Between Two Worlds

35

I look up to where the clouds clear and I find my stomach getting heavy... as I gaze at the sun lit settlement by the wall... once it was so full of life. I may not have seen it but I know it was here. I can see ghosts of people walking about the street, mingling with each other, and buying things from the stores around it. The darkness has taken it over. A nightmare it has become. This land is lost... and it's never coming back, at least not the same way.

"Vil," I hear a murmur ask behind me.

I realize I had been staring at the dead sight before us for too long. I snap from my nightmare that's also my reality and look at the concerned, innocent eyes of my husband standing by me.

I shake my head quickly. "Sorry," I mutter and turn around, gazing on the wall behind me.

Éowyn turns her head to look at me. "Vilora there's nothing here... how is it that we would not see it?"

"A spell perhaps," Aragorn says to her.

Thranduil's face shows disbelief, as if he knows there's something incredibly advanced about this place that has nothing to do with magic. He eyes me with his brows pulled together just slightly.

I look up at where the gate should be and think. "Just keep feeling the wall around where the edges of the road is and beyond," I say quickly and run back to our car.

Legolas follows me.

I throw open the passenger door and place one foot on the pad, touching my finger to the area below the dash in front of the seat to open a compartment. All that is in there are a marker and some tissues.

I shut the latch and open the center compartment. The only contents are the supplies of ours I put in there.

I back out and close the car door, walking to the back and opening the door under the windshield. I don't find anything in there either but I do notice a small black bag zipped shut. I grab it, feeling the gaze of my elf who stands by me.

I pull it open to find two communicator devices inside. These will definitely come in handy. I slip one of them on my ear and take the other to our companions. I feel my hair flow off my shoulders as I walk on the hard ground to them. Luckily these boots aren't so uncomfortable. But staying barefoot for so long my feet have become like stone. Walking on nails wouldn't even bother me.

Thranduil is the first to eye me as I walk to them so I motion for him to come here. He approaches me and I hold up the device. "Use this to communicate with us." I place it on his palm after I grab his hand and he looks at it curiously. I show him how to us it and wear it and he puts it on his ear like mine. "I'm going to check in the shops for something. I'll be back," I say. "Let me know if you guys find anything."

He nods.

I turn and walk to the first building I see, Legolas fast walking to catch up with me. He probably understands that it's not wise to go anywhere alone even if it's just around the corner.

I step over a pile of broken concrete and approach the small shop. The words "Open" are dimmed in the clouded window as I pass it.

When I step through the broken doorway glass crunches under my foot and beams of light shine into the room, highlighting the air thick with dust.

I have no idea what the shop even sold, as all of the shelves are wiped clean of products. Must have been something essential.

My eyes dart around the room and only see emptiness. Pieces of stone cover parts of the floor where holes from the walls and ceiling are missing.

I walk forward through an isle, not hearing footsteps behind me yet.

My feet are quieter once I am not stepping on broken glass. I stop with my hands on the counter where a cashier would stand. For the earlier years my father had said that we had automated cashiers but once people figured out how to hack them they became more of a problem than actual human beings. And once the apocalypse started people became more trustworthy than machines that no longer worked...