There was darkness. It felt as though we might be in something like a tunnel and yet, it did not feel as though there were solid ground beneath us. Nothing solid anywhere around us. I wasn't even sure there was air here, I didn't know if I was still breathing. All I knew, was that the mysterious stranger who had brought me here still held on to me as we moved through that place that was somewhere and nowhere all at the same time.
After what could have been days or seconds, we emerged into the world again.
Except, it was instantly clear, that this was not the same world.
The best way I can describe what it was like is by likening it to a power cut we once had. It was the early hours of the morning and the sudden and complete silence and darkness was what woke me up as though the very opposite had happened and someone had shone a bright light in my face whilst bursting a balloon.
For the few seconds it took me to wake up properly, I wondered if I was the only person still alive in the whole world. Then I looked out of the window and marvelled at the town. So still, so quiet. No lights at all, no sounds. Power cuts in the day time were different, because there are still people around talking and cars in the background. This was eerie and yet, brilliant at the same time. So peaceful.
That's what this other world felt like. Almost complete silence. No lights here. Had I looked up at that moment, I might have seen the stars glittering in a crystal clear sky. It was a moonless night there. It felt as though there was no other life at all.
The air. That was different too. So clean. No pollution, I realised, but not until days later.
We were standing on solid grassy earth. That was something I felt rather than saw, as my eyes were still adjusting from being in such a deeper and complete darkness moments before.
As I began to see more of my surroundings, I saw the hedges all around. The masses of land that seemed to be ahead of us, before you got to the castle. That looked like the enormous shadow of an actual castle ahead of us.
All this I registered in just a few seconds. Then I remembered how I had ended up here, that the man who had brought me to this place still held me loosely around the waist.
I shoved him off and stepped away, nearly stumbling and turning my ankles on the slightly uneven ground in those stupid shoes. He stared at me. I briefly registered surprise, but it was so hard to read his face, with the scars and no light there.
“What are you?” I demanded. He did not respond.
Behind us, there was an archway. Old and empty. A great hedge behind it.
“How...?” I couldn't take it all in. This couldn't be real. But it was. It felt real. As real as the panic that was building in me, as though taking up from the moments before that gate clicked open and I was snapped out of my thoughts and made such a foolish decision as to go exploring that garden. My breathing was tight, my heart racing.
“I am human.” He told me at last. “As human as you are. From the same world. This, is a world that exists just a few layers beneath the reality of our own. A world that exists alongside ours.”
“You...” I couldn't get out everything that was running through my head. He stuffed his hands into his pockets.
“Lets go inside.” He said. “I can explain everything then.”
He began to walk away, towards a gap in the tall hedges. I hadn't moved, and he looked back at me.
“Would you prefer to stay here, in the dark, alone?”
I didn't. Nor did I really want to follow him, as doing that had been the thing to land me in this mess in the first place. But going with the only sign of other life in this world did seem a little better than staying there all on my own though.
How my legs managed to carry me anywhere at that point I have no idea, as I had started to shake like mad all over and my legs felt made of water. He led me onto a paved area and we followed the path through what smelt like massive rose gardens, though I wasn't particularly paying attention to what was around me. I was too blinded by fear.
We kept walking, taking a lot of turns, and the smells changed, and the hedges disappeared until we were just heading straight towards that daunting castle.
To my slight surprise, we went up a rather small stone staircase to an ordinary looking door. I hesitated before stepping inside.
“Are you just going to stand there?”
I went in and the door snapped shut.
It was like a small foyer, no lighting.
“Everyone's probably called it a day and gone to bed. Come on.”
He was walking down the corridor and beckoned me to follow when again I hesitated. Suddenly he led me into what could only be a lounge. It was a comfortable room. Rather small, for something in a castle of such a size. This room was probably the size of our own at home. Just an average sized living room.
A well built fire was crackling away in the large grate. There was a sofa in front and armchairs either side.
“Would you like a drink?” He offered, as he pulled off his gloves and went towards a drinks cabinet in the corner.
“No.” I said a bit too quickly. It would be madness, surely, to accept a drink from him. Madder than anything else I had done that night. He merely shrugged and helped himself to something, then went to lean on the mantle.
His scars were thrown into sharp relief by the flickering light of the flames. He sipped his drink.
“My name is Sennen.” He said.
I just stared blankly.
He continued to stare into the flames for a few moments.
“You, threatened my family.” I said.
“Did I?” He glanced at me. “Think about that.”
So I did. What was it he had said?
“You told me, I had to go with you, to keep my family safe.” I said slowly. “If I went with you, no one would come to any harm. But you never said they wouldn't be safe, if I stayed.” I paused. “You tricked me.”
“Not entirely.” said Sennen. “Five months ago, a woman I know only as Mikala, did this to me.” He gestured to his scars that I could see now, were all over his hands as well as his face. “By chance, I escaped, but I knew she was after others. I was led right to you, Mikala's next potential target. I brought you here, to keep you safe from her, but it was also to keep your family safe. If you had left in a way that suggested they knew anything at all about your disappearance, Cassia, they may have been in danger. But this way, it is more clear that they had nothing to do with it.”
“You couldn't have told me this before?”
“We had moments only, as your sister was looking for you. Explaining, getting you to believe my story, was too risky. I needed to get you away fast. So I spun the truth to my advantage, making the implication that I was a threat to your family. That they would come to harm should you stay. I actually didn't know whether they would be in danger or not.”
“So you tricked me instead.”
“I am sorry about that.”
I was starting to feel overwhelmed. I'd so stupidly gone with someone who was clearly dangerous, a complete lunatic. Hiding in a darkened area that was supposed to have been closed off.
My breathing was tight. My heart was pumping so furiously it hurt. I felt dizzy. I could barely see, the room was spinning.
There was the sound of a glass being put down and then footsteps, a hand on my elbow, leading me forwards then guiding me to sit down.
“Breathe.” I was commanded. “Calm down.”
I tried. Breathe in, breathe out. Again. In and out. My heart calmed as my vision cleared and things stopped reeling.
Sennen had gone out of my line of vision without me noticing his movement at all. He returned with a glass in his hand.
“Drink.” He told me. “It's a gin and tonic.”
Without thinking I accepted the drink and sipped.
“Do you often have panic attacks?” he asked.
“On occasion. When life just, gets too much. I was having an attack when that gate opened.”
“What set it off?”
“It's not important any more.”
Sennen leaned a shoulder on the mantle again, once more cradling his own drink in one hand. He studied me.
“Rest assured Cassia, I mean you no harm. Nor your family. I never did. I never will. You are safe here. No one will harm you. Least of all me.”
“How do you know my name?” I looked at him.
“I was able to learn it.” he shrugged.
“You mean you were spying on me.”
“No.”
“So, how...”
“This, is not a world that abides by normal rules of reality.” he said carefully. “Magic exists here. I think it exists in our own world, but it is less obvious, it is hidden very deeply. It was magic that helped me find you and it was because of that magic I knew your name.”
“You called me Sia.”
He paused at that.
“Yes. I did.” He said.
“Why? How did you know that name?” I pressed. “Hardly anyone knows that name.”
“A lucky guess. It's a more original abbreviation than Cass.”
“ A really lucky guess. It was that, more than anything else, that convinced me to go with you.”
Sennen studied me carefully, as though considering something very important. Most people would have questioned me about acting in such a way because of a name, but he did not.
“I should, perhaps, explain better why you are here.” he said. “I told you, that five months ago, Mikala abducted me. She took me to some sort of facility she owns. I don't know where it was and I saw very little of it. There, she tortured me, horrifically, in a range of different ways.” He paused as though pushing away the horror of memories. “After about six weeks, I broke free using magic I didn't even know I had. A portal was opened to me, to come here. The people of this world offered me sanctuary. Lodgings, a healer, a counsellor, all to recover from what Mikala did. But it was clear that I was troubled by the idea she was still on the loose and seeking others. I vowed to save who I could and, through magical means, traced you. The only way I could keep you safe was to bring you here. Like I said before, I could hardly tell you this story then and there. For all I knew, Mikala had spies watching you. So it had to be discreet. Secret and quick. I'm hoping, the way you vanished will say your family know nothing. Keeping Mikala away from them.”
“Why would she want me?”
“For the same reason she wanted me. She believes you have magic. Or information. Or both.”
“And do I have magic?”
“That is for you to find out.”
“The flowers.” I said. “All the spring flowers back in our world. You put them there, didn't you.”
“Yes.” Sennen nodded. “I didn't want to simply appear to you, not so close to others. Looking as I do, it would have terrified you. But I needed to grab your attention. The flowers, appearing at the wrong time of year, were meant to be a pleasant way of getting your attention and drawing you into that space. The archways are essential for travelling between realities.”
“This, is all completely insane.” I put down my now empty glass on the small table next to me and covered my face with my hands.
“Exactly.”
That wasn't what I expected to hear, so I lowered my hands and looked at him.
“This is all completely and utterly insane, to the logical mind. The way the gate opened, the flowers, all of this. It's insane. Yet, this is the first time you've truly questioned it.” Sennen elaborated. “Why, Cassia, did you go exploring in that garden? Why, did you take my hand? Why did you follow me after we stepped into this world? What was it, that made you accept that drink from me when you refused the first time?”
I frowned at him, not understanding quite what he was getting at.
“Instinct, Cassia. You stopped thinking, you weren't listening to any logical thought, you acted on a feeling, more than you acted on reasoning.”
"What does that mean?” I snapped.
“Powerful instincts, ones that are usually correct, more than logical thought, are an important basis for magical abilities.”
“How?”
Sean rubbed his brow.
“Now is not the best time to go into this in length. It's been an extremely long night as it is, and it's late. But, I do need to give some kind of explanation for this.”
“That would be nice.” I said.
“You clearly have some magical connection, magical powers. It is down to you to learn how to use them. Exactly how they work, I cannot tell you too much, because discovering your power is something everyone must do themselves. But it has to do with instinct. Magic, the ability to use it, is a very sparse gift. There are not many of us. We were chosen. Because of something we have that others don't, if only just more than anyone else, or just a greater understanding of. Part of it is instinct. The instinct that tells us what to do, or what not to do. Then there is a type of instinct that might be more keyed to us an individuals. It is our main motivation. An instinct that over powers us sometimes. It is part of our nature, something we do without question.”
“You're not making any sense.”
“No. I'm not.”
“How did you learn to use your magic?” I pushed.
Sennen seemed to consider how to answer that question.
“That's another, very long story.” He said at last. “I don't have full use of it right now and using too much can drain me greatly. I risked as much as I dared to bring you here.”
He put his own empty glass down.
“Would you like me to show you where you will be sleeping? It is late.”
“I'd like to keep on questioning you. But I suspect that you will refuse to answer.” I said. I stood, but unsteadily.
“You look tired.” Sennen said gently. I thought I noted concern. “I don't think you're exactly in the best frame of mind to be taking in anything I tell you.”
“I don't think I can sleep.”
“ You don't have to.” Sennen told me. “I have told you the essential information. To try and help you understand why you are here and to try and make it clear you are safe here. But I don't think now is the time to go into any deeper detail. I suggest that we retreat for tonight. If you don't want to or can't sleep, you don't have to and can stay up. There is the option of sending for sleep tonic, but I wouldn't particularly want to suggest it after the kind of evening you've endured.”
“Are there other people here?”
“Others live here, work here.” Sennen told me. “They knew I was going to find you tonight. Hopefully return with you. They said they may well be asleep by the time we arrived but that I should not hesitate to call for them if need be. Would you prefer for me to call a house maid?”
“No. It's OK.” I cringed at the very idea of being a nuisance.
“I can show you then.”
Sennen lit a candle then led me from the room, back the way we had come, then up a great stair case, to the left and down a bit.
“Here we are. A room overlooking the gardens.” Sennen swung a door open. I couldn't see much in the light of just one candle. But there was a massive bed, a wardrobe, what looked like a small sofa over by the window.
Sennen lit a few more candles about the room.
“There's a bathroom through there.” he indicated a doorway. “You should find everything you need. If you happen to require anything else, just ring that bell there. Someone will answer.” He moved to the door and glanced back at me. “Will you be OK?”
“I don't know. I suppose, I'll have to be.”
He did not move for a few seconds, then he simply left the room.
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