> *Author Notes:
> 1. To prevent confusion: There are two different voices that Lucien hears, one is of the Mark (the one he heard when he first entered the Vestige of Selection), the other is an unknown darker and more solemn voice that he hears in his **dreams**.
> 2. **Reverie** is being changed to **Form** this will have no effect on the past chapters except the short description near the end of chapter 2*
Reverie – dreams and possibilities
changed to
Form – shapes and borders
***
\[---Welcome to The Threshold, Bearer Lucien!---]
Lucien woke to the unfamiliar sight of a snow-covered wilderness stretching out as far as the eye could see. A sharp gust of icy wind immediately jolted him awake.
'Darky?' Lucien tried to reach out, but no response came. He could feel Darky beside him, but it seemed like something had caught its complete attention.
"An Echo?!" Lucien tensed.
His eyes darted behind him—where Darky was intently staring—if there truly was an echo, what would happen? Lucien did not possess any weapons. He didn't have enough credence to afford them.
What he saw, however, made him freeze—and a bit… red?
A figure sprawled on the ground not far from where he stood—it was Luna, her naked form exposed to the frigid air. Lucien took in the sight of Luna, her lithe frame standing out against the white expanse like a delicate sculpture carved from ivory. Her slender limbs cradled in on themselves to prevent the heat from escaping. Long strands of her lustrous platinum hair contrasted sharply against the dull white snow.
"Wait, What!" Lucien instantly turned away—while simultaneously willing Darky to turn as well, his hands covering his face. Then the realization dawned upon him.
Lucien had known that The Threshold only allowed Bearer's bodies to pass through, and nothing else—unless it was in their mindscape—but he had not taken into consideration its exact implications, and he was all for it 'Wait what? NO!'
"Um, Luna," Lucien voiced out, trying to get her awake.
However, nothing came of it. She was still sleeping. Although Bearer's bodies were strong, they were not that strong and would eventually succumb to the cold.
Although reluctant, Lucien knew they could not stay out in the wild snowy plain for long, and so he decided to carry her someplace warmer—if there even was someplace warmer. After all, he could not have her dying. They both had to work together for him to survive.
He slowly turned towards Luna, who still lay there—crumpled up, her dazzling figure a sight for sore eyes. She was still unconscious. Lucien looked around, trying to see if he could locate Kim.
"He probably got transported somewhere else," Lucien sighed. With that, Lucien hesitantly turned towards Luna and gently scooped her up into his arms, feeling the weight and warmth of her body against his chest.
'Someone's getting excited,' Darky snarkily remarked.
Its excitement was almost palpable—Lucien didn't say anything. He simply willed Darky to shut up before it could make another remark.
***
Lucien found himself walking in a random direction—with a daunting gait, with Darky scouting ahead. Their pace had slowed greatly since the beginning of their venture with the cold assaulting them to no end. 'At least we're travelling downhill and not uphill.'
'Wait!' Darky's voice resounded, causing Lucien to come to a halt.
"What's wrong?" Lucien questioned in a tense tone.
"I have both good and bad news," Darky responded. "Which one do you wanna hear first?"
"I'll take the good news first," Lucien spoke in a nervous tone.
"Well, the thing is, I found a cave which should suit our needs," He said confidently.
"That's great… so uhm, what's the bad news then?" Lucien asked tremulously.
"How do I put this?" Darky spoke in no particular hurry—probably trying to find the right words. In the end, however, it simply spoke.
"There's a Whispering Rift blocking the cave," It said darkly.
Lucien paled—Echoes of the Whispering rank were weak, sure, but a Nascent Bearer who had not yet absorbed any Celestial Essence was nowhere near strong enough to fight with it.
"It might not be as bad as it seems," Darky continued, "It seems to be alone. Likely a straggler because it was too weak or injured."
"Can you lure it away?" Lucien asked.
"What if it attacks me!" Darky scoffed. "Do you not care!"
"You are literally a talking shadow, as if it can harm you." Lucien spoke in an unamused tone, "What does it even look like?"
"It kinda looks like a gray crab with scythes instead of pincers, and uh… its carapace seems to be made of some kind of metal. It's probably around a meter and a half in height."
'What's a crab? anyways'.
Lucien adjusted Luna in his arms—careful not to drop her. 'No time to stall.'
"Alright, here's the plan," he muttered. "You distract it. Draw it just far enough, and then I'll make a break for the cave."
'You don't need to speak for me to hear you y'know… and btw, you know I'm incorporeal, right? I don't even have a voice. I communicate through our… whatever we have. How do you expect he to distract it?' Darky exclaimed. Lucien could practically feel that it had thrown its arms up.
"Then think loudly," Lucien growled. "Be annoying. Be you."
A moment of silence. Then: "Rude. But fair. Get ready. I'll give you a signal when it's far away enough."
THUD
'Darky?' Lucien reached out with a nervous voice.
"RUN, DUMBASS!" Darky's voice resounded loudly in his head.
With that, Lucien shot forward as fast as he could, but the snow didn't allow him to muster up all of his speed, and carrying a helpless Luna didn't help him either. The thought of leaving her occurred to him, but he dismissed it almost instantaneously—The old Lucien would have considered it. However, to the current him, Luna was a friend, the first one he had made, even if he didn't know it yet.
He ran with all his might. Each step was agony, not just from the snow, but the dread curling in his gut. A few seconds passed, then another few. 'Is it even there? Am I even running in the right direction?' Lucien's thoughts were a mess. That's when he saw it—the mouth of the cave—and a voice resounded in his head.
"It seemed to have realized," he said, almost apologetically.
"Realized what?" Lucien asked in a hurry.
"That I'm a shadow, that it can't hurt me, so you might wanna hurry up before… you know, it starts heading back."
***
Somewhere else in The Threshold
Kim awoke, choking on snow.
As a sudden icy wind swept past him, he shot up to his feet, only to realize he was standing in front of a large gate that led into a mountain.
"Lucien? Luna?" He croaked. "Not here, huh? Guess I'm alone for now."
Then came a voice from somewhere along the perimeter of the gate.
"We found another one!" The voice loudly boomed across the snowy plain.
"Bring him in!" Another voice—similarly loud, yet softer—echoed.
Kim stiffened.
The gate opened with a hushed grandeur. A few figures stepped out, clad in tattered cloaks and faces obscured behind a mask.
Kim waited, uncertain. 'Should I run? Can I even run? What if they're friendly? What if they're not?' His thoughts were a mess.
Then, another voice called out loudly, "Hey Kim!" It was a familiar voice.
Kim turned towards the voice and squinted. 'I could've sworn I recognized that voice,' he thought to himself.
"Mira?! Is that you?" He shouted—loud enough for his voice to be heard.
Mira was a childhood friend of his—her father was a Warden in the Dreamstate faction.
They had gotten acquainted when his own father was acting as a mediator for the government.
He had heard that she had received her Mark two years ago, but he did not expect her to be here.
Now calm, Kim made his way towards the gate, where he was warmly greeted by the people who had previously stepped out of the gate to bring him inside.
Inside was… different, It was nothing like what Kim was used to back in the real world. There were all kinds of people here, old and young, but one thing seemed to be common, no one was smiling, the mood was somber. Kim came from a respectable family in the real world. Unlike Lucien, who had survived in the slums.
Kim turned towards Mira, she was different from how he remembered. Her auburn hair flowed down to her waist. No longer the short cut she'd once claimed to be 'efficient.'
She had fair porcelain skin, and her eyes, instead of the stark hazel colored eyes she previously had, they were now heterochromatic, one being pale violet, and the other, the other was pitch black.
What caught his eye most, however, was her demeanor—and clothing—She no longer looked like the innocent girl, wearing pink dresses, rather someone who could sign off on someone's death without batting an eye.
She wore a long sleeveless iridescent blue cloak with geometric patterns that subtly shifted as she moved. Along with a plain black bodysuit.
"You look… different." Kim said, quietly, earning a sigh from Mira.
"Two years in this place will do that"
Then in a colder tone, she continued, "This place is supposed to be a Sanctum. In reality, it's a tomb"
She continued, her voice just as cold as before.
"There is a labyrinth in the deeper parts of the sanctum, many teams have tried to venture into the labyrinth."
Her voice was wsitful
"But with the City Lord hoarding most of the resources, so it's been impossible to conquer it."
"City Lord?" Kim asked, curious.
"Thorné, he's one of the first people to get thrown into this deathzone." She pointed towards a fort in the distance.
"He lives there, in peace, surrounding himself with women and drinks while the people out here suffer everyday just to survive."
"Why haven't people tried revolting?" Kim questioned
"It's obvious, isn't it? He has amassed too much strength, and he has many strong and loyal followers. most importantly however, is the fact that the man himself is a monster."
"But anyways…" She turned back towards Kim and spoke tentatively, "Did you come here alone?"
***
Lucien collapsed just beyond the cave's mouth, snow trailing behind like a ghost, refusing to let go. Luna still lay motionless in his arms, her breath still steady—unlike his.
The cave was dim and shallow, but it would do. At least for now.
Darky returned. "Well, I didn't die."
He didn't have any facial features, but if he did, a smug grin on its face would've been seen on his face.
"You were never alive," Lucien muttered, breath misting the air.
He laid Luna down gently. His hands were trembling—not from the cold alone.
Lucien sat with his back to the cave wall, eyes half-lidded, listening to the wind outside howl like a beast denied.
'Let's hope he's doing better than us.'
Somewhere out there, Kim was still alive.
His breath slowed.
The storm outside raged on.
And somewhere between one blink and the next—
Lucien fell into the embrace of the dreams.