The Gate of Shadows

In mid-free fall, I extended my hand towards the ground below, “Soul cairn!” I called to trigger a portal to open from below and swallow me before I splattered on the ground

Unlike the last time, though, I had no time to call for a destination. We fell through the vortex before Shade caught me, preventing me from rolling on the ground. All I could do was stare at my surroundings.

A blue mist hovered over everywhere my eyes landed, and I soon realized I was nowhere near where I wanted to be.

"This isn’t what I wanted! Take me to Fenris!" I demanded.

Lily! We aren’t alone! Shade hissed, feeling a presence nearby.

"Calm down, child." One of the two voices from the blood moon announced.

I peered around the room to see who it was, yet everything was still shrouded in the haze. Shade hissed yet again when the voice chuckled in response to my hostility. The sound of wings flapping emanated around me, slowly fading the blinding mist, revealing a giant tree in its place.

A black bird with radiant blue eyes and a flamboyant display of black feathers was perched on its decaying and unstable branches. However, what was more alarming was that, on closer inspection, a humanoid shape was part of the tree.

What the…

"Old friend, it seems you don’t remember me anymore." Shade's response to the older man by the tree made him appear sad.

She remained by me, reflecting my emotions towards the entire scenario. I wasn’t happy to see this older man or the bird. Fenris was my only priority, and he was in my way.

"What is this? I don't have time!" I declared, standing my ground.

The older man smiled at me, triggering chills down my spine. Even though his skin appeared to have turned into the wood, he seemed familiar. His hair and eyes had the same color as mine, brown.

"Yes, you do. Time passes differently here. So, calm yourself, or you'll destroy all you care about in a tantrum," he argued.

You’re not wrong; time is different, but I don’t want to stay here!

"What do you know?!" I snarled.

Sadly, this man was unbothered by my hostility.

"Well, I made you." He announced, leaving me stunned upon hearing him say that.

"What?" I mumbled, taking a step back from the withered tree.

"Yes, child, I seeded you into this world with your mother's help." He clarified, leaving me with a void in my head.

My father? Impossible.

All I knew about him was from Stella, who assured me he was a human who had abandoned my mother. She never mentioned my mother bred with a tree in a god-forsaken world. The complete revelation was unsettling, leaving me wanting to regurgitate my stomach contents.

"Yes... I’m your father. It’s good to see you, Lilith." He spoke in a manner that was too friendly for my taste.

He had read my mind, which I didn’t appreciate. For all I knew, this old fool was lying to me. After all, I didn’t know the being before me who claimed to be my father, nor was I interested in knowing him.

All I wanted was to leave. Yet the man before me appeared to be my only way out as the world refused to listen to me.

"Impossible," I muttered, taking two steps back. “You’re insane! Just let me go!”

He sighed, "It isn’t. I wasn’t originally like this nor from this world. When my stepmother, who your mother named you after, killed herself, it sucked me into this realm."

What… You’re…

Everything was surreal, and it wouldn’t get any easier. All he said would haunt me in the years to come, too.

"So, you say you’re the boy from that dream?" my voice trembled, shaking my head.

He nodded, "Oh, it wasn’t a dream, but a vision gifted to you by your heritage." He added, diving me deeper into the void that my mind had become.

My heritage?

"But I... No one was alarmed. I never stepped foot in the library." I argued in a small attempt to collect my thoughts.

Fenris… said…

"That’s because the grimoire itself invited you into that library.” The man clarified, but it was as if he had said nothing.

"Invited me?" I echoed his words, shaking my head.

"Yes, it allowed you to pass through. It wasn’t with your body but your soul that traveled there." He tried to explain.

However, I was skeptical about everything.

"How’s that possible?" I questioned.

Though I just had a witch's energy slam me out of my body.

Is that what he means?

But Shade was with me back in the library. Then again, Shade saw what happened to me when I was out of my body.

"The grimoire resonated with your blood and invited you into the library. You might not know this, but you’re directly descended from the witch who tried to destroy the world all those years ago." He announced, completely losing me.

"What?" I fumbled to say, taking another step away from him.

"Oh, lovely child, yes... The Lilith from my time thought her daughter died that day, but she never found her body.” He started, shrugging, “Her daughter lived that day and became the prisoner of your beloved Lycans."

I’m a descendant of Lilith, who sought to end the world long ago. No! That isn’t possible! You must be lying!

"How can I believe any of this? What are you?" I scowled.

He smiled, "Long ago, I was human, although that no longer applies. This realm changed me, made me part of it, but my human name was once Tobias." The strange man introduced himself.

No… Something isn’t right.

Perhaps it was the fact that he was wasting my time—if it even existed in this realm. For all I knew, this could be exactly like the prison that held Alijah. The soul cairn was unknown to me.

"I don’t understand," I mumbled as an ache arose.

None of this could be true. I was in vehement denial of everything he told me.

"Well... You probably won’t understand many things I say today, but you’ll reflect on them eventually and learn your true purpose." Tobias pointed out, glancing towards the bird before shifting his eyes towards me.

Having had enough, I tried to open a portal with no success. Instead of saying anything, Tobias watched me struggle before I stared at my hands and slowly turned back to him. My body heat rose as my breath hitched in every take.

There’s no way out unless I listen to you. Crap! I…

"Then get on with it unless you want me to become whatever you are now.” I glared at the old tree in front of me.

It was so hard not to shriek, even though it was all I wanted to do. There wasn’t a bone in me that trusted this man, especially when he was keeping me from Fenris.

“Every well, listen to me as I reveal your origin.” He smirked, telling the tale of his life.

When Lilith sacrificed herself, opening the portal to the soul cairn, it swallowed him. At first, the trip caused him to lose consciousness. So, when he opened his eyes, he didn’t know what happened, finding himself in an unknown blue world.

However, seeing the shadow beasts, as he called them, he soon realized that he wasn’t in the mortal realm he called home anymore. An unspecified amount of time went by as he spent it wandering around and surviving on anything he came by.

Slowly, though, Tobias noticed his hunger and thirst were gradually changing to the point he no longer felt them. The beasts around seemed to ignore him, all but a small cat who constantly watched him from afar.

Even when the boy tried to find any point of contact, none of the others interacted with him as he wandered around for what felt like an eternity.

“I didn’t know what I was doing in this world, and then it suddenly spat me out into a time I didn’t know. It was startling, and more so since I wasn’t in the body of a boy anymore, no, I was a man.” Tobias recounted.

Once again, he found himself in a completely unknown world. Everything he knew had changed, and he didn’t know what to make of it. Luckily, when the soul cairn spat him out, he found himself in front of the most beautiful human woman he could’ve ever imagined, who was just as surprised to see him.

“Her name was Iris, your mother.”  Tobias smiled, reaching to his chest.

Somehow, the realm pushed him forward hundreds of years from his time while changing his body to fit the role it meant him to play—a role he didn’t know he had.

He spent two years learning from my mother, who taught him how to communicate, read, and, most importantly, live. During those two years, he fell in love with her, culminating in m, the fruit of their love. However, his connection to the world affected my mother's mental stability.

I inherited an unknown link to what used to be Tobias’s prison upon figuring out that the fetus had a connection to the soul cairn and that it was influencing Iris's mental health. He pleaded for her to end it.

In his mind, there had to be another way for them to have the child they wanted, but she refused, saying that the fruit of their love would never be the evil he thought. Even though he cared for her wishes, he cared for her health over one of an unknown unborn child.

Although he couldn’t say no to her after hearing her part at first, he later planned to end the pregnancy. Although my mother was losing her mind because of me, she refused to end me. It had always been her dream to have a child out of love.

Though Tobias couldn’t allow my existence to be the reason for her mind to rot, he planned to deal with Stella but never got the chance. The soul cairn claimed him back when he left Iris's side to find my grandmother.

Unable to hear his tangent, I stopped him in his tracks. His past didn’t interest me, especially since it appeared he was just another person who didn’t want me to be alive. I had had enough of that going around and wouldn’t take any more of it.

Not from you or anyone else. I won’t allow chains to hold me back any longer!