Madison came to in a crater.
She got shakily to her feet, pushing herself up with sooty hands. When she managed to stand and look around, all she could see for miles was softly waving grass and a gray-blue sky above. The crater she was in was deep in the center, but wide enough that it was little more than a gentle slope up to the rim. Whatever impact had caused it had flung huge clumps of ash and rocks for hundreds of feet around her. Madison remembered her mother telling her that when you see a shooting star go past, you may not see where it lands, but where it does it burrows deep into the earth and becomes the seed for a great mountain, and that’s why-
it becomes a diamond, and if you can find that star’s diamond you can eat its heart and become the strongest wizard in the world, and Ulysses had never given much thought to the myth but had thought often about what he’d do with that power-
Madison fell to the ground.
Madison came to for a second time. She was still in the crater. She was still surrounded by ash, although some of it had blown away while she had been out. It had started to rain. The sky was now dark, though with clouds or with oncoming night Madison could not tell. She stood up again. She needed to take stock before she started walking. She was still wearing that awful white dress- now torn and covered with ashes. No great loss there. Her whole body ached, but she didn’t feel tired. She felt better than she had in weeks. Her head felt clear, and her limbs felt strong, and her long white hands crackled with power-
She blinked, and the dizzying vision faded. Her hands were brown, with square nails and rough palms from years of work. She turned them over, her mind racing, but they stayed the same as they’d always been. Taking a deep breath, she gathered her skirts and made her way up the slope.
By the time she had made it to the edge and stopped to catch her breath, the rain had begun in earnest. The raindrops were cold and hard and slithered down the low neckline of her dress to chill her back and chest. The thin slippers that Elysius had given her were close to wearing through after only a few minutes of climbing. She shaded her eyes from the driving rain and looked around for some sort of shelter, but all she could see was flat plains stretching for miles. She couldn’t even see the sky anymore through the gray sheets of rain. Back in Molmaster, when storms had come off the oceans and threatened to flood the docks with stinking port water, Ulysses had always tried to steal a few moments from his studies to walk the empty streets. It was as close to having time to himself as he had ever experienced in that bustling city, always under the watchful eye of the Cloaks, and he-
and Madison-
Madison steadied herself and dug her nails into the palm of her hand to keep from blacking out again. It was becoming harder to stand. Memories that weren’t her own were overlapping with her thoughts, making her head swim and her vision go blurry as her brain struggled to sort out the dissonance. Her legs wobbled as the muscle memory of being much longer shuddered through them. A disbelieving hand touched a rounded face where there should have been harsh angles and sunken cheeks. Their chest heaved with gasps through lungs that were once much weaker from disuse. They fell to the ground, braced by hands that did not know their own movement.
“Ulysses?” Madison managed to gasp out between breaths.
ulyssesulyssesulyssesulysses came the whisper of the grasses that surrounded her.
“Are you still- can you hear me?” She clutched her chest- her chest- with her hand to try and steady her breathing.
Her other hand came up above her head and gestured. Words fell from her lips that she did not know. She could no longer feel the rain beating down on her. Panicked that she had lost her body, she jerked her head up, and there above her was a shimmering pane of energy, its surface rippling where the drops struck it.
It was an easy spell, one of the first he’d come up with by himself. Nothing he could show his master, though at the time Ulysses was still young enough to crave his approval. It wouldn’t even deflect the rocks that some boys threw at him, whipped at high speeds through rudimentary spellcraft. It could keep the rain off, and that was enough.
This memory rippled through Madison with less force than the others. As it faded, she chased it, the same sensation as when she would try to remember a dream right after waking. And as she chased it, still staring up at the shield above her, she could feel a boundary in her mind.
“Ulysses?”
yes, came the reply, more the feeling of agreement than any actual word.
“Can you hear me?”
yes
Something about that feeling was… sleepy was the only word she could think of for it, like when she’d wake her mother up coming home after a late shift and she would mumble half-awake questions at her. Madison would always tuck the quilt tighter around her and let her get her rest, knowing that she wouldn’t remember it in the morning.
There wasn’t any time for that now. Madison pushed hard at the boundary, willing it to move for her. It began to move, painfully at first, like rock grinding against rock. Then all at once it fell away. Madison was ready for the nausea this time and pushed through it, screaming. And then-
Ulysses came to, gasping, on a black sand beach. All around him was the same black void, flashing with what must be Madison’s thoughts. He was no longer falling. Neither was there the golden thread, though. There was no horizon for the sea before him, no way to distinguish it from what could have been sky. He got shakily to his feet and turned around. Behind him was a cave, jutting out of the beach like the mouth of an enormous beast. It was made of the same shining black rock as the sand on the beach. Somewhere deep within it he could feel a pressure, a power close to bursting, something that would rip across the surface of the inky sea and scour its depths with light.
The scream came from all directions at once. Ulysses fell to his knees, clutching his ears to block it out, but it was coming from inside him, from inside his mind, and there was no blocking it out, the scream was him, and he had no body of his own to hide from it-
Ulysses? Can you hear me now?
“Yes!” he croaked, eyes still shut tight against the pain of the scream. This new voice was loud, but not overwhelming like the scream had been.
Are you- where are you?
The pain had begun to fade, and Ulysses opened his eyes. He was standing atop a sheer cliff that overlooked the roiling black sea. Down, far below the edge of the cliff, was a black sand beach, edged by juts of black rock that the waves crashed unceasingly against. The ground he was on was soft with gently waving golden grass. The sky above him wheeled with motes of multicolored light.
“I’m somewhere in your mind, I think.”
A ripple of a sigh flowed through the grass. I figured. I think I heard some of your memories, while you were asleep in there.
“I wasn’t asleep,” he replied, standing up again and looking around. “I just… wasn’t aware.”
Sounds like the same thing. Anyway, wake up, lazy-ass. I need you to get us out of here.
A golden thread of light descended from the sky. Fascinated, Ulysses reached out to touch it, and its end reached back towards him.
They were standing in the rain under a gray sky. Ulysses lifted his foot to walk forward and almost fell flat on their face, unfamiliar muscles responding in strange ways. Madison threw out her hands to steady them. “Stop it! You do not get to move my body around!”
“Sorry,” came the reply from her own mouth, a cadence too different from her own for comfort.
“No talking out loud. Talk in my brain. I’m not going to look like I’m possessed.”
To whom? Ulysses responded, moving a hand to indicate the empty plains around them. There can’t be anybody for miles.
“You- hang on.” It was important to Madison that they got this right. Can you hear this?
Yes, I can hear you. This is good. Feeling you talk was absurdly loud.
I don’t care! What I care about now is us getting out of here. Do you have any spells for navigating? And stop moving my hands, it feels weird.
It is hard to avoid the instinct. I am sure that you noticed that, while I was incorporeal in the mansion, I still walked on the floor and opened doors. Old habits are hard to break.
Well, get breaking. You don’t know how to walk with my legs, and I don’t want you to smack me in the face on accident.
As a counterpoint, you don’t know how to cast most spells. I will at least need your hands and mouth for those.
Madison threw up her hands. Fine! But you have to warn me first. Neither of us want this to be happening, so we’re just gonna have to work together and get this over with as soon as possible. Deal?
Deal. But may I ask, what was your endgame for this plan? We teleported off to a random location- and may I say that we are lucky we didn’t end up under a thousand tons of rock in a mountainside somewhere- and now I’m stuck without a body. How are we going to “get this over with”?
Oh, shut up. Madison started walking forward, away from the crater. I’ve got some ideas, but none of them are as important as finding shelter and food right now. Because you may have forgotten, but having a body means you can die in a lot of fun and interesting ways, none of which I am keen to find out about. She winced as she felt a rock pierce the sole of her shoe. And if you keep complaining, I’ll put you in the same place I put the memory of the winter solstice debacle three years ago and you’ll never see the light of day again.
Wisely, Ulysses shut up.
The rain was still falling when they saw the riders. Five of them, on horses that steamed in the rain and tore at the muddy earth with their great hooves. They were around Madison before she had the chance to run.
One of them swung down off of her horse to stand in front of them. Easily six feet tall, the woman was wearing armor of silk and leather, fitted expertly around her body to minimize gaps and maximize range of motion. She raised an eyebrow at their rain-shield and spoke unfamiliar words.
Comprehend languages, Ulysses whispered, and Madison nodded ever so slightly. He raised a hand to their throat and another to their ear and spoke a short word that burned on their tongue. Then Madison nodded, more clearly this time, and the woman repeated herself.
“You’re a wizard?” she asked, in what Madison now knew to be an Eshadin dialect. The word for wizard was loaded with connotations- outlander one of them, ice-hearted another. On the dark cliff, Ulysses reached out and touched a memory.
“Mostly we don’t have wizards and stuff on the plains,” Enna had said. They were stretched out in the sunshine somewhere in the forests near Trailsend. A few yards away, Enna’s horse was munching on the long autumn grass. “We have, like, soothsayers, and people who know where to find water underground. If you wanna find big magic, you gotta go waaay north.” Enna had rolled on her side and waggled her fingers like a bard telling a ghost story to children. “Up in the frozen wastes, there’s the Altai, and they’re all witches. There used to be these big countries that all split apart after a war or something, and when they split, all the witches and demon-priests all went north in like a weird cult thing. And that’s the Altai. They don’t really come down to the lowlands much. When you do see them, they’re all weird, like they don’t see the sun more than once a year. So if you’re ever in the plains, just try not to act weird, I guess?” Madison had rolled on her side too, and asked what weird meant for sorcerers, and Enna had laughed and started on a story about Lyle. It had been a beautiful afternoon. One of the last they’d shared before-
Get OUT, came the thunder, and Ulysses was knocked backwards, his head hitting the ground as the golden thread was yanked from his grasp.
By the time the golden thread descended again, Ulysses had learned some important things about the space he was in. He saw that memories would rise out of the sea and fall back down seemingly at random. They would bob around in the field of golden grass and then fall off the side once more. He tried to avoid touching them if he could. The thoughts that wheeled in the sky, by contrast, only ever flew by or fell down. No memory came up from the sea all the way into the sky.
He also could not see an end to the coastline. He had been walking in one direction for what could have been hours and there was not even a curve to it to indicate the shape of an island or continent. It was just miles and miles of sheer cliff. Golden grass on one side, roiling ocean on the other. He hadn’t found a safe way down to the beach, either. The spit of black sand with the yawning cave was nowhere to be found.
There was no way of counting time in that place, not even his own heartbeats. He did not grow tired of walking. He could have walked away from the cliff, into that vast field of grass, but he feared that he would not be able to find his way back without anything to navigate by. And then he saw, just ahead, the glimmer of a thread moving towards him. He grabbed it without hesitation.
They were lying down on a bedroll under a hide tent. Rain was still falling above them, although muffled now by their shelter. They were wrapped in furs, shivering in their soaked-through dress.
You done rummaging through my memories? Madison asked, rolling onto her side.
I am sorry, Madison. It floated toward me, and I did not know what touching it would do.
Apologies don’t count if you follow them up with excuses.
Ah. Fair point. Then I am sorry without reservation. You have endured enough violation of your mind, and it was phenomenally stupid of me to think that you would not mind another intrusion.
Better. Madison rolled back onto her back, clearly restless. I told them that I had been the apprentice of an evil outlander wizard and I had managed to escape. They’re bringing me back to their clan tomorrow for questioning.
Why were they out there in the first place?
They saw a star fall and wanted to be the first ones to it. They said that when a star falls, you can take its heart and make the strongest iron known to man or god. Pretty valuable. They’re traders.
I see. They listened to the rain fall on the roof of the tent. Somewhere outside, a horse whinnied, and they could hear the murmur of its rider calming it. And what happens after this?
I guess I’m going to convince the clan’s leader that I’m not evil, or whatever, and then I’m going to see if they can point me towards Trailsend. Maybe I can sell them the dress. It’s a good fabric.
I must say, being back in a body and not having pants on is easily the most disorienting part of this entire situation.
Madison snorted. I’ll get us some pants if you teach me how to summon a horse from thin air.
That’s more of a druid thing. I think you’d have better luck getting one of these people to trade you a real horse.
You were friends with Enna for that long and you didn’t figure out how much barbarians get attached to their mounts? They wouldn’t sell me their horses for a mountain of gold.
Ulysses could see memories tinged with red and gold swirling up out of the ocean. They moved towards the golden thread, but he avoided touching them as best he could. I just thought she was weird about her horse.
No, she was definitely also weird about her horse. Madison sighed and pulled the furs up over her face. I’m going to see if I can sleep. Can you, I dunno, keep watch?
I don’t think I can do much of anything while you’re asleep. If you let me steer, I can set some perimeter alarms, but that might be the limit of my usefulness.
Yeah, okay. She closed her eyes and let out a long breath. He opened them and sat up, tracing patterns in the air and murmuring spells against detection and entry. Thanks, Ulysses. You’re a real shithead, but you did save both our lives.
I don’t deserve credit for anything more than a small part in the plan. It was your idea, after all, and you who ran the most risk.
True! I’m a hero and everyone thinks I’m great. Madison lay back down. Tomorrow, once we’re on our way, you’re going to start teaching me wizard spells. But right now I am going to sleep for as long as is possible.
Goodnight, Madison. And thank you.
You’re welcome.
He didn’t sleep, not anymore. He hadn’t slept for months. But when the golden thread faded from his grasp, the golden field dissolved under him, and he fell down into the dark ocean of unconsciousness.
There was nothing there, not fear, not confusion, not panic. Only the falling. Only the darkness. But for a moment, just before the fall reversed and he was brought once more towards the golden light of consciousness, his feet touched black sand, and he saw the outline of a yawning cave mouth.
Author's Notes:
Chapter two, also apparently written 9/19/2020. I'm going off of version history on google docs, so it isn't very accurate. Our heroes figure out the whole bodysharing thing! Ulysses explores the mindscape! Madison remembers her ex-girlfriend!