Page 37 of A Lost Light

One of the beings suddenly stilled. They weren't shaped like any creatures I'd ever seen before. They had no bodies, or appendages, really. They were gigantic, irregular oblong masses of swirling golden energy, shot through with iridescent rainbows of color, occasionally reaching out tendrils to touch the barrier around our pocket world.

“Can you hear me?” Andy said, her voice nearly a whisper, filled with awe and trepidation.

The being who had stilled moved again, a ripple flowing through its shape. The others also seemed to be payingattention, as if they could hear or see us. “Weee hearrrr,” a strange, humming voice said in my mind. “Whaaat?”

What were we? What was the barrier?

I felt the connection that was allowing us to see beyond the barrier wavering, and I used my ability as a familiar, boosting Andy's magic, drawing a bit more energy from those who were connected to her to steady this strange connection.

“We are beings from another realm,” Andy said, as if she spoke with strange void creatures every day. She had a talent for pretending to be calm when the world was falling apart, but I knew inside she was trembling with dread. “From Magea. We're hiding here, in this pocket world I created to get away from some bad people. People who would kill us. It's our sanctuary. It protects us. Please don't destroy it.”

A strange, bone rattling hum filled my being, and probably Andy's too. We were sent… not images, exactly, but… ideas. Concepts. These beings were…

“Cleeeeanerrrs,” the voice said in my mind.

Cleaners. They fed on any debris, or formations, or anomalies that didn't belong in the void. They had discovered this pocket world, this anomaly, and had come to devour it.

“Please,” Andy said, her voice shaking. “If you are going to destroy our sanctuary, then at least let us leave first. We'll die without the barrier you're trying to destroy.”

“Ssssssanctuary?” the voice hummed, as if considering. Weighing the meaning of that word.

After a few terrifying heartbeats, the voice spoke again, and the creature reached out a tendril of energy, caressing the barrier this time, rather than poking at it. There was no earthquake. “We will leeeeeeeave. Forrrr now.”

I let out a sigh of relief. Andy's mental voice was just as steady as ever. Somehow. “Thank you. I promise I will try to get us outof here. We are trying to go back home. It's just that it's not safe for us there right now.”

“Peeeeace,” the voice hummed.

Then the creatures winked out of existence.

The connection fell away, and I blinked my eyes, trying to adjust to seeingonlywhat was before me once more.

“Fuck,” Andy muttered.

The others were all standing around us, staring.

“What just happened?” Aahil demanded. “Who were you talking to? Have you finally lost your mind, witch?” Agitated licks of flames danced along his fingers before he shook them out, extinguishing his fire.

Andy rubbed her forehead. She took a deep breath and let it out on a long exhale before speaking. “Interdimensional void beings? I don't fucking know.” She started pacing. “Bis helped me see beyond the barrier. There were giant energy creatures out there wanting toeatthe pocket world because it doesn't belong here.” Stopping abruptly, she faced the others with wide eyes. “I told them we kind of needed this place to live at the moment. They said they'd mosey on by for now. Leave us in peace. But I have no idea how long 'for now' is. And also, I'm about fifty percent sure this is a hallucination and I'm lying in a diabetic coma right now. Either that or I ate the wrong mushrooms.”

She stopped speaking to take a breath and everyone was silent.

I patted her cheek. “It was real, momma. We just spoke tovoid creatures! Now that the danger had passed, I was excited. We had just encountered a new race of beings that no one else even knew existed! I needed to go get my journal and write this down while my memory was fresh. I scurried down Andy's arm and she obligingly put me on the ground while everyone started asking questions.

Void creatures! I should write an essay. Maybe one of the witch publications back on Magea would want to know this. Or a university. But I paused on the bottom stair. Should we share this knowledge? What would the magical community do with it? Would they harm the beings? I sat down on my haunches as I thought about the implications of first contact.

“Bis? You okay, buddy?” Andy said as she sat down on the step next to me. “Using your magic that way didn't hurt you, did it?”

I shook my head, still partially lost in thought. “No. I'm fine.” Then I looked up at her. “How do you do it, Momma? How do you make all the hard decisions you make?”

She huffed a laugh. “Dude, I have no idea. I just… do what I think is right, I guess. Or what Ihaveto do to survive and to keep my family safe.” She petted my head. “Myrealfamily. Not the ones related to me by blood.”

I chirped in consideration. “Should we tell other people about the void creatures?”

She thought about it for a moment. Then she shrugged. “What do you think we should do?”

She was askingme?It seemed silly. But it also made me feel good about myself. My witch trusted me. She treated me like an equal. Like a person, not a pet. “I think people would want to know. It's just sointeresting.But I also think we shouldn't tell. People can be cruel. Or unthinking. They might hurt the void creatures. Or make them angry. Which might be even worse.”

She nodded along, but waited for me to come to my own conclusions.

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