Whispers of Nowhere

Chapter One: Part Two

Gwen stared uncomprehendingly at the stranger in front of her, so close that she could see the faint traces of stubble lining his jaw, his lips seemingly moving without sound.

"Miss? Miss, are you all right?"

It wasn't until her eyes met his that she finally snapped out of her stupor. Drawing away from him with a gasp, she realized she was sitting on the linoleum, her back pressed firmly against the refrigerator. How had she wound up on the floor, and for how long had this strange man been talking to her?

Where did he come from? she wondered. One minute, there had been all those strange artifacts on her dining table, and the next...

"W-Who are you?" Her voice was hoarse, barely above a whisper.

Aside from his frock coat, which Gwen thought looked suspiciously like the ones she'd seen in her history textbook, the stranger wore a black dress shirt, the collar just visible beneath the unbuttoned lapel of his coat. Nearly every one of his fingers bore a ring of silver or gold, all etched with strange markings. Runes, she thought. One in particular stood out above the rest. A gold ring on his left middle finger, the only one with a stone set into it; a modest, oval-shaped sapphire.

"Please, don't be afraid."

Gwen jumped at the sound of the man's voice, her gaze snapping up to meet the startling silver of his eyes. She frowned, futilely attempting to scoot further away, the fridge unyielding at her back.

"I assure you," said the man in soothing tones, "I mean you no harm."

Summoning her nerve, Gwen slowly rose to her feet. "You didn't answer my question," she bit icily. "Who are you?"

There was the slightest twitch at the corners of the man's mouth when she said this, as if resisting a smile. Is he laughing at me? When he rose to his feet she took another step back, her legs threatening to buckle under her. No, this can't be happening. This isn't real. People don't just...pop out of thin air. This has to be a dream. Any minute now I'll wake up, and everything will be just the way it—

"My apologies." The stranger's words broke through Gwen's thoughts, making her jump yet again. He swept into a bow and straightened, standing at least a foot taller than her five feet, two inches. "My name is Forneus. I am the guardian of the artifacts—the very ones that, until recently, were in your possession."

Gwen shook her head, disbelieving. "This isn't happening," she muttered. "You're not real. This is all just some whacked out dream, and any minute now, I'm going to wake up, and laugh this whole thing off."

Even as she said it, she felt it wasn't true. She had seen the artifacts glowing, and when they'd vanished, he had appeared. It was impossible, but it had happened anyway.

Either that, or she was losing her mind. What other possible explanation was there?

When the stranger took a step forward, Gwen took another step back, edging away from the refrigerator. The man named Forneus watched her with curious eyes as she circled to the other side of the kitchen, strategically putting the dining table between them.

There's a stranger in my house, she thought, trying to remain calm, and the phone is completely on the other side of the living room. Of all the dumb luck. Where the hell is dad when I need him?

For whatever reason, the stranger didn't attempt to approach her again, simply contenting himself with staring at her. Now that there was some distance between them, Gwen was able to get a good look at him for the first time. With short, wavy black hair, high cheekbones, a prominent nose, and a well-defined chin, he had a sort of regality about him. Judging from the way his eyes crinkled at the corners, she guessed him to be somewhere in his thirties.