side to side, searching for its source before realising that it came from the girl staring back at her through the rippling void.

"Come closer..."

Her feet moved on their own, inching closer just as the brown-haired girl had instructed. Her mind resisted the action, but her body wouldn't listen. It kept moving forward until she was leaning over, hand outstretched towards the foreign reflection.

Kaenisa didn't know what to expect, but it certainly wasn't anywhere along the lines of getting pulled into the rippling darkness by the brown-haired girl.

Her stomach lurched as the world flipped for the millionth time since she'd been here, and before fear could clutch her, she was steady on her feet again, brows furrowed at the face in front of her. It had changed once again, as had to hand holding hers.

Confusion poured over her, looking into the piercingly blue eyes of a boy as fair as snow, with dirty brown hair combed back into a slick hairdo. He held onto her arm as if his life depended on it, nails digging into her flesh.