Rifts away.
Warning: mature content. 18+
Fayah.
Branches slap my cheeks as I run as fast as my legs will allow. The sharp stings added to the adrenaline coursing through my small body.
Faster.
I have to go faster.
My legs burn in protest as I push them past their limit. But I have to keep going; if I slow my pace, I’m dead.
The moonless night did me no favors as I stumbled and tripped over rocks and fallen logs.
My ripped and soiled gown snagged each time I did, costing me precious seconds that I could not afford to spare.
I’d been running for what felt like days, but in reality was more like hours.
However, for my young, malnourished body, it was a miracle I had even lasted past the front gates of my childhood home.
If you could call it home, I prefer the word prison.
A twig snaps behind me, sending my heart plummeting to my feet.
I whip my head around, scanning the forest as I run, but the trees reveal nothing but darkness and darting shadows.
Although I could not see my pursuer, my heart rate didn’t slow. I was not going to be fooled into assuming he had given up.
He would never give up, not until I was dead.
As if to punctuate that thought, a long, mournful whistle rang out.
Three low tones in a staggered decrescendo
Icey chills, colder than the wind ripping at my hair, grip my spine.
The memories tied to that—that God-forsaken whistle—threatened to lock my feet in place.
He’s going to catch me.
He will.
He always does.
My mind begins to slip into a downward spiral before resolve hits me harder than my father ever did.
No.
He can’t.
I won’t let him. Not this time.
Almost there.
A few more miles, and I’ll be at the Faye Kingdoms border. I reassure myself, willing my body to double down.
The border lies directly atop a rift leading to the human realm.
“This is the closest you’ve come yet!” I scream inwardly. Tapping into a reserve of energy I didn’t realize I had, I zip past the trees with unnatural speed.
My white hair snakes behind me like angry living tendrils. Blending into the freshly fallen snow that blanketed the ground.
Realization dawns on me, and I silently curse myself as I notice that my tracks were making a clear path for my pursuer to follow, securing my demise.
Nothing could be done about it now, so I press on against the shrieking wind, sending up a silent prayer of thanks to the goddess for blessing me with an internal furnace.
I never got cold; this fact had saved me more times in the past than I would care to recount.
Tonight, it gave me the upper hand.
My assailant would not fare as well with the elements.
2 more miles.
I can make it.
I will make it.
My lungs sear with exertion, each breath like a knife behind my rib cage.
“Fayyyyyyyyyah,” a low voice rung out with an ominous inflection.
“You’ve disobeyed me, Fayha.” Followed by soft clucking.
“You know what that means.”
It was not a question.
He knew that I knew exactly what he meant.
If it were not for the fact that he had planned on killing me anyway, I might have been afraid of what his threat entailed.
Tonight, though, he would not scare me into complying.
I would be free.
1 more mile
Bursting through another especially thick wall of bramble, the rift comes into view.
It looked as if the fabric of time had been slashed wide open, becoming vast and dark as it sucked the light around it into its endless void.
It was horrific and beautiful.
a symbol of my salvation.
My spirit soars; I’m going to make it.
50 yards.
30 yards.
10.
I clawed desperately for any strength I had left to spare but found none.
As the last few feet close in front of me, I do no more than stagger towards my liberation.
I made it
Before I could finish that thought, a large hand gripped my shoulder.
Sharp pain surged down my arm and back as I was spun around with unnecessary force.
My stomach fills with a cold dread.
Standing there before me, he looked like a predator staring down their prey.
My father towers over me.
Not one hair on his head was out of place.
He hadn’t even broken a sweat in the past few hours of hunting me down like a game animal.
His features, exaggerated by shadows, loomed before me.
His sharp facial features gave him an uncanny resemblance to a fowl. Exaggerated by shadows that stretched over his pale skin before blending into his long black hair.
Unlike most of Faye, who was fair,
His looks were uncommon and uncomfortable to look at, to say the least.
“Well, well, well, what do I have here?” It seems I’ve caught a wild, filthy little creature trying to scurry into the human realm.” He clicked his tongue at me disapprovingly.
Tightening his grip, he pulled me off my feet to meet his eyes.
Dangling above the ground, I cry out as barbed pain pulses from his grasp.
His gaze, devoid of emotion, reflects my terror-stricken face.
mocking my panic.
Gripping onto his arm. I kick out at him in an attempt to break free.
But he doesn’t budge.
Instead, he snarls and begins to shake me violently.
“Now, that’s no way to treat your father.” He growls, giving me one last shake that is hard enough to make my teeth clack together painfully.
Angry tears race down my face, only serving to amuse him.
With a sickening grin, he tosses his head back, roaring with laughter.
“You know? I was going to kill you tonight. Make it quick and be done with it.” He punctuated his sentence with a strong flick to my nose.
He pauses, seeming to really think over his next words.
“But since you’ve led me on this delightfully HORRID run, in dead winter, I might add, I’m feeling creative.”
He sucked in a slow breath through his nose, as if savoring this moment. “I’ll start tonight, but I promise you, child, I will not be done with you this night or any foreseeable one to come. I will slowly torture you for every second I’ve spent hunting you down.”
Leaning in close to my ear, he then whispers harshly.
“And when I’m done, if there is any life left to you.” “I suppose my guards need a new plaything.”
I wretch at the mere thought of being thrown to those disgusting bastards.
Surely his words were meant to illicit my submission. Yet they had the opposite effect.
Renewed by his threats. I twisted in his grasp, managing to get a hold on the arm restraining me, and without hesitation, I bit down hard enough to taste blood, kicking out one last time.
My feet connected to his chest with a loud crack.
His eyes widened as he wheezed and coughed, taken by surprise.
Winded, he releases me.
I hit the ground, landing hard on my tailbone.
Pain did not register, however.
My adrenaline had done me one last service by numbing my battered body.
I did not take the time to see if my father had snapped out of it.
Scrambling to stand in the thick snow, I launch myself the last few feet into the rift.
Darkness engulfs me like the flick of a switch.
Where before there was at least ambient light, here there is nothing.
Complete and total vertigo-inducing obscurity
Swallowing my uncertainty, I take a step forward only to find it nearly impossible to move. I’m met with resistance, like walking against a strong current.
Thick air chokes me.
Wet with a density that filled my lungs, causing each breath to gurgle painfully. It takes effort to remind myself that I am not, in fact, slowly drowning in this hellish void.
I once overheard the servants discussing how uncomfortable it was to cross the rift.
But I could never have imagined this, not in my wildest dreams.
Just as I am about to lose consciousness, the space around me suddenly gives way, dropping me into a free fall and knocking the air out of me.
With no time to lose, I shoot to my feet.
Eyes darting wildly back and forth, I search for any sign of my father.
There is nothing.
No rift.
No father.
Just trees.
I take a deep breath to steady myself.
Knowing my father would be close behind me,
I used the remaining energy I’d reserved for this moment to wrap myself in shadows and teleport as far away as I could.
My stomach drops as I whiz through time and space.
Before my eyes, bright white threads cracking with energy sliced through the static around me, each headed for a different destination.
Snatching one at random. I pull it close to my chest and allow my magic to carry me away to my new life.
