The Eden Not Found On This Earth

Chapter 3: What Dreams May Come

Everything is darkness. There is no light except for Arden.

He walks in the darkness, the sole light in the vast expanse of black. He hears the crying of a child; a terrible sobbing as if it's been crying for an eternity. Arden approaches the darkness that cries so horribly. He reaches out a hand to it, and it pounces on him as if to devour him. Its crying louder and shrill enough to leave a ringing in the ears, the darkness attaches itself to Arden.

That's all it does. It doesn't attack. It does not corrode. It places itself around Arden, the sole light in the vast darkness, only lighting a few meters around him.

Arden puts his arms around it, as if cradling a treasure that could break any moment, as if he isn't bothered by the ringing cries. He tentatively raises his hand and brings it down, slowly patting the darkness around him. The darkness grows lighter and its sobbing turns into sniffles. He walks forward with no direction in mind, but it isn't long before the ground under his feet sounds with the crunching of dry leaves and twigs.

They arrived at a big nest and Arden could feel the darkness shivering. He puts his hand to It as if to comfort It and starts climbing up the side of the nest. Arden jumps down from the top, landing inside, and roams around inspecting every inch of the nest with the soft light he brings, only to find it empty except for them. He then sits down, leaning against the nest, unsure of what to do next.

"Bell! Bell!"

"Bell, where are you?"

Arden could hear those voices, and says to the darkness, "I think they're looking for you."

But the darkness doesn't respond, only brushing up against Arden even more, as if It never wants to part. This makes Arden sigh, patting the darkness much gentler than before. It takes several moments, and the voices appear ever closer, but the darkness only weighs more heavily on Arden.

"Bell! Where are you?!"

This time the voice sounds only from the other side of the nest Arden leans against. It shivers in Arden's arms and doesn't make a sound, as if it never wants to be found by the person on the other side. Arden moves to lift It off him, as if holding a child by the torso, staring at the darkness where he imagine its eyes would be.

"Bell! Please! Come back!"

Arden brings It closer to himself and gives the darkness a soft kiss. It turns into a young boy, no older than five solunars, his hair black with white tips. The boy stares back at Arden with grey pouting eyes, and small pouting lips to match. The expression on the child as if he had been wronged by everyone in the world, especially by Arden.

Arden stands and places the child on the ground just as there's a rustling right behind them.

"Bell!"

The grey-eyed boy turns to look at the newly arrived person, a man with the same grey eyes but his hair the inverse color of his. The grey-eyed man looks at the grey-eyed boy in shock, as if he couldn't believe what he's seeing. The man then turns his eyes to Arden, who just placed his glowing hand on the boy's head, and the boy screams at the disappearing weight on his head. The boy screams at the loss of his Light.

Arden wakes up to screaming next to him, seeing the Prince struggling with nothing. Drewan gasps and sobs endlessly, and Arden rises immediately to hold him down.

"Drewan!"

There's a gust of wind and Arden is thrown off the Prince, Wenek in his place. Arden sees the Elf Heimor enter the door calmly, but only for a moment as his focus is Drewan.