Chapter 7—A Jump Into the Past

After Ruth talked to Asher on the phone for a few hours, she decided that she would stay the night with me because she was worried that I would have another nightmare since I didn’t have one the night before. She thought that Silas may be more treacherous than normal because he had a night off. Ruth was also very curious to know if everything Rory told me was true and was hoping that he would magically appear in my room. I know that the only reason she was really staying the night was to catch a glimpse of Rory. Her optimism was contagious, but I knew in my gut that he wouldn’t be returning anytime soon in the next couple of days.

As I fell asleep, the blue sky appeared in front of me with the sun shining as brightly as ever. I turned my head to find that I was laying down in a huge open country field with trees lined around the property that turned into a forest beyond them. I was standing on top of a small hill, with the tree line to the north of the forest behind me. My hair was half down and braided and noticed that I was wearing a gorgeous sheer, white summer dress that cut above my knees. Looking down at my feet, I noticed that I was barefoot. Hopefully, there are no thorns or stickers out here, I thought to myself as I examined the landscape further. There was a quaint little cabin in the center of the field with smoke coming from the chimney. It cannot possibly be that cold; I feel comfortable in this weather. The cabin was made from an old type of wood, but it wasn’t dilapidated it looked very strong like it could stand for another 200 years or more.

I began walking through the knee-high grass watching as it swayed with the peaceful breeze that danced past. Flowers were spread randomly throughout the field, with some roses here and daffodils there.

Suddenly, I noticed a man standing away from the house, watching as if he were waiting for something. Just as I began to venture toward him, two magnificent horses galloped past as if they were playing tag with one another. This made me smile because I have never seen such beautiful horses before in my life and to be so playful! One horse was mostly white with tan designs on its legs while the other could pass off as a dairy cow with its solid white coat and black splotches. When the horses reached the cabin, it was as if they had just disappeared into thin air. How can that be possible? It’s not like it is easy to hide a horse…

I looked over at the man and continued to walk towards him, disappointed that the horses were now gone. Abruptly I stopped dead in my tracks when I realized who I was walking toward.

“Rory!” I called out to him in excitement.

The man turned around, shock and excitement coloring his face. Walking up to me, he hugged and kissed me. “How did you get here?” he questioned, astonished.

“I don’t know…I fell asleep…Then I was here.” I paused to wait for him to say something, but he didn’t. “Is this just a dream? Where are we?”

“Right now, we are reliving a memory, Sarai. It is a place where we used to live.” His explanation was cut short when we saw a man and woman around our age run from the house and in opposite directions toward the forest. A dread of terror shone on Rory’s face before turning towards me again. “You shouldn’t be here.”

I looked at him questioningly. “Didn’t you say you wanted me to remember?”

“No. I asked you if you had any memories. I never said that I wanted you to remember them! Some of them are…” He didn’t finish his statement.

I started walking toward the cabin. “So we used to live here?”

“Yeah…And we were very happy, until this day…”

“Did we have horses? How is it they disappeared?”

He finally smiled. “Those were our horses. Some things in memories, such as animals or objects cannot stay focused in one’s mind. For example, this is your first time remembering, so all the pieces will not be clear, or they will disappear. Other times, if an animal or object disappears, you weren’t paying much mind to them in the first place so it would seem as though they just disappeared.”

We continued walking until we reached the south tree line.

“We need to go back, my love.”

“Why?” I didn’t understand what he didn’t want me to see.

“Because what happens in there, you do not need to see.”

I scrutinized the dense forest before saying, “But shouldn’t I know what hap…” I turned to look at Rory, but he wasn’t there. Staying where I was, I skimmed the country landscape while calling his name. After waiting a few minutes, I decided that I would just wait for him to return. It would be easier for him to find me where we were last together.

As I waited, I sat Indian-style on the ground, playing with the grass. I had become lost in deep thought when I was startled by a branch snapping behind me. Spinning my head quickly to investigate the noise, I saw a deer standing behind me, staring right at me. “Hello,” I said to the animal slowly, half-expecting it to say something back. There was something about the animal that made me want to study it closer. I slowly started to stand on my feet. “What are you doing out here?” What a stupid question to ask a deer! When I started to move cautiously toward it, it suddenly sprang into the forest. “Wait!” I called after it as I began to chase it.

The trees were thinner and further apart when first entering the forest, but the further I ventured inside, the thicker the trees became and the closer they were together. Leaves were covering the floor and there was little to no plant life. I’m not sure how long I followed the deer now, but I’m sure I lost it about a mile ago.

I stopped by a huge oak tree to catch my breath and scrutinize my surroundings. The trees that loomed over me like giants blocked the light from the sun and the warmth it gave off. I now found myself cold with beads of sweat running down my bare skin. Should I go back or keep moving forward? I thought to myself. While I was deliberating on what to do, a continuous crunching sound caught my attention.

Footsteps! I thought to myself while hiding behind the tree. The sound stopped on the other side as I heard labored breathing.

I took a couple of steps around the big oak tree to take a peek at the person opposite me. It was the girl that ran away from the cabin earlier! She certainly was somewhere around my age and had the same colored long blonde hair as I. The girl started searching the forest, looking for someone. Then she spotted me, but she looked straight through me! It was as if I wasn’t even there…I moved closer to her to examine her face…That can’t be…She…She looks exactly like me! She had the same long blonde hair, jade green eyes, same nose, and facial bone structure. What the hell is going on??

“Sarai!” a voice called from behind me and both of us looked to see who had called our name. It was Rory! But he was wearing different clothes than before. His face looked haggard, and he had some facial hair that I particularly did not agree with. Maybe the beard was the look for whatever era this was supposed to be…It was truly remarkable how much these two looked like us.

He kissed his Sarai as tears filled her eyes and began spilling down her cheeks. “We must keep running, my love,” Rory told her.

She nodded in response. They started running together, I took off after them, curious to know what happened next. Deeper and deeper they ran into the quickly darkening wood until a booming voice stopped them in their tracks.

“Rory.” The disembodied voice began to laugh. “Do you really think that you can keep the girl away from the King?” The man now walked out of the shadows from behind a tree. It was Asher!

Rory looked at his Sarai and told her to run.

“No…Not without you!” she pleaded.

“I will catch up. I promise, my love. Now go!” he replied sternly.

She kissed him, knowing it would be the last time, and took off.

I only stood there, undecided, not knowing if I should go with my previous self or stay with this Rory. Luckily, it wasn’t long before the situation piqued my interest and made up my mind for me.

“Why must you defy the King’s wishes, Rory? You were one of his best soldiers…” Asher said with a malicious smile.

Rory calmly walked up to him as he spoke and started to swing at him, but another guy came up from behind him and restrained him, bringing Rory to his knees as the new soul held him.

The man holding Rory had long beautiful blonde hair that was so light that it was almost a shade of white. His skin was fair, and his blue eyes were so vibrant that it seemed as though he looked straight through you, cutting sharply through and judging you from his gaze. He had a lanky build, but this must have hidden his strength because he had no problem holding Rory. Everything that he wore was black, including the long cape that looked like a poncho with a hood.

“You see, Rory, you allowed your emotions to cloud your judgment. Your soulmate makes you weak!” Asher continued in a taunting voice.

“I’d rather be seen as weak in your eyes than hand her over to Silas! He is no king of mine!”

Asher only laughed at Rory’s response.

“David! I am surprised that you would go along with this!” Rory spoke to the man that was holding him. “Would you really turn Lucia over to Silas?”

David grew violent by this statement, punching Rory. “Don’t you ever speak Lucia’s name traitor!” his gruff voice responded in outrage.

Asher let out a hysterical laugh before saying, “Look whose come to join the party!”

Sarai, the one from this time, was standing opposite the party, tears streaming down her face, her hair messed up and dirt covering her. She was walking cautiously to the crowd. A woman came into view behind her with a knife resting at her neck.

This woman had long, dark red hair, vibrant green eyes, and pale skin. Her face held a smirk, the type that made you want to slap her. She was a little taller than I and was also wearing all-black clothes with the same cape that her other cohorts were wearing. The woman seemed to be unscathed from whatever type of scuffle she and this Sarai had.

I took my eyes off the two additions of the group, glancing at Rory whose expression changed from stern to furious as he watched his love in danger and helpless. The expression he wore was almost demon-like.

In a matter of seconds, Rory knocked David on his ass while grabbing a knife from his boot and had thrown it before David had even hit the ground. Lucia wore a blank expression, staring forward before dropping her knife to the ground with a throwing knife sticking out her forehead.

“Lucia!” David yelled while running to her, coddling her as he watched the life drain from her eyes.

Sarai found this as an opportunity to run towards Rory, but Asher grabbed her.

“Let her go!” Rory demanded, coldness coloring his voice. The way he changed, it almost looked as though he had transformed into a sociopath. His eyes became dark, his jaw clenched tight as he looked at Asher dead in the eye. “Let her go, Asher. Now!”

“Do you really think any of this is going to work?” Asher asked, not concerned for his friends lying on the ground, one dead. He looked over at them and grew annoyed. “David, stop your crying already we have a job to do!”

When he finished his statement, more people showed up. A group of people, maybe of five or six surrounded them.

“Really, Rory, did you actually think you could hide her? You know the king would never allow you to keep her.”

Rory took a step toward Asher and his Sarai, making the crowd ready their weapons.

“The king is going to be very upset to learn that you killed one of his soldiers,” Asher stated with a smile.

Rory only stared at him without making a sound, his eyes narrowed. I stood paralyzed staring at Rory. Seeing him in this new light slightly scared me. I understood why he was like this, but that still didn’t extinguish the fear his look gave me as well as the feeling that emulated from him.

Asher placed his head on Sarai’s shoulder, smiling malevolently at Rory as he played with her hair. He was trying to arouse anger in Rory before casually walking over to the new party and handing the now restrained Sarai to one of the members. Asher continued walking, then knelt down by David, placing his hand on his back. “I’m sorry David, but with your soulmate dead and the condition that you find yourself in, your services are no longer required.” He took his knife and stabbed him in the chest, then the lung, and pushed him on the ground next to Lucia before he could even speak a word.

The way Asher was sickened me. I never thought that he could be so cold, so ruthless. “You’re an animal!” Sarai yelled, spitting at him. “I hope the same happens to you one day!”

He laughed. “My dear girl, I shall never find a soulmate! They weigh you down,” he began as he stroked her cheek. She cringed from his touch. “They get in the way, never allowing you to reach your full potential.”

“Hey, dumbass!” Rory called to Asher. “What were you saying?”

Asher grew angry at the sight Rory left behind. In these short moments, all the people that Asher brought were now lying on the ground incapacitated. The only people to remain standing were Asher and the guy holding Sarai.

Before I could witness what happened next, I felt someone grab my wrist and begin to pull my arm. It was Rory, my Rory, the one that saved me from my shadow man.

“What is this?” I asked him dumbfounded.

“We need to leave.”

“No! I want to see what happens!” I responded in defiance.

“We need to leave now!” Rory demanded while picking me up and running away from the scene that played before me.

I turned my head to watch the four people that stood behind us. They grew smaller and smaller until they were consumed by the darkness. There was light now peering through the trees as we started to reach the outskirts of the forest.

My thoughts were suddenly interrupted by a scream, my scream that cut through the trees, and a bright blue light caught my attention. It started in the direction where the scene I had just witnessed took place, radiating outward, engulfing the whole forest, and then it was gone.

By this point Rory put me down on my feet and continued to walk, seemingly cross with me.

“What was that Rory?” I asked, a little shaken by the scream that I had just heard.

He didn’t say anything. It didn’t seem like he even heard me. Rory just kept walking. I wasn’t sure of what I could say or do to make him answer me because he seemed to be preoccupied with something else on his mind. Feeling defeated, I followed him obediently.

When we reached the field where the little cabin rested, I noticed that it now sat in ruins. The beautiful little house now had a gaping hole in its side, the wood completely rotten. Parts of the house looked like it had been caught on fire, while the rest was being taken over by nature. I looked at the house in awe. It was perfect a few minutes ago and now…now it was completely destroyed.

“What happened here?” I asked Rory.

“Sarai, remember how I told you this was a memory?” he began as I nodded in response. “…This is just one of the many times that I had failed you…”

“It didn’t look as though you had failed me back there,” I said in response, trying to make him feel better.

“After fighting the whole time, trying to keep you safe, trying to keep you from being taken to Silas, Asher managed to take you. The only thing you saw before Victor took you was Asher taking a lucky shot at me, and me falling lifeless to the ground…That scream that you heard…it was you. That scream has always haunted me…”

Tears started to fill my eyes. I couldn’t imagine Rory being killed.

“The blue light you saw was him taking you to Shanaledge.”

“To where?”

“It’s the place where we are from…Me, you, Asher, and all those people back there in the forest, come from there.”

I stared at him in disbelief. Why is everything starting to sound more insane?

“How does that cause a light like that?” I asked, then remembered the nightmare I had. “I saw that same light in my nightmare! It happened right after Ruth was killed.”

An uneasiness had overcome Rory before he responded, “Because Shanaledge is in a different realm than we are in right now. They can simply travel there or anywhere else really. But for someone like me or you; we need a certain object to travel. Since they can travel by will, a blue light can be seen…I used to be able to travel that way as well…”

“You can’t anymore?”

“No.”

“Why not? What happened?”

“That is a story for a different time,” he stated.

“Then why did you just disappear earlier, before I went into the forest?”

Rory smiled his amazing smile before saying, “I woke up.” I couldn’t help but smile back at him at this simple answer. “It took me a while to get back here because it is hard to rest where I am sleeping.”

“Where are you sleeping?” I questioned, concerned.

“Not far from you,” he stated simply.

I glared at him. “How do I know that you are telling me the truth?” I asked, concerned. “How do I know that none of this is just a dream that I made up?”

“I guess you don’t, my love.”