The Ancient World

Chapter Two – Arcana

ArcanaThe day was, as expected, dreadful.

Over the past years, school had been an endurance test more than a space for learning. Every day, without exception, there was a moment when Ehrien would look around, see the people surrounding her, and feel absolutely and awfully alone, like she could start crying and no one would notice.

Over time, she’d detached herself from her classmates altogether. And no one seemed to really mind. They left her to her own devices, to sit alone during recess, to eat alone during lunch, and yes to work alone in group projects. The exchange with Scott that morning had been the longest conversation between them in a year and they lived on the same street. The thing was, Ehrien didn’t mind it. She liked her own company. She liked not playing the part of dutiful classmate even more.

Once classes finished, Ehrien found herself on the sidewalk where she had been that same morning, looking at where the stranger had stood when she felt a little pinch in her chest.

“Who are you?” She moved her fingers along her chest, scratching that sting away.

Ehrien didn’t want to go home, not yet—she was too anxious. So she was going to her haven, Arcana. Ehrien had found Arcana five years earlier, when she had just started out in that school and didn’t know the surrounding area.

She was wandering, lost but not too bothered, when the skies crackled and thundered, drenching her in seconds. Ehrien ran for the closest bar in search of cover. Kai, owner of said bar, took pity on the fact that she was soaking wet and let her stay, even though she was too young for it. He had even given her a dry change of clothes. Ever since that day, she spent most of her free time there, thankful for the fortune that made her find the Arcana and Kai.

As she walked, Ehrien put her earphones on, turning the music to a volume that would very likely leave her deaf in a few years, but she didn’t care. Hallucinations didn’t come only in the form of visions—there were sounds too, conversations, screams. Ehrien could look away from the physical forms of her fears, look somewhere else, but she couldn’t pretend not to hear them. So she listened to music instead.

After about five minutes of walking, Ehrien turned to the street where the Arcana was. Finding herself close to the Arcana made Ehrien calm down immediately, and two steps into the door was all it took for a feeling of familiarity to make her smile. It was home.

The bar itself was large, covered in dark wood, painted cement, and bricks. One part of the room’s furniture consisted of simple tables and chairs—none of which belonged to the same set, making it look like someone had found them across town and carelessly bundled them into that mess of a group—while the other part had small couches and puffy armchairs. There were posters of 80’s bands on the walls and an old turntable at the back.

The beams on the ceiling were covered with pins, flags, and photos that visitors had left behind, small marks of their passing and their existence. Kai had never tossed any of those small memories away; if space was necessary, he would put some into carefully labelled boxes with dates and notes marking each one and store them in the back room. Ehrien couldn’t even count the number of afternoons she had spent with him revisiting those same boxes.

For someone so laid back, it was an attitude that would apparently not fit him from the viewpoint of a stranger. But one would have to know Kai to understand the importance he gave those small tokens. For him, they were the life of the space, and a proof of his work. If people liked the Arcana enough to leave them behind, he would keep them.

Kai was behind the bar, elbows on the wood, reading some worn out novel. He had his old cleaning cloth on his shoulder and his chin rested on his palm. His middle finger had a silver ring on it and Ehrien smiled at the memory of having given it to him. He never took it off after that day. It glowed now, against his dark skin.

The Arcana wasn’t particularly filled—it never was at those hours. That was why Kai was so calm. If the bar was packed, he would become the most skilled bartender/waiter in the universe. Much like her, he was best when multitasking.

Kai scratched the back of his head just as his eyes found her at the door. The contrast between his dark skin and green eyes never ceased to amaze her. Kai’s whole face brightened into a smile of honest happiness. “Ehrien!” She flinched and unconsciously looked around, which made Kai raise his hands in an apologetic manner. “Sorry, keep forgetting… I promise to lower my voice. So, first day today.”

Ehrien smiled and walked to the bench in front of him. “Yup.” She threw her bag over the bar for Kai to store and sat. “Guess how that went.”

“Hm…” Kai tapped his finger to his chin as if he were thinking. “You ate alone, ignored everyone and didn’t listen to anything.”

“Something like that, yeah.” Ehrien smiled and bent over the bar to reach for a glass. Kai marked his book and put it under the sink. “I see you took my advice and shaved your hair,” she pointed out.

Kai smiled. “Well, on occasion, you do make some interesting points.” He moved his hand across his head—probably a new habit. “On occasion.”

A loud noise trounced their voices and Ehrien jumped in her bench, startled. Kai sighed and looked behind her, throwing the cloth that had been over his shoulder. “Rupert!”

Ehrien followed the heavy sound that came after Kai’s shout and saw Rupert’s crumpled body on the floor—in between two chairs where he had obviously been lying across—a cloth on his face. “You’re sounding like a drunk gorilla again! How do you not wake yourself up?!”

Rupert got up, tying the cloth around his neck and picking up the fallen chairs. He looked at them over his shoulder and smiled, his grey eyes drowsy. “A lot of practice.”

“Too much…” Kai shook his head, entertained, as Rupert pouted at him, his hands moving through the mess of dark-blond hair that glowed over his head.

Rupert worked with Kai almost as long as the Arcana had been open, as a bartender and occasional cook (he was surprisingly good). Though brilliant, Rupert was a man-child, a grown body with a kid’s brain.

“You’re a definitely a different kind of boss.” Ehrien smiled as Rupert started moving through the tables, making conversation with the customers and flipping his improvised scarf around his neck. “Letting him sleep here while you’re open.”

“By now he’s part of the furniture.” Kai looked at him affectionately. “He could sleep on the floor if he wanted. Besides, everyone loves him. He is a hell of a character. Do you remember the poetry?” Kai grinned.

“Oh, I remember.” And she did, very well.

“I don’t know what I would do without him.” Kai sighed.

“You would be just fine. You started all this, remember?” muttered Rupert, still groggy, having approached the bar behind Ehrien silently.

“Can I ask you again why you work here, Rue?” Kai leaned against the counter behind him. Rupert smiled, blushing, and small dimples formed in his cheeks. He was adorable. He was also a genius. He had majored in Physics, Maths, and History, and liked to study languages in his free time.

But the most surprising thing about his over-achieving capacities was that he had done all of this while sleeping at least twelve hours a day and doing no more than a two hour study session each month—and by “study”, meant the act of living with a book nearby. He was the sort of person everyone envied; everything he heard or read once, stayed solidly locked inside his head. And more than that, he actually understood it. Why he had denied all the job offers he did was still a mystery to her.

“Seriously, you should be off reigning the world.”

“I’m fine right here, Thornton,” Rupert said after a while. Ehrien smiled at the two. It was nice, she thought, having someone like they had each other. “Well, enough with the jibber jabber. We have an institution to run. It is our responsibility,” he added, winking at Ehrien.

“When have you ever been responsible in your life, Rue?” Kai questioned mirthfully.

“Well,” he smirked, “responsibility contains a vast quantity of different branches. For example, mine is to look irrefutably sexy.”

Ehrien almost fell from her bench laughing, but Rupert grabbed her before she did, and, closing his hand on her wrist, he pulled her up, forcing her to face him head on. “Do you not agree, Miss Gordon?” he asked, with one brow raised.

He lowered his head so they were as close as they could be without actually touching each other. Kai looked away, both exasperated and entertained as he usually was when Rupert got like that.

“Arrogance doesn’t suit you, Rupert.” She grinned.

“There is still yet to exist something that doesn’t suit me.”

Ehrien grabbed the cloth around his neck and pulled him closer. “Don’t be so sure.”

With this, Rupert started laughing and took a step back, raising his hands. “Fine, fine, I’ll let you win this one. But don’t get too comfortable. My hotness will prevail.”

“Just because I had a crush on you when I first came here—”

Rupert clapped his hands together and yelled, interrupting her. “I knew it!”

Ehrien and Kai rolled their eyes. A large group came in and after that, the bar quickly filled up. Ehrien noticed the influx of new customers and stepped behind the bar to lend a hand.

“Oh, hold it right there.” Kai stretched his arms in front of him, stopping Ehrien. “I can’t have you working here with your school uniform, darling. Go up to my apartment and change into something else, please,” he added affectionately, kissing her on the forehead. Ehrien nodded and turned away, leaving the bar.

Kai lived in a small loft on the building to the right of the Arcana. He’d needed her to go up to his flat a few times over the years when he couldn’t leave the bar, and eventually he’d just given her a spare key. As Ehrien pushed the key to the lock, it jammed as usual. Doing the small manoeuvre Kai had taught her, Ehrien pulled the green door upward and toward her before kicking it open. Behind the door was a small vestibule, wide enough for two slim figures to stand side by side, with mailboxes on the left and a wooden stairwell in front of her. She climbed them slowly to the second floor.

Kai’s was the type of loft Ehrien had always dreamt of having: open, with more light than one would think achievable, and a mixture of styles that made it impossible to define, as if all the cultures in the world had decided to gather in that one space and make it work. Which they did.

Ehrien headed to the corner where Kai’s bed was and took a small box from underneath. The box had some clothes of hers inside, amongst other personal belongings, from times when the rain soaked her or an exceptionally drunk costumer spilled his drink over her, and Kai insisted on her changing into something of his and keeping her clothes for washing.

Choosing a pair of jeans, she then headed to Kai’s closet where she grabbed a loose patterned shirt instead of one of her own. Next, she stepped into the bathroom and braided two small locks of hair, one on each side, and pinned them together on the back of her head. Hallucinations were the last thing on her mind then.

“EHRIEN ELIZABETH GORDON!”

Ehrien was so startled that the glass she was holding jumped from her hands and flew a considerable distance before smashing with a loud noise. Ehrien had her back to the door, but she didn’t need to look to know who it was. Rupert, who was close to the landing zone of what was formerly a glass, looked at the door and smiled, only half though—he, too, was scared of Laura Kang.

“Your funeral, love.” He shook his head at the door and turned away, heading for the back room. Over at the bar, Ehrien still managed to see Kai’s horrified expression. Slowly, he stepped back and away from Laura’s angle of view, also heading for the back room.

After a long breath, Ehrien finally turned to the door. Laura stood just after the threshold, arms folded over her chest. Her dark eyes were shooting bolts of anger at her, and her full lips were no more than a thin line “Hey, Laura…” Ehrien’s voice was low and cautious. No point in poking the tiger when it’s carrying a bomb.

Ehrien and Laura had met two years prior. Laura had been visiting what would be her future university, which was just around the corner from the Arcana, and stopped by for a drink. It was her third visit in a week, as she anxiously waited for her acceptance letter to the same Architecture program her father had excelled at thirty years prior. She had been intrigued by Ehrien’s presence— probably wondering why there was a girl doing high school homework, in a bar, alone— and struck up a conversation. They had talked until closing time, homework and future plans set aside, and they had been friends ever since. It had been the kind of bond that felt familiar and comforting, as though it had always been there, just waiting for the two to notice it.

Laura’s father was Korean and had met her mother in Busan when she decided to take part in an exchange program abroad. He had then followed her back to London, where they had lived ever since. On the occasions when Ehrien had met Mr. Kang, she always thought Laura was his spitting image— the same dark eyes and sharp cheekbones, the same full lips and jet-black hair. Her love of architecture, of course, had also come from him. She had finished her second year with impressive grades.

Personality wise, she was just like her mother— loud, fun, authoritarian. And like her mother, she didn’t like to be left hanging. Though the sweetest girl in the world, when someone pushed her buttons, she would turn into something straight out of Jurassic Park.

“I waited for you. For half an hour. You forgot, didn’t you?” Her eyes were flaming and Ehrien fought the desire to run through the back door. After all, it was only Laura.

Then again, it was Laura. She could be scary.

“I did…”

Laura didn’t speak. Slowly, she headed to the bar, her face lacking all sorts of emotion. In that moment, Dave, one of the night shift workers, came from the kitchen smiling brightly, rubbing his hands together in preparation for work. “Hey there, Ehrien—”

“Hello, David.” Laura’s eyes never strayed from Ehrien’s. Dave’s smile disappeared and in a matter of seconds, so did he, walking in reverse to the back room. Laura let a small hint of satisfaction transpire as she sat on the bar and placed her hands on the counter, laying down her cards. “How do you plan on repaying me?”

“Well, there’s…hm…” Ehrien looked around quickly, searching for a way out. Then she smiled enthusiastically. “There’s a fair Friday! Let’s go together and I’ll buy you all the rings you want!”

Ehrien awaited Laura’s verdict in silence, her smile glued to her face. Then Laura beamed at her. “It’s a date.” Ehrien breathed again in relief, realising she had been tiptoeing whilst waiting for an answer and that her toes were now cramping. Laura’s expression turned stiff again and Ehrien stepped back. “Don’t go and forget it again. Are we clear?”

“Cross my heart.”

Laura smiled and turned her head towards the door behind the bar. “It’s alright, guys, we’ve made up. You can come out.”

Bundled all together, Kai, Rupert, and Dave emerged from the kitchen, smiling nervously. “Hey there, Laura…” Kai took the lead as they all approached Ehrien.

Laura sighed, amused. “You’re supposed to be valiant young men!”

“And you’re supposed to be a lady…” Rupert mumbled, facing down.

“What did you say?” Laura threw him a used coaster, which he managed to avoid.

“I said you look very pretty today.” The three boys took a step back, assessing the situation.

“Thought so.” Laura smiled and then sighed loudly and more dramatically than they would ever give her credit for. “Who will defend us if even you are so helplessly coward? Who will come to rescue us when need be?”

“If you are ever in danger, I would like to meet the person who leaves you scared,” Dave fired back. “And I’m not joking.”

Laura showed him her tongue and turned away, heading for one of the tables. “Bring me a pint, will you, Rue?”

Rupert frowned. “I might need to see some identification.”

She lowered her head so she could be looking up at him and raised an eyebrow. “Nice try, but you are not going to find out my middle name.” Rupert smiled, unable to keep his seriousness and winked at Ehrien. For the last year, Rupert had been trying to figure it out, simply because it annoyed her. He thought it would give him control over her, but neither Laura nor Ehrien ever budged. “Amateur…”

“Well, a man has to try, right?” Rupert asked as he took Laura her drink. He sat down in front of her, watching her carefully.

“You could try a little better.”

He shrugged.

After placing the blue, worn-out cloth over his shoulder again, Kai stood by Ehrien’s side. “They are unbelievable…” He laughed.

Ehrien was about to answer when something behind Kai caught her attention. The doors of the Arcana opened as a couple walked inside, and for a second, time froze. Ehrien wasn’t looking at a busy street, at concrete sidewalks where people wandered, car-filled roads or even the cloud-covered grey skies she was so used to.

Instead, Ehrien saw a battlefield. There was nothing familiar about the types of buildings surrounding her, those still standing and those that were already collapsed, no type of architecture, style or culture she could recognise and place somewhere around the world. Clouds of white dust filled the air, blinding the sun’s light, and screams overpowered all sense of reality. People ran all around, and sudden bursts of light cut through the toxic air, glowing as brightly and fiercely as the most intense of fires.

One figure suddenly stood out from the all the others. The dust cloud was still too dense for Ehrien to see anything other than the outlines of that body, but the way it moved had caught her attention. He wasn’t running away, and he wasn’t fighting. He was searching for something. The man stopped and screamed, “EHRIEN!”

The shock was so great that Ehrien stumbled backwards, blind to everything around her, knocking down some of the bottles that rested on the counter, her lungs emptying in pain. Rupert, Laura, and Dave all stopped talking and looked at her.

“Ehrien?” Kai’s voice was alarmed, but Ehrien didn’t look at him, realizing the thump she was hearing was the sound of her heart trying to escape her chest. Following her scared gaze all the way to the door, Kai’s expression turned serious. His jaw twitched.

Kai put a hand on her shoulder and pulled her to him, still looking over her head at the doors. His pupils had dilated to the point where no green remained and the veins on his neck pumped furiously.

“Kai?” Ehrien looked up at him, searching for answers, searching for security. Her hands were on his collar and her voice was frantic. “Did you see that? Did you see it too?” Kai had been her support for years, and Ehrien couldn’t have survived were it not for him. He was the first person she had ever talked to about her hallucinations and had never once treated her as if she were crazy.

Every time they overwhelmed her, every time they distorted her reality in ways beyond rationality, it was Kai she turned to. Ehrien told him what she saw, and he would listen and always reassure her. They had spent hours talking, and sometimes she would even fall asleep at his house, having gotten so close Ehrien couldn’t help feeling Kai knew her better than she knew herself. That was also a comforting thought; if he did know her better than she knew herself and didn’t think she was crazy, then perhaps she really wasn’t.

“It’s going to be okay,” he whispered gently. Ehrien turned to the counter, laying her hands on it to calm herself down, and closed her eyes, breathing slowly. Kai hugged her cautiously, giving her the space to run from his arms if she wanted—he obviously remembered the times when Ehrien lost control to the point of becoming violent—and rocked her for a few minutes.

Rupert and Laura returned to their conversation, though constantly looking over at the two, while Dave went back to waiting tables, he too guardedly looking over to them.

When her breathing started speeding up again, Kai trapped her arms with one of his and placed a hand on the top of her head. “It’s going to be fine, Ehrien. It’s not real; nothing about what you saw was real. You will be fine, I promise.”

Not real…

“Why are you lying to me? That look, in your eyes! You have to have seen it! Please, Kai!” She turned in his arms, forcing Kai to face her. “Tell me! Tell me I’m not losing my mind!”

For the first time since having met him, Ehrien couldn’t read anything in Kai’s eyes. After an eternity of silence, he looked away. “I didn’t see anything. It’s not real, Ehrien… I’m sorry.”

Ehrien looked down, her forehead against his chest, and nodded. Kai’s voice gained a more cheerful tone. “Now go clean those hands. They’re filthy.”

Ehrien stepped back and looked at her hands, realising that when she had laid them on the counter, she had put them over the pool of spilled drinks. Ehrien turned to the back room and walked slowly—her mind told her that if she tried to run, she would fall into some endless hole. After closing the door, she leaned against it trying to calm down.

Not real, not real, not real.

She was shaking and the room was covered in dark smears of colour.

Not real.

The air had suddenly become too hot to bear and her hair and clothes were glued to her body.

Not real.

Finally, Ehrien crumbled to a pile of shadows on the ground, too scared to move.

Not real…

Chapter Three