Disclaimer: I do not own Obernewtyn.
The Dark Road
An Obernewtyn Fan Fiction
-Day One-
It was not night, not the dark hours of the early morning or the tranquil dim of the late evening, but hot, burning midday when Elspeth first set her feet on the dark road.
Until that moment she had thought that the term that had appeared so many times to her throughout the years was figurative – it was cast in shadows, tainted, a fate to be travelled by her and her only. Before that she had, if ever, only briefly considered that it could be a tangible path. Now she could see that it was literal as well as metaphorical.
And as she took a step forward, her worn skirts swaying in the slight breeze, the irony struck her. She took another step, the second of what would be many.
At that point in time, she could not bring herself to find anything humorous about it at all.
-Day Three-
Elspeth endured the overbearing sun as she trudged on. The cracked black stone that she travelled on mesmerised her – or perhaps she forced herself to be mesmerised. She was alone and the consistent sameness of the dry, dead landscape failed to entertain. The area all around her was flat. There was nothing but sand, road and endless sickly pale blue sky as far as the eye could see.
The fact that she was completely and utterly on her own in the desolate place made her feel all the more vulnerable.
Other than that she felt nothing. It was like her emotions were a muscle that had been twisted and bashed beyond use and all that was left where they used to be was a void.
A void gaping in the centre of her chest.
-Day Eight-
Lying down on the rock Elspeth savoured the coolness of the air around her before it turned light and she would have to move under the searing heat. There was no way to travel after daylight hours because the lack of light meant that the road was increasingly impossible to see. She knew that she could not lose it; she would not find it again, meaning certain death.
There was nothing about the landscape that was toxic, nothing that could poison. No, but it was just as bad. There was nothing to support any life form whatsoever.
She was a flame in a sealed room – slowly, steadily, she was snuffing herself out.
Yet on she struggled, a walking vacuum.
-Day Fourteen-
There was nothing outside that changed. Everything was as it had been for the last fortnight and that was lifeless and endless. What changed on this day was not tangible and had no prompt but time. The difference was inside Elspeth.
This was the day that she began to feel again.
It was only subtle – her emotions were a bird, blearily regaining consciousness after rough hands had held it underwater for too long, drowning it until exhaustedly it had passed out. However, small as it may have been, the outward change was immense.
She laughed. All day, as she stumbled along, breathless giggles escaped her mouth. Sometimes ceasing to a small shaking of her shoulders, others escalating until chuckles sailed freely through the air. It was not an amused sound; it was rather bitter, hate-filled and maniacal. Indeed it would have sent shivers down the spines and imprinted itself into the nightmares of those who would have heard it.
This tired her so much that she had to stop to rest long before the sun set.
-Day Seventeen-
Elspeth tried desperately to fuel her determination, walking faster than before and with more spirit, even though the ache that permeated her body felt as if it would stay with her for life. She only did this because she could see her drive slowly, but surely, slipping away.
She would not allow herself to think, let her emotions mix into an indiscernible puddle so that she would not have to deal with them. They made her feel raw, a single open wound, as if the plentiful sand around her had rubbed the skin clean off her body.
Though her eyes often glazed, filled with tears that clouded her vision, she did not cry. She could not afford to lose the precious moisture that lacked in the parched environment.
-Day Twenty Two-
As the day wore on, Elspeth lost track of time. She could not remember how long she had been on the road, methodically brushing away sand to clear her path, keeping to the exact centre to avoid stepping off it and disappearing. The days became weeks, or sometimes hours. Had she been travelling for months or even years? Maybe she had been on this road long before she was born.
Of course she knew that was not true. At the same time, she knew that it was.
Idly she would wonder as she made her way along, now limping, just how far she had been. There was no indication in the place around her. Never would she let it cross her mind how long she had to go. It was too painful.
-Day Twenty Six-
Elspeth could see, removed, that her sanity was leaving her. It was like holding water in her cupped hands, temporary and falling through the gaps that her fingers could not fill. In a desperate attempt to bring it back to her, she let herself think again. So many things had been lost or taken from her that she couldn't bear to watch another one go.
True, clear edged thoughts filled her mind – at the same time as they cut her, they sharpened her focus. She was able, once again, to critically assess what was around her.
But the landscape was plain and she turned her shrewd attention to herself.
-Day Thirty-
There were too many and too little memories for her to ponder. Recollections of people and places she had been filled her days. They almost seemed more real to Elspeth than the black stone beneath her feet, though she was careful to separate reality from fantasy.
Most often she thought of Obernewtyn, the home that she loved and could never return to. She thought of the people who used to live there – Lucas Seraphim, Marcus Seraphim, Marissa, the Doctor, Selmar, Cameo, Mathew, even Alexi and Madame Vega – and the countless ones who lived there now. She thought of the friends she had made, the lessons she had learnt. She thought of Ariel, but did not dwell on him for too long.
She thought of Gahltha and Maruman.
Sometimes she pondered how Dragon was, where she was. She was a girl whose fiery hair shone pale in comparison to her bright spirit. Dameon crossed her mind often. She remembered how he had changed, how he acted toward her over the months before she left. Could he feel her increasing detachment?
-Day Thirty Five-
The person she thought of most of all, regardless of her suffering, was Rushton. Elspeth knew that he would mourn her. She pondered often how he reacted to her departure. Hoping ever so much that he carried on and stayed strong through the disaster that her seemingly spontaneous disappearance would have sparked. Wanting for him to heal, to move on and be happy.
She was never meant to live longer than he.
Did it make her an awful person, to inflict emotional wounds on those who she loved?
She had repeated the question to herself so many times that it had lost its meaning.
-Day Forty Four-
Elspeth gradually learnt the difficult way that the worst thing to lose, of all that she had, was her faith.
It had been so long since she had been in the company of another person. With little visual stimulus, she feared sometimes that she had forgotten the look of colours. She was tired and hungry, her rations almost completely gone.
The weariness in her bones seemed permanent; she was sure that she would never live another day without pain. Blisters covered her feet, her hands were hard an calloused and her skin was dry and cracked.
Yet still the land continued on the same in every direction.
-Day Fifty Nine-
Elspeth saw it.
Like the day she had first set foot on the dark road, it was midday and the sun threatened to burn her to a crisp through her clothes which could only now be called rags. At first she thought that is was just an image, a trick of the eyes. Or perhaps after the stress it had been under her mind had finally given way and she was insane.
But as it continued to appear, right on the horizon, growing from a shimmer to a small yet distinct blur, she knew it was real, solid. That it was her destination.
She was too tired to laugh, or to celebrate her victory at making it so far. The warmth spreading through her limbs from her rekindled belief could not change that.
But she allowed herself a smile.
This story was written for the Anything Goes Fanfiction writing competition on Obernet, and I have permission to post it here as well. It's as much a fanfiction for Obernewtyn as it is for The Dark Road, but they are from the same story.
Please review? I am always looking for ways to improve and I haven't read Obernewtyn for a while, so I would like to know which areas I have forgotten.