The Anima [completed]

25.

25.

I was not expecting our destination to be anywhere particularly spectacular, but I was also not expecting to walk into a halfway house. Tucked into a dark corner of the street was a small brick building with the printed red words HALFWAYHOUSE squashed together and peeling away as the paint decayed. Disease hung thick in the air like morning fog and sorrow caught in my throat, forcing me to cough in an attempt to loosen the foul taste of dread on my tongue.

Alvar pushes open the door to reveal a place that was heaven to some, a second chance to others and Hell to others. There were no people in the hall. The only sign of life came from the whispers of chatter that came from one room and the groans of agony from another. No officials or careers came to greet us, which allowed us to roam freely around the run down establishment.

"Is it here?" I whispered to Alvar.

"The portal?" I nodded, "Yes, just through here."

He pushed open a rotting brown door to a room that held only the darkest of shadows. Unlike the other portals I had encountered, this one shimmered, the air twisting around the darkness.

"How do we get through?" I asked, examining the foreign material.

"It's a bit different to the other ones you've gone through. To get to the Shadow Plane, you have to be in a dark... state of mind."

"What do you mean?" I furrowed my brows.

"It means I'm about to tell you something you're not going to like, so you can go through." Beast's voice was loud in my ear. "Before, when you asked what happens if you chose to give up your power? Well, to give it up would mean the end of our entire race. Without a heart, The Anima, we cease to exist."

"So I have no choice?" I screamed as my fury curled tightly around my stomach. That meant I would have no choice but to abandon my life and become something I wasn't. I hadn't even begun to understand the strange world, but I was supposed to sacrifice my life, my future, for it?

But before I could scream at Beast, or Lucius, or even Alvar for not telling me sooner, for explaining my life was already over, I was sucked through the darkness; falling up, up, and away to somewhere even darker.

I landed with a heavy thud. My eyes squeezed shut, fists clenched around one of my blades, and my body stiff with tension, I unsteadily rose to my feet. Like ripping off a Band-Aid, my eyes snapped open to reveal the new world.

Ready to face a sky black with clouds and the raging heat. Ready to face monsters unlike any I had already encountered. Ready to face complete darkness, wilted trees, and no signs of beauty or hope. I was ready to face perhaps even nothingness, but I was not prepared for a smile to creep upon my face as soon as the light filtered through my eyelashes.

It was beautiful. Surrounded by plush thorned roses, I stood in a large open clearing where the sun could touch each tiny hair on my skin. It was different to the sun on earth; shining the brightest shade of orange and tiny shards of red down upon the ground. In the sky were clouds fluffy pink, like fairy floss was ribboned into the dark blue sky. Further in the distance, just on the horizon, I could see the tops of lush green trees and the beginnings of civilisation. If there was one thing that was wrong about this world, it was the sound of wildlife: there was none. Not a single bird chirped, not a single rabbit or mouse rustled the bushes.

I could debate on its beauty no longer for Lucius fell up through the earth with a loud sucking sound, body strewn across the ground just as mine had been. Soon after followed Beast, still in human form, and then finally Alvar; the only one of us to land on both feet. Lucius seemed to be the only one who shared my shock and curiosity, his head whirling around as he examined the area. Alvar simply dusted off his cape, back into his normal Fae clothing, and Beast quickly shifted back into his other form.