Void

The portal before Merrin thrummed with enough magic to level a city. The swirling mass of purple and black a vain attempt to lure him into what was more than likely his demise. It was as though something from beyond that tapered veil was dragging him in, pulling him closer to the edge before he would undeniably tumble down into the unknown.

There was a chill in the air that never made it past the thin fabric of Merrin’s jacket, but he was frozen right to the core. Merrin wrapped his arms around himself and took a step back to draw himself away from the mass of magic.

‘Merrin,’ Ryth said, materialising behind Merrin as a wave of shadow magic wrapped itself around Merrin’s organs. ‘Why are you hesitating?’

There was no reason for Merrin to say the answer outloud, if at all. Ryth already knew each and every thought in his mind, his feelings laid bare for him to pick apart. Every word that Merrin thought was clear as day for Ryth to understand, it was nothing short of a miracle that neither of them were insane with all the words floating around in Merrin’s head. It was easy for Ryth to understand Merrin better than even Merrin could understand himself. Even then, he had gotten so used to explaining himself that it was second nature to speak to someone that only he could see.

‘Are you sure this is safe for me?’ Merrin asked.

He had experienced the throws of shadow magic only a handful of times before, but every time it was more painful than the last. Every single time it started the same. The freezing cold feeling seeped through his skin, clawing away at his insides until it buried itself into the marrow of his bones. Every beat of his heart pushed that chill around his body, his blood carrying the magic through his veins so much that it burnt.

After a few seconds the shaking would kick in as his nerves were torn apart, and Merrin would lose control over his fingers as all his muscles could do was contract. As his heart hammered away, his lungs would choke on the air he would never even be able to swallow down, rasping gasps that would do little to help him at all. With any luck, he would lose consciousness before the worst of it kicked in.

So far he had passed out every single time, but he had witnessed what shadow magic could do to a man.

‘Oh, Merrin,’ Ryth said and appeared before Merrin just to tilt his chin up with a clawed finger. ‘Do you really not trust me?’

Not really, but he had little choice but to do so.

‘Ryth, you’re asking me to walk through a portal that will supposedly take me right into Vynus’ realm,’ Merrin said, trying to look anywhere other than Ryth’s dazzling purple eyes. ‘It may not affect you in the slightest, but I am still living. I am still a person, a man who has never been anywhere but Aedria. Just because you live within me doesn’t mean that I automatically take on all of your immunities, we are more than aware of that.’

‘She will not hurt you,’ Ryth said so calmly that Merrin almost believed him. ‘If my own spells and runes can detect my magic within you, then she is more than capable of doing the same. In fact, she is already aware of it, how else would the portal be open?’

It made sense, and Merrin hated that it did. But there was a chance that it made sense only because Merrin was unable to come up with any other reason for the portal being open when he was just a few steps away.

There had been rumors floating around of rifts between worlds, between realms. Small tears dotted across Aedria that would leak out black ink like a tipped well, each one only present for a moment before disappearing as if nothing happened. But no one had yet described what had happened when a man entered the rift, only things leaving from them.

Would Merrin be the first? Or is he simply the next poor soul to be dragged into an unknown realm with absolutely nothing written about it, only to never return.

Merrin knew that he would make it out eventually, after all, his life was tied with Ryth’s, and Ryth loved himself too much to let himself die again. If this brought him into the abyss of the afterlife, Ryth would have lost his only link to resurrection.

‘It has been written about,’ Ryth said as he looked back into the rift, the light dancing across his moonlight-pale skin. ‘I am unsure of what happened to those tomes, but there used to be hundreds available for the curious commoner.’

‘What?’ Merrin asked, not following Ryth’s train of thought like normal.

‘Vynus’ realm,’ Ryth said and looked back at him. ‘Vynexia. It is heavily detailed in guides and magic tomes for shadow magic. You will probably find a book or two in your mother’s study, perhaps even one on Zane’s shelf. They have long since fallen out of print, after all, it is hard to find someone to print such scandalous magic these days.’

‘So, can people survive in her realm?’

‘It depends on the person, or rather it depends on if she likes the person.’ Ryth stepped closer and looped a hand around Merrin’s waist to settle on his back. ‘And she will absolutely adore you. You have her sign tattooed on your hand after all.’

‘I wasn’t aware it was hers.’

‘But she is. And she has been watching you for a while, especially since we have shared the same space.’

‘I won’t immediately die then?’

‘Not immediately.’ Ryth smiled and began to walk backwards towards the portal, pulling Merrin with him. ‘If it gets too much, I will pull you back out.’

‘You promise?’ Merrin asked as the magic sparked out enough to tickle against his skin.

‘Promise.’