The final memory I have of her is how she called out my name.

  ***

  She looked back at me, her crystal-blue eyes filled with fear, piercing through my golden gaze, yet also a gentle longing, as if she wished to communicate all her feelings with a glance.

  A colossal eye, framed by a halo of sweeping feathers, loomed in the midnight sky. Its sun-gold iris held me in a piercing gaze, while the rhythmic beat of its wings sent powerful gales surging toward the earth.

  Everything was coming undone around us. The stars fell from the heavens like shattered glass. Fractures ripped the heavens asunder, pouring light onto the ground. The air hummed as reality itself began to unravel, the sound reverberating through the earth.

  My legs burned as I ran toward her. The distance between us seemed to keep increasing, deceiving me. I extended my hand to her while the scorching light from the tear threatened to sear my eyes, gleaming through my black hair.

  I called out her name loudly, my voice shaking. “Lira! Take my hand! Quickly!”

  The thundering noise above just swallowed up my words completely.

  She reached out her gloved hand toward me, her slim fingers quivering like tree branches in a storm, as a tear in space opened behind her, with light bouncing off her white dress, this wide silver gash cutting through the air.

  It beckoned to her, ravenous and merciless, sweeping her up like a riptide I could not hope to struggle against.

  Her voice sounded harsh and pleading, reaching out to me one final time, still fighting. Her eyes were full of despair. Her long golden hair defies gravity from the rift pulling her in.

  “Zorn!”

  The eye chuckled at our struggle.

  “Did you honestly think that I would not find out about Lira sneaking to the 6th realm, Zorn?” the large eye in the sky asked with a booming, deep voice.

  “Let her go! You don't control her!” I yelled up at the eye.

  “You are a demon, Zorn," the eye intoned, its voice vibrating through the air. "You are a shadow to Lira’s sun. There is no place for you beside the 9th Realm's Herald of Light. Bid your farewell.”

  "Zorn! I'm so sorry!" she cried.

  That tear in space ate up her voice, its light swallowing her completely before snapping closed. And she was gone in the next instant. The night sky seemed fine once more as if the whole thing had not occurred.

  ?"No, Lira, please!"

  The words were barely a whisper, yet they felt like a scream. I reached for the fading shimmers of her light, but my hand fell back to my side when the sky offered nothing in return.

  “Let this be your final transgression," the eye spoke, its tone as cold as the void. "You shall wither here, Zorn, bound forever here in the Eternal Night's 6th Realm. Goodbye."

  The eye shuttered, its massive wings curling into a tight, golden spiral before dissolving entirely. All that remained was a shimmering dust, swept away by the very gales it had created.

  What followed wasn’t silence at all. Punishment felt like it. Even the beat of my own heart felt too loud amidst the void she had left. I fell to my knees, slamming my fists down into the dirt, staining my red jacket. I screamed her name, my voice filled with rage.

  “LIIIRRRAAA!”

  I gripped my face and threw my head back, releasing a cathartic, blood-curdling scream to the moon as tears streamed down, pain consuming me.

  “AAAAHHHH!”

  ***

  Days went by. Then weeks. The wound of losing her refused to heal. All these questions and rage kept churning inside me.

  How could this happen?

  Why did she have to get taken from me?

  Why her of all people?

  WHY?!

  What was that object that tore the sky asunder?

  Who was that winged eye?!

  The anger and desperation became my constant companions, eating me alive from within. I shuffled aimlessly amidst the trees. Any trail I took merely led me deeper into burgeoning nothingness. The rustling of the leaves sounded as if they were laughing at me.

  The reflection in our favorite stream no longer had her beside mine. At times I would swear I heard the sound of her laughter, once for a moment upon the breeze, and I felt as though my heart was once more torn in two.

  She was supposed to be here with me. Her footsteps should’ve been right next to mine. But the forest had never felt so empty and lifeless.

  Until tonight.

  Right in the clearing’s center was a door as dark as my shirt and pants. The darkness wrapped around the door ominously, the moon being the only light for me to make out its form.

  It was not wooden or stony or any other material I could mention by name.

  The rectangular form churned like dark water, rippling a black sky filled with stars. There was this low humming noise coming from it, vibrating through my bones.

  The mark on my wrist, my Scorpio glyph, just flashed bright red. These beams of light began to spread all over my skin, drawing me towards this absurd door.

  My shadow stretched out for it even before I had a step, trembling on the ground as if it feared what it would discover on the other side.

  I stiffened. I could not breathe for a moment.

  What if this were the same kind of thing that took her? Am I getting into whatever took her?

  The entire woods had gone mute. The insects were no longer buzzing, and the birds cut their songs. The wind had this strange scent of thunderstorms, and a metallic smell.

  I held my breath and reached out and touched it. The sensation was as if I had put my hand into water rippling beneath it, and this cold passed straight through me. The mark on my wrist began thrumming like crazy, burning as if it recognized something.

  The door opened with this soft sigh. I couldn’t believe what I was seeing on the other side, clouds that looked golden from the sunset and mountains way off in the distance covered in golden fog. Then it hit me: the world was inverted.

  My stomach felt as though it had dropped. When I looked down through the door opening, I saw sky, and when I looked up, I saw the ocean and earth suspended over me. The doorway was just floating in the middle.

  What the hell?

  My voice just echoed out into all that empty air. “Why is everything upside down?”

  The door swung closed behind me without a squeak, pushing me out of the doorway. “Ah—” I attempted to yell, but the wind just tore it from my mouth.

  I was falling upward toward the water. UP?! No! Now it feels like down!

  This is it. I’m going to die.

  The wind howled in my ears, whipping my hair and tugging at my clothes. I reached out, desperate to grab onto something, but there was nothing. Below me, the clouds streaked by, vibrant reds and golds blending into purple.

  This’s not real! I’m falling, I’m— "AAAHHH!”

  As I fell, I could have sworn I saw her face in the clouds, probably just my brain messing with me because I’m experiencing a near death situation.

  When I die here, would I get to see her once more? Or had the world taken her spirit for good?

  Sea salt stung my mouth even though I was elevated well into the air. My stomach roiled with each second that felt like an eternity.

  A shaft of silver light split through the heavens beside me, spiraling down against the curve of the world and into the water. To my disbelief, when I turned to the side, I saw islands suspended in the sky above the water. Whole forests clung to their surfaces as if gravity had decided to be selective about what it pulled down.

  I actually stopped breathing for a second. This crazy landscape went on forever, beautiful but unforgiving. Gravity wasn’t concerned with how pleasant it all felt, however. Gravity wanted me down below.

  My heart was going crazy in my chest. Fear made my lungs burn. The Scorpio glyph on my wrist got burning hot, like it was picking up on something I couldn’t see.

  It knows I’m here. It can sense I’ve arrived.

  For just a moment, I wanted to give up. Let this weird world just take me. The ocean was rushing up quickly. My eyes flinched as I braced for impact, crossing my arms over my face.

  Then, that same brilliant flash of light that cut through the air earlier shot up from the ocean, soaring towards me. As it emerged from the depths below, it transformed into a radiant hand, all blue, gold, and glittering. The hand enveloped me in a gentle squeeze, as if I were a baby.

  I couldn’t help but gasp as it slowly began to lower me, rather than drop quickly. I was trembling, between the impossible sky and the endless sea. It won’t let me die, that is, at least not yet.

  This light feels so warm and comforting.

  My muscles all relaxed. I could not even pry my lids open, as though the light had been a bedtime lullaby. Wait a minute. Is this water? The light was a fluid, like living light circulating around me. Small bubbles came out of my mouth, but for some reason, I could breathe all right.

  Gently, it brought me down into the ocean. Silver streaks glowed in the deep water, swirling around like liquid starlight. I could not even whisper. I stretched out my hand even though everything was becoming blurry.

  “Lira…”

  If she were anywhere in this place. This world would lead me back to her.

  The sea embraced me as if it loved me. The light twisted and danced between the waves. For a little while, it was actually beautiful. Then, the darkness ate up all the light. Deep inside somewhere, the sea produced this humming sound, as though it had been waiting for me to arrive.