The first thing I felt when I woke up was cold. Piercing, shivering, cold. Next I felt empty, a dark loneliness I’d never felt before. It ate away at me until all I wanted to do was curl up inside myself and die in my misery. And then I saw the faint light. I opened my eyes and saw the ghostly form of Key, floating in the darkness.

His brow was furrowed in concentration, a grimace creasing his features. He glowed a faint yellow glow with his arms spread wide. His dark cloak was lost to the black around him but the warm tans and browns in his shirt and pants provided the contrast I needed to see him. I opened my mouth to call out to him but he opened his eyes, swooped over, and put a finger to my lips to silence me. His voice echoed faintly in my mind.

“Don’t speak. I can hear your thoughts just fine. Silence is crucial in the Penumbra. We are creatures of light, born in the sun. We have no place in the dark realms where shadows travel. If we speak we risk being discovered and destroyed.” I watched him with wide eyes. Emptiness and terror squeezing me tighter.

“You need to let go of that fear or it will snuff you out like the flame of a lonely candle. Think of things that bring you joy, hope, anything but your fear.” I tried to breathe like the waves, rising and falling in steady rhythm. As I closed my eyes and focused on the sensation I became aware of a faint purple glow between my lids. When I looked I found my own solid form glowing a brilliant lavender glow. And the more I focused on the light the brighter it got.

“You’re doing well. Take my hand and we’ll get out of here. With your light it won’t take long for them to find us.” I felt a sliver of fear wriggle its way around my heart and my light dimmed a little. Flashes of the scene from the cliff played in my mind and I curled my arms around myself. My form became less solid and my light dimmed to that of a moonless night.

“No, it’s alright! Don’t think about them, the fear will only make it worse.” A new sensation of anger and frustration grabbed me and for a moment I almost shouted why. A layer of Key’s mask fell. For a moment sadness and understanding crept into his eyes. With them came a third emotion I couldn’t place but soon he held my hand and pulled me close. Our dim lights merged together in a pale white.

“Those creatures are called Epythemetye. They’re a favorite of the Kumihedin. They feed on desire and no two people have ever seen one the same way. A single Epythemetos will transform into the person which you desire most to see. Their voice is a siren’s song and their eyes turn your senses numb until they can sink in their fangs and feed on your lifeforce for their own strength. The Kumihedin started breeding them a few years ago, they used to be a rare creature but now they’re scattered throughout the land. Something about her magic keeps them in check but without it they’ll be the death of us all.” I held Key closer, finding comfort in the easy rise and fall of his chest. Our light glowed brighter and as it consumed us, a single unbridled thought permeated my mind.

“Oh good. You lived through it.” Thana’s voice echoed in the dim hall. Dark stone pillars rose into the air supporting a domed roof. When I looked down I saw my feet in the shadow of a pillar over the worn granite steps of a carved basin of water. Our bags sat to the side of the basin, drying out from the Aquaportous. Key stood unsteadily beside me, sweat soaking his brow.

“In answer to your question Astrayna. The voice I heard belonged to a shadow of my past I’d hoped had been forgotten.” With that he collapsed into the pool with Thana diving after him.

After we’d hung the supplies over the small fire we’d made in one of the alcoves and I’d used what food had survived to make a meager meal, Thana finally broke the silence. “He gets so tired after shadow travel. It takes a lot out of him, I’m more surprised that you didn’t pass out the moment you came back to the other side. It takes a strong flame to banish darkness.” I stared back in confusion.

“Darkness!?”

“Didn’t he explain anything about shadow travel while you were in the Penumbra?” I shook my head and she laughed. “The old man loves his secrets, doesn't he? The Penumbra is the space where shadows travel. Creatures of light roam the earth freely, but creatures of shadow can only move where shadows reside, the Penumbra. Some highly advanced magic practitioners have found ways to travel using shadow. It’s much faster than walking, but it’s much more dangerous. I don’t know all the details but as far as I can see, you switch places with your shadow for a moment and come back in a new shadow somewhere else. But we’re not shadows. We’re solid creatures of light, but neither can exist without the other. Unless you get out of there without the shadows destroying the light half of your soul you and your shadow will cease to exist.”

My breathing became hard and fast. I held my chest and groped around for something, anything, solid to hold. “I-I could have died!!!”

Thana smiled. “And?”

“What do you mean ‘and’!? He couldn’t have made another Aqua-whatever instead!!!! What was the point of ruining my life if you were just going to end it with a foolhardy trip to realms of darkness!?”

“First of all, we ruined nothing, if anything we saved you. Second, it’s called an Aquaportous and he couldn’t have made one while falling off a cliff. It takes very specific ingredients and time to warm up. Shadow travel was the fastest and only way to keep you alive.”

I sat with the new information, letting it simmer like produce in a stew. I processed all I’d seen and done in the last day and new fears and questions swirled inside me. “Wait! Where are we!?” It seemed like it should have been the first words out of my mouth and as I looked around I became more panicked as nothing I saw was recognizable.

“Badram. We’re looking for the next Keeper.” She said it so casually as she stoked the flames but my heart raced as I realized that in only half a moment we’d traveled halfway across the country. I’d never left my small town of Clifton and now I was closer to the Kumihedin than I’d ever been in my entire life. I paused as I took in what Thana had said.

“Wait, Keeper? That's what Key called me when we were descending the cliffs.”

“Yeah? So? Did you think you were the only one?” She glanced over at me and shook her head with a breathy laugh. “I’m a Keeper too, kid. After Key found me we went looking for you. The Kumihedin separated us, trapping us in a paradise we wouldn’t have been able to resist without help. Key’s been traveling all over to save us and bring us back. We’re going to restore Opal.”

“Opal? Is that a person?”

“Not sure kid. It could be a person I suppose but it feels more like a place. The way he talks about it, it feels like a distant memory. Maybe it’s what this land used to be before the Kumihedin began her reign.” She shrugged and went back to the fire.

I laid down on my bed roll, watching the ceiling as darkness pulled its blanket of night over us. “Thana…” I hesitated.

“Yes? What is it kid? Spit it out.”

“If Key is so sure that I’m this Keeper of Choice, what Keeper are you?” I bit my lip, wondering in the silence if I should try to take the question back.

Thana let out a sigh, staring out through the pillars at the cool star speckled evening. “When Key found me I was about your age. I lived in a world of warriors. A time when war was over but battle scarred kin gathered to share tales together. There was no loss, no mourning, no death. I never knew what was missing until he found me. Without death there was never any value to our time. We sat and listened to tales but we never did anything. We never lived. I am the Keeper of Mortality. With life comes death. I can never die until I find a way to live. Key is giving me a chance to live, to love, and to die in honor.” She wrung her hands and let out a deep sigh. “The Kumihedin has offered me more alternatives to life than any Keeper Key’s ever met. We were on our way to find you when she poisoned me with a unique potion of ignorance. For some reason I keep living through every effort the Kumihedin has thrown at me. Guess I haven’t lived yet.” She gave me a rueful wink and laid down on her own bedroll.

As I watched the flames die into dim embers I listened as Thana’s story echoed in my mind. If life can’t exist without death….what comes with choice?