The Other Side

Chapter 3: Lifted Veils and Fallen Souls

It was a week since Leah had been to Record anything. She'd heard of nothing to record- had no correspondence, there'd been no incidents, no events...

Everything was normal and calm and quiet.

Too quiet.

"Recording nothings seems quite- dull. Are you sure you're not just starved for work?"

Leah shot Mare a look as they walked. "I didn't have to bring you with me, you know?"

"You promised."

A sigh. "I'm not recording 'nothing', I'm recording that there's been no change with-"

"The leaves?"

"Amongst other things, yes. Now, the plan-"

"I've never been to Cair Paravel," Mare interrupted, twirling her dagger in her hand idly. "But I feel like I know it inside and out after the amount we've gone through the plan and all alternative ways to run if we need."

"Good." Leah responded, glancing sideways at her friend as the castle came into view. "Then how about we run now?" With that, she set off at a sprint. "Last one to the first statue's a troll's toe!"

"You cheated!" Mare called, but was now laughing and sprinting, too.

Cair Paravel was as quiet as everywhere else seemed to be, meaning both young women were lucky enough not to need to slow down to avoid anyone. They continued past the statues- well, Leah did, so Mare followed.

Mare did stop, eventually, however, as the back garden pathway split into two- and Leah was nowhere to be seen to follow. For the first time in weeks, Mare felt her heart pound as she stood, frozen between decaying flowerbeds- she was alone.

The silence was deafening, despite the way the trees swayed and falling leaves spiralled. There should be wind. There should be movement- real, organic movement with sounds and emitting feeling.

There were no Narnians, even- no sign of any other living being-

then, nothing but a striking pain- and darkness.

—

The first thing Mare noticed when she awoke was that it was nighttime. Darkness that suffocated almost as much as the silence had was everywhere, though she also attributed it to the foggy vision that comes with regaining consciousness.

The second thing Mare noticed was that she couldn't move.

She was tied down, kneeling, by something that she didn't recognize, a texture wrapping around her arms and legs and binding her to the floor.

She looked around, to her left and right, then again to her left as she saw she wasn't the only person here- or the only person trapped.

Next to her, in the same, bound, kneeling position, was Leah. Her mouth was gagged with what must have been the same, almost inky substance as was around them both and what Mare realized was seeping from the floor as well.

Her heartbeat raced and Mare looked around even more desperately, for help, for other signs of life, for any sliver of hope in their suddenly hopeless situation. But there was none.

As if in answer, a fog lifted, and Mare looked around in more clarity to the horror of Cair Paravel being overgrown and overcome with this- this Darkness that was everywhere.

Mare's heart dropped in horror as she realized that this same Darkness was everywhere.

It wasn't nighttime. It was Dark.

As Mare regained enough consciousness and wits to begin to truly fear where she was and what she had stumbled into, only then did a pair of eyes burst into view from the shadows, and the fog lifted more- they were in the Throne Room of Cair.