Chapter 8: At the Edge

“Who are you?”  Jason asked again, his mouth running on autopilot, not realizing that he had already received an answer to his question.

Tara smiled, her teeth shining in the dim light cast by the moon.  “My name’s Tara, Jason. Are you okay?” She looked him up and down trying to see any signs of injuries but found none.

Jason shook his head as if trying to loosen his thoughts from their shocked positions, but his voice still sounded a million miles away.  “I’m fine.  Sorry, I just . . . never . . . met a . . . a…”

“A metamorph.” She answered for him.

“A meta-what?” 

“A metamorph. Surely you’ve heard of a metamorph before. It’s not the first time that anyone has imagined being able to turn into something they’re not.” Jason looked as though she were speaking in another language: eyes wide, mouth hanging open. Clearly, at the moment, he did not have the slightest conception of what Tara was talking about so she explained further, adopting the voice of a teacher explaining something simple to someone who found it hard to grasp simple things. “A metamorph is a person who can change their physical appearance into something completely different. Lucky for you and Eric here, the form that I can change into is a wolf.”

“Can you change into anything other than a wolf?”  Jason asked, finally getting over the shock of being attacked by a wolf, then saved by another wolf only to find out that the latter is really a teenage girl. It took him awhile before he could think properly.

“No. I only have two physical forms: what you see before you and what you saw before.  I’ve heard of some that can change into nearly anything they want, but I haven’t met one yet. Personally, I don’t think they exist. It’s getting cold.”  At these last words Jason shuddered and crossed his arms across his chest, rubbing his shoulders.

Tara moved to the pile of burnt wood that was the fire that Eric had started earlier in the night. She rearranged the wood, pulling out the charred pieces and replacing them with fresher ones. Jason saw her pull something from one of her pants pockets and heard the sound of two metal pieces being scraped together followed by sparks, and within a few minutes a small fire was beginning to take shape. Tara looked up from the growing fire and saw that Jason was still sitting next to the tree that the wolf had thrown him and Eric into.

“Here, let me help you carry him.” Tara said as she saw Jason slowly moving towards Eric. Together, them picked him up and pulled him closer to the fire.

“Lay him down here.” They gently set the slumbering Eric as close to the fire as they could without worry of him catching on fire. Jason grabbed a blanket out of his traveling pack (amazingly it was still in the same place he had left it before the attack) and covered Eric in an extra effort to keep him warm.

Jason sat next to Eric, staring into the fire. Tara sat opposite him and spoke in a calm, almost flat voice. “Get some sleep.  I’ll keep watch tonight.”

“Won’t you get tired?”  Jason murmured into the fire, not entirely sure he’d spoken out loud.

“I’ll be fine, besides there are only a couple of hours before daylight. We need to move quickly from now on. Until we reach the edge of the forest, we are not safe.  Mor may not come back tonight, but he will not stop until his job is finished.”

“That’s good to know.”

“Sleep.” Tara stood and walked to the edge of the clearing, stopped at a tree and sat on the ground, eyes darting from side to side.

Jason lay on the ground, using his pack as a pillow (which immediately grew softer than any pillow Jason had ever used), and he wondered how he could sleep after everything that had happened, but sleep was not that far off. As he lay there, it occurred to him that Tara’s motives may be less than helpful, but this objection was only fleeting for five minutes later he drifted into a deep and dreamless sleep.

* * *

After what seemed only a few minutes later, Tara awakened Jason. He opened his eyes, blinking away the crusty stuff, and saw that a blue-ish glow had filled the woods and the fire had burned itself out. Maybe he had slept longer than he thought.

“Jason, get up. It’s time to go,” said Tara. Jason turned towards her voice and noticed that Tara was shaking him.

“I’m up. I’m up. How long did I sleep?” He asked, rubbing his eyes with both hands.

“Only for a couple of hours. Get ready, we can eat on the way.” Tara helped him to his feet and pack up his things; both she and Eric were already packed.  Eric looked a little strange standing at a distance from the camp with his arms crossed over his chest, illuminated by the soft blue light. Jason couldn’t help but get the feeling that they had been talking about him while he was sleeping, but he didn’t ask.

Once again, they were on their way, trekking through the forest. Every once in a while a couple of trees would try and block them by closing in around them, but Jason warned them that Eric could light their branches on fire and the three of them would be released quickly—that is, as quick as a tree can move. Jason could almost swear that he heard them muttering through their leaves to themselves, but he dismissed it as being a little too strange even for this place. 

As they walked Jason kept silent and thought back to his childhood, hoping to remember anything he could about this place. Abby had said something about dreams, but then again she had said a lot that didn’t make very much sense to Jason. The only thing that kept going in and out of his head was the image of that odd old witch holding Aaron prisoner and what she could be doing to him.  Jason had always prided himself on having a wild imagination but at that moment it seemed more of a curse than a blessing.  Of course, Abby had said that someone else was behind all this but he couldn’t get the witch out of his head. And the only other image Jason’s mind seemed stuck on was thunder and lightning, or rather it was more of a feeling than a solid image.

He didn’t even notice Eric’s voice until he had placed his hand on Jason’s shoulder and said his name in a soft voice.

“Are you okay?” Jason looked up and noticed that they had stopped; both Tara and Eric were looking at him with worried expressions.

“I’m fine.” He answered, not really trying to mask the fact that he wasn’t.

“We have to keep moving.” Tara said.  Eric swallowed hard as Tara glared at him and he found a sudden interest in the plant life that covered the ground.

“Listen I understand that you’re worried, but you’re not going to save your brother by standing here.” Tara said. 

“It’s just . . . with everything that’s happened . . . I really haven’t had time to adjust.” As he spoke he noticed that there was something different about her eyes; they were slightly bigger and rounder than any he had seen before and he couldn’t help but think that for an instant her pupils had gone from being round to oval, almost like a cat’s eyes. They were fascinating.

“Sometimes we have to adapt to things a little faster than we would like. Makes life interesting, don’t you think?” Jason nodded. “Now do you think we can continue.  The sun’s already a quarter of the way up the sky. Let’s move.” Tara started walking at a fast pace with Eric turning to follow.

“Okay.” Jason said, looking forward to concentrate on navigating the forest rather than navigating the recesses of memory. He ran in order to catch up to them.

Both Eric and Tara seemed to have the ability to walk at an incredible pace without having to run. Then again, Eric was able to make fire appear out of thin air and Tara can turn into a wolf at will. 

The three of them continued to walk in silence, Tara in the lead followed by Eric with Jason straining to keep up. Eric looked behind and saw Jason getting further and further behind so he held back, letting Tara walk at a short distance ahead. She turned around and noticed the two boys walking behind her at a distance but kept to her own pace.

“Are you sure everything’s all right, Jason?” Eric asked, that worried look lingering from when they had stopped.

“I don’t know. I keep thinking about what that witch could be doing to Aaron right at this minute and I can’t do anything about it. And I keep trying to remember this place, but there’s nothing… nothing before…” Jason lowered his head incapable of going on, incapable of knowing why he’d said that particular phrase, and incapable of knowing why he’d almost said, “nothing before the storm.”

Eric gave him a curious look, “What do you see?”

Jason looked up and wondered whether he should tell him; his eyes watered a little, unsure where the tears came from. He quickly wiped his eyes as if it were only allergies. They walked on in silence for a few minutes, Jason thinking about his brother and Eric wondering how to help his friend.

“I think I have an idea.” Eric finally said with a little too much excitement. Jason was startled at his friend’s sudden out burst but could only nod his head. “Try and think of only the best memories from your life that involved your brother.” Jason looked a bit confused at the idea.

“The only memories that I can remember are ones were I was torturing him. We didn’t get along that well.” He was again seized by the memory of Aaron screaming in a darkened room. This time it was so loud in his ears that it stopped him in his tracks.

“What’s going on?  We can’t keep stopping like this.” Tara said as she walked back to meet them, her voice straining with an effort to keep from yelling. Both of them were startled by here sudden appearance and were fidgeting when she reached them (she could move remarkably fast for her size).

“I told you it’s nothing. I can handle it.”  Jason tried to make his voice sound stronger than he felt without much success. Though his voice gave him away, he made sure to meet Tara’s stare. “It’s nothing.” He repeated with a little more conviction. 

“Listen I don’t think what’s happening is nothing.”  Eric broke in hoping to convince them that there was something more to Jason’s memories than just guilt. 

“Whatever it is, it can wait. He said he could handle it.” Tara responded.

Eric looked frustrated as he said, “Okay.” Jason almost felt sorry for Eric because he was just trying to help, but Jason did think that he could handle what was going on in his head. 

“Then let’s go.” Tara gave Jason a small smile as she turned around and began to walk. Jason could only return a weak smile at best because his stomach had suddenly turned into a tight knot, and he didn’t think it was because of his brother.

They continued walking with Tara in the lead, as she had the best idea of where they were supposed to be going. Jason only knew that he was supposed to follow and hope that she was leading him to Aaron and away from this forest. Tara didn’t stop until well past noon and that was only because both Jason and Eric’s backpacks started spitting food at them until they stopped to eat. They were forced to pick up their food off the ground: their bags would not produce any more food than they needed. It was discovered that the magic backpacks would also notice whenever someone else would enter the party because Jason’s had food in that he had never seen before and Tara immediately recognized it as her favorite. She explained that it was the meat of some animal that was native to her land, which had three heads and was the size of a small airplane.  Apparently one of these animals could feed an entire village for months at a time, due to the fact that they used every part of the animal. Eric and Tara laughed at the disgusted look on Jason’s face.

They sat down and ate; trying to use what little time they had to relax. After an hour, Tara reminded them that Mor would still be hunting them and that it was time to get moving, and she was right.

* * *

Mor was always sickened by the sound of children laughing, and pretty much the merriment of any kind. Each time that sound grated his ears and made him want to howl like the more primitive of his race, and each time his hatred and anger grew. Entering into his five-hundredth year he was always surprised at the new level of hate he felt, a festering rotten feeling that started at the center of his body and grew until it consumed the hair on his body, turning it from brown to black. Yes, he was once a normal wolf, no bigger and no meaner. That is until he was captured and forced into being the animal that was then sitting a hundred feet from his target, listening, waiting for them to sleep. The area of singed fur still burned.

Mor didn’t remember much of his early life, only that he hated being ripped away from his pack. And really, that was all that was left of that life, an emotion: pain. But there was nothing that he could do about it now, hate was at the core of his heart and he would do his mistress’ bidding until he could finally rid himself of the witch and be free once again.

The sudden quiet brought him back to his senses. His prey had stopped laughing, and was now packing up, getting ready to move once again. Not now, he thought. Mor wanted so desperately to crash through the trees and take all three them, each making quite the meal, but that was not the wisest thing to do. The metamorph was a fighter and the wizard had done magic that he had only seen the witch perform, on a much larger scale of course, but pretty much the same thing. And the third one, though he didn’t have any special abilities Mor was aware of had the courage of a hardened warrior, of which he knew something about for he had fought many great warriors, all of whom died in his jaws. 

Patience. Your time will come. And when it does they will scream for mercy. Mor smiled at the thought. Just don’t let them make it to the edge. Keep slowing them down until nighttime. Tonight I will make them pay. There’s more than one to cause pain. Mor once again focused his thoughts on the three teenagers as he followed them through the forest. The trees were as much afraid of him tearing them limb from limb as they were afraid of Eric’s fire, and so they gladly made a path for the giant). Jason was the only one she needed; the others were excess.

* * *

After lunch they had walked on for an hour when a soft white glow crept into their field of vision. Its light was minimal at first but grew as time passed, like the rising sun when you’re not paying attention the world goes from a dark blue to being filled with radiant light.  But there was something sinister about this light for it didn’t have the warmth of the sun, nor any warmth for that matter; in fact, the light that now shone through the trees had about as much warmth as being on the dark side of the moon. All three of them started rubbing their arms, signaling that each of them felt the same kind of cold overtaking them.

“What is that?” Jason asked. The other two didn’t responded immediately only staring straight ahead at the light.

Jason was about to ask again when they both said, “I don’t know.” Eric and Tara looked at each other, surprised at their sudden unity. Tara continued, “Whatever it is it’s right in our path.”

“Somehow I think that it’s a lot bigger than we think.” Eric added not even trying to hide the anxiety that had slipped into his voice. They all gazed at the light, cold and unknown. Their hearts beat faster, their ears listened harder, and their eyes strained for any sign of movement.

Jason was the first to speak, “Well, if that’s where we have to go then I guess we had better get moving.” Eric and Tara both blinked in slight surprise because up until that point Jason had been slowest of all three of them.

“You’re right.” Eric said. “Come on let’s go.” All three of them were once again on the move, but this time Tara hung back, allowing the two boys to walk in front. She was stuck in a tight spot, terrified of what was hunting them and terrified of what lie in their path. At least the monster behind them she could fight if and when he showed himself. The cold white glow in front of them might consume them all and not give them the chance to fight. Then again, of the three of them, she alone had heard rumors of what was happening to this dream world and did not like the idea of coming face to face with some of the things that she had heard.

“What do you think it is?” Jason asked, not directing the question at anyone specific.

“I don’t know. But I will say this: normally I hear news from the west through the people that go and seek Aunt Abby’s advice, but for the last few month’s not a single person has made it through the forest to tell of anything.” Eric took a deep breath and continued, “Part of the reason that I chose to help you with your brother was because I wanted to find out what had happened out here.”

“Me too,” Tara added, “The doorway to my home has disappeared.” Eric and Jason stopped walking and faced Tara. Eric’s face was more shocked than Jason’s, but the latter did not fully grasp the meaning of what Tara had said.

“What?” Eric asked.

Tara looked Eric straight in the face and repeated, “My doorway home has disappeared.”

“But what does that mean?” Jason asked as Eric clasped his hands to his mouth with a gasp, although something stirred in his mind, This is bad, very bad.

“It means I can’t go home.” Even though Tara’s voice sounded the same as ever, Jason did notice a slight pause before she said, “home.”

“Did Abby give you any idea of what’s happening?” Tara asked suddenly, and Jason was sure that she wanted to change the subject. Even so, he too was excited at having even the slightest clue as to what was giving off that glow, even if that clue was buried in rumor and speculation.

“Abby doesn’t guess.”  Eric responded. He sounded as if he’d heard Abby spout off the same response before. 

“But, if you have an idea of what’s ahead then you should tell us.” Jason pleaded.

“I will only tell you if any of them turn out to be true. So far I only see something giving off a tremendous amount of light, which is hardly evidence of anything.” Jason tried to persuade Eric to give them some tidbit of information, but the response was always the same, wait until we have more information.

They went on in relative silence for the next half hour until they came upon the next bit of evidence. Jason thought that it had started to snow because they suddenly found themselves surrounded by hundreds of tiny white flakes. Only they weren’t snowflakes, in that they each had their own unique shape. Every single one of them were little round balls of light, each a different color, rainbow colored snow. But they didn’t fall like snowflakes, anything in nature would fall to the earth, these little wonders traveled in a slow, semi-vertical path, floating in a suspended state. Although their pace was slow, Jason could tell that they were all travelling in the same direction the three of them were, west, but the balls of light were in a slight incline. All three of them stared at the marvel and cold beauty of the lights.

“They look like fireflies.” Jason goggled.

Tara looked at him, puzzled. “What’re fireflies?”

Eric answered before Jason could even open his mouth. “They’re little flies that give off the tiniest bit of light, probably some kind of defense mechanism.” Tara looked amused at the idea that little bugs could produce the same effect as these lights. 

Eric looked worried. “However, the light they give off doesn’t last that long.” 

Jason reached out to touch the light that was closest to him.

“Don’t!” Eric shouted. Jason pulled back his hand as if the light had burned him.

“Why?” Jason said, “They look so beautiful.” He was about to disregard what Jason had said and touch the tiny ball anyway when he was forced to the ground by the sound of screams, his vision clouded by darkness. He covered his ears and cried out in pain, trying to force the image out his head, but relief didn’t come. His own screams mingled together with the screaming in his head, creating some kind of horrible choir.  The pain moved from his ears all the way to his body. Jason twisted and writhed on the ground as if some unseen torturer was thrashing him with an invisible whip. And beneath the screaming, beneath that horrible choir of pain, Jason heard a deep-throated laughter.

Tara and Eric ran to Jason the second his body fell to the ground. They both reached to help him but he kept pushing them away as if he were fighting off the invisible phantoms that were attacking him.

“What’s going on?!” Tara shouted over Jason’s screams. 

Eric shook his head as if to say that he didn’t know, but he said, “Try to hold him down.”

“What?”

“Hold him down! Quick!” Tara gabbed Jason around the shoulders from behind and Jason tried to hit her and escape from her grip, but Tara was a lot stronger than she looked and she held him tight. The moment Eric saw that Tara had a hold of Jason he knelt down on the ground and brought his hands up to Jason’s head and held it. Eric closed his eyes and began to hum quietly, like he was trying to sing to whatever was holding Jason prisoner. 

Jason, his entire mind blanketed in darkness and his ears ringing with screaming, saw a sudden burst of light in the darkness. This light was not like what was currently floating around them but was like the sun peeking through the clouds after a terrible thunderstorm, its shafts of light breaking through the black clouds. The screams subsided and after another minute quit altogether, but he did feel that whatever was making him see these horrible visions was trying desperately to hold on to his mind. However, someone else was also fighting for Jason’s mind. The light increased in its intensity pushing away the dark and he felt calm and peaceful, the warmth filling his entire body from the inside out. 

After what seemed an eternity Jason opened his eyes and saw Eric standing over him with a smile on his face. Tara was still holding tightly onto his shoulders and he reached with his right hand to indicate he was okay. Tara eased up on the pressure and helped Jason to stand up. Jason gave her a weak smile and said, “Thank you.” 

He looked to Eric and smiled, thanking him too, but Eric was looking over Jason’s shoulder at something in the woods. His face a study in terror, his breathing becoming more rapid with each breath and his mouth moving without saying anything, scared beyond speech.

 “What is it?!”  Jason asked. 

Eric pointed to something behind them and muttered something that neither Jason nor Tara heard. They turned to look in the direction of Eric’s finger and were petrified with terror as they saw a familiar pair of huge green eyes staring at them through the dense wood, yellow teeth gleaming, dripping with spit.

Eric found his voice, “Run!” Tara and Jason didn’t need to be told twice as all of them turned and ran as fast as they could with Tara almost carrying a weak Jason. 

“Eric, help him!” Tara handed off Jason to Eric and immediately turned into the huge gray wolf. “Wait for me at the edge of the forest!”

“I can help.” 

“Help him.” Tara nodded to Jason with her snout and ran to meet Mor.

“Come on, Jason. I can’t carry you and run at the same time.” Eric breathed heavily with the effort to support Jason and move as fast as they could. 

“Let go. I can run on my own.” Eric gave him a questioning look and heard the sounds of Tara and Mor fighting getting closer, the ground shook beneath them, and decided to let Jason run on his own. As he let go Jason’s face grew determined to make it to the edge of the forest as fast as they could. His entire body felt weak from the images that flooded his mind, yet he hoped that his body could make the extra effort of running.  Eric gave Jason one last look before another crash in the forest startled them into sprinting. 

However, they encountered a problem the closer to the edge that they got. The faster they tried to run the more they realized that what used to be hundreds of tiny little balls of light turned into thousands of tiny little balls of lights. Heading Eric’s advise, both had to worry about not tripping over the roots and plants on the forest floor as well as dodge the lights. 

As the lights grew more and more dense, Eric and Jason found it harder and harder to move with any speed at all. The balls of light zoomed past them at faster speeds creating a whistling sound as they flew through the air. The culminating sound was so deafening both of them had to put their hands to their ears as they ran. Soon the cloud of lights became so thick that Jason and Eric had crawl on the ground in an effort to avoid the lights.  The lights sped through the air, faster and faster, creating a kaleidoscopic rainbow of colors. They crawled over and under the roots of the forest trying desperately to move away from their pursuer, that is until they came upon something that they couldn’t crawl over, or under, or even go around. All they could do was stand and stare.

Ahead of Eric and Jason was a wall of white light. The surface, which at first seemed solid, was more liquid in look; the wall’s surface shimmered and seemed to move like the surface of a lake. It reminded Jason of the tile that had brought both him and Aaron. Jason knew this wall of liquid light would take them somewhere, but where was the question, and at that moment Jason was not sure which was worse: the known danger that lay behind or the unknown world on the other side of that wall of light.

Jason turned and looked back towards the forest and saw no sign of Tara and Mor; he could only hear the distant sounds of a fierce fight. Yet, the sounds were distant in both his ears and his in his mind for something else had drawn his eyes up away from the forest. The tiny balls of light were still floating towards them, but instead of continuing on their vertical path they took a steep curve upwards and floated away, disappearing into the sky. Something clicked in Jason’s mind: The wall of light was created from the same type of power and magic as the thousands of lights they had just crawled under and it produced the same kind of cold light, just on a much larger scale. All the warmth Jason had felt from Eric’s own brand of magic was now gone and in its place, emptiness.

Jason slowly drifted towards the wall of light, pulled by an unseen force, but a voice in the back of his mind told him to wait. Wait for what?

Suddenly, Jason felt his left arm jerk behind him as his body lost its balance and fell to the ground. He looked violently around and saw Eric lying on the ground, his right hand held Jason’s left arm in a tight, firm grip. Eric’s face was filled with terror as he met Jason’s eyes.?

“What’re you doing!?”  Eric yelled, for the sound emanating from the wall of light in front of them was as deafening as that of the smaller balls of light behind them. The sound was at once beautiful and terrifying, deceptively beautiful. “Tara said to wait for her. We can’t leave her behind.” At the mention of Tara’s name Jason was suddenly brought back to the reality of his situation. He turned his head around, craning to see any sign, any evidence that Tara was behind them. Jason’s eyes searched the forest floor that he and Eric had just crawled through. 

Frantically both of them kept close to the ground as a minute passed and no sign of Tara was seen. Another loud crash, closer this time, shook the earth. Jason held his breath and from the strained look on Eric’s face he was doing the same.

A wolf’s cry reached through the dense fog of the swirling balls of light and pulled on Jason’s stomach. He feared the worst. He imagined Tara in the jaws of that monstrous wolf and shuddered. 

Jason hadn’t realized that he was crawling towards the forest, towards Tara and Mor, until he felt a tugging at his pants. He turned to look and saw Eric once again holding him back. Eric mouthed something that Jason didn’t catch at first. He watched as Eric moved his lips slower and caught a single word, Wait. And then he caught something else as well but it didn’t come from Eric’s lips; it came out of the forest. Jason hadn’t heard satisfaction in the wolf’s cry; he heard frustration. Tara had escaped and she was on her way towards them. All they had to do was be ready when Tara came out of the forest. 

Jason stood up and turned to look at the wall of light behind him and knew that they must go in at the same time, the same second, or they may never find each other on the other side. How he knew that Jason couldn’t say but that’s what his heart told him. 

Eric stood up beside him and together they turned to face the wall of light. They needed to be ready and perhaps it would be better if neither of them saw what was following Tara through the woods, because if they did it might be too late. Both of them might be frozen in fear or by some trick of Mor’s. Eric reached for Jason’s hand and grabbed hold. They stood there hand-in-hand waiting for Tara. They only had to wait five seconds.

One.

The ground shook once again, more violently then before.

Two.

A terrifying growl made the hair on both boys’ arms stand on end.

Three.

They felt air behind them stir and a rotten smell drifted towards them. They didn’t turn around.

Four.

Rhythmic pounding beat the ground beneath their feet.

Five.

Tara crawled out from the forest, in human form, and grabbed Jason’s free hand.  All three of them felt the breath of Mor and smelt his rotten breath as he lunged through the swirling balls of light, jaws opened to their fullest extent, hungry for flesh.

“Now!” Tara yelled the second she had hold of Jason’s hand. The command wasn’t necessary because the moment Jason felt her touch all three of them jumped into the wall of light. The last thing they felt was the rush of air as Mor snapped his jaws and missed.