If you like music, try “Ain’t No Grave” by Hidden Citizens and Adam Christopher. It’s what I was listening to while writing!

*****

AARYN

One step, and he was in.

The smell was the first thing that hit him—dark, dusty death and decay. As if many things had died here and been left to rot and dessicate… until the very dust under their feet was made of the dead.

Aaryn shuddered.

They stood just inside the portal, Gar directly behind him, one hand on his shoulder—a contact that they wouldn’t break until they made it through. Aaryn listened, but the soft pat, pat, pat of his blood dripping off his finger was the only sound outside of his own breathing.

He stood still, staring at the long trail ahead of him, the sides of the dry earth falling to endless black on either side. The cavern ceiling looming so high overhead it could barely be sensed. And yet… somehow the air here didn’t echo and move in the natural way. As if everything was dead. Even the air.

Aaryn waited, braced, for the voices to come, but nothing happened.

A few seconds later, Gar rumbled, “They won’t approach until you start to walk. Keep focused on that light, that’s the other end. And remember your goal: Getting through here safely will show that you can bring Elreth and keep her safe when you do. So hold onto that.”

Aaryn nodded and swallowed, then stepped forward. He held his breath, uncertain what to expect, but feeling as if blows would rain down on him at any second.

But he took one step, then another, Gar striding behind him, and there was nothing.

Aaryn blinked, looking around, his ears perked until they ached. But aside from the slightest breath of movement in the air from their passage, he walked on unemcumbered.

“What… the actual… fuck?” Gar breathed.

“What’s going on? When do they come?”

“Usually they would have by now. I’ve never… I’ve never gone more than a few steps without… what the fuck!”

Aaryn’s blood continued to patter to the dirt, leaving dark beads alongside their steps.

Tension hummed in Aaryn’s muscle. It had to be a trick. They were waiting to pounce. And when they did…

He and Gar walked on. And on.

The light ahead, that had begun as a tiny glowing pinpoint began to grow until Aaryn could see the form of it—a tall oval, like a gash in rock.

He turned and looked at Gar to find his brother’s jaw slack and eyes wide. “We’re going to make it,” he breathed. “This is insane.”

Aaryn’s hope trilled for the first time, and he picked up his pace until they walked so briskly they were almost jogging.

“Don’t let go of me,” he warned Gar as they began to move faster.

“Are you fucking kidding me? I don’t know what you did, Aaryn, but… this is crazy!”

Aaryn looked around, but there was nothing. The black canyons to either side, the smell of death, the high ceiling… none of it had changed. As they got within a quarter mile of the portal at the other end, Aaryn bit his lip.

Was it possible? Was it really possible that the voices had disappeared? Would they be able to safely cross? Or…

“Could the humans have done this?” he asked Gar suddenly.

“No,” Gar said, though his voice the lacked the confident ring he usually had. “The voices don’t care where you’re from. They attack everyone.”

“There’s two traverses… maybe they can only be in one at a time?”

Gar grunted and didn’t answer immediately. “I don’t know. That doesn’t feel right. If they can attach themselves to us and follow us into our world without being taken out of here… I don’t know. I don’t think so, though.”

Aaryn’s breath came faster out of excitement rather than thrill. Soon the dust under their feet was illuminated slightly by the light from the portal—glowing with that white-blue light, beckoning to him, as if it called to his bones.

His blood continued to drip and he held his arm out so he wouldn’t get it on his clothes. But Gar’s face remained stunned in disbelief.

As they reached the portal and there was still no interference, they broke into a run. His brother cursed roundly, but laughed when they pushed through the light into the strange new world of the humans.

He’d done it. He’d really done it—impossibly, he’d done it without any influence or attack from the voices at all.

He laughed with relief and sheer joy as he strode between two lines of boulders and out into the morning light of an entirely new world.

As they passed out of the shadows of the portal and into open air, once again, the scents hit first. Aaryn’s nose wrinkled against something sharp and tangy, unnatural.

He had a vague impression of gardens and land that felt unnatural to him. But there was no time to take in the detail, because in front of him stood a woman, her dark hair swinging around her shoulders. Her cat-shaped eyes were wide and fixed on Aaryn, her mouth open in shock.

Aaryn stumbled to a halt, uncertain whether this was friend or foe—she smelled human. But then Gar stumbled past him, laughing.

“Kalle! What are you doing out here!”

Her gaze cut to Gar and she sucked in a breath. “Gar! Holy shit! You’re here! What are you doing here?!”

They ran to each other and he pulled her into a hug, both of them babbling greetings and joy, exclaiming about how long it had been, and asking questions they gave the other no time to answer.

Aaryn stood by, smiling at their happiness, but his stomach churning with the awkward sense of disconnect. He wanted to turn and look at the world around him, to explore it, to understand why it raised the hair on the back of his neck. But he couldn’t take his eyes off the two, sharing the joy of reunion.

Then Gar finally put her on the ground, still holding her by the shoulders and she gripped his shirt.

“I’m so glad to see you! But… what’s going on, Gar? Why are you here?”

Gar’s face went serious then and he turned to look at Aaryn, before answering her. “Kalle, this is Aaryn. Elreth’s mate.”

Kalle blinked, then turned to him with a wide smile. “Wow! It’s so good to meet you, Aaryn. We thought we’d never get the chance! We understood you weren’t taking the Protector route!”

Aaryn shook her hand, recognizing the greeting Elia and Reth had shown him a dozen times when talking about the human world.

“I, uh, had a change of plans,” Aaryn said, trying to smile. “It’s wonderful to meet you, Kalle. I’ve heard a lot about you.”

She snorted. “All terrible, I’m sure. This one is rarely kind.” She cocked a thumb towards Gar and looked over her shoulder, beaming.

But then Gar spoke again and the smile on Kalle’s face faltered, then disappeared.

“I had to bring him through, Kalle. I had to tell them. All of them. They know. The prophecy, everything. The humans are coming. We… they’re already in Anima.”

Kalle whirled on Gar, her entire body poised for flight. “WHAT?”