The World Walkers

Travelling to Taithmarin

Zoe hated lifts. It was entirely illogical, and she accepted that, her fear of getting stuck in one never being realised. Stories were more than enough to keep her from viewing them as an alternate option to the stairs. On the rare occasion she did get in a lift it was for a very good reason. She had a good reason the day she got into a lift with Adam. Normally she’d have just walked up the six staircases leading to their holiday apartment. Having a large suitcase to carry up those stairs meant it made much more sense just to put her fears aside.
When Zoe stepped out the lift she stopped for a moment, slowly looking around, telling herself it couldn’t be real. Maybe they’d made a mistake, pressing the number for the wrong floor, so she turned to get back into the lift, only to find she couldn’t because it wasn’t there any more. She stared at the wall where it should have been, certain something very strange had happened, before turning to Adam. At least she wasn’t alone. The two of them were together.
“What do you think happened?”
Adam shrugged. “I don’t know, Zoe.” He sounded as confused as she felt, and he ran a hand through his hair the same way he always did when he was thinking. “Maybe we stepped through a wormhole, leading us to another world, where we’re now trapped..”
“You’re almost right.” Zoe jumped, the male voice coming from beside them, wondering how she hadn’t heard the sound of his footsteps. “The doorway you stepped through was actually a gateway between your world and this one.” She turned to look at him, unsure what to expect, and was thankful to see someone who looked human. “I’m Joel, your guide here to help you through the next two weeks.”
“How do we get back?” There were the first threads of anger in Adam’s voice, and Zoe looked at him, wondering if there was anything she could do to help. “This…” He shook his head. “There has to be something you can do.”
When Joel’s eyes filled with pity Zoe knew what the answer was. “I’m sorry, but there is no way back. From now on this is your home.”
“What about the people I left behind? My family will wonder where I am if I don’t get back home.”
“The magic of the door will have erased your existence from their minds. To them you will never have lived.”
Zoe looked at the floor, breathing in deeply. It had to be a dream. Travelling to another world using magic wasn’t something they could possibly have done. She’d been anticipating the holiday with equal parts happiness and dread, so she was probably dreaming about the worst case scenario, which her brain seemed to think was walking into another world. For a moment she felt like she was going to laugh because it was totally illogical, but then it wasn’t exactly unexpected. There were other possibilities, none of which she was willing to let herself think about. Pushing away her fear it was real, they had actually stepped off the lift onto another world, she looked at Joel again.
“I need to go home.” Zoe knew from the way Adam was speaking he was trying not to yell. “Now.”
“There is no way back. You came through a door that only works one way.” Joel put a hand in his pocket, and pulled out a jingling keyring. “This isn’t unusual. We have many people come to Taithmarin, and we’re prepared for you. If you’re willing to follow me I can show you the flat you may come to call home.”
“I’m not going anywhere with you.”
“Stay here then.” Joel turned his attention to Zoe, his eyes soft. “Will you come with me?”
Nodding, Zoe looked at Adam. “Please, Adam, let’s talk about this somewhere private.”
“The only place I’m going is home.” The anger seemed to have turned into fury, and the way he looked at her was enough to make her shiver. “This is all your fault. If you hadn’t insisted we go on holiday we wouldn’t be here.”
“I thought it would be good for us.”
He laughed. “Good for us? No, Zoe, you were clinging onto our relationship because you don’t know how to do anything else. I wanted us to be over a long time ago.”
“This really isn’t the place to be talking about this.” Joel’s voice was calm, something Zoe needed more than anything, biting down on her bottom lip. “People live in these flats, so what you’re doing isn’t fair to them, or your girlfriend.”
Adam turned his fury onto Joel. “I’ve told you I’m not going anywhere with you. I have no interest in this world or the people who may be living in these flats. All I want to do is go home.”
“Everyone feels the same way when they first arrive. It just takes some time to get used to being here.”
“There must be a way to send me home. If you can create a gateway that brings unsuspecting holiday makers here, then you can make one to send me back.”
“We can’t send you back. It is impossible.”
“Nothing is impossible.”
Joel breathed in deeply, stepping a little closer to them. “The magic used to bring you here isn’t ours. This wasn’t a choice we made, Adam, and there are those who have tried to return back to the world they came from. None, as far as I know, have succeeded. I’m sorry. If I could send you back home I would, but even if it was possible things wouldn’t be the same. The world doesn’t know you any more.”
Silence followed, and it seemed to go on forever, even though it was probably only a couple of minutes at the most. Zoe looked at Adam, the hatred in his eyes something she couldn’t do anything about, because it had been her decision for the two of them to go on holiday. She held back the tears threatening to spill down her cheeks. Crying would probably make him more angry. He was right to say she’d been clinging onto a relationship that was long over, the love she still felt a reason to try again. Unfortunately it wasn’t something she had a choice about. If she had she would have stopped loving him when it first started hurting.
“It doesn’t matter how many times you tell me I’ve been erased. I don’t believe you. Apparently no one’s returned, and yet you know for certain that’s the case. You could tell me the same thing however many times you like. Magic brought me here, so magic can send me back.” Adam looked at Zoe. “You can keep her here though.”
Pushing aside the hurt, even if it wasn’t a dream Adam wasn’t acting the way he would have done at any other time. What they were going through wasn’t normal. Of course he wasn’t going to be himself. Zoe raked a hand through her hair, wishing there was something more she could do, but if she said anything she was certain it was going to make things worse than they already were.
“Either come with me, or I’ll call security.” Joel studied Adam, and Zoe studied Joel. Obviously he wasn’t the kind of person who accepted one of the new arrivals acting out. “I have better things to do with my time than argue with you.”
“Go ahead, call them. What difference does it make?”
“Fine, but remember it was your choice. This could be much simpler if you just come with me now.”
Adam lent against the wall that had once been a lift, and stared at the wall opposite. Zoe wrapped her arms around herself, looking at anything other than Adam, as Joel went back down the hallway, to something she couldn’t see. It was impossible to not hear Joel’s words, the sound echoing slightly. “I have an uncooperative new arrival. Can you send security here?”
Breathing in deeply, hoping she wasn’t going to make anything worse. “Adam, please…”
“I told you going on holiday was a bad idea. How could any time somewhere else make things better, when I was so certain it was over, because I didn’t feel the same way I did before? You insisted we needed to give it another go, and we end up here. Great. Thank you very much, Zoe, for destroying my life.”
“There was no way for me to know something like this could happen. It was just bad luck.”
All Zoe could do was tell herself, over and over again, she was dreaming. She hadn’t actually stepped onto another world. Adam wasn’t really blaming her for it happening. Real life was the thing that happened during periods of wakefulness, not during sleep. Other worlds didn’t exist in real life unless she was reading a book.
“Maybe you planned it.” Adam laughed. “It wouldn’t surprise me. Stepping into a new world where the only person I know is you, and what choice do I have but to fall back into your arms.”
Zoe raised an eyebrow, the hurt turning into anger. “Yes, of course I planned it.” She shook her head. “Why would I leave my family behind because of you? I still love you, but I don’t love you enough to leave behind my entire family, my friends, and my life in order to force you into a relationship it’s now very obvious you didn’t want to be in.”
“We both know you never wanted to lose me.”
“Not that much.”
“How far would you go, Zoe?” Adam tilted his head, staring at her. “Where is the line?”
“The line was going on holiday. Ten days to fix our relationship, and if we couldn’t then that was it.” At the time he’d even agreed to it, saying he wanted to see if it would do them some good, but everything was different. “I wanted us to have a chance to see if we did still love each other.”
“Could you take Adam with you, please?” Joel’s voice came from behind Zoe. “He refuses to believe he can’t go home. and won’t come with me to the flat, so there’s not really much I can do to help him. Zoe is fine.”
Two… men, possibly, at least they looked to be males of their race, stepped past Zoe, and someone behind her put a hand on her shoulder. “I’m sorry about this, Zoe.” Joel sighed. “Calling them isn’t something I like doing much, but Adam gave me no choice.”
“I know.”
“Are you okay?”
“Not really, but there’s not a lot I can do about that. I’ve just stepped onto another world, and I think it’s pretty obvious my relationship is over.” She watched as the two men, trying to ignore the fact they quite obviously weren’t human, did something to Adam. “This isn’t a dream, is it?”
“Unfortunately not. I wish I could say it was, but you’re here. On Taithmarin.” He squeezed her shoulder gently. “Things will get easier, with time. I promise.”
“Who are they?”
“They’re Stormkin, a magical race who live here.”
“What are they doing to Adam?”
“One of them is doing a calming spell, which should hopefully make him feel better for at least a short time, and the other is wrapping him in a compulsion spell, so he has no choice but to go with them. Neither will last long. This is to help him, although, right now, I’m certain he wouldn’t think that.”
“Is it something you have to do often?”
Joel was silent for a few seconds. “Most of the humans who are drawn to Taithmarin come from worlds where they’re grateful to end up here. This is a sanctuary world. Sometimes, though, this happens, and it’s more complicated. Adam’s anger, because he had no reason to come here, his life was fine the way it was. Calling on the Stormkin makes things easier for everyone. They can help him work through how he’s feeling in a way I can’t.”
“You called them security.”
“It’s easier for new arrivals to understand security, than it is for them to understand Stormkin.”
Zoe nodded. “What are we going to do when the Stormkin are finished?”
“I’ll take you to your new home, and then we can go from there. Everything will go at your pace, but in the next two weeks I do need to teach you everything I can about this world. At some point relatively soon we will need to go to the council offices in order to fill in a couple of forms. The Stormkin will help Adam when the time is right.”
“Okay.”
“I know right now everything is really overwhelming. Especially as you came from a safe Earth, and one I can only assume there was no magic.” He sighed. “I was the same. That’s why I was sent here, because I understand what it’s like to be going through this.”
“You really came through one of those doors?”
“Yes, Zoe, I did. The experience I had is why I chose to become a guide. It’s something we can talk about, if it helps.”
Nodding, Zoe raked a hand through her hair. “How long have you been here?”
“On Earth it would be almost five years, but here it’s been longer. Lifespans get extended when someone steps through a door, so I’ve been here for just under twenty years, and yet I’ve only physically aged the five years it would be at home.”
Blinking, Zoe stared at nothing, trying to work through her emotions. Twenty years? It had to be a dream, even with Joel saying otherwise. She shook her head. “I…” She bit down on her bottom lip, unable to find words. “Wow.”
“I know what you mean.” Joel squeezed her shoulder again. “There are other things I need to tell you I had a similar reaction to. I’m not going to pretend this will be easy for you.”
“You were right to call us.” One of the Stormkin stopped by them, as the other passed with Adam, suitcase in hand. “There is much anger in him, but we will help him to work through it.” He looked at Zoe. “This isn’t your fault. Mistakes sometimes happen. Don’t take this to heart, because the magic can influence the emotions of someone who steps through the door, and not needing sanctuary means you’ve lost more than most.”
“Thank you for your help, Alcaeus.”
“You’re welcome, Joel.”
“Come on, Zoe.” Joel let go of her shoulder, stepping forwards as he did, seeming to know she needed something to distract her from what she was feeling. “Let’s get you, and your suitcase, to your new home.”
There was a moment when Zoe wanted to run after Adam, not wanting to be alone on another world, but she managed to stop herself. Letting him get the help he needed was the right thing to do. Instead, she grabbed the handle of her suitcase, and followed Joel down the hallway. He stopped by the doorway to the flat at the end of the corridor, taking the keys back out of his pocket. One of the keys slipped into the keyhole, and he turned it, glancing at her, as though he was checking to make sure she was still okay. When the door was open he stepped to one side, so she could enter first.

Zoe: A New Home?
Adam: The Stormkin

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