Chapter 20: The Inner World
Opening, my eyes, I saw somebody standing beside and looking away; as I sat up, the figure turned and looked down.
"You are awake at last Zooi. Please stand up." As I stood up, the figure next to me was still looking straight ahead. Though I hadn't realised yet, the person standing next to me was Taura in her more human form.
"Wh…where am i… and who are you?" I stuttered and looked at the tall woman standing next to me, her pale skin glistening.
"Do you really not know? I am Taura in my human form and you are in your Inner World…well, part of it. You can't control yourself at the moment since you have barely had any training or help – that's what I'm here for." She smiled as her voice tinkled round the waterfall setting. "Do you not remember what happened, Zooi?"
"Hm? Oh yeah, the Hollow…is that why I went a bit funny?"
"You could say that, but please look over there." Taura smiled and nodded to over where another person stood…only, this was me…or so I thought. This version of me was pale white with black eyes and yellow irises. She wore a red shihakushō that was ripped and a demonic snarl formed as I stared at her. A piercing scream ripped through the air and rang in my ears. I fell backwards and covered my ears but Taura grabbed a wrist and pulled it away from me.
"Don't show any weakness to it – that is what the Hollow wants." Her voice was soothing and I slowly dropped my arms by my side.
"What's stopping it? Why can't it seem to reach us?" I asked, glancing back at the wild thing that snarled and hissed.
"A barrier. When the Hollow began appearing more frequently and eventually led to your imprisonment I created a barrier to stop the Hollow bleeding through and reaching you; but for some reason it's been getting stronger and the barrier seems to be weakening. If you look up there, you can see a tiny crack – if it gets any bigger, then who knows what will happen?" Taura explained. Her voice seemed to soothe me and I instantly felt myself calm down. The Hollow seemed to stop thrashing quite so much as well. Though it still scared me, I walked towards it and looked at its burning yellow eyes; the Hollow truly felt threatening. I raised my hand and placed it on the barrier and the Hollow stared at it and raised her own. As soon as she put it on the barrier something that felt like an electric shock hit me and I jumped back as a distant memory ran through me; sitting in nothing but darkness, a candle illuminating the solemn and bare room – a young girl was hunched over, sobbing into her clothes.
The Hollow looked at me forlornly and sat down while Taura wandered about the Inner World. I turned round and called her.
"Taura? Can I ask you something?" Taura leapt from the tree she was sitting in and landed softly in front of me, her silvery blue shimmering in the soft light.
"What is it?"
"Can you teach me how to stop the Hollow from taking over me? Or at least help me to recognise the signs when the Hollow is seeping through? Please…I don't know what happened with it many years ago, but I'm afraid that if it takes over me…I'll be killed." Taura narrowed her eyes and stared at me.
"You want me to…teach you how to control yourself? I may be your closest friend and the one who knows you the best, but I cannot do this. I may help, but it is up to you to defend yourself completely." Her voice was cold and sharp; suddenly, she was gone and something grabbed me by my arm and spun me round to face the Hollow-me.
"Look at it; look at yourself. You don't know what it wants. I have tried to restrain as best as I could, but I cannot restrain a part of yourself forever." Taura seemed angry and glared at the Hollow-me that was crouched low and baring her teeth; a high-pitched shriek emitting from her mouth. I covered my ears and fell to the floor; the shrieking was so painful to listen to and felt as though a part of my heart breaking.
"How is that thing me?" I breathed out. " How?" The howls and shrieks sounded like they were full of pain and sorrow and as they died down, I looked across at the Hollow-me and saw that it was looking forlornly at me. I stood up and walked over to the barrier and was face-to-face with the pale, yellow-eyed me. Taura stood next to me and said nothing. Even though I was on the other side of the barrier, I could feel its presence; full of evil and strong but unstable.
"Can you….talk?" I asked, uncertain of whether I was doing the right thing. Taura had obviously created this barrier to stop it from harming me or her. Suddenly, a snowflake landed on my cheek and melted; as I looked up, clouds had gathered and snow fell from the sky, settling on the rocks and trees and the water in the waterfalls and rivers began to crackle as they turned to ice.
"Yes." The Hollow-me's voice was coarse and slightly patronizing in comparison to Taura's but felt powerful and overwhelming.
"What …do you want?" I asked cautiously.
"Ha ha…what do I want, hm? Well, there are many things I want…but the one thing that towers over them all...the lust so powerful…is freedom." Her eyes twinkled and burned with danger. I stepped away and thought about what she said. Freedom? What does a Hollow with…freedom? There are so many things a Hollow could have; power, souls and strength, but freedom?! That sounds almost human. I glanced at the Hollow and saw that it had turned itself away and its hands were clenched into tight fists.
"Taura…what is that Hollow? Why would it want freedom?" I stuttered.
"There will come a time when everything will fall into place. That, my friend, will the opportune moment to speak." Everything began fading as the real world blurred back into focus.
"No-" I breathed. "No! Taura! What does that mean?!" my voice echoed as the Hollow howled again and the real world began coming into view again.
"Let me tell you one thing though. Stay away from the people who call themselves 'The TimeKeepers. You may know as the 'Vamps' clan. You'll get yourself far more involved than you'd want to be." Her voice echoed one last time and my eyes flashed open in the real world.