Ultraviolet

Chapter 8: Not So Bad

(Author's Note: In some places, you will see three dashes in a row. Those are meant to resemble an em dash. I just put them there because there's not an actual character on the keyboard for the em dash, so I would have had to go copy one to paste every time I wanted to write. It was easier for me to replace them with three dashes.)

An accomplished team, we set up camp in a quiet, peaceful meadow for a few hours of rest, and we hoped, to get a full night's sleep. Well, it was always night, so I suppose I better term for it would be a full eight hours. Nopira and I scavenged the forest for firewood, eager to gather around a warm flame before we hit the hay. The log search was actually rather soothing. I could hear the quiet hoots of owls in the distance, and the gentle murmuring of a babbling brook nearby. After I had collected a decent amount of firewood, I met back up with Nopira at the spot where we planned to light the fire. I didn't know how we were going to light it, but Nopira had told me not to worry, and that he would take care of it. I placed my logs beside the designated campfire spot.

"So, how do you plan on lighting the fire?" I asked Nopira.

"It's simple, with our energies combined, Rukni and I can set fire to the logs. Normally, I would be able to do it myself, but since I already used my powers, I can't do it alone. Doing something as simple as lighting a fire isn't forbidden by the Council, by the way, so I don't have to think about whether using my powers is imperative or not."

I would have given him a witty retort or complaint about how the First Reality was so strange, but I was so tired that I honestly didn't care anymore.

I watched Nopira and Rukni walk and fly to opposite ends of the spot for our campfire. Nopira placed three logs in a triangle formation on the ground, and the two began chanting some sort of spell and moved around the triangle in a circle. The whole procedure seemed more like a ritual to summon a demon, but I decided not to make any accusations.

All of the sudden, the logs floated off the ground and burst into flames. Rukni and Nopira stepped away from the fire, and the logs fell onto the ground.

"There is never a dull moment in the First Reality, that's for sure," I admitted.

Nopira and I began adding logs to the campfire so it would radiate more heat to keep us nice and toasty. Rukni sat perched on the branch of the closest tree, watching us build our fire. After we were satisfied with our creation, we both sat down on the grass, watching the sparks and smoke fly off the fire.

"Dianne, whenever you first met me I asked you to explain how you got here. You told me that you took some pills, and then got transported into a dark room that you had been in before and something different happened, but you didn't want to tell me what it was. Then you said you ended up here, in the First Reality. Do you now trust me enough to tell me what happened in the dark room?" he asked.

"I confess, I am still a little hesitant to tell you some things, but I think I'm ready to tell you this, at the very least. Ever since my best friend, Elizabeth drowned when I was fourteen, I've had dreams where I see her standing next to a puddle, staring at her reflection. I'm seventeen now, just so you know, so these dreams have been happening for a few years now. I always tried to call out to her, and get her attention anyway I could think of. Nothing ever worked. After I had an argument with my mother, I took some sleeping pills and I found myself in the dark room again. This time, Elizabeth was nowhere to be found, and my attempts to locate her failed. I gave up, sat down, and closed my eyes, which is the action I found would cause me to awake. A few minutes of sitting had passed when I heard Elizabeth say my name from behind me. She told me about why I was able to speak to her when she was dead and mentioned something about inner desires. I think those may be similar to the 'inner question' you say I seek the answer to. Before I was able to get more information from here, her body shattered into millions of pieces and she was swept away. I feel bad because I don't remember everything she said, but that's only because it all happened so fast."

"Thank you for telling me that, Dianne, I can see that you've really been through a lot. I suppose I should tell you some things about myself, to equal out our vulnerabilities. All you know about me so far is that I am an inyanga, and that my kind lives to serve neutral beings. I do have a personality though, despite being somewhat of a copy of my peers. I've always wanted to visit the other realities, but I told myself that it would be far too dangerous to go to them, and that I would need a very good reason to travel if I did. In fact, if a single inyanga, ilanga, any other subspecies of their kind, or pretty much any otherworldly creature visited Neutrality, the Second Reality, the entire universe would be thrown out of balance, so I'll never get to go there. I can, however, go to the Passenger Dimension and the Third Reality, I just never had a justification to go to those places, until now. I want to make a bigger impact on the world! I want to directly help a neutral being! By accompanying you on your quest, I am able to do those things, so, I truly appreciate you allowing me to come with you. You are helping me to achieve my dreams. It is only right, that in turn, I help you find the answer you're looking for by helping you navigate the universe and face your greatest challenges."

"I guess I hadn't given any thought to who you really were as an individual. I only saw you as a servant, someone who was only here to help me, but now, I see that I was wrong. You have dreams and goals of your own. I'm sorry, Nopira. I didn't tell you the full story just now. I'm willing to open up about because it will benefit both of us. The truth is that I live in an insane asylum. I don't really know for sure, but from what I can tell, my mental health deteriorated after the death of Elizabeth and the mysterious disappearance of my little brother, Clarence. I have always I guess this compelled my mother to put me in the mental institution, where I spend all of my days. I hate it there, just like all the other patients. The doctors do dangerous procedures on some of the patients, and the nurses have no respect for anyone there, they only want to get paid while doing the bare minimum. That argument with my mother, that was because she told me the doctors wanted to do a lobotomy on me, and my mother kept insisting that it would help me recover. I refused, but my mother would not stop trying to get me to agree to the procedure, so I said something hurtful, and I regretted it. That why I took the sleeping pills, to escape my pain and regret, but instead of asleep, I got to be here, in the First Reality. I still really want to be back in my world, but being here isn't as much of an annoyance as I was making it out to be. I've been in some risky situations so far, but, in a way, this has all been kind of fun. It made me feel alive. It made me feel normal, and it's not even over yet. Even better, when all of this comes to a close, I will have found the answer I have been looking for. When my brother disappeared, I immediately knew someone had murdered him. I felt it in my soul. I can't exactly explain the feeling, but I know that I am correct. I am sure of it, and I will act upon it. I want to find out who killed Clarence, and when I do, I will do everything in my power to make sure they suffer my wrath!"

"Personally, I don't think you should be so vengeful, but I am not here to judge you. I understand that you have a good reason to want to do that. I am grateful for your willingness to speak about your past, and the events leading up to your appearance in the First Reality. You're not so bad after all, Dianne."

"Yeah, I guess you're not so bad either, Ghost Boy."