Two

It was dark. Not the kind of dark you get at night, the sort of dark you can just about see in if you squint your eyes and focus really hard. It was the sort of dark that isn't even dark, it's just… black. There's no difference between opening my eyes and closing my eyes. It's all black, and I can't see. My initial reaction at first is that I have been blinded, but I quickly push that aside. I have been blinded before – and cured – and I learnt enough from the experience to know that blindness does not feel like this. But if this is not blindness, then what? I can feel panic beginning to rise in my chest but I force it down. There's bound to be a logical explanation for this. Just keep calm and find a way out of this situation. Take a deep breath…

Okay, that's unusual. It's like I'm not breathing. There's no intake of breath, no exhale. It doesn't even feel like my chest is moving. How is this possible? Alright… lift a hand and place it to your chest. Just relax. That's odd… and impossible. Not only is my chest not moving, but I cannot feel a heartbeat. This has to be a dream. This cannot be happening. It's not possible.

What is this place? It certainly doesn't feel like a dream – but then again, you can never spot a dream whilst you're having it. That's probably what it is. Some weird dream that I'll wake up from any moment. Just need to stick it out until then. I wonder… I seem to be able to move my arms, but can I move my legs? Can I explore this blackness? Not that there's much to explore, of course, and I can't exactly see where I'm going. Can't even see the hand in front of my face…

Okay, alright… I'll start walking. Who knows, maybe I'm just in a really, really dark room. Or a cave. Although caves tend to have some light, no matter how deep they go. And there's always a certain smell when it comes to caves, and I don't smell anything. That's a point, actually… I can't see, and neither can I smell. Which makes a bit of sense, since I'm apparently not breathing. Let's try speaking… Well, seems I can't do that, either, or maybe it's just because I can't hear anything. But… don't you need air to be able to talk anyway? This is just getting weirder and weirder…

So I can't talk, see, speak or hear. I'm not breathing, but I seem to be able to move my arms and legs, and I still have the ability to think, I still have awareness and common sense. So, at least some parts of my brain are working. I can feel things, like I could feel my chest beneath my hand earlier, but… I can't feel anything around me. Naturally, when you can't see and you walk somewhere, you hold out your hands so you minimise the risk of walking into something, but so far there's nothing here. No obstacles, no walls, nothing. Wherever I am, it's a large, empty space.

And I appear to be alone.

I've been walking for hours. Or, at least, what feels like hours. How can you tell in a place like this? Maybe there is no time here. In an empty black space that goes on forever, time is irrelevant. Time does not exist here, I can sense it. I haven't found anything yet. No light, or any sign that there's anything here. Maybe I've just been walking in the same spot, not actually moving anywhere. Perhaps my subconscious is merely filling in the blanks and making me think I am actually moving somewhere. I'm finding it harder and harder to convince myself that this is a dream. But… if this is a dream, then it's a very strange one. I keep thinking I'll wake up soon, any second, but it never happens. Maybe this is what happens when people end up in comas. Do they dream like this, of a vast black space that goes on and on and on? Is that what's happened to me? I don't remember being in any sort of accident…

Although… there was that one battle. No, no that can't be it. That was relatively easy and not very many people got too hurt on our side. Maybe I can't remember what happened. That might explain a few things. But why did my subconscious bring me here instead of somewhere else? Why dream of nothingness when I could dream of so much more?

How long am I going to be in this place? How long until I wake up? I don't think I can stand being here for much longer. I don't like this feeling of being totally alone. I've never liked being alone. Never. Left alone without sight nor sound, not a soul to keep me company. Just me, all alone, for eternity. If eternity exists here, which I doubt it does. If there is no time, then there is no eternity. Just an endless existence in which I am all alone. I do not think I can stand to be alone here much longer.

It's always been a fear of mine. Ever since I was a young child being left alone in the darkness of my bedroom, the tree outside my window casting an eerie shadow across my floor, like skeletal hands reaching for me, I have been afraid to be left alone. That night, I'd called for my mother and father until they finally fetched me and kept me close to them all night. It would take several more attempts to get me back into my own bedroom after that. After my mother died, I felt alone. I had no other family, none at all. My friends were all dead, or dying, or taken captive by the Shadow Lord and his army. Everything I'd known and loved had been ripped away from me in just a few hours. If I hadn't found the lovely couple in the forge, I don't know if I'd have made it through the harsh years of the Shadow Lord's reign.

Maybe this is my hell.

Maybe I should just give up now. Curl up on the floor and give up. It's like this place is slowly weakening me, leaving me an empty, hopeless shell. I have no strength left to fight it.

And that's when I blink.

And I'm somewhere new.

"Hello Barda. It's nice to see you've made it at last."

I look up from where I'm curled on a hard, white floor. I don't recall lying down in that dark nothingness, but how else would I have gotten into this position? I'm in a completely white room, and I'm not alone. Three figures clad in long white robes are stood beside me, staring down at me. I push myself up onto one elbow, returning their gaze in a mixture of shock, wonder, and disbelief.

"Uh…" I mutter, unable to even form the words to vocalise my emotions. The middle figure, resembling a man with long white hair and a neatly trimmed white beard, smiled easily at me.

"I understand your feelings at present, Barda." His voice was smooth, like silk. "I know you must be feeling rather disorientated."

"Where am I?" I stand up slowly, a little shaky. I feel weak, as if I've been asleep for weeks.

"Halfway Point." It was the man in the middle speaking again. I give a quick glance at the others, just to give myself something familiar to keep my gaze. The never-ending whiteness of this place has been playing tricks on my eyes. The figure to the middle man's right was female in appearance, with long grey hair. The figure to the left was also female, but with long blonde hair.

I frown at the man. In my head I'm still trying to convince myself this is just a weird dream and that I'm going to wake up any moment and all of this will fade away and be forgotten through time. I notice for the first time that I, too, am dressed in white. It's just a simple button-up shirt, and plain trousers, but I can't help but notice the contrast between my clothes, the whiteness around me, the pale figures in white robes, and the thick dark black of my hair.

"Halfway Point? Where the hell is that and what the hell does it mean?" I know that I'm snapping out the words, but in my defence I'm rather frustrated with this whole situation, and my irritation is often conveyed in the way I speak. The man did not seem to react at all to my harsh tone, instead he just smiles widely.

"It is a place where you are given the chance to change the life you are living."

"Cut out the riddles, would you? I am not in the mood for games." If I have offended him, he does not show it.

"Here, it is better for us to show you rather than try to explain." He turns toward the white space behind me, and as I turn I realise that a picture is being displayed upon it. It takes me a moment, but I eventually discover that I am looking at myself, lying in my bedchamber at the palace, whilst Sharn sleeps in a chair beside me. "This is your current state. You were in an accident, an unavoidable one I am afraid, and you have not woken for weeks." I step closer to the image, staring at myself in the bed. I look pale, with several bruises splayed across my face, and a stitched wound on my forehead. I can tell from the rise and fall of my chest that I am very weak.

"Why are you showing me this?" I demand.

"Because you have reached the moment where you must make a choice." I turn my head as a hand descends on my shoulder, and I find myself looking into the pale eyes of the man. "This will be the most important choice you will ever make."

"What choice?" I sigh in frustration. The man laughs a little.

"All in good time, dear Barda." He senses my frustration, I am sure of it, for he takes an abrupt step back. "Now, it is time for you to do some thinking. Are there moments of your life, up until this moment, that you wish you could have changed? Any major event in your life that you look back and think, 'if only I'd get a chance to do it differently'?"

I pause, and think hard. It doesn't take me too long to find a number of things I would love to go back and change. I'd try and appreciate becoming a palace guard more. I'd make sure the friends I strayed from stayed close. I'd work harder at being a better guard. I'd try harder to prevent the rise of the Shadow Lord. I… I'd save my mother. I'd do so many things, if given the chance. I know I would.

"I can tell from the complicated expression on your face that you have a long list of things you would give so much to change. Am I right?" I am drawn back into the present situation by that man's voice, calling me back to the endless white space. I can only nod at him, my mind still deep in thoughts of what I would have changed. "Then perhaps you coming here is a blessing, for you."

I finally snap out of my trance. I register that he is looking deep into my eyes, and that the image of my pale body in the bed seems brighter, more magnified than before. The two women have moved, both standing in front of what I can only assume are old, wooden doors – painted white. There are chips in the paint, and they look a bit worse for wear, and the paint itself is slightly discoloured, making them stand out a little from the pure white space around them.

"Why?" When I speak, it does not sound like my voice. It is quieter, softer, than it's ever been.

"We are going to give you the chance to relive your life, Barda. If you accept our deal, you will wake up in the past, with all your memories of your life as it is now. You will be given one chance to change all those moments on that mental list of yours, and when you have lived your life to this moment once again, we will have another choice for you."

"And if I do not accept the deal?" I cannot help but question him. Curiosity has always been a major part of who I am.

"Take another look at yourself." He waves a hand at the image filling the space in front of us. "Your body is too weak. If you return to it now, there is a strong chance that you will never wake again." I fall silent as the words sink in. "Your choice now is to live your life again, live a better life, or… die." He looks into my eyes, and I know that I have no choice in this matter, not really. "So, will you take our deal, and live your better life?"

With trembling lips, I speak only one word. "Yes." The space seems to brighten further. The image disappears, and the two women raise their hands to what I assume is the ceiling. With a short, joyous laugh, the man places a hand on my head, and my vision fades to black.

And sixteen year old Barda sits bolt upright in bed, with eyes older than his face.

Author's Note: Sorry for the delay, but I had laptop trouble and I've only just managed to get the document containing the first half of this chapter onto my new laptop. Spent hours working on this to make sure it was perfect to make up for the delay. Next chapter is when the main story really gets going, so I hope you'll all stick around to read what happens next with the 16 year old Barda! Thanks for reading, and please let me know your thoughts on this by sending a little review. Doesn't have to be much, just a few words if it's all you can think of!

- homesweethomicide13