Chapter 40 The Return

Chapter 40 The Return
Luna POV

The obstruction was throbbing in the wrong way. Sera's presence panicked. Something was breaking out, and the grandmother was attempting to hold it back in Eleana.

It cannot happen, Thomas said when I told him. Sarah was devoured into the Void. She can't come back."

"But she is," I said. I could feel it. "I can feel her. She is in the wallpaper, and she is struggling to get out of it.

I ran to the barrier. Ethan came with me. We put our hands in the wall that could not be seen between existence and non-existence.

"Sarah," I called out. "Sarah, I'm here."

The response came as a scream. It was a long agonized cry that appeared throughout all the reality.

Help me, Sarah, help me, said Sarah. It was different now. It had been shattered and hopeless and totally changed. "Please. Help me. I don't want to be here anymore. I don't want to be part of this. Please."

"What happened to you?" I asked.

"The Void," Sarah said. "It showed me everything. It demonstrated to me all the decisions that I reached which brought me to the level of hatred. It presented me with every instance in which I could have decided otherwise. It demonstrated the extent of pain I have created. And now I have that knowledge stuck in. Still caught between the realization that I brought it on myself.

"Can we help you?" I asked.

"You could free me," Sarah said. But it would cost someone his life. A new guardian would be required of the barrier. There would have to be someone to replace me.

"I'll do it," I said.

"No," Ethan said. He grabbed me. "You're not doing this again. Again I am not letting you make a sacrifice of yourself.

Some other one came forward. It was Sophia.

"I'll do it," Sophia said. So long have I been a servitor to control. I would like to offer something new. I wish to be a part of the wall which keeps the freedom up.

"Sophia, no," I said.

"Yes," Sophia said. She was smiling. "This is my choice. My real choice. No decision of control or obligation. A decision that was taken because I had faith in what the barrier symbolizes.

Sophia came into the obstacle. And as she did, Sarah came out. But Sarah was different. The Void transformed her at a basic level. She looked fragmented. As she was present in more than one reality simultaneously. Part of her was still lingering between life and death.

"I'm sorry," Sarah said to Kieran. He stood behind me with tears on his face. I am really sorry about all I did. Everything I tried to do."

"I know," Kieran said. "And I forgive you. I forgave you a long time ago."

Sarah made an effort to smile, which was not easy to her. Her face would not quite know how to make that expression.

Sarah said, I do not know how to live in this world anymore. I do not know who I am without being angry.

Then we will see how you work it out, said I. We will turn you into somebody different. Someone who can move forward."

But as we were conversing the barrier started to shine. It was pierced with a radiation which I had never seen. An almost golden, warm and hopeful light.

"What's happening?" Thomas asked.

The box was completely open. The gap between being and non being was open to the world like never before in thousands of years.

And with that opening hundreds of figures came. Individuals who had been languishing under the wall. Individuals that had lost their lives in order to save the world. Individuals that were finally set free.

At the head was the grandmother of Elena. But she was young now. She had sacrificed her immortality and her age. She had become human. Truly human.

We are going home, the grandmother of Elena said. She was weeping and laughing simultaneously. "After all this time. After all the sacrifice. We're finally coming home."

Sera appeared next. She metamorphosed into a human being. She looked peaceful. Free. As though the burden of ten thousand years had been taken off.

Something else, Sera, there is something else, said. She was gazing at me with a sort of expression which I could not make out. "The barrier. It does not require preschoolers anymore. The world has changed so much. Men and werewolves and eternals and liberated souls. You have all been taught to prefer peace. You have known how to keep it together. The obstacle is the breakover.

"Transitioning into what?" I asked.

Your grandmother said to you, Into something new. She approached the obstruction and touched it. It rippled like water. It is turning into a bridge rather than a wall. A location to which everyone can relate. Where everyone will be able to exchange knowledge and wisdom. Where the gap between worlds is bridged, instead.

The barrier transformed. It became transparent. You could see through it. The place behind was visible. And it was beautiful. There was lightness and possibility there. It was the brightest sight I had ever witnessed.

"What does this mean?" Kieran asked.

Everything changes again, I thought. I could feel it. I sensed the pressure of the old world being taken off. I perceived the birth of a new world. It signifies that we get at last to know what we can make when we are no longer striving to exist. It would be like we can dream about it.

But there was another feeling within me. Something beneath the joy. Something that was waiting. Something old which had slumbered since the beginning of time.

And that something was becoming awake.

"There's more," Elena's grandmother said. Her expression had changed. She looked afraid. "There's something beyond the barrier. Something we've been holding back. Something that we need to tell you about. Something that you need to prepare for."

Before anyone could ask what she meant, the entire sky turned black. Not with darkness. With something else. Something that looked like looking into infinite space. Something that looked like staring at the beginning of the world.

And then a voice spoke. A voice that was so old it predated language. A voice that spoke directly into our souls without needing words.

"Hello," the voice said. "I am the consciousness that created the barrier in the first place. I am the first being that ever chose to sacrifice itself for the good of others. And I have a choice for Luna Matthews. A choice that will determine not just the future of this world, but the future of all worlds."