Victor’s heart began to beat faster, and his eyes widened as he suddenly became aware, in a way that he had never been aware before. His gaze fell on the woman again, as if he were seeing her for the first time, really seeing her, even though they had looked at each other forever – because he was, in a way. He noticed the horse, and the clothes that he was wearing, clothes that hehad not possessed in … another life? Had he suddenly been transported to another world? He was used to being abducted and waking up in unfamiliar places, to some extent, an unfortunate side effect of the life that he had decided to live.
No, he remembered. His friend Ingrid and he had stopped at the same pond the trial before, on their journey back to Raelia (they had visited a tavern on the outskirts of the city), although it had looked subtly different then. The colors hadn’t been quite as intense as they were here. It seemed almost like a painting of sorts, as if an Immortal or a being of similar power had attempted to create another version of the world – a better version. There had been a figure kneeling at the edge of the pond that afternoon as well.
He had wanted to find out who they were, but his friend had insisted that they head home. He took a deep breath and then another one, trying to calm down and sort out his thoughts that were a confusing mess, and then he looked at her again and asked, in a tone of voice that was filled with surprise, confusion and fascination at the same time, “Did we meet yesterday? I remember seeing a figure with a cloak at this very pond, although I’m not sure why I’m here again now. I went to bed just a little while ago …”
He shook his head, and his voice trailed off as he waited for an answer, an explanation of sorts.
The woman cocked her head a little to the side and smiled slightly before she raised her arm. He could see that she was wearing a falconer’s gauntlet made of Grave Gold – he recognized it because he owned a weapon that was made of the same metal. She was like him, a falconer. Was she a Tarouz as well? No, that couldn’t be. They were still in Melrath, even though it seemed to be a slightly different version of Melrath. Maybe she was a mage then, or some sort of fae. He had occasionally heard rumours of fae being seen in the wilds.
She looked at him as if she were waiting for something, and he took her hand, after only a moment of hesitation. He was not normally that trusting – his brother’s betrayal and the events that had taken place in Niflheim had made him suspicious of other people – but he was convinced that he would be able to trust her, beyond all doubts, despite the strangeness of the situation at hand and despite the fact that he still did not have any idea what was happening. He expected her to lead him through this strange world, but instead, the world around them began to shimmer and ultimately shift for the third time.
Or maybe, he amended, they had moved on to a different world. They were in a place that was unlike anything that he had ever seen before or that he thought that he would ever see. Up until that moment, he had not thought that something like that could actually exist. For a moment, he wondered if he was dead – or if he had gone insane. He had been through a lot, and his mutations and the Gleam Sight hadn’t exactly improved his mental state. But no, he had to be alive and sane. The woman’s hand in his felt so warm and so real; and besides, his heart was beating so furiously in his chest. A dead person could not have a heartbeat.
“This is the Veil, the place beyond dreams”, the woman spoke. Hearing her voice after she had been quiet for so long made his heart skip a beat. He blinked a couple of times in confusion as he tried to figure out what she meant. How could there be a place beyond dreams? Was he dreaming now? Or had he been dreaming before? Had he been taken away only to wake up in a new world? He let his gaze drift across his surroundings, nearly breathless with awe. He had never seen such beauty in his entire life.
They were in a forest that was made of shimmering crystals, opalescent and bright, in a variety of fascinating and unusual shapes, some taller than the tallest man and some as small as a tiny flower. The ground beneath their feet seemed to be made of obsidian or maybe adamantite, a deep, smooth black while the sky above them – if it really was the sky rather than some sort of ceiling – was red and pink, with a hint of dark blue, like the sky just before the suns were about to rise or set, as if dusk and dawn were happening at the same time – as if morning broke and the evening began in the middle of the night.
There were shadows on some of the crystals, vague impressions, that made him wonder if they were gateways, to something, to more worlds – and if he would be able to step into them, or maybe through them. He made a step forward and then another one, as if he wanted to touch one of those crystals, as if he wanted to take a closer look, but the blonde falconer that was still next to him shook her head very gently. “Not yet”, she spoke in the same enigmatic tone of voice as before. “You are not ready for this yet. Wait a little longer.”
Just as she had finished speaking, the world began to shift for the fourth time, and they were back at the pond where it had all begun, standing face to face once more. The woman opened her mouth in order to say something to him again. Victor waited for whatever it was with bated breath – only in order to abruptly raise his head towards the sky as a dark shadow appeared above them. A bird descended, a falcon that was far bigger than any falcon that he had ever seen. A part of him started to worry slightly, but another part of him couldn’t help but look at the magnificent bird in awe. The woman raised her arm, almost as if she were inviting the falcon, as if she were welcoming it.
A moment later, its mighty talons took a hold of her arm and lifted her up, in order to carry her away. Before they disappeared from view, he could hear her voice again. At least he thought that it was her voice, the same voice that he had heard in the crystal forest. Maybe it was just a voice, without a face or a body to go with it, another aspect of the strange place that he had found himself in, that world that was so similar to his own and yet so different.
“Remember the Veil!”
Those words still echoed in his mind when everything around him, the pond, the horse, and even the sky above him began to disappear, for a reason that he couldn’t figure out, and the world changed for the final time. But a few moments later, he found himself in his bed, in his house in Raelia, full of confusion, and his heart beating rapidly once more as he tried to make sense of things, but found himself absolutely unable to. He still did not have any idea what had happened to him. Where had he been? Had he been dreaming and just woken up? Why had it felt so real if he had been dreaming though, and why could he still remember things so clearly? Who exactly had the woman been?
And what exactly was the Veil?
