Not all of my fellow beings have gotten the short end of the stick from their warped encounters. One being passes me singing nonsense words to a bright tune. She doesn’t reply when I greet her, too lost in her strange music, but she sounds happy enough.
Another rolls past me in what feels like a series of continual backflips, all shadowy gymnast. I’m not sure his limbs are exactly where he’d want them to be, but the change has left him extra limber, at least.
As I project another call, ignoring the first prickles of strain at the back of my mind, a thin cry that sounds almost familiar reaches my ears.
“No. I wasn’t supposed to be here. This shouldn’t be— It isn’t fair!”
Frowning, I swivel toward the sound. It’s coming from deeper within the thinned, unsettled area I’ve avoided doing more than dipping the edges of my being into.
A noise of pure agony follows the words. With a lurch of my pulse, I push myself forward.
As soon as I get close to the being, I recognize her. I never spent all that much time around Gloss at the academy, but her icy, polished attitude laces even her ephemeral presence.
That presence is stretched thin now, dispersing with her fading essence. The smoky substance leaches into the haze around us in jittery tendrils. She squirms and struggles, but I can’t tell what she’s fighting against.
Did she end up tangled in the twisted streams of shadow that have trapped other beings here? Or did the warping effect of the rift rake through her body, unraveling it in ways essence should never be pulled?
The memory of how she battered my mate makes me want to bare the fangs I don’t exactly have here, but Gloss’s anguish is undeniable. I’d be as bad as her if I leave her to suffer.
“Can you move?” I ask her. “Try to propel yourself this way. In the thicker shadows, you might heal.”
I extend more of the soothing impressions I’ve been offering, but I don’t want to over-promise. What I can sense of Gloss feels more like a tattered rag than a living being.
She lets out a gurgle that doesn’t appear to be a response and makes a wriggling motion that only dispels more essence. My innards tighten in horror.
I reach out and try to tug her with me, but the moment my essence touches hers, a spasm of energy shoots into me that sends me jerking back. Unfortunately, I think I snag another scrap of her fraying presence in the process.
“No, no, no,” Gloss keeps muttering between gasps, but her voice is ebbing alongside her disintegrating form. I swivel around her, trying to figure out a way I can push or pull her someplace at least a little safer—and her words fade away completely.
The spark of life that energized her essence snuffs out. All at once, I can’t detect anything in the atmosphere right in front of me except more aimless shadows.
As much as I disliked my cruel classmate, a cry of my own slips out of me. I grasp instinctively toward the spot where she was, but there’s nothing left I can catch hold of.
And a wave of unnerving dissonance roars in the distance, surging toward me.
Yelping, I fling myself back the way I came. The wriggling quivers of warped energy nip at my heels.
Even in my panic, I don’t forget my purpose. As I dash away from the expanding warped zone, I exude my power like I once colored the whole sky in rainbow hues to bring Peri back to me.
“Come with me! Come with me! It’s safer this way! Happier, much more delightful! Everything you’ve ever dreamed of having, you can find it over here!”
Okay, I might really be overselling the situation with that pitch. But what do we all dream of more than stayingalive?
Nothing else we could want is possible if these beings shatter apart like Gloss just did.
So technically, it’s true.
Along with the words, I project a swell of tinkling music both calming and uplifting, to encourage their spirits to take action. I add juicy hamburgers, pumpkin pie, and caviar to the imaginary buffet I’m offering, so there’s something for all tastes. I guide the way not with a path of light like I did for the humans in the city but a streak of thicker darkness that’ll lead to a shadowy embrace.
More and more presences flit over. Even as I flee the warped rift’s onslaught myself, my spirits rise. So many other beings are soaring beside me.
I’m bringing them with me, out of danger this time. Toward something better. This is what my powers should always be used for.
I just hope we can shut down the rifts for good before there are no safe shadows left to hide in.
24
Periwinkle
