The hermit
Disc
“The caverns are too dark,” explained Zidra, examining her blade through her mask. “And we are no match for it unless we take it unawares.”
Sparks sprayed as the big man worked. The books and gadgets lining the walls seemed to cackle at Zidra. An inverted caged bat stretched its wings and wrapped itself back up.
Zidra snorted. “You know I speak with logic rather than fear, Erasmus.”
Finally, Erasmus turned. “The darkness will be no obstacle,” he breathed, extending a glimmering purple disc. “Attach this to your mask’s purifier. You will no longer need eyes.”
skeleton
He was the only one left. Brin and Ganthis had fallen. Zidra…
All to reach this, the edge of the misty wood. A waterfall drowning egg-shaped rocks. A split in the earth. An empty, broken village with a single pole, sparking every few seconds.
Appalled at himself, the big man slammed his fist into a wooden wall, and it flickered.
“Hm?”
He watched two worlds. One, the known; the other, red. The latter slid in place, overcame, and a man of bone rose from the rusted soil. “You look so… fresh,” rattled the skeleton. His black eyes darted around.
“This place… I have died?”
“Oooh,” the man of bone sang, his eyes roaming again. “Not yet, I don’t think.”
The big man tried to follow the other’s gaze. “What do you search for?”
The skeleton laughed and leaned in. “Well. Let me tell you.”
gift
“You will live again,” he’d told me, “but not for a long time.”
As my eyes adjusted to the light, I wondered how long it had been. There were so many colors. I’d gotten so used to the rust of the other world that the variety nearly made me weep.
But I guess I couldn’t.
Rust? Other world?
A hulking thing leaned over me and cleared its throat. “Are you there?” it rasped. A man, with flesh. It sounded as though he hadn’t spoken in a long time.
“I am,” I said, with a new voice. “My name is… Where is here?”
He smiled and wiped at his shining eyes. “Here?” clearing his throat again. “You are back. In Lumen Marcia.”
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