Beyond the Void

Chapter 31, A reflection

ANDREW

One moon and two tens since the Mark of the Other One blossomed.

Countless numbers of people stood silently. Maybe tens of thousands or an even greater number. This plaza was vast, spanning the area of perhaps several Olympic arenas. Some gathered here held their hands as if praying, others had opened their arms wide, as if trying to embrace the air.

Not even one of them was moving or showing any signs of life. Yet here they stood, all of them facing a castle complex beyond this plaza. The only sound piercing the crushing silence was Anna and Andrew's heavy breathing.

The snow had stopped. No, that was not right, Andrew realised. The snow did not reach the ground where the people stood. It vanished before it even reached the people. Someone had drawn simple geometric shapes and lines on the ground underneath the crowds. All of these shapes and symbols were reminiscent of the ones he had seen on the hilltop back north.

Why had Andrew not sensed this? Baffled, he closed his eyes and reached out into the shimmering world around him.

There were countless embers before him. So small and frail. He remembered now; he had sensed these before, at the gates. But he had dismissed them as animals. There was barely any substance to them.

The number of embers did not match the number of people here, but now, he could see a pattern and in the middle of it the faintest presence of them all. He reached out to it with his mind out of curiosity.

Suddenly his inner world exploded with colour. Andrew felt as if he was falling through something. The hollow feeling in his stomach forced him to open his eyes.

It took him a moment to understand what exactly was going on. He was on all fours again and his eyes kept darting all around the place. He saw Anna approaching the edge where the snow disappeared.

Do not let her cross that boundary!

Andrew bolted from the spot and caught Anna at the last moment. She blinked sheepishly, looked at him, and then she looked at his arm. Andrew's attention was drawn to it as well. His right arm. There was no pain in his shoulder. He had torn it out of its sling, the piece of cloth now hanging limp in the light wind.

"What are you doing?" Anna demanded. The next moment she seemed to be aware of what was going again and she hesitated. "What was I doing?" Andrew felt her twitching and shivering.

"It is not a good idea to disturb them." He could hear the words leave his lips, but Andrew was not entirely sure if he had spoken them.

"I wanted to see if they are real. What is this?" Her words were calm despite the obvious dazed look in her eyes.

Understanding had bubbled up from deep within Andrew. Where had it come from, he did not understand. But he knew. He might not be able to explain it to the fullest, but he knew. "They sought shelter, a way to escape to their inevitable demise. It all happened a long time ago. And none of it worked out like they had hoped it would."

This resulting scene was an echo, a reflection of the truth that Andrew had witnessed before waking in this world. Knowledge burned inside his mind.

"They look like statues. Are they even alive?" Anna asked.

"They are alive, most of them are. Come on, I think we can get closer to the castle." The pain was slowly returning, but it did not bother Andrew that much. He grabbed Anna firmly with his left hand and led her away from the border. She was still twitching and shivering. "What do you feel?" Andrew asked out of curiosity.