#akhthos

"The two of us stand there on the bank together for a long time until, eventually, I have to let go."

I almost tripped over myself answering. “Y-yeah!” Come on, man. Get a hold of yourself. “ Yes. I can do that.” 

“Well… it only takes one second of bravery to open the door. Then you’re inside. You can deal with whatever comes next, but you’re past the first hurdle.” 

The top of the whirlwind peels outwards like a flower opening, revealing long black hair hundreds of feet long that pools in the air like ink, and a face wearing a long white blindfold. Amarantinos, serene death given form, stretches his massive arms over his head as his completely black skin writhes with oily shadows. He’s about twice as tall as the platform, so he kneels to make it level with his shoulders. Shimmering runes are etched into his skin, making him look like a living map of the stars. 

“Yeah, well—” I kick a fallen branch off the walkway, and it skates smoothly off the edge. “Maybe I said that to get you to stop asking.”

The wind howls in my ears. My clothes snap painfully against my body – I claw at the air in desperation, but there’s nothing to grab on to. It feels like my insides are lagging behind the rest of me. I tumble around until I’m facing the ground – and see it covered in rolling fields of fiery red and orange. There are no trees, no lakes, no towns. Nothing but waves of flowers the colour of the sun. They churn back and forth in the wind, which is strong enough to tear petals off and blow them away. 

I could tell he was fighting to stay awake. I told him about the coastal city of Saltmaw, and the strange fish people would sell at its markets. I spoke about the tiny town of Arrow Falls and how everyone there spoke Etheric to me because they assumed I was a fiendling. I pulled stories from every corner of the world that I could think of, hoping – praying – that they would distract both of us from the dusty grey room we were sitting in. If I could whisk Leon off to somewhere far away for only a moment, that might be enough.