Crossed

Chapter 4:

"You're back," Iliana smiles brightly at me, her eyes almost entirely squeezed shut with happiness. The little lines looking like the stars that decorated the night sky. "Of course I am," I say and hug her," I promised... and... did you find out anything?," I ask. She backs away a little and shakes her head," no... I'm sorry, no-one knows anything. I've asked around to anyone who has any power here but they never heard of anything like what you described..." "Oh...," I sigh. "I'm sorry." "No it's okay, you can't help it, thank you for trying," I smile at her and she hugs me.

"Could we look at the stars again?," I ask her. "Of course," she says and we look for a nice spot to sit down. "Can you actually see them?," I ask her. "The stars?," I nod," No, I can't. The sky looks a lot different here than what I saw when I was still back there with you," she says. "What does it looks like?" She stays silent, I look at her but she was just staring up. "I don't know... actually," she says," I'm sure that's not helpful but... I genuinely don't know..." "What do you mean by that?," I ask. "Well... I-," she stops again and thinks," everything is so incredibly different here, nothing looks explainable, there doesn't seem to be any words to describe any of it..."

"Any colours?," I ask. "Somehow, no not one." "Not grey or white? Black?" "No, I mean I don't think so? Everything here is so confusing," she says," if I do know how to describe something, I'll let you know, I promise," she looks at me with her little smile. I nod and smile back at her," what do I look like to you now?," she then asks. "You're grey and slightly see-through," I say," you're drained of colour..." "That feels kind of strange to know," she says," to me I look the exact same as when I was back on the earth." "Interesting," I say," are there any... pets there too? I know you love them." She laughs," yes, yes there are pets here," she says," I befriended a small kitten, I believe she passed on after falling... poor little thing... Oh! There are also bunnies, do you remember the one's from the forest? They're like those!"

"Hey," Iliana whispers," it's almost time for me to go again," she says once I opened my eyes," could I braid your hair? Like I used to do?" I nod and sit up so she can start doing her thing," I miss you Ana...," I say silently," it's quiet at home..." "I miss you too," she says, softly brushing through my hair with her hand," but I don't want you to get here yet, it's beautiful here and I would love to share this with you too, don't get me wrong, but it's not your time yet." I smile but I feel my eyes burning with tears ready to fall. I blink quickly and they disappear. "I'll be careful, I promise," I say.

"We'll have to do this again soon, maybe we could dance again? Or prepare flowers for drying, like you love to do?," Iliana says. I smile," yeah, that would be nice," I say. "Okay, then I'll see you soon love," she says and smiles her sun bright smile. "Yeah soon-," before I even finished my sentence she had already disappeared into the light of the afterlife. I breath out a heavy sigh before sitting down on the ruin we made our spot for the night and drying my face from tears.

"How did it go Archimage Wren?," Queen Mirialla asks as she settles down beside me. The sun had only just started to resurface, bathing the ruins in a golden light. "She said there was no-one who knew anything about it," I say," so we're back to square one.." "Hm," it's quiet for a while, the only thing we hear being the birds that were waking," I will get Guard Morris to observe the energy," she then says," and I will go on a little journey to a nearby Territory of a friend of mine. I'll go ask for a different input and possibly get some help, she still owes me a service I could call in for this."

"Who is- Oh, hello there Wren," Guard Morris relaxed a bit again when he sees me walking up. "Hey," I say," my apologies, I didn't mean to scare you." "Oh no, don't you worry," he says," what brings you here?," he asks. "I was wondering if I could take another look at the energy?," I say," I know the Queen is on a travel but I want to make sure I haven't missed anything last time I got to take a look." "Yes of course," he says," just be careful and let me know everything just in case it gets violent." I nod and walk closer to the spot and lower myself so I'm about the same height as the energy has become.

"It hasn't changed its energy," I say," still the dead and life at once. As if it's one not two. It still confuses me, there's no logic to this." "I cannot feel that," Morris says," I do not possess the ability to sense life or death." "That's okay," I say," have you noticed anything else about it? Maybe something I wouldn't notice?" He thinks for a bit," it moved places," he then says. "What do you mean?," I ask. "When I got here this morning the... energy was over there, where I have been standing, but then it moved over there and now it's there," he says.

"I'll stay for a bit, observe as well," I say and position myself on a broken wall. "Are you sure?," Morris asks. I nod," yes, if it moves again I'd like to have a feel of it. Maybe something changes in the energy that could help out," I say. "Okay," he says," not that I wouldn't like the company, it's pretty quiet here." I smile at him," I can't promise I'll be a good conversation buddy but I'd be happy to just sit here too if nothing happens." "Could I ask you something personal?," he asks after a little bit. "Sure, I think," I say," what is it?" "I heard you've been seeing Miss Iliana here," he says," is it difficult, to see her after she passed the border to Death?"

I swallow, I hadn't expected him to ask about that. "I ehm," I think," it is," I say," it is difficult, the first time I saw her here was one and a half year after she passed the border, but I can't show her how much it actually hurts me to see her like this. She looks different in a way. She acts different, a little more vague," I answer him," why did you want to know?" "I had a friend a while ago," he says," he was not a dragon like me so he died," he says," I have not seen him since." "Oh, I'm so sorry," I say," if you want to I could see if I can find him for you?" "No that's fine," he says," I don't think I really want to, at least not now."

"It moved," Morris says, I immediately snap my head back and look at the energy. "It's growing...," I say and walk over to him," is that light coming off it?" "Seems like it...," Morris gently pushes me back a little with his wing. "Should we alert the Queen somehow?," I ask. "I'm not sure, if it doesn't do more than just growing we could let it be for now," he says, his eyes completely focused on the energy in front of us. "And if it doesn't do something more?," I ask. "Then I'll have to try and use the Territories link and see if she's near enough to get through."

"We've been watching it for an hour or so by now," I say," why hasn't it stopped growing yet?" "I don't know," Morris moves us a little further away from where we were standing," I'm trying the link but I think she's too far away already. Not that it surprises me, seeing as she's been on her travel for almost a whole day already." "So whatever happens, we're gonna have to catch this ourselves," I say.