Between Thresholds

As branches sagged before her, the forest’s din collapsed into a hush, like a predator drawing in a careful breath. Elowen reached forward, deflecting a bough from her head as sound surged back around her, tightening against her ribs like a coiled serpent. She dropped the limb and strode to a broken stone that marked the trail. She kneeled before the shattered stone, tracing its hard edges.

The world about her once again stilled. The wind eased, the wildlife fell silent, and even her own breath seemed unwilling to carry beyond her lips. She rose, turning around, her eyes darting toward every shadow and crevice. As a shudder raced down her back, she circled the broken stone to examine the other side. The elements had eroded most of the warning, but one word remained, danger.

Her fist fell on the jagged stone a moment before her forehead touched it. She rose and stared down the path. It slipped between black trunks, leaning inward like silent jurors deliberating their verdict. Where their roots met the ground, moss swallowed them in a thick, velvety hush. Mist drifted low along the earth, pooling in the shallow dips of the trail. In the heart of the looming darkness, a pale blue light pulsed like a distant heartbeat.

She thumped the pillar, her head falling as she released a pent-up breath. She glanced behind her and took a hesitant step toward the forest’s core.

Why are you intruding in the forest?

“Years ago, my brother ventured down this path.” She brushed the looming branches that tried to grab her to prevent her journey. “He laughed when people told him to avoid the light deep within these woods. He even ignored me when I begged him not to abandon me. After my pleas, he swore he would come back before the moon rose. I’m here to bring him back.”

*Maybe he never wanted to return. *

Elowen’s eyes narrowed as she ripped a dangling branch from its looming tree. She studied the splintered limb, then flung it into the dark without hesitation. As it tumbled through the foliage, she stared at the blue glow, her hands clenching. “I don’t care that the village assumes he died from an accident in the forest or a predator. Like my brother, I’ve seen the heartbeat, and I know better.”

The faint glow intensified with every step she claimed toward the heartbeat. Light threaded through the branches in thin ribbons. With each steady beat, they did not flicker. They spread through the trees, revealing their depths, yet the darkness at its source remained untouched.

You may come to see as he did.

“I’ve waited long enough,” she tore another branch free, forcing more light onto the path. As it shone on the forest floor, Elowen dropped the severed limb. She drew the back of her hand across her lips as she marched forward. “I will find my brother. He’ll return home today.”

You may regret that stance.

As she pressed on toward the pulsing heartbeat, the surrounding air cooled, freezing the sweat on her exposed skin. Each step pressed her boots into the damp soil, where warmth radiated through them, making every footstep a struggle. The mist thickened around her, creating tendrils that undulated about her and brushed her body, more like probing fingers than drifting vapor.

She turned to the fog and saw shapes moving about within the swirling cloud. She hesitated, letting the warmth flood into her from her boots, and studied the mist’s contents. After a moment, she closed her eyes and marched toward the glow.

You should pause and consider what the mist can reveal.

“I’m not here for memories of my brother.” Elowen forced her feet forward a few more steps. She gripped her arms as her gaze drifted back to the swirling fog. Within its eddies, she caught glimpses of her brother’s face. Inside its currents, she saw him walking the same path toward a smaller echo of the heartbeat. He looked no different from the last time she had seen him. The image shimmered and dispersed into the whirling clouds.

“That wasn’t him,” she said, clenching her fists. “I want my brother back!”

A low hum answered her cry as the fog swelled, consuming everything in her sight. When it subsided, it cleared from the ground, revealing a dry path and roots less gnarled. When the last remnants of mist dissolved, the darkness thinned, making it hard for Elowen to see the blue glow ahead from the clearing a short distance away.

She looked into the surrounding forest before she ran to the clearing’s edge. Once she entered it, she found a narrow arch of living wood, grown into the shape of a doorway. Within it shimmered a gentle, steady light. When she reached the archway, she peered inside, finding a shoreline beneath unfamiliar stars. Just before the coast, silver grasses rose, bending in a breeze she could not feel. Yet there was a silhouette near the rippling water.

The figure turned, revealing her brother’s face. Despite looking at her, he did not smile. His expression was not sorrowful. Nor did joy mark his features. Instead, there was a quiet certainty in his gaze. Her knees gave way, and she pressed her fingers into the soil as if to steady herself. “You didn’t take him. He walked through the opening.”

The doorway is a path to happiness. Would you step through and claim your happiness?

“You could have told me.” Elowen slammed a fist into the ground, compacting the loose earth. “No, I’ll return to my family. At least this way, I go back with an answer.”

If you leave now, you will never find your way back to this opening.

“I want to leave.”

Another plume of mist consumed her. When it dissipated, she found herself at the edge of the forest. Elowen drew a deep breath and traced her fingers down a tree’s bark.

Then be content with what you now know.