That disturbing reality had me scrambling from my position, only to immediately sink back against the wall with a cry of pain. My muscles were cramped and spasming from the battle and the expulsion of power; the wood stuck deep within my side, and the wounds on my legs were still there, causing hot blood to run in rivulets down my side with every breath.
Still alive, then, I thought.
“Where am I? What is this?” I muttered, my voice muffled by the strange fog.
“The better question is ‘who are they’?” The voices from earlier seemed to speak from every direction at once. The effect was completely disorienting, and I closed my eyes and cupped my hands against my ears in an effort to battle the rising nausea.
When the voices didn’t reappear, and I’d swallowed back the bile in my throat, I peeled my hands away and tentatively peeked through my eyelids only to gasp out a scream.
A figure made entirely of the white mist that overtook the Valley stood directly in front of me, her head cocked to the side as I desperately tried to scramble away. The flesh of my palms bit into exposed rock and splintered wood, and I hissed in pain as my back made contact with the wall once more.
In a rising panic, I flitted my head from side to side, looking for a way out. But it was as if the fog was sentient, sensing my anxiety and need to flee, becausein one moment the mist was simply floating strands, and in the next, full figures had formed, each taking a distinctive shape.
There was nowhere for me to go, nowhere for me to run.
I flung my gaze back to the woman, cataloguing her tall frame and thin features, hair that was matted to her head and hung to her waist in stringy clumps. Her dress was strange, not a style I’d seen before, and hung loose on her frail figure. There were darker spots that dotted her collar, and I gasped as my gaze trailed up to her face.
The mist couldn’t create depth in colors or articulate features like pupils and irises, so the woman’s eyes were one singular shade. But it was clear that the darker strands of fog were blood. A quick glance at the other semi-formed figures around me confirmed my conjecture. Some sported dark spots near their hearts or heads. Others were made completely of the darker mists, and I cringed to think what that signified.
The woman’s mouth was stretched wide, the sides of her smile cut. Dark mist formed on her chin and trailed down her neck as if her mouth had been brutalized.
“Who are you?” I whispered shakily.
That gaping maw stretched wider, the sides flapping apart with the motion.
“It’s about time you asked,” she said, her voice hissing from nowhere and everywhere at once, yet she never gave me a definitive answer. Simply stared at me with those monochromatic, soulless eyes that sent shivers down my spine.
“Who are you?” I repeated, my voice stronger the second time, despite the cold sweat that covered my back.
“The protectors of the Valley, only able to be called and created by whoever holds the power of Creation.”
I frowned.
“That could be me or Solace,” I mumbled even as the multitude of ghosts hissed at her name. The sound was disconcerting, and I threw my hands over my ears once more. Once the sound died down, the woman spoke again.
“We do not respond to her,” she spat, venom lacing every word.
“Then you answered to me?”
“You innervated the ground, yes? Answered our pleas. Forced Creation Magic deep within this cursed soil to rouse us from our restless sleep,” a different voice sounded from somewhere behind the first woman. This voice was also female, but decidedly older and laced with unending wisdom.
The mists coalesced together, creating a second body next to the first, both near enough to touch now. As I expected, she was much older than the first woman, the mists folding on top of one another to create deep wrinkles in herface and hands. I looked harder than necessary to find the telltale black smoke—there was none.
“We are an extension of the ether now, dear. Not fully here yet not fully gone. Cursed to guard this place by our ancestors’ own hand, unable to join the remainder of our people fully in the ether.”
“So where am I?” I asked, flicking my attention to the older woman. She leaned heavily against a cane even in this ethereal form, and I found myself wondering how old the woman was in life.
“In the Valley, yes. But the in-between, for now,” she said. The ghosts danced and writhed behind her as she spoke, some fading from sight completely before reappearing seconds later. The mists constantly ate and reformed their bodies.
“For now?” I prodded; her insinuation that Solace wasn’t here with us gave me a momentary reprieve, but not one I knew would last long.
The old woman nodded her head. “You’ve called us. Only you can dismiss us.”
I chewed my lip as I fingered the crystal that was still trapped in my fist.
“Permanently?” I asked.
The specter raised a ghostly eyebrow even as the mist became eerily silent.
