“This is as far as I can go sis,” the little girl whispered. They had reached a silver, metal door. It needed a key, and Ariel saw that she had been holding it this whole time.
“I’ll be back soon,” she said, squatting down to hug the girl. The cold of Alexia’s body pierced through her again, and Ariel saw a patch of brown grass flash before her eyes. But when she stood up again, she only thought of the door. Ariel fit her key into the gap and when the door opened, she was blinded by darkness.
The room sucked her in and the door she entered through disappeared. A minute in darkness, and a small ghostly flicker caught Ariel’s eye. From the corner, a translucent white gas spilled out, aggressively covering and making visible the floor, the walls, and finally the hundreds of pillars, each with more than a hundred names, which circled Ariel.
Ariel’s pupils began to dilate and soon they were exuding a soft, white glow. She could see it now. The world was an exact extension of cause and effect, two beautiful forces doomed to push and pull each other for eternity. Never breaking the pattern. She had resisted for so long, but now Ariel could not fight the allure of taking, holding, and experiencing the ultimate truth. But when one takes, another must give, and she was prepared for the sacrifice. She was still empty inside, so then let Death come and take her body, and leave her with only her mind.
“My name,” Ariel said, lifting her hand and pointing towards the ghostly pillar before her, “it belongs” her finger had started shaping the first wavy curve of her name, “right…” she progressed through the letters, one by one.
“there.”
But Death did not come.
The pillars shattered, one by one, as Ariel’s name remained, suspended in midair. The empty feeling had gone and she began absorbing an immense amount of energy. It felt familiar, comforting, as if she had just recently touched it, never knowing that it would soon be hers.
As she inhaled the magic it gave her clarity, and Ariel realized that she was absorbing the energy of the underworld, of all the magic that rested in the restless souls of the tower, but could have never been released on their own. Then, Ariel thought of Alexia. She turned around, just in time to see her sister’s soul as it flew through her body and disappeared. Ariel realized, Death had not wanted her body. It had wanted her sister’s soul instead.
The sunlight was alarming as it ricocheted off the glaring metal cars, sharp blades of grass and burning cement streets. Then Ariel saw the accident, a vision from what seemed like a century ago. Welcome back to reality, if she could still describe it that way.