The first she found herself staring at was the starlit western horizon casting its faint light upon the mountains in the distance. Scanning around her new surroundings, Lyda saw that she had come out into a large, basin-like spring with a pair of streams flowing from the rocky walls on either side. The streams snaked toward the center as if mirroring each other, before joining beneath the exposed roots of a very unusual-looking tree. From there, the merged stream flowed toward the west and over the cliffside at the end of the basin.
Lyda approached the tree in the center of the spring. The roots of the tree rose up from the ground as though the streams had eroded the area to the point that they now flowed underneath it. The roots then formed a base from which four identical-looking trunks extended up and entwined around one another in a twisting manner. Lyda's face lit up with a wide smile and expression of discovery. Everything about this place, from the tree standing before her to the tangible serene sensation in the air, was a perfect match of the description in the book.
Desperate to delve even further, Lyda set the lantern down on the rocky ground and removed the pack from her back. She leaned against the tree, took out the leather-bound book, and immediately began flipping through it. She took this time to skim through all the pages between the first passage regarding the rhododendron bushes and the bone-chilling page 47, hoping to find something more about this place which the writer spoke of so malevolently.
She came across many different topics such as the history of the mysterious Seluitah tribe, the hierarchy of the Spirits, various passages concerning potions and healing draughts, and something about the gates to a place called Valhalla. Lyda paused for a moment when she came across a strange drawing on one page that looked like a snake winding around in a circle to clutch its tail in its mouth, above which was a barely-legible word that she could only pronounce as, "Rag-na-rock". She shook her head, not even bothering to read the paragraph below it as she continued flipping.
Eventually, she returned to page 47, finding nothing more on this place called the Crossing. Lyda turned the page over to the first blank parchment, sighing to herself as she rested her head back against the tree to stare up at the stars. As frustrated as she was, the spray of the streams on her face was soft and peace-inducing, like the touch of a million tiny fingertips. It was only in this tranquil state that Lyda's upward gaze fell upon something she had not noticed before.
Pulling herself to her feet, Lyda got a closer look at the quadruplet tree trunks. Just above her eye level, a series of symbols were carved into the bark of each of the twisting trunks. They were all facing in toward one another and identical except for one small detail: the symbols were each comprised of six dots in a hexagonal pattern, but two of the symbols on opposite trunks were painted white while the dots of the other two were black.
Lyda had no idea what these symbols could mean. She did not recall seeing them in the book. She reached up and ran her fingers along one of the white-dotted symbols. The concave indents of each dot were smooth and almost pleasant to touch. Instinctively, Lyda reached up with her other hand to touch one of the black dots on an adjacent trunk, but flinched when her finger came into contact with it. Unlike the white circles, the black ones felt damp and almost gooey, as if they had only recently been painted or something. Lyda pulled her hand away and examined her fingers in the dim starlight. The black substance looked less like paint and more like oil as it glistened in whatever light touched it. Disgusted, Lyda flicked her wrist as if to shake the stuff off.
A gust of wind suddenly picked up. It came from over the cliff to the west and Lyda turned her head as the pages of her book started to rustle in the breeze. One of the blank, torn-out pages got caught by the gust and started to blow away.
"No, no, no!" Lyda cried as she chased after it. She caught the parchment just as it landed in the conjoined stream and quickly plucked it out before it could get too wet. Without thinking, she ran her oil-stained hand across the page to wipe off the water droplets, only to curse herself as she spread the substance across the parchment. She turned to take the page back to the book when her eyes fell upon something truly strange.
In the middle of the page, where she had accidentally smeared the black goo, she noticed a series of thin-lined circles had appeared. It looked like somebody had taken the end of a pin and drew the shapes in the oily substance. Lyda would have shrugged it off as nothing, but she immediately noticed that there were six of these circles, and they formed the exact same hexagonal pattern as the ones carved into the tree.
Letting out a breath of surprise, Lyda continued to smear the substance across the page. Another identical symbol appeared to the left of the first, but the substance went completely around the dots of this one, giving them a more hollow look than the one to the right. Lyda guessed this must have been the white symbol, and the other was the black. It was clear that these pages were not blank after all, and that this peculiar goo was capable of revealing what was invisible upon them.
Lyda was ecstatic as she hurried back to the tree to collect more of the revealing agent. She started smearing it across the top of the page, where she uncovered a single word written in all capital letters that made her heart skip a beat: TWINS.
Lyda glanced up at the symbols on the tree trunks, her jaw hanging open. These must have been the marks of the Twin Spirits Iris spoke of. Her excitement could not be concealed. She had to keep going. This was incredible! Who knew how much she was learning right now that others did not know? She giggled at the thought of possibly knowing more right now than the Oracle Mistress who rejected her.
Once she was done with the first parchment, Lyda began work on the rest of the pages without wasting a second. Eventually, she came across a name at the top of one of the pages that was revealed by the agent, also in capital letters: SEL.
The Light Twin, Lyda thought to herself. On the rest of the page, the substance revealed a passage that was almost too difficult to read due to the way it was made visible, but Lyda managed to piece it together.
"Firstborn of the Sky Woman, Sel, patron of the Seluitah tribe, conceals itself within the moon and envelops our world in the light it reaps from the sun. This it does to protect the world from the powers of the Darkness."
Lyda nodded her head in affirmation. That was exactly how Iris described the Light Twin, even by name. She turned the parchment over and resumed her smearing routine. This side of the page appeared similar to other. The invisible passage was revealed and a name was written at the top of the page. This one Lyda had never heard before, and she could not help but whisper aloud as she read it.
"SIKAR."
The gust of wind suddenly swept through the spring again, but this time, it dissipated as soon as it began. Lyda felt goosebumps rising across the flesh of her arms and, for the first time since she left the cottage, she felt a tingle of fear.
So this was the name Iris refused to speak. Yes, Lyda thought, she refused. So far it was not the first thing she lied to her about. It made Lyda angrier and all the more desirous to continue.
"The Darkness," the passage read. "The evil twin. The Devil himself, I used to believe. But I was wrong. This is something different altogether. The Seluitah do not speak its name and have long forbidden the worship or even acknowledgment of this deity. They say it whispers to you in your sleep to tempt you with promises of unholy treasures. I dare not imagine what treasures are given by something so perverse. It is taught all throughout the kingdom that there is only one true God. I have recently learned that that is only partially true. I know now that, though there is only one Creator, there are many others like Him, and some are incomprehensibly dark."
"Whispers," Lyda said to herself, musing on the passage she had just read. She began to think back to her sister's most recent night terror. It made Adea tremble as she mentioned hearing sinister whispers in her dreams, but she was too scared to say any more. Perhaps it was time that Lyda made her open up about what she was seeing in her nightmares. She was too deep in her new studies to stop now. This was far too fascinating.
Any feeling of sleep she may have had prior to leaving the house was gone, replaced by an overwhelming state of ecstasy. Part of her wanted to stay here for a while longer, but Lyda knew she did not have the time. She had to make it back to the cottage before her parents would wake and realize that she was gone. Resisting the temptation to read on, Lyda collected more of the oily substance from the twisted tree and spread it across the last of the blank pages. She waited for it to dry before stuffing them back between the covers of the book. She could study them later, but for now, she had to haul it back home before dawn.
Finally mustering the will to leave, Lyda slipped the leather-bound book back in her sack, picked up the lantern, adjusting it as it the flame was dying down, and headed back toward the path from whence she came. She was about to step between the rhododendron hedges when another breeze picked up, this one much lighter than the last, and she could have sworn she heard a faint whispering as it fluttered past her ear. Lyda whipped around and shined the light of the lantern around the area, as if expecting to see somebody, but there was no one. She shook her head, thinking she must have been hearing things due to all her excitement, and she turned back to navigate through the path. Somewhere in the back of her head, she had a feeling she would see this place again.
The entire night was no more peaceful for Adea than the previous. The nightmare from before was the most horrible she had ever experienced, and she hoped it would never happen again. This night, however, was no better. Adea's sleep was plagued by fleeting dreams of voices whispering to her from the shadows. They came one after the other with very little reprieve in between. Most of the time, she just heard the voices as if they were all around her, whispering in her ears. She could not understand what they were saying, but there were many. Actually, it sounded more like the same voice but speaking to her from multiple angles, almost like it was conversing with itself.The voices only sounded for a few minutes at a time, but in her lucid state of sleep, it felt like an eternity; an eternity of pure fear. Every time she heard them, Adea refused to allow her mind's eye to open and clenched her real eyes as ti
"Adea!" a voice called out to her. She barely registered it as she flailed uncontrollably on the floor. "Adea!"Something snatched hold of her other wrist, trying to hold her still. Adea only struggled while her arms were pulled away from her face."Adea, calm down! Wake up!"Against every fiber of her being, Adea opened her eyes again. Though she was still screaming at the top of her lungs, she was shocked to find herself staring up at the face of her sister."Adea!" Lyda repeated, trying to get through to her. "Look at me!"Adea's screams slowly began to dissipate, her wide eyes glued to her sister's. Lyda's heart was pounding just as hard as Adea's. Just then, she heard the frantic scrambling of footsteps coming from down
Neither Lyda nor Adea slept the rest of the night. Adea was far too frightened to even close her eyes and constantly asked her sister what she really thought about the dreams she was having. Lyda responded by reminding her that none of it could possibly be real, much to Adea's chagrin. Despite her apparent lack of interest, Lyda was, in fact, taking all this in intently, and she stared up at the dark ceiling, anxious to delve deeper into the pages hidden under her bed.It was not long after Adea's most recent night terror that the first rays of morning began to peek over the mountains to the east, and Lyda was thankful that she returned from her little nightly excursion when she did, or else she would surely have faced the wrath of their parents. By their mother's request, the two of them were left to sleep a little later into the morning instead of being woken up for their early studies, and Iris would no
Mara did not come out of the cellar for the rest of the day after that. As he promised he would, Matthias immediately took the leather-bound book to the backyard and burned it with the compost. He did not take his eyes off it until the last flames had died down and each and every piece of parchment was rendered to ash. That would be the end of it, he kept telling himself.Alyra had been watching curiously from the garden. "What was that?" she asked as Matthias began heading back to the cottage."Don't worry about it," was all he could answer with.Alyra let out a sigh, showing a hint of frustration. "Did you talk to Mara?""I took care of it," Matthias responded, not wanting to keep his mind on any of this. "We won't have to worry about this anymore."
Adea's heart was racing in her chest. What Lyda could be talking about, she had no idea, but any hope of putting a stop to these relentless nightmares was good enough for her. Adea jumped out of her bed almost immediately after Lyda had left the room. She hurried to the wardrobe they shared next to the doorway and pulled out the fur jacket she wore during the colder seasons. Lyda told her to meet her outside, so it seemed wise to wear something warm.It was at that moment that Adea froze where she stood. She could not help but question why Lyda could not do what she wanted to do in the comfort of their cottage. Why did they need to go outside in the cold? The more she thought about it, however, the more she began to resent being alone in the darkness of their room.Adea threw on her coat and stepped outside her bedroom, closing the door behind her. She shuddere
Lyda guided her toward the narrow path that cut through the brush. She moved faster than she had the last time she was here, knowing exactly where to go, but Adea was dragging her feet as she anxiously took in her new surroundings. She could not help but feel daunted by Lyda's apparent familiarity with this place. The deeper they traveled, the more Adea got the overwhelming urge to turn around and run, but Lyda had a firm grip on her hand. A strange pressure was weighing down on her, much like the pressure she felt in her chest the previous night just before she woke."Lyda, wait!" Adea whimpered, finally losing her cool. "I don't wanna do this. Something feels wrong."Lyda shot her sister a look of disbelief. "We can't turn back now! Come on." She tugged Adea toward her, but she continued to resist. "You promised."
Returning to her side, Adea was standing before the most peculiar and unnerving sight she had ever seen. In a small opening in the brush, a series of small stone slabs were standing perched in a circular pattern. There were seven of them, and they were positioned around a cleared space that looked large enough to fit a full-grown person. Just outside the circle of stones, there were three larger slabs perched the same way evenly spaced apart from one another. She looked over at Lyda, whose face was lit up with excitement."Do you know what this is?" Lyda said, more to herself than to Adea. "I think this is the site where the ritual was performed by our ancestors!""This is where we're supposed to do it?" Adea trembled."I think so. Come on!" She pulled Adea into the circle of stones. They both sat down in the middle
1875"You must swear that you will never tell another soul what we did here tonight. Swear it on your life."Those words made Adea shudder from the moment she heard them that night at the Crossing, and she feared she may never get over it. She found herself in the most complex situation an eight-year-old child might encounter. Her bad dreams lasted for weeks after they began, but it only took a matter of days for them to escalate into the fits of pure fear that they became. She was desperate to stop them once and for all, but what good was Human intervention against something they could not see, hear, or feel? Yet somehow, in spite of everything, her older sister, Lyda, found a way.Adea was not sure what was more horrific; the night terrors, or the actions the two of them took to end them. Ever since they could speak, Lyda and Ade