Chapter 4__The Liminal Realm
1428 Words
The transition felt like falling through water made of light. I felt weightless and suspended, and then my feet touched solid ground, and everything snapped into focus.
I was standing in a place that looked like a memory of Earth. Rolling hills stretched out before me, covered in grass that was just a shade too green to be real.
The sky above was a perfect blue, unmarred by clouds, and the air smelled like spring rain and something else I couldn’t quite name. Something clean. Pure.
“Welcome to the Liminal Realm,” Gia said beside me.
I turned in a slow circle, taking it all in. In the distance, I could see buildings.
Not quite a city, not quite a town. Something in between.
And people. Lots of people, going about their lives like this was the most normal thing in the world.
“This is where people go when they die?” I asked. “It looks so… ordinary.”
“That’s the point.” Gia started walking down the hill toward the settlement, and I followed.
“The Liminal Realm gives souls a fresh start. They’re reborn here with new identities, new memories, and new lives.”
“Everything that hurt them in the Mortal World is washed away.”
“So they just forget? Everything?”
“Everything. It’s a mercy, really. All the pain, all the trauma, all the grief. Gone. They get to start over.”
I watched a group of children playing near a fountain, their laughter carrying on the breeze.
They looked happy. Genuinely happy. But something about it felt wrong to me, though I couldn’t explain why.
“What about the people who loved them?” I asked. “Don’t they matter?”
“Of course they matter. But death is meant to be final, Kaiden.”
“The living grieve and move on. The dead find peace. That’s how it’s supposed to work.”
We reached the edge of the settlement, and I could see more detail now.
The people here wore simple clothes, not quite modern but not ancient either.
They smiled at each other. Talked in low, pleasant voices.
Everything felt muted somehow, like someone had turned down the volume on reality.
“Who are those?” I asked, pointing to figures standing on rooftops, barely visible, draped in something that looked like starlight.
“The Aethern’s,” Gia said, her voice dropping to a whisper.
“The ancient guardians of this realm. They’ve watched over the Liminal Realm for longer than human memory.”
“They maintain the peace and ensure the balance. They’re the reason souls can rest here.”
“Do they ever talk?”
“Not to us. They exist on a different level. But they see everything. Know everything that happens here.”
One of the Aethern's turned its head, and even from this distance, I felt the weight of its gaze.
It was like being seen all the way down to my soul. I looked away quickly, my skin prickling.
“Come on,” Gia said. “There’s something you need to see.”
She led me deeper into the settlement, past small houses and shops and courtyards where people gathered.
Everyone we passed looked content. No one seemed to be in pain or distress.
It should have been comforting, but it made my chest feel tight instead.
“Why are we here?” I asked. “I thought you wanted to show me the bad place. The Cilios Realm.”
“You need to understand what we’re protecting first. What’s at stake?”
She stopped in front of a small café with outdoor seating. “Besides, you need to see them.”
“See who?”
Gia nodded toward a table in the corner.
I followed her gaze, and my breath caught in my throat.
My parents.
They were sitting together, sharing a meal, and talking quietly.
My mom laughed at something my dad said, reaching across the table to squeeze his hand.
They looked younger somehow. Lighter. Like a weight had been lifted off them that I hadn’t even known they were carrying.
“Mom,” I whispered. “Dad.”
I started toward them without thinking, but Gia grabbed my arm.
“Don’t.”
“I have to. I need to talk to them.”
“They won’t know you, Kaiden.” Her grip tightened.
“They have new lives here. New names. New histories. You’re a stranger to them.”
“But they’re my parents.”
“Not anymore.”
The words hit me like a physical blow. I stood frozen, watching them.
My mom tucked her hair behind her ear, the same gesture she’d done a thousand times before.
My dad adjusted his glasses, laughing at his own joke.
They were them, but they weren’t. Some fundamental piece was missing.
“What are their names?” I asked, my voice rough. “Here, I mean. What do they call themselves?”
“I don’t know. It doesn’t matter.”
“It matters to me.”
I pulled free from her grip and walked toward the table before she could stop me.
My heart was hammering so hard I thought it might break through my ribs.
I had no idea what I was going to say. No plan. I just needed to be close to them. Needed to hear their voices.
“Excuse me,” I said when I reached their table.
They looked up at me with polite, curious expressions. Complete strangers.
“Yes?” my mother said. “Can we help you?”
Up close, I could see the differences more clearly.
Her eyes were the same color, but they didn’t crinkle at the corners the way they used to.
My dad sat straighter, without the slight hunch from years of office work.
They were my parents, but filtered through some cosmic reset that had changed them in ways both subtle and profound.
“I just…” My throat closed up. I swallowed hard, trying to push words past the lump.
“You looked familiar. I thought maybe I knew you from somewhere.”
“I don’t think so,” my father said kindly. “We just moved to this district. Haven’t been here long.”
“Right. Of course. Sorry to bother you.”
I turned and walked away before I did something stupid like cry or beg them to remember me.
Gia was waiting a few feet back, her expression sympathetic.
“I’m sorry,” she said quietly. “I know that wasn’t easy.”
“They’re happy,” I said, not quite a question.
“Yes.”
“They don’t hurt anymore.”
“No.”
“Then I guess that’s good.” I wiped my eyes quickly, angry at the tears that wanted to fall.
“That’s what I should want, right? For them to be happy?”
Gia didn’t answer immediately.
We started walking again, back through the settlement toward the hill where we’d arrived.
“The Liminal Realm is meant to be eternal peace,” she said finally.
“A reward for a life lived. But nothing is ever as simple as it seems.”
“What do you mean?”
She stopped walking and turned to face me, her expression grave.
“This realm is protected by the Aethern’s. As long as they watch over it, souls here are safe.”
“But the balance is shifting, Kaiden. The Cilios Realm grows stronger every day. And if Xarath becomes powerful enough…”
“He’ll come here,” I finished. “He’ll take these souls too.”
“Yes.”
“Including my parents.”
“Yes.”
I looked back toward the settlement, toward the café where my parents sat laughing together, oblivious to the cosmic threats hanging over them.
They’d already lost one life. Already died once.
The thought of them suffering, of being dragged into some nightmare realm and tortured, made something violent twist in my gut.
“Show me,” I said. “Show me the Cilios Realm. Show me what we’re fighting against.”
Gia studied me for a long moment. “Are you sure? Once you see it, you can’t unsee it. It’ll change you.”
“Good,” I said, my voice hard. “Maybe I need to change.”
She nodded slowly, then raised her hand again. The air rippled, tore, and opened into something that looked like it was made of screaming and shadow.
“Then let’s go.”
- Writer
