Linked Years

Niall’s eyes cracked open. He bolted up, blinking, but the darkness remained. His breathing quickened as it grew shallower. He stretched his fingers, finding an empty void inches beyond his body. When he swallowed, he felt the pressure pressing against his neck, and he reached up, touching the cold metal.

The freezing steel links blazed with a pale golden hue. As the illumination swelled, he saw the emptiness surrounding his pedestal. He gasped and shifted to the center of the towering stone slab. He then followed the chain, noting its firm attachment to the platform.

The glowing alloy dimmed, settling into a faint glow that washed everything in pale gold. He crept to the untethered edge and dangled his boots over the void that delved toward infinity.

Whenever he strayed too far from the anchor points in the stone, the chains’ glow intensified. He traced each of his bindings. The one from his neck ran out behind him, while the one wrapping his chest stretched out to his left, and the one encircling his right wrist ran the short distance to the closest edge.

He tapped each link of his bonds, stopping when he reached forty in the chain gripping his torso. He shook his head and touched the one around his neck, and the link under his fingertips trembled. Niall’s head whipped about as his lips mimicked the resonating metal.

His eyes widened as smoke from the void in front of him tumbled from nothing and enveloped him. As it slid across his body, Niall shivered. “Hello? Is somebody here? What do you want with me?”

The trembling link’s illumination brightened as the metallic surface chilled his fingertips. As he tore his fingers away, a spark raced from the darkness, stopping an inch from his face. It hung there and pulsed in unison with the link. Then it drifted to Niall’s left, and the chain’s pulsing link mimicked the movement.

“Why am I here?”

The spark expanded into an ethereal woman kneeling beside an empty bed, a cup clutched in her hand. She inclined her head to Niall, and a voice filled Niall’s head.

I’m Selina.

Niall shook his head and inched back to the center of the platform, grabbing his chain. “Who are you? How’d I get here?”

How did I end up here?

“How should I know,” Niall said, struggling to his feet. He grasped the chain tethering his chest to the pillar. “Will I suffer your fate?”

Selina placed a cup on the bed, and both vanished as she slid closer to Niall. She reached out and touched the pulsing light.

With care, we can assist each other. I’ve seen it.

Niall’s eyes narrowed as he inched away from the ethereal woman. “What help can I provide you if you don’t know how I got here?”

Your task involves aiding those whose journey has ended, yet they remain tethered to life’s plane.

“How?” Niall gripped a chain and leaned toward her, gesturing at the void consuming them. “We aren’t in the world anymore.”

Your presence creates the required connection.

“What does that mean?”

The shade reached out and tapped the pulsing link of his chains.

Each link permits us the time we require to lift our heavy burdens.

“These are…” Niall’s grasp on the chain slackened, letting the metal fall to the black stone. “Does every link represent a ghost who needs my help?”

The shade nodded as she inched closer.

Niall shivered as he shrank away from her. “How can you escape your condition?”

Upon your approval, I’ll slip through my restraints and return to the world for a time.

“How?”

Your body will be altered, letting me close the threads of my journey.

“Am I dead?”

The shade shook her head and grasped the link. With gentle pressure she pulled Niall toward her, her eyes widening as sorrow slammed into them.

If you were, we wouldn’t be able to borrow your body. May I have permission to resolve issues that have bound me to this void?

“How long will you be borrowing my body?”

To you, it’ll seem to be nothing but a fleeting moment.

His gaze fell to the chains binding him. Niall clenched his fist and then patted his temple. When his attention returned to Selina, he discovered hundreds of shifting shades stretching into the darkness. “Am I ever going to wake up?”

Selina drifted closer and laid her ethereal hand against his cheek.

Will you let me end my torment?

Niall nodded, and she charged into her link. Several seconds later the chain pulsed. The piece she dove into vanished, leaving the binding unbroken. He glanced to another shade, nodding. Without waiting, the masculine phantom rushed into his gateway, and the process repeated.

As the next one approached, Niall rubbed his head, more tired than he’d been a second before. “You are taking more than a few moments of my life with your attempts to unshackle yourselves, aren’t you?”

Niall’s bonds emitted a single pulse.

“Will I survive being their medium?”

The illumination didn’t vary.

“You’re not sure how acting as their bridge could affect me, are you?”

The metal pulsed once.

“I want to go home.”

All but five shades disappeared, as did all the chains save the one tethering his right wrist. Five links connected his cuff to the stone, pulsing. Niall nodded. “You may secure your paths and sever whatever binds you to the world of the living.”

The first one rushed into the chain. When it vanished, the next shade followed suit. When the last link disappeared, a golden door appeared before Niall. He rubbed his chin as he opened it and stepped through.

His eyes fluttered as he looked at a young woman standing over him. “Where am I?”

“It’ll be okay, Mr. Doe.” The nurse slipped a thermometer under his tongue. “The doctor will answer all your questions. Though the elderly should be more cautious.”

“I’m not old! What did that void do to me?”