Beyond the Boundary

The moon reflects off the sea of ice and snow that surrounds me, illuminating my presence for those who would seek me. I hesitate and scan the fields of white for movement before lowering the shawl that covers my face and removing my gloves. My fingers have been numb for hours, and I blow what little warmth still resides inside of me into my palms, embracing the sharp pain that follows.

I return the woolen wrap to my face and recall the stories my elders would tell of those who dared to venture onto this frozen expanse. Of all the brave and foolish souls who have entered this realm of the Boundary, only one has ever returned. And only a brief whisper of her tale did she share before she was taken from her people.

It has been over a day since I followed in her path, and I am full of anxiety for what lies behind me. My presence must be known by the beasts that protect this realm, and I worry that I will join those lost souls. It is only the love of my people that compels me to continue.

When the sickness first fell upon us, we did not realize the extent of its evil. It took the elders first, destroying their bodies and confusing their minds until they slowly became like beasts with wild speech and thoughts. The grace of our people was disappearing. Suddenly remembered were the legends of old. I’d grown up hearing the stories of the sickness that had come upon our people. It ravaged them until all that remained of a once mighty kingdom was our isolated and forgotten village.

For an age, we remained hidden––the last of our kind, trapped between the great mountain range from where our people traveled in search of hope and the vast frozen sea that marked the border between our village and the realm of the monsters. None but the most foolish and desperate would risk entering the realm of the Great Boundary.

Yet, there are legends that tell of a great leader of our people who bravely crossed over the ice when the sickness first fell upon our kingdom. In a last desperate search for hope, she crossed over the mountains and forbidding any to follow her, crossed over the ice and into the unknown realm beyond the boundary.

The people feared that both she and hope were lost to them, but on the morning of the third day, they awoke to find their bodies and minds had returned to their previous grace.

As they emerged to rejoice and greet the sun, they found their beloved leader lying on the ice. Her once beautiful and majestic body had been devastated by the sickness, and her eyes and hair were white as snow and hard as ice. She whispered to them a warning of the Boundary and of the monsters that await in that cold place.

Then, she closed her eyes for the last time as the ice beneath her opened up and claimed her body as its own.

It is for her that I was named. Saraya's legend had become nothing more than a whisper to many. But her story was never forgotten by those who shared her blood. Her story was told to each new daughter born into her lines, and it was on the eve of my third birthday that my mother revealed to me the dream that she had been given on the night before my birth – a dream of Saraya’s past and of my future.

I now know that I was always meant to follow in Saraya’s footsteps over this icy wasteland, but I pray that my fate will be my own. Few remain in my village who have not yet been overcome with the sickness, and the desperation of my people weighs heavily upon me. I have grown up hearing the legends of the monsters that protect this land, and I am afraid I will be claimed by this wasteland of ice and its protectors before I am able to return with hope and aid to my people.

I have felt a presence with me for many hours now and have more than once heard the soft crunching of footsteps behind me. Yet, when I turn to look, there is nothing but the snow that flurries around me. I have felt an icy breath upon my neck and heard a voice not my own whisper within the walls of my mind, and I recall a story that my grandmother once told me of the night that a great winter storm came upon the village. She had been only a small child and had gotten caught up in the storm and strayed too far onto the ice.

I remember the fear that gripped my own chest as she related the sensation of feeling that same icy breath upon her neck and hearing the crunching of footsteps in the snow behind her. Turning in circles with tears upon her cheeks, she tried to catch a glimpse of the village through the storm. Then, out of the swirling white in front of her, the monster appeared so suddenly and quietly that she was sure it would claim her and carry her down beneath the ice.

My pulse and breath quicken as her frightened words echo in my mind. It has been many years since she told me the story, but on this night of ice and fear with the moon shining down upon me, the same shiver that coursed through me all those years ago courses through me again. I had always dismissed her story as the frightened visions of a lost child, but as I stand atop this vast expanse of ice and gaze longingly at the shores of the mountains that seem to lie only a few steps ahead, I know that her memories were real, and I know that soon that same beast will reveal himself to me.

I can feel his presence growing stronger all around me. His breath leaves an icy dew on my neck, and chills trail down my spine as I hear his thoughts grow louder within my mind. I am unable to move, frozen by a force I cannot see, and I know I have finally been overtaken.

There is a strange pull within my mind to turn and meet the beast at long last. I resist the forces that threaten me and fight the instinct to turn and face my hunter. I break through the spell and run to the edge of the ice, staring at the flowing rapids that separate me from the safety of the forested shore of the mountain. I try to leap over the narrow but turbulent stream, but as my feet leave the ground, I feel myself being pulled slowly downward to the icy rapids that await below. My arms and legs hang paralyzed, as though I have been wrapped tightly with rope, and I cry out as the water covers my feet and ankles, sending sharp pain throughout my body. A sudden and intense exhaustion overwhelms me, and I hear the voice in my mind again. He is calling to me, telling me to give in to the forces that seek to claim me.

I do not struggle against the water that covers my face, and I watch in awe as my hair and scarf swirl around me in the rapids. They do not move as though they are caught up in a swift current, but they move slowly and precisely, as though an invisible hand is braiding them carefully together. The voice returns, its thoughts becoming my own, and it speaks to me without words. A welcoming warmth spreads throughout my body, and I embrace the spell that has left me powerless.

I see images of Saraya as she walked through the boundary realm, her love of her people fiercer than her fear of the monsters. I see her hair floating around her face as my own does. I see through her eyes, and her thoughts from that day echo in my own mind. She was willing to make the journey as I am, but it was not her task to complete, and she was sent back. In my heart, I feel her agony as she resisted the forces that would pull her back home, but in her great stubbornness, she fought and earned her people the gift of time. Her self-sacrifice allowing them to continue in their freedom until the appointed time had come.

I feel her strength flowing through my veins, and I fight against those same forces. My heart is no longer calm with warmth, but I feel an icy burning within my flesh to fight. I resist as the forces, both past and present, pull at me, and then I see only blackness as the icy water envelops me. I no longer hear Saraya’s thoughts, but I hear his, and I open my eyes to find his cold and icy white eyes staring back at me from the darkness.

He speaks to me in whispers, and I feel him inviting me to reach out and touch him. I extend my arms, but he is suddenly gone, replaced by the inky water. My mind cries out to his, and I see the little girl my grandmother once was. I see her running in wild directions, and I see a hand pressing against her back, guiding her back in the direction of the village when she turned to the left or to the right.

At long last, understanding has been granted to me, and I feel a great peace growing within. He returns to my sight, and I reach out to him. He takes my hand briefly and is gone again, leaving only the blackness – cold and absolute. I am overcome with fear as my lungs fill with water, and the exhaustion returns, filling me up with the blackness, and I am lost to the ice.

I open my eyes and cry out as the water is expelled from my lungs, and I shiver with the memories of the icy water flowing through my lungs and veins, filling me with despair and coldness. Yet, as I wrap my arms around myself, I find that my clothes are dry, and warmth begins to spread throughout my body. I look to my side to find my pack resting next to me. It is also dry, and my mind reels as I become oriented to my surroundings and embrace fully the revelations that the visions provided.

My skin tingles as I sense a familiar presence, and I turn slowly. A wolf stares back at me, his fur and eyes the color of snow. He calls out to me, and I welcome him inside my mind, our thoughts becoming one. He turns and leaps toward the forest, pausing and looking back to me. I grab my pack, lifting it onto my shoulders as I look behind to the expanse of ice and water that lies between the two realms. Without its Protector, the Boundary and my village will be vulnerable to those whose minds are full of the sickness that has already begun to spread over the expanse.

I turn back to the forested and mountainous shores which hold the source of this evil, and my heart becomes resolute. I must continue on. I am afraid and grateful to have a companion. I hear his call and follow him into the world that lies beyond the Boundary, the realm from where the sickness came––the world of monsters, the realm of man.