Beyond the Void

Chapter 20, Twisted shapes hidden in the gloom

The Age of Fleeting - lasted seven hundred and twelve years.

While not the shortest Age, it was said to have been the quickest and changed much. As with the previous two ages, the chronicles of the trueborn races tell of little if anything relevant of the first six hundred or so years.

An excerpt from the diary of Pia...

ANDREW

One moon since the Mark of the Other One blossomed. The moon of Gales has come.

If the maps were right, they had made their way down two-thirds of the river. On their way downriver the group had gathered more supplies from abandoned villages, they had built small tents, gathered what little dishes or pots they dared to carry.

They had run across more of those metal bunkers in the ground. There was a possibility they might have been used for other purposes than just hiding boats in them. They found remains of barrels and pottery in them. Rusted weapons in one of them. Regardless, Jess threw multiple tantrums, exclaiming that someone had left the boats for the group to find.

Travelling by boats had eased their journey quite a lot. And the river had solved the group's food and water problems. There were always fish and a new plant, lush, cabbage-like, but far superior in taste that still grew on the riverbanks. But an uneasy tension was building in the back of everyone's minds. Winter was catching up with them.

Snowfall was becoming a constant, and it would always worsen before the evening. Because of the coming gale, everyone had pulled into a small cove that offered shelter. As they were setting up camp, for the briefest of moments the world turned blood red and a feeling of white noise ran through Andrew's head.

He stopped and turned to face the small creek inlet. Behind him, he could hear a minor commotion. Becca had lost consciousness, he could understand that much. The next thing he knew, someone's hand was on his shoulder.

"You okay? Hey, Andrew, you listening?" Andrew knew the presence next to him, it was Eric.

Andrew blinked and only now focused on the man's face. Something was off. He looked at his own hands and realised he had drawn the sword from his pack. The scabbard and sword were never on him. Only on the rare occasions they went hunting. Now he had the sword in his hand and had dropped the small pack of belongings.

"Is everything okay?" Eric looked concerned.

"Andrew?" Sarah sounded unsettled.

Andrew noticed Becca was awake now. But he did not put the sword away. What had it been? That blood red light. Had the others not seen it? He brushed Eric's hand away and took a few steps towards the river. He closed his eyes and reached out.

It was the same as it had been for days now. Animals and them. Nothing else. He tried to go further east, but he could not get a clear grasp of what was there. The river was a natural barrier, making everything on the other side hard to grasp.

"What is it?" Sten asked.

"You didn't see the blood red light?" He asked straight out. A small silence, then.

"I thought I was seeing things." Jess whispered audibly. Everyone else nodded and grunted in agreement.

"What is it?" Sten asked again. That was the problem. When the red light had shone, something had caught his attention on the other side of the river. But he couldn't remember it.