CHAPTER FOUR — THE OTHER SIDE
752 Words
Jack steadied himself, palms pressed into unfamiliar soil.
The world around him was wrong — too bright, too quiet, too still. The clearing was circular, its edges lined with tall silver‑barked trees that glittered faintly, as though dusted with frost despite the warm air.
He spun at the sound of Eliza’s distant call. “Eliza! I’m here!”
Only his own voice echoed back.
Panic clenched his chest. They had been holding hands seconds before the light took them. The forest had separated them — not by accident. Deliberately.
Jack forced himself to breathe. “Eliza,” he said again, quieter this time, “I will find you.”
A soft rustle answered him.
He tensed, scanning the tree line. The silver bark shimmered, but nothing moved.
Then something shifted at the corner of his vision — not a shape, but a shadow. A darker patch of air, swirling like smoke.
Jack took a slow step back. “Who’s there?”
The shadow rippled, gathering itself until a faint figure took form — not solid, not human, but watching.
A voice threaded through the clearing like a breeze.
“You have been brought to the Echo. A memory that is not a memory. A place between.”
Jack swallowed hard. “Who are you?”
The presence drifted closer, the air cooling where it passed. “Not who. When.”
A pulse of light flickered through the clearing — a vision slamming into Jack like a wave.
The same ash tree.
The same hollow.
But decades earlier.
Two figures — his father and Eliza’s mother — stepped into the glowing seam. Their faces lit with fear… and devotion.
A chant rose around them. Villagers in a ring. Lanterns swaying.
“Let the line continue. Let the bond remain unbroken.”
The vision snapped away.
Jack staggered, breath ragged. “What was that? What bond?”
The presence whispered:
“The vow made by those before you. The vow that binds you now.”
Jack’s heart hammered. “What vow? Why Eliza and me?”
But the figure dissolved, leaving only a lingering echo:
“You were chosen when the promise was made.”
Chosen.
For what?
A sudden, distant cry tore through the quiet.
Eliza.
Jack didn’t think — he ran.
Branches whipped past as he sprinted across the clearing and through the silver‑barked trees. The ground sloped downward, the air thick with the scent of iron and the hum of something ancient.
“Eliza!” he shouted again, voice cracking.
Another cry — closer now.
He burst into a second clearing and froze.
Eliza stood in the centre, chest heaving, her eyes wide with fear — but not at him.
Behind her, the ash tree’s twin glowed in this place too, hollow shimmering with gold instead of blue. And emerging from that hollow was a shape — branching, shifting, as if made of living roots and light.
It was watching her.
“Eliza!” Jack stepped forward instinctively.
She spun, relief flooding her face. “Jack!”
The creature turned its many‑angled head towards him. The light within its form flared.
Jack reached for Eliza’s hand — just as the ground shook violently beneath them.
The hollow behind the creature surged open, golden light spilling out and sweeping across the clearing like a tide.
Eliza grasped Jack’s arm with both hands, anchoring herself.
“Don’t leave me,” she whispered, voice breaking.
“Never,” Jack said, pulling her close.
The creature let out a low, resonant sound — not a growl, not a word, but a summons.
Light burst from the hollow behind it, swallowing the clearing whole.
Jack wrapped his arms around Eliza as everything dissolved again — trees, sky, ground.
The world blurred.
And then—
Darkness.
Silence.
Cold stone beneath their feet.
Jack blinked hard as his vision adjusted.
They were underground — a wide cavern lit by pale blue flames dancing in iron sconces. The air was still, heavy with age.
Eliza’s hand found Jack’s again.
“Where are we?” she whispered.
Jack looked ahead.
At the far end of the cavern stood a circular stone arch carved with the symbol — the eye — surrounded by spiralling marks.
And directly beneath it…
A stone slab.
Two names carved into it.
Eliza Hale.
Jack Rowan.
Eliza’s breath hitched. “Jack… that’s us.”
The blue flames flickered violently.
And somewhere deep in the cavern’s shadows, something began to move.
- Writer
