Off in the distance, thunder rolled. A covered wagon bumped and groaned beneath it, lagging and obnoxious. Through the floorboards came the smell of rain.

  It'd been three days chained to the floor.

  Along with me were 6 others. On the first day the man beside me introduced himself readily,

  “They call me Davi, Son of Omar.” His smile grew wide. “It is a long way from anywhere good to end up in this cart, no?”

  He had come far, dark skin, close cropped hair, linen clothes. He was from the south, he'd probably traveled farther than anyone else to get here.

  He went quiet once they loaded us onto the ship bound for Tagara. Not a whisper for nearly three weeks. He was still breathing. I checked.

  That ship ride was grueling, constant storms and gale winds. Tagara couldn't come any sooner. Just over the horizon she rose, like an amateurish painting – Too green, too steep, surreal.

  When we docked it was still pouring. They marched us all off to a large stone building, where inside they took account of us then linked us together and marched us out of the gate.

  The city was ordinary from what I glimpsed. Somewhere behind me, people going about their lives.

  The first few hours of the storm weren't terrible. After that...

  They stopped us, jolting me back from my thoughts. Whatever it was, It left.

  The rain stopped suddenly. The Mountains. They had a strange blue hue, wrong somehow. Overly saturated, like they had a light within.

  Ahead of us...

  Something else.

  I couldn't name it at first, the light just seemed different. Too gold for midday, too sharp for the evening haze we had that day. The mountains ahead shimmered in a line, drawn across the valley by something that wasn't quite there.

  “What is that,” I asked.

  After a moment, one of the guards on the outside said, “That's The Veil. You'll get used to it.”

  One by one they unchained us from the line.

  I watched as each person before me was led to that line.

  A hand between the shoulders.

  A push.

  A step.

  Gone.

  The man who sent them in came back each time, walking away like it was just another piece of cargo. On the docket and to be done.

  When they got to Davi, he was already crying. Silently. They unlinked his chains and walked him to the edge. He was saying something now. For the first time in weeks. I couldn't understand the words. But I know a prayer when I hear one.

  His head hung low. A hand between his shoulders.

  A push.

  A step.

  Gone.

  When it was my turn, I wanted to fight, I'm sure they all did. I always fought.

  I felt my stomach churn. I felt myself go tingly. My vision started to feather at the edges. I was looking at myself.

  Nausea took over and before I knew it I was at the edge of The Veil.

  The Veil had an opalescent veneer. Up close, it was beautiful. Like the inside of a shell. From here I could see the mountains on the other side continuing, a valley between them, green, vast, uncanny...

  “In you go, now” The guard said it casually.

  I had so many questions. Who was on the other side? Who was running this place? Do these chains come off?

  The Guard was already reaching for me when hoofbeats broke his cadence.

  They came up behind us and came to a halt.

  A homely man on a small red horse, muddy robes, more brown than their intended red – pulled up right behind us and dismounted before they came to a stop.

  His eyes darting around quickly, searching, landing on me.

  “Deliver this, would you.”

  He dug into his pocket for something.

  “it would be in your favor, I assure you”

  He pulled a small wooden cylinder out, and stuck it in my manacled hand, it felt smooth. Before I could even answer he was walking away.

  “Pyrus, the Red Mage”. He said back turned to me.

  The guards hand rested in between my shoulders.

  A push.

  A step.

  The first thing I noticed was the quiet.

  Not silence – There were sounds. Wind in the grass. Gravel underfoot. A trickle of water somewhere. But something was missing.

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  The others who had come through before me were already moving towards the edge of a cliff. There were some wooden ramps that descended downward alongside a slow flowing creek.

  I turned around.

  The Veil from this side was darker. Not opalescent. Looking through it was like trying to peer past clouded stained glass. It was purple, and sapphire bleeding into one another. Flowing throughout was an energy. A faint glow that pulsed with life.

  I couldn't help but reach out for it.

  I touched it.

  The cold explored my hand, then shot up my arm and into my shoulder, reaching for something it couldn't find.

  I pulled my hand back.

  “You shouldn't touch it.”

  The voice came from my left. I turned.

  A boy. Young man, I reminded my self I was 19 and he looked to be of the same age. I had to stop calling people boys. Leaning against a rock, a few feet from the road his arms crossed, looking at me. Uncertain. He wore hemp robes, geometric patterns dyed in a deep brown and rust color, and underneath his collar the dull links of a chain shirt.

  “Does it do something,” I asked.

  “Well” He considered it a moment. “Normally, it kills you.”

  He paused, glancing between me and The Veil.

  “I've seen people try and run through it. It's not pretty”

  He started moving towards me before he finished his sentence, pulling a key from his robes. Unlocking the manacles.

  The chains fell.

  Something shifted in his expression. I didn't know what to make of it at the time.

  “Welcome to The Veil” He said.

  I rotated my wrists slowly, working out the stiffness, feeling the joints crack one by one.

  I looked out over the valley, wide and deep. Mountains encircling its entirety, like the world cupping its hands. A road snaked down into it, flanked by patches of forest and a thin silvery river making its way home.

  And then I looked up.

  The shimmer wasn't a wall.

  It curved overhead, that same bruised color, endless and imposing. Like the inside of a shell. The whole valley lived underneath it. Every road, tree, and person walked under its light. And far off, at the valley's northern edge rested a castle. Its towers catching the hues from the sky.

  “What's that,” I had murmured still looking out in the distance.

  “Old Town,” He said, “First stop for new comers.”

  It was beautiful. All wrong.

  “And after that?” I pressed, meeting his gaze.

  “Depends on you.” He smiled. It was an honest smile. Open, with nothing to hide.

  “I'm Irwin, I didn't catch your name.”

  I looked back at the valley below, and walked towards the edge. I glanced down and saw the others at the base, loading themselves onto a horse drawn wagon.

  I looked up at him.

  “Amber”

  I would think about that smile later.

  Once I understood what the valley hid, what The Veil was holding in and what that light that moved like water had done to the congregation in the swamp.

  I would think - He meant it. Every word. The welcome. The kindness. The honest to gods belief that things would be better than they were.

  I would think - That's the worst part.