Wings of Paper - Chapter 8

My feet ached almost as much as my head and shoulders. The strap of my bag dug into the bandage on my wound, but I ignored the pain. Sammy probably had it worse than I did. 

The poor boy had been in a state of confusion when he awoke, swiping his fists at all of us and shouting that he wanted to go back to the real world. When his eyes finally opened and he saw Sadie safe and sound he finally calmed down. 

The packs we carried were light due to our lack of supplies, but it also posed a problem as we also were forced to eat less. 

Sammy was relatively quiet and I noticed his fingers kept flitting to the scab on his chest. Sadie began to sing an old elvish song in attempts to cheer him up, her voice floating high and lovely as the cheery tune picked up speed. Sammy smiled a bit, but he didn’t speak. 

Alex and I tried to make small talk, but it was sort of awkward. I thought Alex wanted to tell me something but she couldn’t say it with the others. 

Either that or I was reading too much into the situation. 

The Darkness seemed to make the air grow thicker and heavier the closer we got. The grass on the sides of the road was wilted and dying, and even the path itself was untravelled. The air smelled like outside right before a summer rainstorm, like the worst of our adventures had yet to come. 

We fell into a routine; walking, resting, and repeating. Exhaustion settled into my bones like a warm blanket, my muscles burned with every movement. But stopping meant the Darkness had more time to consume the villages and eventually the Fictionals themselves. 

About two miles out from the Darkness we found a village. 

Surprisingly enough it wasn’t empty, there were people there, though their windows were boarded up and no one dared step foot outside. Alex pointed out that there was evidence of a plague-like thing. 

A few people were lying on the street, their skin erupted in boils. I watched as a young boy popped one of the bubbles on his skin. He began to cry as dark liquid trickled down his leg, and Sammy pulled Sadie back. Kenzie and Alex kept their distance from these people as well. The last thing we needed was one of them to fall ill. 

Alex’s sapphire eyes scanned the buildings nervously like she was awaiting an attack. “I don’t like it here,” she whispered to me. “Something isn’t right.” 

I had to agree with her. “I know. The village seems so … dead.” 

Alex shook her head and I felt her hand graze mine like she was looking for comfort. It was unlike her to be so afraid. “I feel like the shadows are watching us.” 

I immediately turned to look in the nearest shadows. They seemed normal enough to me. Maybe Alex was a little too paranoid. 

Or maybe she was right to be anxious. 

“Hey, you! Travellers!” It was a woman’s voice and I recoiled as I felt a hand on my shoulder. Luckily, the ratty village woman who had touched me didn’t seem to be infected. 

“Do you need something?” Alex asked, her voice tight and her expression neutral, though I felt her grip my hand in preparation to run. 

The woman wept freely, not even bothering to wipe her eyes. “Yes, yes, I do need something. My children, Bronwyn and Travis, went out to hunt for food. But they haven’t returned. I’m a nurse, I can’t leave the village. Can you go out there and find them?” 

She gestured towards the Darkness. My chest tightened. It was unlikely that Bronwyn and Travis were still alive. But I couldn’t very well tell the woman that. 

“We’ll look into it,” Hiro promised, surprising me. I thought he would’ve kept his distance, but here he was at my side. 

Alex shook her head slightly but the woman was already on her knees. “Thank you so much. You darlings are truly heroes.” I had to look away. Hiro had just promised the woman that we would find her probably dead children. 

That’s when I heard it, like a voice creeping down my spine. 

The screams chilled my bones and I froze, straightening my back. “My children!” The woman called out. “They’re still out there!” 

The other villagers gave her skeptical looks.

“We have to go,” I told the woman. “But if we see Bronwyn and Travis on our journey we’ll guide them home.” 

It wasn’t a promise because I knew that if Brownyn and Travis were inside the Darkness they had most likely already died and gone on to become whatever happened to those who disappeared in the Darkness. 

I turned tail and made large strides in the direction of the Darkness. I couldn’t bear to look at the woman’s face as we left. 

Too many lives had already been lost and I would make sure to put an end to this. 

“I’m coming for you, Dee.” My voice was low and determined. 

I could almost hear her gleeful laughter as she nodded. I am expecting you, Luke. And I am waiting for your defeat. 

I was sure she would be. 

The Darkness was, well, dark. I stood at the edge of the destruction, my friends at my side. The screaming had silenced abruptly and I was sure that Bronwyn and Travis had met their end. 

None of us really wanted to touch the Darkness. Would it kill us? No, probably not at first. And Alex and I probably wouldn’t be affected by it all due to the fact that both of us weren’t fictional. I didn’t completely trust that theory, but I figured someone had to be the first to try. 

I reached out a tentative finger. It shook so hard I thought it was going to fall off. 

And then I thrust my finger into the foggy Darkness. Absolutely nothing happened, besides a soft chuckle from Hiro. 

Although the Darkness was almost cool to the touch it didn’t seem to be harming me in any way. I sighed. “Guess it’s safe. Are we all ready?” Sadie, Sammy, Kenzie, and Alex all nodded, though they didn’t look enthusiastic. 

“C’mon, what’s the worst that happens? We die?” Hiro laughed, seeming more like himself. “I mean, I’m sure Dee would show us mercy if we managed to make it to her castle in the first place.” He pushed ahead of me, ready to lead the way through the Darkness. I was ready to let him. 

But after standing in the Darkness for only a moment Hiro returned, coughing hard. His eyes narrowed as he glanced towards the Darkness with loathing. 

“It was like I couldn’t breathe,” Hiro explained, pausing to cough some more. 

Alex frowned, and before I could warn her she stepped into the Darkness. She too appeared less than a minute later, but she was unharmed. “I think the Darkness is meant to prevent fictionals from getting through, but Luke and I should be fine.” 

Darn, I was really hoping we would have to find another way around. I wasn’t eager about leaving most of my time to venture into the Darkness. 

“And you’d leave us behind, I suppose,” Kenzie said, crossing her arms. “No way that’s happening. We came all this way, you would have to restrain me with bonds stronger than steel to keep me from attacking.” 

Alex and I shared a look, and she was thinking the same thing as me. The fictionals wouldn’t be able to make it through the Darkness, so we would venture in alone. 

“Maybe there’s something on the other side that we can use to make a path,” Alex offered. “You know, like the lanterns. Maybe Dee has torches or something that we can steal to make a way through for you guys.” 

Kenzie heaved a sigh, but she was finally accepting the fact that the Darkness would be impenetrable to her. 

“What will we do while you two are out there alone?” Hiro asked, a small grin appearing on his face. I could tell what he was implying and I didn’t like it. “I know some card games.” 

“First of all, Luke and I will be focused entirely on the mission at hand,” Alex said, rolling her eyes at Hiro. “And do what you can to occupy yourselves. Practice sword skills, play cards, gamble. It doesn’t matter to me.” She sent a look my way like she was looking for suggestions. 

“Just don’t follow us,” I said at last. “Oh, and hope we make it out alive.” 

“Will do,” Sadie said, offering us a smile. “It’s the least we can do. Now you two better get to it, I don’t like to be kept waiting.” 

Alex and I gathered some supplies and tucked them into a singular bag, which Alex placed on her shoulders. I protested but she pointed at my injured shoulder and reminded me that she was strong. 

Not that I needed the reminder, she was ten times the swords person than I was. 

The second my entire body was consumed by the Darkness my vision left me. I stumbled, trying to get my bearings, but I was entirely blind. 

“Alex?” I called out. My voice sounded muffled like I was speaking through a blanket. 

Thick panic like syrup began to pour into my chest, making it hard to breathe. I forced myself to keep calm, but slowly any peace I had felt before left me. I struggled to inhale and it was like the air was solid. 

The Darkness was suffocating me, though not literally. I could hear soft footsteps around me, but they came from all different directions. I immediately regretted my decision to call for Alex. What other creatures lay in wait for me here? My mind filled with all kinds of creepy animals but I shut the thoughts down. Imagination was powerful here and any wrong thoughts would come true. 

My knees weakened below me and I crumpled into a ball on the ground. I wished Alex had let me carry the bag, I could get a drink and clear my head. 

But Alex was gone. Maybe she had left me, after all I was only a hindrance to the others. Maybe it was for the best. I could feel my body shutting down as the panic overwhelmed me. I would be lost in the Darkness until I died of thirst or hunger or suffocation or attack of creatures I couldn’t even begin to picture. 

My breathing came irregular and shallow and I felt myself giving up. 

What was the point of being here if I couldn’t even save myself, much less my friends. What was the point of even existing. My parents didn’t believe in me, they encouraged me to choose a better path. Alex didn’t care for me, she had left me for dead. Kenzie hated me. Hiro was dying because of me. Sammy had nearly died out of his devotion for Sadie, a trait I had cursed him with. And Sadie would never become a proper queen because her kingdom would be destroyed by something I created whether I wanted to acknowledge it or not. 

Something grazed my shoulder and I screamed, not out of pain but out of fear. What kind of demon was it? Did it have claws? Fangs? I could feel its venom streaking up my neck and into my head, brushing through my hair, the touch burning. 

And then came its terrible howl. It repeated my name over and over, louder and louder. I wanted to tell it to stop. To leave me alone with this fate. To let me die. 

“Luke!” The voice finally broke through the barrier in my mind and the words bounced around in my head. Stabbing. Slicing. Tearing me apart from the inside out. I wanted to shut it out. 

Hands gripped my arms as my eyes fluttered open but they saw nothing. Panic began to rise in my chest once more but the hands moved to my cheeks, the thumbs brushing through my hair. The action soothed me until I remembered that I was in Dee’s territory. I scrambled backwards but the hands gripped my shoulders even tighter, sending waves of nauseating pain through my body. 

I howled loudly, hoping for a miracle. 

A hand clamped down over my mouth. “Luke, please. You’re scaring me. What is going on?” 

“Alex?” Yes, that was the voice’s name. Slowly, memories and relief flooded through me. Though my vision was still dark I was beginning to feel the mass of panic slowly fading away. “Is that you?” 

The girl called Alex breathed a sigh of relief. “Are you okay? What’s happening with you?” 

“I wish I knew,” I responded. The world no longer sounded under water, it was loud and clear. “I couldn’t see anything and I panicked. I thought you were a … a monster.” It was the truth, though heavy. 

“You can’t see anything?” It sounded like Alex could. 

“You can see something?” 

“I can see everything, though it’s a bit fuzzy. When we first entered the Darkness I saw you wander off in the wrong direction and when I ran to find you, well, you were having a weird attack. I tried to calm you down but it only made you scream louder.” 

“I’m fine now. I’m just blind, and I don’t think we can work like this. We need to go back to the others and find a new plan.” 

“I agree.” Alex’s voice sounded like she doubted me. “I can lead you back.” 

Because that didn’t make me feel helpless. But I refused to be dragged or carried out of here and Alex was better off than I was. 

Her fingers were like fire as she gripped my arm, pulling me to my feet. Or maybe I was just cold. The Darkness was smothering me, freezing me from the inside out. I shivered, wobbling slightly. 

Step by step, one foot in front of the other. I was reduced to a child learning to walk again. Alex guided me well, stopping occasionally when I thought I heard something. 

Her warmth contrasted my freezing fingers so much I thought that she had to be filled with flames. She never staggered under my weight, nor did she ask about what I had seen. She simply walked, pulling me along with her. 

The sunlight was blinding when we emerged, but I welcomed it. Even though the skies seemed to be growing darker by the day I was still filled with pleasure to be able to see. 

Luckily for me we had made a slight direction change and Hiro, Kenzie, Sadie, and Sammy were nowhere in sight. Instead we were a small forest, maybe an orchard. I perched on a fallen log to catch my breath and Alex sat beside me. 

I didn’t really want to talk so I pretended to be interested in the stars. Alex frowned in my direction, probably confused by my odd behavior. 

We sat there in awkward silence for a while, far longer than I wanted to. Surprisingly enough, Alex didn’t pressure me to talk even though I kind of wanted to. But at the same time I was glad she gave me time to think. 

Finally, Alex stood, brushing off her pants. “We should get back. The others are waiting for us.” She showed no emotions, obviously not caring that I didn’t share. 

But as much as I wasn’t in a sharing mood, I still didn’t want our private time to end. It was … nice to enjoy some peace and quiet. 

Except I couldn’t abandon my friends and Alex probably didn’t enjoy sitting in silence any more than I did. I sighed, standing and making my way to her side. She was looking around, possibly for the right direction. 

“Which way are they?” I asked, hoping Alex knew the right way. 

She scanned the horizon and finally pointed to our right. “I think the village is that way. If we follow the edge of the Darkness eventually we’ll find them, unless they’ve already turned back. We’re not far off course.” 

Which was good, because I didn’t want to walk any further than I needed to. And I thought Alex was kind of sick of me at this point, she probably just wanted to return home. 

However when we returned to the spot we had left the Fictionals as they were gone. There was no evidence of them having been there at the first glance, and Alex frowned even deeper as she inspected the tree stump Sadie had sat on. 

“They’re gone,” I said. 

“Really?” Alex asked, her voice thick with sarcasm. 

“Are you sure this is the right spot?” 

“No, I thought we’d just stop here for a while.” Alex rolled her eyes as she bent down on her knees, fingers brushing the dirt. Her fingers stopped and she pulled something out of the dirt, holding it up to the dim sunlight as she stood. “They were definitely here,” she decided. 

A small hairpin was in her palm, sparkly and pink. I recognized it from Sadie’s hair and bright outfit. 

“There’s no sign of struggle,” Alex continued. “Perhaps they went back to the village to rest. They thought we were going to be gone for a while.” She wrung her fingers in a way that told me she was definitely panicking on the inside. 

“They told us they were going to stay here and wait for us,” I said. 

“There’s no sign of Dark Warriors either,” Alex noted, ignoring me. “There’s no blood, no anything. It’s like they left without a trace.” 

“They would only leave if there was danger,” I argued. Then my face paled as it dawned on me. The same thing must’ve happened to Alex because she met my eyes, her lips pursed. “The village, they heard something and went back to help.” 

We took off running. 

The village was empty, no sign of anyone or anything. Alex was at my side, we were standing just beyond the village border. The identical houses seemed eerily similar with no sick people outside to mark their individuality. It was like everyone had evaporated into thin air. 

Or into Darkness. 

“We have to go in,” Alex whispered to me. Her hand gripped her sword, knuckles white and face pale. “Our friends are in there.” 

“And what if they’re being held hostage,” I argued. “We can’t defeat a bunch of Dark Warriors on our own.” It was true, of course. My shoulder ached and I was still feeling weakened from the Darkness, and I still couldn’t use a sword easily. 

“We can take them out from the rooftops,” Alex suggested, placing something in my hand. It was a wooden bow and I saw she had an identical one as well as two quivers filled with arrows. 

“Where did you get these?” I asked. I couldn’t help but admire the workmanship. Even if I was no good with aim it made me feel safer to have a weapon for long range. 

The fletchings on the arrows were bird feathers and the shaft was crafted of wood. The tip wasn’t barbed or poisoned, simply normal. They could still pierce skin and possibly kill. I felt dangerous. Empowered. Unstoppable. 

With no other plan Alex and I scrambled up the wooden panels of the nearest help. The roof was flat and made of wood sturdy enough to support our weight. That meant little actual effort to balance was needed, which was good because I was a clumsy person not meant for roof-walking. 

Alex was at my side the entire time, her footsteps soft as we leapt across the small gaps between the houses. I looked for anything that could hint to where our friends were, but I couldn’t find them. 

I leapt across yet another gap, regaining my balance. I saw Alex at the other edge of the roof, looking at something below. I was about to look over the edge too but Alex thrust her arm out, pushing me to the ground. She pressed a finger to her lips and finally beckoned for me to peek over the side. 

There were about ten Dark Warriors on the ground, each armed to the teeth with sharp looking blades. Luckily they didn’t seem to have heard us. 

“We can’t get them from here,” Alex whispered to me. “Three of them have bows and the angle from here isn’t great. We’ll have to fight them on the ground.” She crawled to the other side of the roof and leapt down into the alleyways below. 

I sighed, following her. My feet hit the ground and I padded softly after her. Alex was leading me away from the Warriors, probably so we could talk strategy. 

Fighting head on wasn’t exactly my style but at this point I didn’t really have a choice. 

I rounded a corner, Alex far out of my vision now. What had she seen? 

After turning yet another corner I found Alex, but she wasn’t alone. Sadie, Sammy, Hiro, and Kenzie were all there too. 

“What’s going on?” Kenzie asked us, her gaze flitting between Alex and I. “Did you forge a way through the Darkness?” She sounded worried, something that surprised me. If Kenzie was worried that meant the rest of us should be too. 

“Luke couldn’t make it through. It didn’t kill him, it just…” Alex’s voice trailed off as she met my eyes. “It doesn’t matter, we can’t make it through.” I smiled at her. 

I was glad Alex decided to keep my hallucinations to herself. I didn’t want the others to think that I was insane. 

“Why are you guys here?” I interrupted, satisfied to have switched the topic so easily. 

“We heard screams from the village and came back here to find everyone dead. The Dark Warriors killed them,” Hiro sighed, his eyes finding the ground. “We’ve been trying to find anyone alive because Sadie heard crying. But all we found out was that Dee is here. She discovered Luke was in this area and she originally came to recruit the villagers but they refused. Now she’s waiting for Luke in the church building.” 

Shivers rolled down my spine. Dee had specifically named me? 

“Sammy is really good at eavesdropping,” Sadie said, smiling at the boy. He blushed, face growing red. 

“Luke,” Alex whispered. She was watching me, as were the others. But I couldn’t let them die for me. Dee was waiting for me, she would kill them without hesitation. There was a chance she would let me live. 

Yes, I had no idea what she wanted from me. Or why she was destroying everything. 

But if she wanted me she could have me. I couldn’t let anyone else die for me. No, it was time to fight back. 

“You can’t go in there alone,” Hiro protested. “Luke, we’re coming with you.” 

They couldn’t. They wouldn’t. A terrible thought forced its way into my head and an idea took hold. In my mind, I pictured the Fictionals bending to my will, their eyes glazing over. I could control them with my imagination. 

Kenzie, Hiro, Sammy, and Sadie’s expressions glazed over in sync, leaving neutral expressions. Alex took a step back but they grabbed her arms, holding her back. Alex thrashed but they held her tight. My stomach felt like it was filled with lead. “I’m sorry, Alex,” I whispered. “Please forgive me.” 

I took a sword from Sammy (he had two) and a knife from Kenzie, tucking the latter into my shoe for safekeeping. “Hold her, and don’t let go no matter what she says. Do not follow me and stay hidden from the Warriors.” The Fictionals nodded at my orders. 

I allowed myself one look at my friends before turning to face my enemy.