The Land Of The Spirits

Chapter 1 THE EDGE OF MEMORY Nessa lay motionless on the bed, her limbs lined up like a drawn corpse, gaze nailed to the ceiling as if it hid a picture only she could see. One tear crept down her cheek. A second followed then a third - thin, silent streams that would not stop. Her chest hurt, not simply from sorrow but from a tangle of questions that tightened every breath. Pieces of yesterday jumped and broke inside her head. Michael. The way he smiled. The way he laughed , the way his fingers closed round hers as if he planned to stay linked to her forever. They were no ordinary pair ,Nessa and Michael belonged to the deathless kind. Years left no mark on them. Their kind kept many secrets but none matched the peril of the one secret they had chosen to test. Old mouths spoke of a barred place ,the Land of the Spirit. Everyone who walked in stayed there .Elders repeated the warning. Scrolls were soaked with tales of blood and vanishing. Nessa besides Michael trusted none of it. Curiosity rode them and power and rashness. “We will be all right,” Michael had told her that afternoon while he tucked a strand of hair behind her ear. “Are you afraid?” he added in a hush. “I am with you, why fear?” she answered and she smiled. Then all turned sour. They were caught. Above them the sky in the Land of the Spirit showed a bruised violet shade. The air weighed like thick smoke and clocks forgot their duty. Shapes spied from the dark. Voices that were not theirs drifted past. After that - black. Nothing. Days or perhaps weeks later, Nessa rested on a bed far from that cursed ground. Her skull throbbed. Her heart felt scooped out. She had no memory of flight. She only recalled Michael's hand sliding out of hers. Her older brother, kept watch at her side pressing a cool cloth to her brow with fingers that shook. His eyes carried the red of too many nights without sleep. At last her lashes flickered. “Michael,” she croaked, the word hardly louder than breath. Victor went rigid. “Where is Michael?” she asked. Victor sighed deeply, pain etched into every corner of his face. “He... he’s still in the Land of the Spirit, Nessa. I found you outside the gate... alone.” Nessa opened her mouth, stunned. "By myself?" she said softly. A pain pulsed through her skull. This situation seemed off somehow. Her hands pressed hard against the sides of her head. Out here, how did that happen? Memory gone, blank spots where answers should be. Someone was inside her thoughts, messing around. That much felt true. Her breath quickened. “Someone erased my memory,” she muttered. “Someone dared.” Knock, knock. From beyond the doorway, Victor called out. "Nessa? Have you put your clothes on?" Still silence came from her. Around and around her mind raced. For a second, nothing moved. Then Victor turned the handle slow. His voice came soft when he spoke. "Hello there," he offered, aiming to ease things somehow. A pause followed before he asked what kept her out of uniform that morning Nessa turned to him, her voice dry. “Do we really need to do this? I’m five hundred years old, Victor. Why do I need to go to school?” Victor let out a small chuckle but his eyes remained serious. “Yeah, I know that,” he said, walking closer. “But you look like a 20-year-old kid. And you’ve just been through something horrible. I want you to start over, Nessa. Meet new people. Be around life again. That’s the only way to heal.” For a moment he stood still by the doorway. Back he stepped without another word. “One more thing... whatever happens, don’t use your power. Promise me.” “I’ve heard you,” she whispered, so quiet it almost vanished. “Good,” he smiled. “Now make it snappy - we don’t want to be late.” Footsteps fading behind him, she pushed up from the floor, muscles shaky though something inside began to hold firm Outside quiet, but within her mind, winds howled. The glass showed a face still, yet thoughts raced like fire through brush. Michael… he was out there somewhere, lost, maybe afraid. A whisper of light flickered behind her stare. Not if, but when she would reach him. That certainty sat deep, unshaken. Michael... I will find you,she thought, her eyes glowing faintly. And this time, I won’t come out alone.