infraredecho
11-28-2012, 08:26 AM
so first piece of creative writing since highschool all those years ago, i got bored and figured i would try be somewhat productive. just thought some feedback would be nice. also excuse grammar punctuation etc i failed highschool english haha
CHAPTER 1
“Do you know silence?” it said “Do you know peace?”
The recurrent memory still fresh as the day it happened. Still haunted by the sounds, through every door, behind every curtain, around every corner…
“Do you know serenity?”
Greeting the morning sun with a subtle smirk Raynor found himself awake, right where he fell asleep. Still drifting between worlds he could feel the warmth of the morning sun in Tiramyr recharging his muscles but at the same time, the emptiness of his dreamworld still filled him. Raynor learned fairly quickly that if he bathed in the sunlight the feeling would pass more quickly, it didn’t help with the voices though.
“Hungry?” a soft voice said.
After pausing for a second to be sure the voice wasn’t an illusion he turned almost franticly. As if expecting it not to be there, he let out a sigh of relief as he saw Layna standing behind him. Rolling her eyes laughing at the sight of Raynor as she approached, she noticed yet another fresh bruise just below his collar.
“It’s not fair you know?” Layna spoke hushed. “I never know if you’re even going to wake, let alone when”. Standing up as painful as ever Raynor looked Layna in the eye’s and said nothing. Expressionless as the ground he was just laying on he took her hand and looked out at the horizon, then with a flash it was gone.
He fell like a brick, still holding her hand as he hit the ground. Layna had just managed to catch his head, this wasn’t the first time. She lay him down gently before lying down beside him. Still holding his hand she leaned over and kissed Raynor on the cheek, letting a single tear roll down her face. Resting her head on his chest Layna resigned herself to waiting for Raynor to wake again.
“Do you know serenity?”
“Raynor!” it was a different voice this time.
“Raynor!” it was getting louder.
“RAYNOR!!”
Raynor jumped to his feet and reached for his knife. With his weapon firmly in his hand, he felt ready for whatever was coming his way.
“RAYNOR!!” it was right behind him…
Jumping forward Raynor threw himself into a spin and landed facing where he just been on the ground. There was nothing, only the dirt he had lay on. He looked around but saw only the thick black fog.
“Raynor” he heard it again but it wasn’t coming from any particular direction this time. He knew he had to leave, it was too dangerous to stay where he woke, they would be here soon. Having no reference point Raynor ran as fast as he could. He was fairly sure he was running in a straight line. A cry of agony spilled from his mouth as the sounds spilled into his ears. The rabid screeching, the piercing ring of steel, the roar of demons all forcing its way into his mind. Running faster and faster there was still no break in the fog. The beating of drums, pulsing through the thick fog hit him with each beat like a hammer to his back.
“Run faster Raynor!”
“Run Raynor!”
“Faster”
“FASTER RAYNOR!”
And then…
He had cleared the fog, but when he looked around he found no point of reference. Not even the cloud of fog he’d just been sprinting through. Then he realised there was no ground beneath him. He was standing upright and could walk around on what felt like ground, but he could look down and see into the void just as if he was looking towards the sky.
‘The sky’ he thought. “I saw it today” Raynor said to himself
He thought of the few seconds he spent with Layna when he woke. He found himself lost in his thoughts for a second. “RAYNOR!” Only for a second. The charging demons were still racing towards him, the thumping of footsteps joining the cacophony shaking the void around him. He felt like he was in a quake despite the lack of solid ground.
He began running again, hoping he was still going in the same direction.
“They’re getting closer Raynor!” it sounded almost sympathetic
“LOOK OUT!”
Raynor fell to his hands and knees as he felt an object fly over his head out in front of him, gone before he could make it out. Back on his feet and still running before he even had time to second guess what was happening.
“RUN RAYNOR!”
Then it got him.
“Where do you think you’re running off to Raynor?” it said.
Still unable to see what it was that had grabbed him Raynor was squirming in its huge fist trying to reach his knife.
“What no hello? No hi how are you doing?” it was talking as if it knew him. “Don’t worry we’ll have plenty of time to reminisce”
Raynor paused, he’d managed to grip the handle of his knife but knew there was nothing he could do right at this moment. So he decided to indulge the voice. “Have we met?” He said sarcastically “why don’t you turn me around and let me see who I’m talking to?” Almost unexpectedly Raynor felt himself being lifted, very high, very quickly.
“You don’t recognize my voice do you?” it spoke again
“Should I” replied Raynor. “I’ve not met many giants”
It did not reply.
Still being lifted Raynor felt its grip loosen around him, he did not have to think twice. He flicked his knife from his belt and into what he assumed was the centre of the hand holding him. Not stopping to let it regain its grip Raynor thrust his knife again and again. It released him with an almighty roar and Raynor fell, though not as far as he had thought. It seemed he was no higher than if he had simply jumped.
“RUN RAYNOR” Another voice screamed from the void.
But with no clear point of origin Raynor just ran in the same direction he had landed. He felt the wind burst around him as more objects came flying past from behind him. Putting everything he had into running faster Raynor felt a warmth rising inside him.
“RAYNOR!” it still screamed at him.
He started to lose his balance as the void began to shake even more violently.
“RAYNOR!” it repeated over and over as if coming from inside his mind.
Not knowing whether he even could get a solid footing on a ground that wasn’t there he felt inclined to look down. Then he saw it, a dim light far below him in the void. Too far to make out, Raynor found himself entranced by its glow. He’d never seen it before, after all his trips to the void not once. The warmth crawled through him from his heart. It was like Laying in the sun back in Tiramyr. It was like home. He thought again of Layna and the few seconds they had shared and then, everything went dark.
“Do you know silence?” he heard it again “Do you know peace?”
“Do you know serenity?”
Raynor woke, still holding Layna’s hand. She had fallen asleep resting her head on his shoulder. It was dark now; he had been gone for the whole day. “At least one day” he thought to himself. He never knew how long he was gone for. This time he stay lying where he was. Just enjoying that he was there with Layna. He lifted her hand and kissed it softly, he knew it would wake her instantly. It was too dark to tell but he could see her dark auburn eyes looking up at him.
“Hey” Raynor said quietly
“Hey yourself” Layna replied, still mostly asleep. “Was he there?”
Raynor looked away unable to speak for a moment. “No” he said after a moment.
Layna reached up and kissed him on the lips this time, sharing a moment with Raynor, hoping as she always did, that he would remember this one.
“It’s ok, maybe next time?” she said calmly, before returning to her comfortable position alongside Raynor. Gripping his hand tighter, Layna fell slowly back to sleep. As Raynor felt her grip loosen he tried to make sense of the dream he’d just been tortured by. It was never easy, it never came back to him in the order it happened and it was hardly ever even a solid memory. Fragments of shards of broken dreams.
“Would it really be so bad” Raynor thought to himself “surely she would understand” But he knew he couldn’t leave her. If there was something waiting for him… he couldn’t just leave her by herself.
CHAPTER 2
Days, weeks, months, it made no difference to Raynor anymore. It had been so long since he had cared enough to work it out. While Layna slept he found himself once again watching the sky above him. Entranced by how many more he could see, the dazzlingly bright stars that were once all he could see were now swallowed up by the sea of twinkling lights. Like clouds of gods he thought, all watching us from above, waiting to see which way we will go.
Raynor slowly sat up, trying not to disturb Layna; it always felt strange the first time going vertical after being in the void. He often likened it to falling without the worry of hitting the ground, loss of balance, no sense of direction, he would often stand only to fall right back on arse. After pulling himself to his feet he checked his faculties, he could see the stars twinkling above, hear the wind crashing over the peak of the mountain. He could smell the dry ground around him and he could feel the dirt between his toes. Taking a moment to comfort himself that he was still here, he looked down at Layna not knowing how to think. She lay there, arms stretched across where he was just next to her, a cosy smile on her face.
“Do you know peace?” he remembered the words that Marcus had told him.
Thinking about what Marcus meant, he wondered if he would ever know peace. He began to pace the ground backwards and forwards towards the edge of the cliff. Raynor often felt a certain solace when he didn’t have to rely on his senses; he knew nothing could get him up here. The stars grew dimmer and the sky fluctuating in vibrant reds and oranges, morning would be here soon. His stomach began to make its needs heard, almost crippled by the cramps Raynor realised it must have been days since he last ate.
Misleadingly foreboding Raynor imagined no sane being would choose to enter the cave looking for him; it was his safe place.
A curtain of darkness hung at the entrance, he could not see past his arms reach into the opening, upon the sun reaching his side of the mountain that would change however. At just the right time the sun would shine deep into the cave system all the way down to the freshwater spring for which Raynor was heading.
As he reached the spring Raynor noticed a pile of fresh fruit sitting by his simple furnishings. Table, a few chairs to sit on and some bowels were all he had to call his own, but they were his own. He took an apple and a bowel and kneeled at the edge of the spring. Dipping the bowel into the clear water Raynor watched as his reflection fluctuated over the ripples and found himself lost in the image for what felt like only a few seconds, but when he lifted the bowel to drink his fingers were wrinkled. Shaking off the daze, he stood and went over to the table and sat in the chair facing the cave entrance. Mother Nature’s nectar he thought as he drank every last drop of water. About to bite into his apple he looked it over for a second.
“It’s amazing how from a single seed grows a tree, and from a tree grows so many apples” not realising he had spoken out loud. He flicked the apple up out of his hand and again found himself marvelling at the simplicities of the world around him. As the apple reached the peak of its jump Raynor watched it spin for what seemed an unnatural length of time before falling right back into his hand. He stared at it for a few seconds as if looking into the apples soul and began to eat.
Raynor picked up his bowel and knelt again by the spring to fill it with the crystal clear water, not taking the time to sit back at the table he once again drained the bowel before repeating several times until his thirst was quenched. Having sated his stomach Raynor felt at ease for a moment and decided to lay down next to the spring.
“Do you know silence?” His mind thought of the spring he lay next to.
“Do you know peace?” He thought of Layna, sleeping with a smile.
“Do you know serenity?”
He bolted upright in a cold sweat; bewildered as to where he was Raynor looked around to get his bearings. He could see nothing in blackness of this place he found himself. Upon trying to stand he found his legs could not hold his weight and simply buckled. But he did not hit the ground.
Falling through the blackness, Raynor’s senses where neither accurate nor his friends at this time. No sound to dampen the voices, no light to focus on, no ground to balance on, no smell to follow.
“Welcome Raynor” he heard a familiar voice speak directly into his mind
He suddenly found himself sitting in a rather comfortable chair. He had been falling but felt no collision. He noticed the rich smell of stewing meat and vegetables delicately filling his mouth. He looked around and saw but a blur of the place he found himself.
“Don’t worry my boy, your safe here” again, as if feeling soothed by the voice Raynor instantly began to relax. As his muscles loosened the chair became more comfortable and his eyes began to focus. He was sitting in front of a fireplace, to the left he saw stacks of freshly cut wood beside a small wooden cabinet overflowing with paper texts. On his right was door, it seemed slightly taller than he thought it should be. Further examination of his surroundings told him he was alone, except for the mountains of paper and books that filled almost all empty space in the room.
“Cosy isn’t it” He could almost recognize the voice he was sure of it. “Now that you’ve got your senses back, allow me to introduce myself once again”
Taller than him by almost half Raynor’s height again and wearing a simple white robe tied with a black rope around his waist, Marcus had entered the room through the door.
“MARCUS!?” Raynor was almost confused but felt ashamed to question it. “It’s been too long my friend”
“Indeed it has” Speaking directly into his mind Raynor was struck when Marcus’s lips did not move. Never the less Raynor approached Marcus and hugged him like a lost family member. “You’ve got some explaining to do” Raynor said in jest. “Yes I believe I do” Marcus chuckled speaking normally this time.
Raynor was about to launch into questions when Marcus raised his hand to interrupt “Do not start with the why or the where, began with the when” Taken aback Raynor thought for a minute, not entirely sure what Marcus had meant. ‘When’ he thought, “When what” he asked himself. Then pausing to compose himself a little better, he met Marcus’s gaze “When did this all start?” he asked
Marcus smiled, he looked as if he was about to burst into laughter. “Still as quick witted as the day we met” Marcus approached the fireplace and sat down in one of the chairs. “You showed up in this very room, so long ago. You haven’t aged a bit” Raynor had followed Marcus as he sat down and had to second guess which seat he had woken up in, in fact he wasn’t even sure the same chair was still in the room.
“You see, when you managed to synchronize your mind with your outer world you opened a doorway as it were” Raynor was bewildered, ‘my minds a mess, hardly synchronized’ he thought, but didn’t want to interrupt. “Perspective is a powerful tool, when applied inwardly the perspective of the outer changes, and vice versa. So when you showed up in my house I went about trying to explore what it was that had changed your perspective”.
“You can enter my mind?” Raynor had interrupted. Marcus simply nodded.
“So why is my mind such a mess?” excited that he had found someone who could see his world, only to see the disappointment on Marcus’s face. “Though I can see into, and speak with your mind, I can neither make sense of nor control it I’m afraid. In fact I don’t even think I can scratch the surface. You have to realise, you’re not from Tiramyr.” Raynor felt the life dissolve out of him. They both went silent staring into the crackling fire.
“Did you find your peace?” Marcus was talking directly into his mind now. Not knowing how to respond Raynor simply thought of Layna, he wanted to say no but Marcus had seen his minds image. “Ah yes, companionship, a step in the right direction to be sure.” Raynor began to feel strange, he felt a warmth in him, his mind fixated on Layna. Then he remembered he had left her on the plateau. Becoming frantic he turned to Marcus “How do I…” his muscles become loose, his vision blurred, then faded. “Follow your senses, focus your mind, you will figure it out” Marcus’s words were drifting in his mind as his conscious faded.
“Do you know silence?”
“Do you know serenity?”
Waking back in his cave Raynor opened his eyes only to be blinded by the sun. He jumped to his feet falling to his hands several times before building enough momentum to keep him upright. He came barrelling out into the sunshine. Where was Layna, he scoured the plateau searching every corner for a sign. “LAYNA!” he shouted out over the valley hoping to hear some echo of a voice other than his own.
He heard feet on dirt and stones rolling behind him. Knife drawn and ready before his eyes were able to focus he turned to see Layna clambering out of the cave. Dropping to his knees with relief Raynor dropped his knife and stared Layna in the eyes, tears caressing his face.
“You found him?” she said as she knelt in front of him. “He found me I think” Raynor felt the life draining out of him as he reached out to hold Layna. “Let’s get you some food, you haven’t had a proper meal in weeks” Layna helped him to his feet and walked him into the cave where she had prepared some food for him.
CHAPTER 1
“Do you know silence?” it said “Do you know peace?”
The recurrent memory still fresh as the day it happened. Still haunted by the sounds, through every door, behind every curtain, around every corner…
“Do you know serenity?”
Greeting the morning sun with a subtle smirk Raynor found himself awake, right where he fell asleep. Still drifting between worlds he could feel the warmth of the morning sun in Tiramyr recharging his muscles but at the same time, the emptiness of his dreamworld still filled him. Raynor learned fairly quickly that if he bathed in the sunlight the feeling would pass more quickly, it didn’t help with the voices though.
“Hungry?” a soft voice said.
After pausing for a second to be sure the voice wasn’t an illusion he turned almost franticly. As if expecting it not to be there, he let out a sigh of relief as he saw Layna standing behind him. Rolling her eyes laughing at the sight of Raynor as she approached, she noticed yet another fresh bruise just below his collar.
“It’s not fair you know?” Layna spoke hushed. “I never know if you’re even going to wake, let alone when”. Standing up as painful as ever Raynor looked Layna in the eye’s and said nothing. Expressionless as the ground he was just laying on he took her hand and looked out at the horizon, then with a flash it was gone.
He fell like a brick, still holding her hand as he hit the ground. Layna had just managed to catch his head, this wasn’t the first time. She lay him down gently before lying down beside him. Still holding his hand she leaned over and kissed Raynor on the cheek, letting a single tear roll down her face. Resting her head on his chest Layna resigned herself to waiting for Raynor to wake again.
“Do you know serenity?”
“Raynor!” it was a different voice this time.
“Raynor!” it was getting louder.
“RAYNOR!!”
Raynor jumped to his feet and reached for his knife. With his weapon firmly in his hand, he felt ready for whatever was coming his way.
“RAYNOR!!” it was right behind him…
Jumping forward Raynor threw himself into a spin and landed facing where he just been on the ground. There was nothing, only the dirt he had lay on. He looked around but saw only the thick black fog.
“Raynor” he heard it again but it wasn’t coming from any particular direction this time. He knew he had to leave, it was too dangerous to stay where he woke, they would be here soon. Having no reference point Raynor ran as fast as he could. He was fairly sure he was running in a straight line. A cry of agony spilled from his mouth as the sounds spilled into his ears. The rabid screeching, the piercing ring of steel, the roar of demons all forcing its way into his mind. Running faster and faster there was still no break in the fog. The beating of drums, pulsing through the thick fog hit him with each beat like a hammer to his back.
“Run faster Raynor!”
“Run Raynor!”
“Faster”
“FASTER RAYNOR!”
And then…
He had cleared the fog, but when he looked around he found no point of reference. Not even the cloud of fog he’d just been sprinting through. Then he realised there was no ground beneath him. He was standing upright and could walk around on what felt like ground, but he could look down and see into the void just as if he was looking towards the sky.
‘The sky’ he thought. “I saw it today” Raynor said to himself
He thought of the few seconds he spent with Layna when he woke. He found himself lost in his thoughts for a second. “RAYNOR!” Only for a second. The charging demons were still racing towards him, the thumping of footsteps joining the cacophony shaking the void around him. He felt like he was in a quake despite the lack of solid ground.
He began running again, hoping he was still going in the same direction.
“They’re getting closer Raynor!” it sounded almost sympathetic
“LOOK OUT!”
Raynor fell to his hands and knees as he felt an object fly over his head out in front of him, gone before he could make it out. Back on his feet and still running before he even had time to second guess what was happening.
“RUN RAYNOR!”
Then it got him.
“Where do you think you’re running off to Raynor?” it said.
Still unable to see what it was that had grabbed him Raynor was squirming in its huge fist trying to reach his knife.
“What no hello? No hi how are you doing?” it was talking as if it knew him. “Don’t worry we’ll have plenty of time to reminisce”
Raynor paused, he’d managed to grip the handle of his knife but knew there was nothing he could do right at this moment. So he decided to indulge the voice. “Have we met?” He said sarcastically “why don’t you turn me around and let me see who I’m talking to?” Almost unexpectedly Raynor felt himself being lifted, very high, very quickly.
“You don’t recognize my voice do you?” it spoke again
“Should I” replied Raynor. “I’ve not met many giants”
It did not reply.
Still being lifted Raynor felt its grip loosen around him, he did not have to think twice. He flicked his knife from his belt and into what he assumed was the centre of the hand holding him. Not stopping to let it regain its grip Raynor thrust his knife again and again. It released him with an almighty roar and Raynor fell, though not as far as he had thought. It seemed he was no higher than if he had simply jumped.
“RUN RAYNOR” Another voice screamed from the void.
But with no clear point of origin Raynor just ran in the same direction he had landed. He felt the wind burst around him as more objects came flying past from behind him. Putting everything he had into running faster Raynor felt a warmth rising inside him.
“RAYNOR!” it still screamed at him.
He started to lose his balance as the void began to shake even more violently.
“RAYNOR!” it repeated over and over as if coming from inside his mind.
Not knowing whether he even could get a solid footing on a ground that wasn’t there he felt inclined to look down. Then he saw it, a dim light far below him in the void. Too far to make out, Raynor found himself entranced by its glow. He’d never seen it before, after all his trips to the void not once. The warmth crawled through him from his heart. It was like Laying in the sun back in Tiramyr. It was like home. He thought again of Layna and the few seconds they had shared and then, everything went dark.
“Do you know silence?” he heard it again “Do you know peace?”
“Do you know serenity?”
Raynor woke, still holding Layna’s hand. She had fallen asleep resting her head on his shoulder. It was dark now; he had been gone for the whole day. “At least one day” he thought to himself. He never knew how long he was gone for. This time he stay lying where he was. Just enjoying that he was there with Layna. He lifted her hand and kissed it softly, he knew it would wake her instantly. It was too dark to tell but he could see her dark auburn eyes looking up at him.
“Hey” Raynor said quietly
“Hey yourself” Layna replied, still mostly asleep. “Was he there?”
Raynor looked away unable to speak for a moment. “No” he said after a moment.
Layna reached up and kissed him on the lips this time, sharing a moment with Raynor, hoping as she always did, that he would remember this one.
“It’s ok, maybe next time?” she said calmly, before returning to her comfortable position alongside Raynor. Gripping his hand tighter, Layna fell slowly back to sleep. As Raynor felt her grip loosen he tried to make sense of the dream he’d just been tortured by. It was never easy, it never came back to him in the order it happened and it was hardly ever even a solid memory. Fragments of shards of broken dreams.
“Would it really be so bad” Raynor thought to himself “surely she would understand” But he knew he couldn’t leave her. If there was something waiting for him… he couldn’t just leave her by herself.
CHAPTER 2
Days, weeks, months, it made no difference to Raynor anymore. It had been so long since he had cared enough to work it out. While Layna slept he found himself once again watching the sky above him. Entranced by how many more he could see, the dazzlingly bright stars that were once all he could see were now swallowed up by the sea of twinkling lights. Like clouds of gods he thought, all watching us from above, waiting to see which way we will go.
Raynor slowly sat up, trying not to disturb Layna; it always felt strange the first time going vertical after being in the void. He often likened it to falling without the worry of hitting the ground, loss of balance, no sense of direction, he would often stand only to fall right back on arse. After pulling himself to his feet he checked his faculties, he could see the stars twinkling above, hear the wind crashing over the peak of the mountain. He could smell the dry ground around him and he could feel the dirt between his toes. Taking a moment to comfort himself that he was still here, he looked down at Layna not knowing how to think. She lay there, arms stretched across where he was just next to her, a cosy smile on her face.
“Do you know peace?” he remembered the words that Marcus had told him.
Thinking about what Marcus meant, he wondered if he would ever know peace. He began to pace the ground backwards and forwards towards the edge of the cliff. Raynor often felt a certain solace when he didn’t have to rely on his senses; he knew nothing could get him up here. The stars grew dimmer and the sky fluctuating in vibrant reds and oranges, morning would be here soon. His stomach began to make its needs heard, almost crippled by the cramps Raynor realised it must have been days since he last ate.
Misleadingly foreboding Raynor imagined no sane being would choose to enter the cave looking for him; it was his safe place.
A curtain of darkness hung at the entrance, he could not see past his arms reach into the opening, upon the sun reaching his side of the mountain that would change however. At just the right time the sun would shine deep into the cave system all the way down to the freshwater spring for which Raynor was heading.
As he reached the spring Raynor noticed a pile of fresh fruit sitting by his simple furnishings. Table, a few chairs to sit on and some bowels were all he had to call his own, but they were his own. He took an apple and a bowel and kneeled at the edge of the spring. Dipping the bowel into the clear water Raynor watched as his reflection fluctuated over the ripples and found himself lost in the image for what felt like only a few seconds, but when he lifted the bowel to drink his fingers were wrinkled. Shaking off the daze, he stood and went over to the table and sat in the chair facing the cave entrance. Mother Nature’s nectar he thought as he drank every last drop of water. About to bite into his apple he looked it over for a second.
“It’s amazing how from a single seed grows a tree, and from a tree grows so many apples” not realising he had spoken out loud. He flicked the apple up out of his hand and again found himself marvelling at the simplicities of the world around him. As the apple reached the peak of its jump Raynor watched it spin for what seemed an unnatural length of time before falling right back into his hand. He stared at it for a few seconds as if looking into the apples soul and began to eat.
Raynor picked up his bowel and knelt again by the spring to fill it with the crystal clear water, not taking the time to sit back at the table he once again drained the bowel before repeating several times until his thirst was quenched. Having sated his stomach Raynor felt at ease for a moment and decided to lay down next to the spring.
“Do you know silence?” His mind thought of the spring he lay next to.
“Do you know peace?” He thought of Layna, sleeping with a smile.
“Do you know serenity?”
He bolted upright in a cold sweat; bewildered as to where he was Raynor looked around to get his bearings. He could see nothing in blackness of this place he found himself. Upon trying to stand he found his legs could not hold his weight and simply buckled. But he did not hit the ground.
Falling through the blackness, Raynor’s senses where neither accurate nor his friends at this time. No sound to dampen the voices, no light to focus on, no ground to balance on, no smell to follow.
“Welcome Raynor” he heard a familiar voice speak directly into his mind
He suddenly found himself sitting in a rather comfortable chair. He had been falling but felt no collision. He noticed the rich smell of stewing meat and vegetables delicately filling his mouth. He looked around and saw but a blur of the place he found himself.
“Don’t worry my boy, your safe here” again, as if feeling soothed by the voice Raynor instantly began to relax. As his muscles loosened the chair became more comfortable and his eyes began to focus. He was sitting in front of a fireplace, to the left he saw stacks of freshly cut wood beside a small wooden cabinet overflowing with paper texts. On his right was door, it seemed slightly taller than he thought it should be. Further examination of his surroundings told him he was alone, except for the mountains of paper and books that filled almost all empty space in the room.
“Cosy isn’t it” He could almost recognize the voice he was sure of it. “Now that you’ve got your senses back, allow me to introduce myself once again”
Taller than him by almost half Raynor’s height again and wearing a simple white robe tied with a black rope around his waist, Marcus had entered the room through the door.
“MARCUS!?” Raynor was almost confused but felt ashamed to question it. “It’s been too long my friend”
“Indeed it has” Speaking directly into his mind Raynor was struck when Marcus’s lips did not move. Never the less Raynor approached Marcus and hugged him like a lost family member. “You’ve got some explaining to do” Raynor said in jest. “Yes I believe I do” Marcus chuckled speaking normally this time.
Raynor was about to launch into questions when Marcus raised his hand to interrupt “Do not start with the why or the where, began with the when” Taken aback Raynor thought for a minute, not entirely sure what Marcus had meant. ‘When’ he thought, “When what” he asked himself. Then pausing to compose himself a little better, he met Marcus’s gaze “When did this all start?” he asked
Marcus smiled, he looked as if he was about to burst into laughter. “Still as quick witted as the day we met” Marcus approached the fireplace and sat down in one of the chairs. “You showed up in this very room, so long ago. You haven’t aged a bit” Raynor had followed Marcus as he sat down and had to second guess which seat he had woken up in, in fact he wasn’t even sure the same chair was still in the room.
“You see, when you managed to synchronize your mind with your outer world you opened a doorway as it were” Raynor was bewildered, ‘my minds a mess, hardly synchronized’ he thought, but didn’t want to interrupt. “Perspective is a powerful tool, when applied inwardly the perspective of the outer changes, and vice versa. So when you showed up in my house I went about trying to explore what it was that had changed your perspective”.
“You can enter my mind?” Raynor had interrupted. Marcus simply nodded.
“So why is my mind such a mess?” excited that he had found someone who could see his world, only to see the disappointment on Marcus’s face. “Though I can see into, and speak with your mind, I can neither make sense of nor control it I’m afraid. In fact I don’t even think I can scratch the surface. You have to realise, you’re not from Tiramyr.” Raynor felt the life dissolve out of him. They both went silent staring into the crackling fire.
“Did you find your peace?” Marcus was talking directly into his mind now. Not knowing how to respond Raynor simply thought of Layna, he wanted to say no but Marcus had seen his minds image. “Ah yes, companionship, a step in the right direction to be sure.” Raynor began to feel strange, he felt a warmth in him, his mind fixated on Layna. Then he remembered he had left her on the plateau. Becoming frantic he turned to Marcus “How do I…” his muscles become loose, his vision blurred, then faded. “Follow your senses, focus your mind, you will figure it out” Marcus’s words were drifting in his mind as his conscious faded.
“Do you know silence?”
“Do you know serenity?”
Waking back in his cave Raynor opened his eyes only to be blinded by the sun. He jumped to his feet falling to his hands several times before building enough momentum to keep him upright. He came barrelling out into the sunshine. Where was Layna, he scoured the plateau searching every corner for a sign. “LAYNA!” he shouted out over the valley hoping to hear some echo of a voice other than his own.
He heard feet on dirt and stones rolling behind him. Knife drawn and ready before his eyes were able to focus he turned to see Layna clambering out of the cave. Dropping to his knees with relief Raynor dropped his knife and stared Layna in the eyes, tears caressing his face.
“You found him?” she said as she knelt in front of him. “He found me I think” Raynor felt the life draining out of him as he reached out to hold Layna. “Let’s get you some food, you haven’t had a proper meal in weeks” Layna helped him to his feet and walked him into the cave where she had prepared some food for him.