Authors note- Apologies again for the ridiculously large gap between chapters, but these days you can't argue with a 12 mark answer on Elizabeth the First. I cannot promise that this is the last of the chapter gaps (as I like to call them (I know, super original, right)) but once I regain my Writer's Mojo, I should be back on track. Thanks for bearing with me guys! SHOUT OUTS TO ALL THOSE WHO HAVE FOLLOWED OR FAVOURITED! Yes, that was a shout out, because it was in capital letters. Anyway, happy reading!
By the fifth 'day' the fog begins to clear.
The Madman notices it first; as the dampness, it seems, has affected him the most. He stops suddenly and looks around him, sniffing the air. He opens his mouth to say something to the Hero and the Metal Girl, but they have already walked off. The fog hasn't cleared completely yet, and the Madman knows that, if he doesn't catch up soon, he'll lose them.
"Where are we now?" asks the Metal Girl.
The Madman and the Hero stop.
"Well… you're supposed to be leading the way…" replies the Hero. A bemused smile flickers across her face, but then dies. Her brow creases.
"What do you mean by that?"
The Metal Girl turns slowly to look at the Hero. Then she shuffles from foot to foot, trying to find the correct words. She swallows.
Then, at last, she speaks.
"Well… we seem to have… changed places? As in…" she pauses again, as the Madman and Hero look at her with blank faces. The Metal Girl sighed and tried again.
"When we started, the area didn't register as an… an area. But now it does. If you get what I mean…"
She trails off, as she observes the Hero's expression. She looks pleadingly at the Madman who shrugs and then clears his throat.
"Where before you were not detecting any familiar frequencies, you are now detecting something."
The Metal Girl nods.
"Roughly, yes."
The Madman grins, apparently pleased with himself. The Hero rolls her eyes and turns back to the Metal Girl.
"Does that mean it's not safe to continue?" she asks, placing her hands on her hips.
The Metal Girl turns forwards again.
"No. It is safe to continue, I just thought you'd like to know."
She starts walking quickly, forcing the Hero to break into a jog to catch up to her. The Madman, however, continues to linger at the back of the group. The air smells. Pine needles and smoke.
Although he doesn't realize it, this is the first thing the Madman has smelt in the Place of Nothingness.
The scent curls around him and suddenly he isn't standing in the fog Here, he is standing in a forest in Somewhere Else Entirely.
The Madman stares up at the tree, stroking his chin thoughtfully.
He feels a tugging at his trouser leg and looks down to see a little girl standing there.
"Is this the right tree Daddy?" she asks, clutching at his leg.
The momentary shock that fills the Madman dissipates immediately.
The Place of Nothingness vanishes, like the dust it is made of.
Roman stoops to pick up his daughter.
"Yes it is," he replies, bouncing her on his hip.
"Do you think we'll be able to make a house up there?"
The little girl nods excitedly, her arms wrapped around his neck.
"The biggest house!" she shouts, right in his ear.
Roman winces and then turns around, still holding his daughter.
A small cottage is in a clearing ahead of him.
Smoke puffs idly out of the chimney.
Something is cooking.
But something catches his attention, and he turns to look the other way.
In the forest opposite the clearing is a pathway.
At the end of the pathway stand two figures, a young woman and a shorter girl.
Roman squints as he tries to recognize them but their backs are turned and they start walking off.
The child in his arms wriggles, and Roman puts her down gently.
He stumbles, bumping into the tree.
Roman is tired.
As he lets his eyelids droop, he is wrenched from Somewhere Else Entirely and back into Here.
The Madman opens his eyes suddenly, his hand pressed against something. A tree.
A tree with bark and leaves and branches.
The memories are thrust out of the Madman's head as he surveils this new pillar in the fog. The Metal Girl and the Hero are still visible, albeit further ahead.
How could they have missed the tree? They must have just walked right past it.
The tree feels familiar, but it's not like any tree the Madman has seen before. It isn't like the trees from There. The tree is something else entirely.
The Madman recalls the Metal Girl babbling something about trees, before the days were days. Before the fog was fog.
When there was nothing but dust, three chairs and the sensation of being watched.
The Madman shakes the idea from his head and shouts, his voice hoarse and dry.
"Hey! Look at this!"