fourteen
Evaopenedhereyesto an endless expanse of white. It extended like a wall in front of her. To her left and her right, reaching so far into the sky she wasn't sure where it ended.
The haze caressed her arms and face, slithering across the ground like it was almost sentient. Large plumes chased after each other before crashing into an explosion of white.
Humming surrounded her. The sound hypnotizing. An irresistible call that made Eva want to walk into the mist and forget everything that came before.
She didn't know what kept her from doing exactly that. The only thing that she was certain of was that if she took a single step forward everything would change. She would be different.
Instinct prompted Eva to look down as she took in the ground, bare of anything but rock or dirt except where a single flower grew right next to her boot. Tiny and white, delicate looking with petals that shimmered as if diamond dust had been scattered along its surface, it swayed toward her, wrapping little petals around the leather of her boot in a hug as if to say, “don’t go”.
As if sensing her attention, the flower chimed, sending off a discordant note that interrupted the relentless humming. Eva’s mind cleared. Long enough for recognition to jolt through her. She’d seen this flower before. Or one very like it.
It had been a gift from the boulder mythological.
As soon as Eva looked away from the flower, the clarity that she’d gained faded. The flower’s discordant chimes were soon drowned out by the humming. The passage of time grew indistinct and hazy as Eva listened to a voice that wasn’t a voice at all.
"Come," it whispered. "You'll be accepted here. You won't be alone with us. You no longer need them. They'll only hold you back. You have to leave them behind."
Eva nodded, agreeing with that voice. Yearning was a deep spear in her gut, compelling her to take that last step. It reverberated in her mind, consuming her thoughts.
Eva resisted, even as she wavered. The desire to move forward warred against the instinct that forced her to stay put.
Every time desire won the flower would chime its discordant note, the brief clarity enabling her to remain standing where she was just a little bit longer.
Over and over as time kept passing her by.
"What are you going to do?" a young girl asked, appearing beside her to stare into the mist.
Eva found herself unsurprised at the unexpected visitor. Almost like she'd been waiting for her arrival.
Strange, because until right this second, she hadn't been aware she was waiting at all.
Mist tilted her head back, training eyes the color of the sky on Eva. Her gaze was far from the innocent one you'd expect of a child her age, containing a wisdom and world weariness that usually took decades to achieve.
Appearing only six or seven to Eva's untrained eye, she was a pretty child, her hair an untamed halo around her head. She was taller than the first time Eva met her, but then children always seemed to grow as fast as weeds. If you blinked, you'd miss it.
Mist looked down at the flower, a faint smile crossing her face as she crouched to caress its petals. “Your friend is kind. I would have had trouble finding you in time if not for his help.”
“Yes, he is very kind,” Eva agreed, not needing to ask who Mist meant. Somehow, she already knew the flower represented the boulder mythological and his will.
Why her mind had chosen to portray him as a flower instead of a boulder didn’t seem important in her dream.
"Is this real?" Eva asked.
Mist shrugged, a negligent gesture that Eva suspected Mist had picked up from her foster mother, Shea. Eva had seen the Battle Queen use it more than once, usually when she didn't want to waste time explaining what should be obvious.
"What is real? What is not?"
The absurdity of the answer pulled Eva further out of her fugue, the call fading as she was forced to think.
Eva faced Mist more fully. "I didn't expect you here."
"That's because this isn't a place you should have come."
Eva didn't respond to Mist's statement, taking a moment to study her surroundings. The mist next to them was thick and impenetrable, more so than any other Eva had seen.
It was more than just a haze; it was a blanket, concealing everything behind it. Not simply veiling it from view but obscuring it entirely.
