PAUSED BREATH
854 Words
The car slowed as the mansion gates came into view.
I opened my eyes, my headache finally subsiding into a dull throb. The driver said something polite that I didn’t register. My mind was still half buried in rune diagrams and Elowen’s relentless lecture.
I got out of the car and bid the driver goodnight.
As I gathered my bag, something slipped out and landed at my feet.
A thin parchment.
I frowned as I picked it up.
It wasn’t part of the books Professor Llyen had given to me. The paper was older, and the edges were rougher.
A rune sat at the centre of the book. Perfectly aligned.
It was small. Elegant. But Incomplete.
My breath hitched.
I didn’t know why I had such a reaction to it.
The rune was inactive. It wasn’t glowing. It wasn’t even fully drawn. Also, one of the strokes was missing.
I had an epiphany.
I found myself tracing the parchment. My fingers tingled where they touched the parchment. It was the same sensation from the last class.
It looked deliberately unfinished, as if whoever had drawn it stopped midway on purpose.
Another recognition without memory.
This rune wasn’t forbidden. Not officially.
But it felt... wrong.
Not incorrect nor flawed, but paused.
Like a held breath.
I scanned the margins of the book more properly, hoping to find more clues.
No title. No author. Just a single line note scribbled beneath the symbol in a tight, unfamiliar handwriting.
Do not complete without a stabilising anchor!
My heart skipped.
Anchor.
I hadn’t seen that word in any of the introductory texts.
I looked back at the road that led to the mansion gates as if wanting to see the college I had just come from. A chill is creeping up my spine.
Had this parchment fallen from one of the books?
Or has someone slipped it into my bag without me noticing?
I folded the parchment carefully and tucked it away, telling myself I’d ask Professor Llyen about it tomorrow.
That was the best way to go about it.
It was probably a mistake,
Because deep down, beneath all my confusion and worry, one thought kept circling my mind.
I know exactly how to finish this rune.
And that was the problem.
I stood there longer than I should have. The night air was already tingling my nose and making my hair stand.
“Madam, is everything alright?”
The driver’s call drew my attention away from the parchment.
“I’m fine, Sam, thank you. And goodnight once again.”
I shoved the parchment back into my bag, but deeper and forced myself forward.
The main duplex doors slid open silently, the mansion lights glowing warm and welcoming like nothing in the world was wrong.
The house was quiet. Too quiet.
It wasn’t empty. Just still.
The kind of stillness that stares back. Unmoving.
I kicked off my shoes and moved through the halls, every step echoing louder than it should have. Kaelith wasn’t home yet.
Of course, he wasn’t.
The household staff have probably all retired to their quarters.
I went straight to my room and locked the door behind me.
My bag landed on the room desk. I willed myself not to take out the parchment again.
Three long minutes passed... I did it anyway.
The rune looked different now under the soft glow of the bedside lamp. Not clearer. Just... golden and... I can’t quite describe it. As if it were aware of being seen.
“Incomplete,” I whispered.
The word tasted strange.
I didn’t mean to trace it again, but my fingers moved before my thoughts caught up, hovering just above the missing stroke.
The air shifted.
Not dramatically. No sparks or glow.
Just a subtle pressure in the room.
I jerked my hand back, heart racing.
“i***t,” I muttered.
I folded the parchment once more. Into more folds this time, and sharpened the edges. I slid it into the drawer of my nightstand. Out of sight was out of mind. That was the rule.
I rubbed my palms together as if that would scrub the sensation away.
Sleep took me immediately after I landed my head on the pillows.
And when it did, it dragged me somewhere else.
I found myself standing in a circular domed chamber carved from an unknown stone with a polished surface that shone silver. Runes lined the walls, one more complex than the other.
A section of the wall was empty and waiting to be filled with runes.
I held a pen in my hand, wanting to fill in the blank wall.
Someone stood behind me.
“Don’t,” a voice said quietly. Not angry. Not urgent.
Afraid.
I turned to look-
And woke up with a gasp.
This was becoming a trend for me lately.
The room was dark.
The bedside lamp was off.
I hadn’t turned it off.
A soft sound came from the nightstand.
A scrape.
Then a faint crisp thud.
I stared at the drawer.
Something inside it was moving.
And the only object in the drawer was... the parchment.
- Writer
