Shards

Baruti who had moved into the room next to hers ran along the beach after her. Elizabeth knelt down next to the man on the beach a ball of tension she hadn’t even known she was carrying left. It was not her father just an older man. He was maybe in his late middle years he was balding and he had almost as much gray hair as he did black. He was defiantly pudgy and his flannel jacket was ripped and torn in several places.

“Hello are you ok?” she asked. The man opened his eyes stared right at her.

“English thank goodness its English, where am I girl.” He released a long sigh and closed his gray eyes, there was something funny about that.

“You are… in the Bahamas” Elizabeth said. “How could you not know that you swam here?”

The man started laughing deep in his chest as if there was something funny and he was the only one that got it. The man ignored her question and instead he asked. “What year is it? Tell me what year?”

“It’s 2012 what are you talking about? How did you swim here? Where did you come from?” she had just noticed his English was a little off.

“Me girl I’m from Detroit, and I got here through the shards. I had to take six different paths and almost died three times.” He said his eyes still closed.

“What are you talking about paths and shards? What’s a shard?”Baruti asked over my shoulder.

“What is a shard well it that broken place right over there. It’s how I got here from Detroit. I left Detroit looking for my son; he was at a university in New York. I headed up north and pretty soon I couldn’t avoid it any longer I had to go through one of the shards. I was transported like Captain Kierk in Star Track. It felt like someone had stretched me out and scrubbed each one of my molecules. I ended up in the middle of a battle, medieval style everyone was trying to kill each other with swords. That was the first time I almost died with everyone trying to shish kabob me. I went back through the shard that I came there in but I didn’t go back to Detroit instead I was in one of the arctic’s I swear I almost died from the cold on that one. Although the last place I jumped from was jungle almost got bit by a snake there. And let me just tell you that right now, there is nothing more dangerous than trying to travel those shards.” He ran a hand through his balding pepper black hair. “Is there any chance that you have some food to spare? I don’t know when I ate last. And if you have something stiff to drink I don’t think that would go amiss either. I don’t know what’s going on but I swear there’re ghost in between the shards and they almost got me last time”

“Baruti could you take him to the house and get him feed I want to think for a little bit.” Baruti helped the man up and they headed to the house. Elizabeth waited until she couldn’t hear them anymore. She slowly went down and then grabbed one of the kayaks and headed into the surf. If the man from Detroit could survive and make it here, she started thinking. Than she could make it out there, and find her mother and father. She neared the shard and felt a moment of panic. Thinking about the stories the man had said about ending up in the middle of a battle. What scared her even more than that was going through and not being able to find her why back here. Taking hold of herself she went through. She had to find them.

Time seamed to stretch and she felt like she was pulled in so many directions at once. She kept going though not know what else to do. The feeling of being pulled in so many different directions didn’t lessen. Suddenly she was surrounded by figures of light. They swam around her some of them came very near and she felt her body convulse as they did. It was the ghost that the man had talked about. She was too scared to scream and started swinging wildly with her paddle. In the back of her mind she realized that she was shaking. The lights continued to flout around her some of them came closer and again her body convulsed. Somehow she was sure that if one of them touched her it would all be over. Abruptly the light started taking on panicky movements and then they all started taking off into all directions. I light much larger and brighter than the others flouted up and stopped right in front of her.

I voice entered her mind vast and powerful it said. “I know what you seek, let me reside within you and I shall give you the power to find it.” It rang in Elizabeth’s mind she could hear it going on forever rolling over time and space.

“Are you an angel, or God?” Man she thought to herself that was a stupid question to ask, but she was having trouble thinking right now. There was a moment’s hesitation and it felt like someone was shuffling papers in her brain looking for information. Finally the voice returned a little softer this time so that she could actually think.

“No we are not angels. Give me residence and I will give you the power so see the paths.” Again the voice sounded like it went on forever. “You shall have eyes to see beyond the shards. You shall always know what path to take to were you need to go all this I give for residence. You may even keep your own will.” Elizabeth thought about this she didn’t know what was going on but the little lights had backed away for this one so maybe it could protect her from them. And if it was right about seeing past the shards she could find her way back to the mansion and Baruti. If what the light said was true she wouldn’t have to walk into a battlefield.

“Ok. But…” she never got to finish her sentence she was filled with light and fell out of the space in-between the shards. The kayak stopped suddenly no longer in water and she rolled out onto solid ground but she couldn’t see. What was going on, why couldn’t she see. Shakily she got to her feat and took a step suddenly the world burst into view but there was no color she took another step and the world burst into view again responding to the vibrations. She took another step and tripped and fell on her hands and knees. The world still burst into view as she moved around like that it was all so deferent. There was no color just lights and outlines nothing she could recognize she turned to where she had come from and she could see without seeing a map past the shard she had come from to all the different shards there were.

It made a spider’s web look simple. She looked closer at the intricate web now that she was looking closer she couldn’t see everything that farthest paths wear shadowed. Actually all the different shards were hazy but she could see what paths she had to take to get to any shard. Along three paths was the mansion, that was funny the shard with the mansion was clear as day unlike all the others. She could see it in her mind and every shard she had to take to get there. She noticed that some of the shards had different tones of color on them. Now that she looked closer she could see that there was a shard with a red mist around it on the path she deeded to take to the mansion. She screamed and slammed he fist into the ground.

“What is going one? what happened to me?” She started crying tears cascading down her face. As they hit the ground they made small spots of light in her dark vision of the world. “What happened to me?”

“You have become my host.” The voice came into her head and shocked Elizabeth out of her tears. Than anger came it had done this to her. Elizabeth started swinging around wildly with her hands hopping she could at least hit the ball of light.

“Where are you?” she screamed. Again the voice answered her in her head.

“I am here inside you. As I said you have become my host.” That shocked Elizabeth into silence again and she timidly reached her hand up and touched her head.

“What are you doing in there? Get out! Get out!” she screamed at the voice now in her head.

“I cannot and will not.” The voice answered her comely. “I gave you a choice and you chose.”

“Like spite I did. I didn’t even know what was going on.”

“That is not my fault I gave you a choice and was much kinder about it than others of my kind would have been. Well I know now that it was the kind way because of your mind and memories.” The voice replied almost cordially. Something about what the voice said got to Elisabeth.

“What are you?” she asked.

“I am an Ethrea. I don’t know anything more than a couple days ago. I woke up with others of my kind in the places between. We shortly found out that we could not survive going beyond that and so we now have to take hosts. I at least gave you your own will. Some of my kind takes that away while inhabiting.”

“Why can’t I see?”

“That is payment for the gift. You will have to see as I do from now on. In time you may find it unhindering. For now I will stay and look at the world through your eyes. Be careful of the shards of different colors those can be dangerous to you.” Elizabeth felt that the being the ethrea had retreated to the back of her mind. She stood shakily the world popping in and out. Slowly she turned to face the shard.

She took another step and the world came again the real world responding to the vibrations it looked almost as if she was looking through night vision goggles but instead of everything being green it was all white. She needed to get back she needed help and to find out more about what was going on to her. She needed to get to the mansion and the only way to do that was to go through the shards. She noticed that the mansions shard was almost all surrounded by the red mist and only had a couple of places to get to it safely. Taking a deep breath she walked through the shard she had come from. She would never to be bothered by other Ethrea now being possessed by one of the greatest.