A Trillion Years: Rebirth [Book One of the IGU]

Chapter Three: A Strange Voice

A chilly breeze brushed by the traveling children in the dead of the night. The horse was huffing and slowly trotting along the path. Aurora was already fast asleep and using the sack of food as a pillow.

Xander was barely awake as he held onto the reins. Looking up at the twinkling stars, the clouds were barely visible as they blended with the dark sky. In an attempt to keep himself warm, he hugged himself, but it was no use. Whenever the winds howled, every bit of warmth he had would be stripped away. He couldn't stop himself from shivering or his teeth from chattering. Xander could feel whatever energy he had left slowly slip away from his fingertips.

With the full moon and a silent world as his witnesses, Xander's eyelids became too heavy to keep open and he fell off to the side. He didn't land on the dirt path below nor feel any sort of impact. He landed on nothingness and it took over.

"It's about time you left behind such an odious place," echoed a strange, constantly shifting stream of voices. Each word was said in a different voice. From feminine to childlike and to even deep and broad, it never settled on one and never seemed to end. "Arise, Xander Lucis."

Xander's eyes snapped open. He was out of breath and gasped for air. He had a bad feeling in every ounce of his body and it was as though danger surrounded him at every turn. Looking around, he couldn't shake off that something was wrong. No, rather than something, everything was wrong. There wasn't a howling wind or a cold sensation around his body. He didn't feel tired or energized either.

Every step he took created ripples below as if he was standing on the surface of water. The starry, night sky he saw before closing his eyes were below him on the rippling surface. The bright glow of the full moon resonated from underneath.

"Do you not yet recognize it?" asked the stream of voices. "Your home? Your world?"

Xander looked up and saw the ground above him. The horse and Aurora were still on the dirt path, yet not even a sliver of movement took place.

Time was frozen and the world's reflection was before him.

Xander thought he was upside down or maybe the entire world was instead.

Trails of silver smoke slid across the surface of the sky from many directions. The trails met and spiraled into one mass. It turned and turned in circles, creating a powerful wind that blew in the direction it spun. Two glowing, orange semicircles appeared near the top of the smokey mass as it focused its gaze on the boy.

Carefully, Xander took a step back as he retained eye contact.

It edged closer.

He took another step.

Again, it edged closer.

Xander turned around and tried to run, but in one quick swoop, it manifested in front of him as several strings of smoke surrounded him. Face-to-face with the strange creature, Xander closed his eyes and quietly hoped it would leave him alone.

"You still cannot comprehend my form?" it asked as every voice it used creeped him out.

Xander didn't answer. His eyes were still closed as he was trembling with fear.

"You have nothing to be afraid of, boy." The strings of smoke receded back into the body of smoke. "I cannot bring harm to my host nor would I ever have the desire to."

Xander slightly opened his eyes and looked up at it as it slowly floated away. "Wait!" he suddenly called out.

"Finally mustered up the courage to speak, I see," it said.

"What are you?"

It shook what seemed to be its head. "Wouldn't the proper question be 'who are you'?"