Strains

When I wake up all I see is a dark expanse in front of me. It’s impossibly dark, but the ground gives off a blue glow that is just enough to make out the shapes surrounding me. The ground is cold and is covered in blue tufts of grass. In front of me are large walls of black that have paths of blue running through them. Behind me is the trunk of some kind of large tree.

I look to my side and find Matthew lying next to me. I shake him gently until his eyes open.

“Elizabeth? What’s wrong?”

Tears begin to wet my cheeks. Matthew looks around us, then back at me. His shoulders deflate, but he forces a smile onto his face.

“Everything’s okay, don’t cry. I’m going to get you back to the academy, just leave it to me.”

I don’t understand how he puts up with me screwing things up all the time. I want to go home, truly I do, so what could’ve gone wrong? He said only I could get us back and that isn’t going to change because he feels sorry for me.

“But, how do you plan to do that?”

“Yes, I was wondering the same thing,” a voice above us says.

I look up and see a man perched at the top of a lone tree branch. Matthew stands and takes a few steps in front of the tree to get a better view. I follow behind him.

“Long time no see, Matthew.”

“Same to you, Fate.”

Wait, is that the fate? Like one from Greek mythology? From what I can see from down here, it looks like he has both eyes. And he’s a lot younger than I would expect.

“It’s a pleasure to see you again as well, Elizabeth.”

Again? I don’t remember seeing him before. Oh. This was probably a memory Matthew had erased. So we were in the Middle Place after all.

Fate swings his legs in the air.

“So, you said you were trying to get back to Near Elysium? Now, how could you do that without a portal?”

“You know how. Please, just lead Elizabeth through the maze so she can get back,” Matthew says.

“Asking for more favors? You already owe me a great debt, Matthew, how do you plan to pay for this one?”

Matthew tosses a bottle of water up the tree and Fate catches it without having to move. He looks the water over in his hands and takes a sip.

“This doesn’t quite foot the entirety of the bill, does it?” He says, dropping the bottle back down the tree.

Matthew’s hands ball into fists.

“I’ll keep my promise to you as long as you help her get back.”

What is he saying? He’s making it sound like he won’t come back with me. No, I can’t imagine facing the academy without him and Caiden both.

Matthew takes my hand and squeezes it. I wish it were more reassuring, but it feels a lot like a goodbye.

Fate looks to the starless sky.

“I’ll tell you what, I’m feeling…charitable. I will lead you to the portal, but, you have to get rid of the monster outside of it.”

“Monster?” I say.

Fate waves his hand. “Some poor soul went and got themselves trapped here. Souls tend to…sour when they stay here too long. So, if you get rid of the monster, I can dispatch the soul, and you two can try your luck at getting the portal to work.”

Matthew looks down and doesn’t say anything. Why is he hesitating? This deal means we’d both go to back, why would he want to stay here? Fate just said souls couldn’t stay here without becoming monsters, we have no choice but to do this.

“We’ll do it,” I say.

A white glow flashes under our feet and narrows into a white line heading into the walls of the maze.

“Just follow the string and take your garbage with you,” Fate says.

I tighten my grip on Matthew’s hand and lead us into the maze. I can see why Matthew had asked for Fate’s help to get through this. The walls are impossibly high, and everything looks the same. Endless black and eerie blue.

“What was Fate talking about back there, Matthew? What do you owe him?”

“It’s not important right now.”

Not this again.

“Elizabeth, I’m going to make you a promise. I will not lie to you like I did before, and I won’t keep anything from you that you really need to know. But I can’t tell you everything, understand?”

Not really, but I nod anyway.

“As long as you aren’t lying.”

The end of the white string leads to another expanse of blue. In front of us is another portal formed at the base of a conjoined blue tree.

Matthew stops me before we exit the maze. He reaches into his cloak and hands me a knife. It’s one I know all too well.

“Good thing I brought a spare,” he says, reaching for his own.

Now that we’re here, the idea of trying to defeat a monster by ourselves was starting to make me nervous.

I gulp loudly. “What exactly do you think is out there?” I ask.

He shakes his head. “I don’t know, but if it’s a soul gone bad, I think it’s a job fitting for heroes, right?”

That sounds cool and all, but doesn’t make me feel any better. Matthew places a hand on my shoulder.

“Come on, you’re the one who volunteered us. Whoever it was is obviously trapped here because the portal is sealed. We’re doing the right thing.”

“Yeah, I get all that, but up until twenty minutes ago I didn’t know monsters even existed.”

“I know. But you can handle this. It’s what we’re here for and what you want to be, right?”

I nod. “Yeah, okay.”

We step out of the maze and into the expanse. Nothing happens. We begin to approach the portal.

“Do you think Fate was lying about the monster?” I ask.

At that moment, Matthew pushes me over and we drop to the floor. A white beast draped in red string leaps from the top of the maze walls and onto the ground where we had just stood. It’s a grotesque amalgamation of a polar bear, wolf, and sea lion.

It stands on its hind legs, rivaling the twenty-foot walls behind us. The beast howls and brings up a paw to strike. I make a run for the portal, but Matthew is frozen in place.

What the hell is he doing?

I go back to him and push him away just as the beast brings down its claws. I’m able to avoid the worst of it, but it still catches the back of my left calf. I scream as the pain shoots up my leg. That seems to snap Matthew back to reality, and he quickly picks me up and takes me back to the maze.

The beast chases us, but its body is too wide to follow us in between the maze walls. Matthew tears a piece of his cloak and presses it against my split skin.

“What the hell happened to you back there?”

He doesn’t answer.

“Matthew!”

He looks to me, and I’ve never seen a more grief-stricken man in my entire existence.

“I, I can’t do this.”

He can’t be serious right now. I can’t do this on my own, not after I got injured saving his butt.

I shove his shoulder.

“What happened to being heroes?” I yell at him.

“You, you don’t understand,” he mutters.

“You’re right. Please help me to before I bleed out in this place.”

Matthew looks down at my leg again.

“It’s not that bad.”

I shake my head. “You need to wake up, Matthew. How am I supposed to go back like this? Whatever condition we leave here in will be what we’re stuck with in Near Elysium, right?”

“That’s right,” Fate says from out of nowhere.

My eyes dart to him. What the hell does he want?

“Why can’t you get rid of that thing yourself?” I ask him.

Fate leans against the wall of the maze.

“It’s not like I put it there, eh Matthew?”

Matthew stays still, his eyes unblinking and focused on the ground. I shove his shoulder again.

“Tell me what’s going on!” I yell at him. Fate laughs and disappears. “Matthew, please, you promised.”

He finally looks at me.

“That thing out there. It’s Catherine.”

My eyes go wide. Caiden was right this whole time.

“She’s here, because of me.”

“What did you do?”

He looks down. “Is now really the time to get into this?”

I look over to the creature still trying to squeeze its way inside the maze. I can’t believe that used to be the most powerful Aqua at the academy. Someone everyone had admired and loved. The literal embodiment of purity had been turned into a monster, and somehow Matthew was the reason.

“We can’t do anything until it gives up anyway.”

Matthew looks to the beast and a tear falls from his cheek.

“Okay,” he takes a shuddering breath. “Catherine and I met up before she left Near Elysium for Topside. I told her it was stupid to cut it so close, but she was determined to go. I was afraid that she wouldn’t make it back- that was her only flaw, how late she always showed up. We did a spell we learned in class. It was for a soul tie, the strongest bond to ever exist. Everything we ever learned about it said it would cross time and space, so it should’ve brought her back to Near Elysium but…” his voice cracks. “I thought it would work. It felt like it worked. I never would have sealed the portal if I knew.”

I wipe his cheek with my hand.

“Matthew, magic doesn’t exist. You can’t blame yourself.”

He shakes his head.

“You believe in the existence of strains but not magic? You are very interesting, Elizabeth,” Fate says.

Why does he keep showing up like this?

“Don’t you have something better to do than make everything worse?” I say to him.

He shrugs.

“Not really. Watching the two of you is just too entertaining.” He waves a hand at us. “Keep going, just pretend I’m not here.”

I throw a blue rock at him and miss.

He laughs. “You’re supposed to attack the monster, not me.”

“You aren’t helping, just go away.”

“You want help? Alright, for you Elizabeth, I will say this. Soul ties are nearly impossible to execute for those unfamiliar with manipulating ties, and the failed one wrapped around that beast is the only reason it’s here.”

Matthew’s head falls into his hands.

“Don’t listen to him Matthew, he’s been messing with us the whole time.”

Fate scoffs. “Ties are my specialty, or have you forgotten who I am?”

I ignore Fate and wrap my arms around Matthew.

“How it happened doesn’t matter now. We have to do something. She doesn’t deserve to be here, not like this and not with this asshole. You’re supposed to be a true hero, right? So don’t give up on that now. Don’t forget, you owe her, Matthew.”

I’m beginning to get tired. I don’t know if it’s from the blood loss or all the talking. Matthew leans forward and rests his forehead on my shoulder.

“Using the librarian’s words against me? That’s cold, Princess.”

He pulls away and taps my cheek.

“Wait here. I’m going to fix this, I mean it.”

Catherine had left while we were talking, so Matthew had to go all the way into the expanse. I can’t let him do this alone. I try to get up, but my leg stings as I put weight on it.

I see Catherine leap at Matthew but thank god, he doesn’t freeze this time and moves before she can hit him. Still, this whole thing looks hopeless.

“Looks like you two won’t be up to the task. What a tragedy,” Fate says from above me.

I glare at him.

“Help would be nice,” I say.

“No, I know how this plays out. You’d better get up if you don’t want to see Matthew die.”

“We can’t die, we’re supposed to be immortal.”

He laughs. “Everywhere else but here.”

Fate sounds a lot like a certain arrogant psychic I know. A psychic I didn’t want to die. I drag myself to the edge of the maze. Am I going to die here? If Fate is saying that, this is the one place Matthew and I could die in. I was afraid of immortality, but that doesn’t mean I’m ready to die.

Matthew can’t get back without me. I look over to Fate.

“Can you fix my leg?”

“Sorry, but that’s a little out of my wheelhouse. I can see the strings of time, not alter them. Besides, you have yet to kill the monster like you agreed,” Fate says.

I have a feeling he isn’t sorry at all.

Matthew is fighting more defensively now. This looks so hopeless. The beast isn’t slowing down and hasn’t the entire time we’ve been fighting it.

I watch as the ropes drag against the ground. I have to slow this thing down and give Matthew an opening. So I ignore the searing pain in my leg and rush to grab at the limp rope loops and begin to wrap them around the base of the portal trees.

“Matthew! This way!”

He runs to me and takes my hand. Together we let the beast chase us until the string runs out and it crashes to the ground.

We approach cautiously.

“Now what?” I ask.

Matthew shakes his head and looks at the tree above the portal. Fate is there, swinging his feet.

“What now, Fate?”

“Your job was to release the soul, remember?”

Matthew walks up to the beast, its neck is completely exposed. I feel bad for it, this used to be Catherine. Why did she turn into this of all things? The creature shifts and when I look into its eyes, I don’t see defeat.

I lunge forward, “Matthew! Look out!” I push him away, taking a fang to my left calf. I feel the already shredded skin tear away and pain erupts from the hole in my flesh. I fall onto Matthew, and he pulls me out of the creature’s reach. If we were in Near Elysium, I would already be at an arrival point by now. My vision is getting hazy, so I guess I’ll be dying here. Matthew flutily wraps the wound with his enforcer uniform.

“Fate, please do something,” I hear Matthew say. “I’ll pay you back, right now if I have to.”

“Like student, like teacher,” Fate sighs heavily. “I can offer only what is within my power; to sever her ties and send her to a proper afterlife. Which I will happily do as soon as you kill the creature.”

Don’t. Please don’t.

Matthew pulls me into his arms and burrows his face deep into my hair.

“You’d see your family again,” he whispers. “You’d be happy.”

My mind is screaming. He can’t make this decision for me, he can’t force me to go to heaven when I’m not ready. It’s bad enough that he’s thinking of killing Catherine. None of this is right. It can’t be. And if I’m gone, how will he get back to the academy?

“Please don’t worry about me. I’m not worthy of it.”

He kisses my forehead and begins to walk towards Catherine. His blade reflecting the blue environment.

My chest tightens. I know Fate is tricking us, how could Matthew not realize it?

“Quit following orders and do your damn job for once!” I manage to yell before my head falls. “Please do the right thing,” I mumble into the blue earth.

I brace myself to hear the creature cry out in pain, but it never comes. I’ve become so weak I can’t open my eyes. I can only trust Matthew to make the right decision and hope that whenever I open my eyes again, I’m not disappointed.

A loud tear echoes into the maze, as if someone had ripped the universe’s largest pair of denim jeans.

“Catherine?” I hear Matthew say. “I’m so sorry. I, I really thought the soul tie would work. That you would be able to come back to us.” His voice is a series of sobs and soaked in a century’s worth of regret.

“Maybe it did work, just in a way you hadn’t expected,” a woman’s voice replies. It sounds soft, and I can only imagine she’s holding him in her arms.

“I know I don’t deserve any favors from you, but please, can you use your gift to save my student?”

Two sets of steps approach me on both sides. A hand cradles my cheek, strong and firm, I recognize it as Matthew’s. Another hand, much more petite and soft touches my leg. My breath hitches as cool water is poured on the wound, and alternating heat and freezing cold blood rushes up my calf.

I force my eyes open but only get halfway.

There, sitting above me beside Matthew is a woman set aglow in bright white light. I can hardly make out any of her features other than her gentle smile.

Matthew looks like he’s just a stray wind from breaking apart. I wish I could be there to comfort him, but I feel so far away from this. I feel at peace, like every knot inside of my mind and body has been picked apart.

“Thank you, Catherine,” I say and pull myself up. My leg is completely healed, as if nothing had happened to it.

She smiles at me and touches my face.

“You don’t have to thank me. I owe you so much more than this,” she says.

I want to tell her it’s okay, that she didn’t mean to hurt me, after all, it was this place that turned her into a monster. But Fate comes up from behind her, pulls out a strand of her hair and she disappears into a cloud of white light.

Once she’s gone, Fate turns to us.

“So, I assume, you’ll both be returning to Near Elysium?”

“Yes,” Matthew says for the both of us.

“Well, thanks again for freeing that soul for me. I’m sure I’ll be seeing you two again in the future,” Fate says, then disappears.

Well if anyone would know that, it’d be him.

Matthew is still shaken so I let him take a few minutes to compose himself. Once he’s a little more put together, we gather some of the blue wildflowers and set them at the base of the portal tree as a memorial for Catherine.

I take Matthew by the hand and we step up to the portal.

“Ready to be ‘Teacher’ again?” I ask him.

He gives me the slightest smile. “It’s just a formality,” he says.

Maybe it was before, but not anymore. When we met, Matthew chose me as his student. Now that I am going to take us back to the academy, I’m the one choosing him.

I shake my head. “You were right, Teacher, you do suck at orientations. This one has been a whole month.”

He laughs. “You have an affinity for making Legacy Academy firsts, I won’t be taking responsibility for that.”

And I plan to be the first for so many other things too. For now, though, I’m ready to go back to Near Elysium. I still have some unfinished vengeance to attend to, midterms to take, a friendship to repair, and new memories to make. And just by thinking about it, I can already see the sun rising over the academy administration building.