The Mirrorverse
Chapter 33

Syrhahn

The room at first appeared to be made of light. Syrhahn blinked and rubbed his eyes, trying to get used to the sudden change in brightness. As his eyes adjusted, he realised they were stood in a vast palace, with huge shiny white arches towering above them like a cathedral. He turned around in a circle, taking in the perfect symmetry that was the Spectral chamber.

Xhisara, who was stood to his right looking perfectly serene as ever, had tried to describe the Spectrals to him, but nothing could have prepared him for the world he found himself in, nor the creatures that were facing them.

The Spectrals were as pure white as the world they existed in. They were translucent, if that were possible as they also seemed to be only made of light, thus translucency would be a paradox. But that was perhaps the best word for them, a paradox. Beings with no physical form, yet quite clearly possessing some sort of form or Syrhahn would be unaware of their presence.

While the conundrum that were the Spectrals baked Syrhahn’s engineer’s brain, Xhisara was talking to them and introducing him. Their words were both in the air and in his head. He thought he could hear them with his ears, but then knew somehow that covering his ears would not reduce the volume at all. Another paradox to add to the Spectral quandary. He wondered if they could hear what he was thinking, which made him shudder. It wasn’t their thoughts he could hear, it was only what they wanted him to hear. He sincerely hoped the reverse was true.

Confused, and further out of his depth than he had ever felt in his life, Syrhahn stepped forward and greeted the transcendental beings. They all adjourned to a seating area that he could swear hadn’t been there a moment earlier.

There were four Spectrals, and impossible to tell apart. Syrhahn wondered how he could see them at all, on the back drop of pure white. Syrhahn and Xhisara were seated on floor cushions, while the beings sort of shrank down to the floor and hovered just above the flawless marble. It didn’t surprise him at all that they were hovering. In fact, had they turned into clowns and started doing backflips, he couldn’t have been any more surprised than he already was.

His chest tensed as he thought of Angel, of her seeing him now in this strange place full of strange beings. Then he thought of Viskra, her baby, of why they were there. For him. Syrhahn’s thoughts were interrupted by the start of the discussion they had come to conduct.

“We have news of William, and ask for your help,” Xhisara opened the discussions.

“William, yes. He hasn’t been heard of for some time. Very concerning,” the voice filled Syrhahn’s head again, neither high nor low, rough nor smooth. It really was indescribable, and it was impossible to discern which creature had spoken.

“We believe he has a tracker,” Xhisara told them.

“That, we know,” they replied without emotion.

“He has abducted Syrhahn’s son,” she motioned to Syrhahn, as his mutism continued. “Syrhahn knows of the weapon his son was creating, the weapon that was taken by William. He can give you that information.”

“Weapon, what is this weapon?” All eyes, metaphoric or otherwise, turned to Syrhahn as he regarded the group carefully, somewhat unwilling to supplement the information Xhisara had proffered on his part. He swallowed his doubts and explained about the annihilation properties of the anti-matter ray, leaving them to draw their own conclusions of the uses a man like William would have for such a weapon.

A silence followed his speech, rendered more powerful by the sheer lack of sound in that world. You could have heard a pin drop, and both Syrhahn and Xhisara’s breathing sounded more like rasping and panting compared to the absence of sound emitting from the Spectrals. They didn’t appear to respire in any way.

Syrhahn should have been concentrating more on what we were there for, but instead found his mind wandering onto the substance that was those beings, and that comprised the place in which they were sat. There was not a speck of dust, no impurities at all. Xhisara had told him it wasn’t really a world as they knew it, but that was an understatement.

His mind wandering further, Syhahn started wondering if the Spectrals eat and excrete anything. He truly hoped at that point they really couldn’t read his mind. Instead of focussing on his son, which was so painful he couldn’t bear it; he was sat there wondering if Spectrals shat.

“And what can we do for you?” someone finally broke the silence, bringing Syrhahn back from Spectral toilet habits.

“We need to replace William. Do you know if there has been any extra portal traffic in any of the worlds that might lead us to him?” asked Xhisara, while Syrhahn tried to clear his head of the fog that was now his life.

“We do not get involved in matters of lemna disputes. You know this, Xhisara, it is not our place.” Hope started fading from Syrhahn, like water through a sieve.

“But you have corrected things travellers have done since the beginning of time, a traveller has taken someone from us, can’t you help us correct it?” Xhisara was desperate, and Syrhahn yearned for her plea to be heeded.

“We maintain the balance at a mirrorversal level. We are sorry for your loss and wish you well in locating him.”

“No, you have to help us, how do you know what William will do with the weapon, that could be at a mirrorversal level, I mean you are already after him!” Syrhahn cried in anguish, wishing there was some part of them he could actually hit.

“This meeting is complete,” and as the Spectral spoke those words, the white cathedral palace vanished.

Maya