The darkness was not utterly black.
For the first few steps, I focused on the light ahead of me, so far in the distance that I couldn't guess how long it would take us to get there. I could only see it as a distant point of brightness. Maybe it was just tiny.
Like we'd had that kind of luck so far.
Then I noticed that the facade that I had thought was a solid black shifted in design and hue. Blues and reds, so dark it was hard to see where they melded into the black, were the predominant colors. Purple was a rarer thread moving in thin lines on both sides. I had the feeling that beings moved there in shapes I would not recognize. I found the designs enthralling, but I was glad when Lycan tapped my shoulder and drew me back. Forgetting where I walked could have been far too dangerous.
"Someone is coming," he said with a nod over his shoulder.
I looked back, fearing to see the Queen -- but it was not her. Instead, Lady Snow moved at a jog to catch up with us. I wondered how she had found us in this realm -- and then realized she had not hunted after her former companions.
"Lady Snow," I said with a bow of my head. "You have come back to the place where you had last tracked your daughter."
"Yes," she said with a narrow-eyed glance at the darkness around us. "And she is near."
I hoped that was good news. It didn't give me much hope for our survival still, but something nice happening wouldn't hurt.
I had started looking at the wall of black again. Sylph got between me and it and shook her head. "Move on, Fae. You are worn, and your mind wanders -- and I think you do not want to be leading this group. But we trust you. Go on."
I knew she was right, but at the same time, I thought that knowing something about the darkness would help us in this battle.
"How does the dark fight back the chaos?" I asked. I wasn't certain if I would get an answer from our allies or not. I did note that I seemed to have gotten their attention. "We don't know what tactics to use. What weapons."
"We will learn," I heard from more than one voice. The others did not slow, but it reassured me. We could communicate. They worked to discuss problems with us.
Only a few steps later, something else gave me more hope. I saw a white spot ahead of us, but I didn't know what it might be at first.
"Mama!"
We got out of the way, all of us including our dark counterparts. Lady Snow changed to her giant polar bear form and charged ahead. I could tell that the tunnel opened up wider as she moved.
I heard childish laugher that changed to happy bark-like sounds as the two collided. The rest of us slowed. I imagined it would not be any safer to go among them now that they were happy. Eventually, they calmed, though. I was glad to move again since it was growing increasingly cold.
They walked back to us, and both changed as they came -- a mother with a child who looked about seven or eight. They held hands. I thought they might stay in this form just so they could keep hold of each other.
"I must --" Lady Snow began. She looked at her daughter, her eyes wide with worry --
"You must take her and go stand the ground with my Queen," I said. "Or, if you can, take her home. You have done your part, and we want you and your child to be safe."
She stared at me, her eyes blinking. Lady Snow looked at her daughter without love and fear --
"Go," I said softly and dared a hand on her arm. "Go and be safe; if not here, escape to elsewhere. Warn others if you can."
Those words might have hinted too much that I didn't expect us to survive. I did not say the words outright, though. My people know too well the power of ill-spoken omens.
Lady Snow gave one more look around, then put a hand on my arm and nodded. She led her happy child away. I hoped that they had long years of joy together.
Then I turned away and began moving toward the distant end of the tunnel again. I didn't look much at the walls around us now. At least moving helped to hold off the cold a little longer, but even Lycan pulled his collar up, and Yating did the same. I didn't bother. It wouldn't help.
"What are we going to do?" Sylph finally asked. I didn't think the cold bothered her much.
"Take a look," I said, trying to come up with a plan. Then I shrugged and felt how the cold had stiffened my clothing. "Before we do that, I can't see how we can make any decisions."
No one argued. So we kept walking. I saw with some relief that the opening did appear to be closer. Maybe we wouldn't freeze before we found answers.
I shouldn't have been so optimistic -- not about freezing, but about answers. I should have considered what we were walking to see. Chaos. By its very nature, Chaos does not have enough coherence to facilitate finding solutions we could use to deal with it.
As we stood on the very edge of the tunnel, I looked out into something so utterly wrong that I couldn't find words to encompass the sight. It was bright and dark and every shade between. None of it stayed long enough to name. Colors and an absence of colors swirled and rippled, producing a plethora of shapes in their wakes. I stared. My companions did as well.
I realized one truth: You cannot fight Chaos...
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