The Midnight Guard [TMG Book One]

Part IX: Goodbye, my Friend

"Where are we?"

The question hung in the darkness and was answered by no one.
Wynter struggled to her feet and gasped as pain shot through her body. Her breath rattled as she walked into the unknown. Wynter could barely see, but it was clear that she was outdoors.

And it was night.

"Eiran?" she called in a small voice.

There was no reply.

As her eyes adjusted, Wynter found she was now in Journeys End. And somehow it was her own Journeys End, the place from which she had come.
The streets here however were empty and cold. It looked as though the town had been long abandoned and forgotten by the crowds who had once occupied it.

'What is this?'

'Is this the future or the past?'

"Wynter!"

She spun to meet Eiran. He ran through the shadows towards her looking tired. Blood stained his face, his neck. The sight made Wynter's heart race.

He came to stand before her with grey eyes full of urgency.

"Where are we?" Wynter asked with a flutter of panic.

"Some sort of purgatory," Eiran murmured with a frown. "This is what Iporia will soon become if we do not hurry. The rift is incomplete but it is close to finished, that is why we appeared as souls on the bridge in Iporia. We were too close to the other-world."

Wynter remembered standing on the bridge alone in her dull and colourless form.

"Purgatory," Eiran went on, "is where neutral souls are sent for judgement. These souls have done not enough bad to be sent to Hell, and not enough good to go to Heaven, we are somewhere between the two."

"So what will happen to us?" Wynter asked fearfully.

Eiran's brow furrowed as he looked around trying to find an explanation.

"I do believe," he said slowly, "that this is almost a test. We are necromancers, necromancy is seen as an evil art by most. By even attempting dark magic that could be enough to land us in Hell. If we do not prove our goodness soon and put a stop to the rift, we may end up in the underworld." He took a deep breath before adding:

"Forever."

Wynter's heart skipped a beat.

Hell.

It was preposterous, crazy talk.

"Well," she said shakily. "We better hurry."

She wanted to scream. If Eiran hadn't tried to stop her none of this would be happening now, but there was no point in arguing.

Eiran took her hand and led the way.

"The entity went this way."

The world, - purgatory - was as cold and silent as death itself.

"We're too late," Wynter whispered suddenly coming to a halt. The situation seemed hopeless now, the entity was gone, the rift could be finished already.

They would never know if they were trapped here and sentenced to an eternity of Hell.

Eiran squeezed her hand.

"It's never too late to try," he said calmly. "Wynter, we will stop this. We've come too far to give up."

He absent-mindedly brushed strands of hair from her face.

"Don't worry, I'll keep you safe."

Wynter felt a rush of warmth as she gazed into Eiran's eyes and smiled. It was odd, she hadn't known him long at all but Eiran was the only person in the whole world whom she trusted completely .