Into the Boundary

*** This is the fourth installment in a collaborative series by Vocal Creators from The Vocal Creators Support Group on Facebook. The theme is Winter. Be sure to check out the previous parts of the story from the group!

Previous Parts

I: Beyond the Boundary by Lena

II: To the Realm Beyond by Dannielle Nelson

III: From the Realm Beyond the Boundary by Lilli Knight

*

Into the Boundary

We were one of the forgotten ones.

Perhaps every village that struggled to exist thought they were forgotten because of hesitance to explore the harsh wintery conditions of beyond. How many more were there? Were they just like us, looking for a cure and sending their best to brace the desolate wasteland beyond the invisible borders of the boundary? Or were those wandering around all that were left, because I wasn’t among the best, I was just searching for him.

“Get to the boundary, Khione,” my grandfather whispered to me in a dream. His bronzed wrinkled face was motionless. It was odd because my grandfather wasn’t a man of many words. Behind him, my grandmother stood silently with the hood of her jacket over her silvery head. “The cure is out there. Tau needs you.”

Despite the belief that dreams were just abstract concepts of the mind, mending different visuals captured through memories, I had taken my dream literally. My grandfather giving me a message verbally meant that it was important, and I felt as if I should heed to his words. I decided to set out for a cure that was already being searched for.

As a child, my mother spoke of a legend from another village tucked in between the mountains and frozen sea. Of the one who had gone into the boundary. I never forgot her name, Saraya. She was the brave one that had saved her people from the sickness, though she unfortunately succumbed to the elements not too long after. It was an act of selfless heroism, her actions not taken in vain. But the sickness was back after being dormant for so long and was spreading quicker than before.

My family was an example. My mother and father had quickly fallen to the sickness upon the disappearance of my grandparents who had gotten it first as the elderly population was especially vulnerable. It seemed as if I had been the outlier as I had no effects of the madness that destroyed my family. Though, through the denial and fear, I could not ignore that my mind was growing feeble upon the passing days.

I walked through the boundary with Vulpes always a few steps ahead. The small dog seemed to be leading me in a direction I could only assume was correct. I had begun my journey ill equipped, not realizing it until it was too late, and footsteps cracked against a frozen realm plagued with monsters. I tightened my jacket closer to my body, the warmth of fur lined leathers comforting. But by that point in the second day of my journey, I was numb to the cold. I wondered if that was how everyone else had perished, from the lack of feeling in their digits that slowly crept to their core.

Vulpes, on the other hand, despite her small stature seemed indifferent to the weather conditions. She navigated expertly through the wasteland of icy tundra before weaving in between the supple mounds of gathered snow in the forest, and now darting towards the mountains that were in the distance with their jagged silhouette bathed in the golden glow of the sun.

Honestly, I didn’t know where Vulpes had come from. She was an enigma. The day I set off for my journey to find Tau she had been waiting for me by the edge of the village. She was a spitz dog with a foxlike appearance. Her coat was a sesame color, peppered with deep brown and black tips with whitish tan coloring at her paws, muzzle, neck and underside. She had fallen in step beside me as if I had been her master for years and for some reason, I didn’t question it at all. I took her presence as a sign that she was some sort of physical manifestation of a guide. That I wouldn’t be able to complete the journey alone.

But I was slowly being consumed by the sickness and it was evident in my lapse of coherent thoughts at times. Each time I came to, Vulpes was there by my side. It made me sick to my stomach not knowing when I would become completely consumed and become one of the lost souls that roamed around. It terrified me, but there wasn’t anything I could do but accept my fate of the disease slowly ravaging my mental state. I was still in the early stages and strangely it wasn’t progressing as aggressively as I had witnessed my own mother going mad in a matter of hours. It was unsettling how someone could be fine one moment and then berserk the next.

I will never forget the blank look that took over my mother’s deep brown eyes before she turned. It had been as if a flip had switched, her soul already gone by that point. I could only witness her demise before seeking out a safe space for my own protection. The village had gone to shambles, a shell of what once was a peaceful community I had known for twenty-five years.

I had no knowledge of what exactly the cure for the sickness was. There was esluna, a drink composed of white magic that was used a temporary remedy to slow the effects of the sickness, but it was hard to come across. My grandmother had been a white mage, the village’s local medicine woman, and she had given me a bottle before she had left. Her graying eyes were blank, deep brown weathered face solemn as she drew up the hood of her jacket over her silvery head before walking off with my grandfather to the ice. She had known it was too late for them. It had hurt to know that they were out there somewhere having become part of the men and beasts roaming around aimlessly, their purpose stripped from them to mere suffering.

I fished out the leather flask that was branded with the symbol of my village, a crescent moon composed of intricate snowflakes. I brought the open mouth to my lips and drank, a trickle of stark white liquid trailed down my freckled brown chin and froze in the elements. The taste was bitter like herbs, with a hint of tartness. The consistency was strangely powdery against the tongue, but remained liquid and oddly held what could only be described as an electric current reminiscent of magic. A small mouthful was enough. I was desperately trying to make it last having a taste every time I felt a blackout conjuring up. The Ilbis of the forest had attempted to pilfer the precious ware, but gave up on realization I was untouchable. I placed the flask back into my bag and wiped my chin with the back of my gloved hand.

Somehow, I had gotten farther in the boundary than expected. It was known that those who entered the boundary never returned. Even the physically strongest were made weak, deemed not noble enough to withstand its harsh conditions and the threat of monsters and men. Though that hadn’t been the case at all for me. I knew the carved black tourmaline protection amulet wound around my neck was not enough to keep the monsters at bay, but they kept their distance, staring at me curious while whispering. Maybe they knew I was slowly turning into one of their own and were trying to exacerbate the process with their muted ramblings and laughter.

And maybe it was working. I had blacked out several times by the time I hit the ice to only find myself walking around aimlessly with Vulpes in tow. Or I awoke to myself curled up in the snow in the fetal position as the spitz dog shared her warmth.

I was slowly losing myself and I was sure I wouldn’t find Tau, if he himself was even still alive.

*

As we approached the mountainside, I saw two figures climbing the rocky cliffs that ascended high into the sky. The possibility of one of those figures being him made my heart race as I ran through the snow with Vulpes beside me.

I was stopped short when something invaded my headspace. It felt similar to a tension headache where my head was cold with a dull ache. Whatever it was, was warning me to stop and not get too close.

Vulpes snarled at a space before the cliffs. I looked around in confusion. Besides the encroaching Ilbis that staggered haggardly in the distance, there was no one there.

“What is it?” I called out.

She didn’t listen, hackles raised, lips retracted showing sharp canines. Her eyes were following something that was in motion. I could only stare at the glittering snow, eyebrows knitted in confusion at what I supposed was a transparent entity getting closer.

Vulpes quickly snapped a low ugly growl, suddenly lunging towards me. I screamed in surprise, falling back against the snow as the dog’s body flew right past me before coming to a halt. Her body was still alert as her small feet gripped the powdery snow. Every muscle in her small frame taut and rippling with determined protection. Whatever it was, she wasn’t giving up and the feeling of cold seeped back into my head settling first at the back of my neck underneath the thick brown twists of my hair, before weaving its icy path against my temple with stabbing shards.

The entity was strong and saw me as a threat because it could not fully discern me.

“This is the end of your journey, go no further,” it warned.

I looked back at the figures climbing the mountainside. Neither of them was him. I was disappointed as I watched. Both appeared to be women, but the sight of one of them unnerved me. The one that took the appearance of an ice queen was giving off a malevolent aura and the one beside her was either an associate or completely oblivious. I could only give into the warning as I looked back at Vulpes whose ears were pointed at attention, her growling growing nastier every second, yet she did not appear as if she was going to make a move. Her display was only to intimidate as the invisible being revealed itself.

My scream got caught in the back of my throat as my eyes widened in horror. A large white wolf had materialized in front of the small dog. It was ten times bigger than Vulpes, but she wasn’t backing down. The wolf’s white soulless eyes were trained on me as it towered over us on its hind legs. My lips trembled in fear.

In the distance I could hear the Ilbis’ taunting peels of raucous laughter, evoking a familiar reaction from me as I felt myself beginning to slowly lose control.

-

Make sure to check out the next installments from my fellow members of Group 2 that will be updated over the weeks!

Next:

V: In the Beginning by Abby Draper.

VI: Destiny Beyond the Divide by Gerald Holmes

VII: Beyond the Truth by Tyrone Livingston

VIII-IX: Boundary Be Gone! by C. H. Richard

X: The End by Caitlin McColl