Sanctuary II

Amber, Keegan and Roisin were gathered in Amanda's room. They were discussing how the treatment was progressing. Amanda lay still on her bed, though her eyes were open and blinking. Her eyes still remained a cloudy black.

"As you can see, she does seem to have recovered slightly in the last year. But it's at a significantly slow pace" Amber explained.

"But, she is recovering?" Roisin pondered.

"Indeed" Amber nodded.

"I wonder if this applies to the creatures outside the walls?" Keegan asked. "If the blue sky came back, would they recover?" He continued.

"Hard to say, Amanda only got a miniscule dose of whatever that darkness is, and it has taken her a year to recover this far" Amber sighed. "For the creatures outside the walls, they've had a pretty much endless dosage of this darkness, recovery could take centuries" She added.

"How is the research into the darkness progressing?" Roisin asked.

"Slow, but we have managed to decipher more about it" Amber nodded, as she walked over to a computer. She touched the screen and a picture of millions of dark particles appeared. "We've named it Dark Matter" Amber stated.

"Like the space stuff?" Keegan asked.

"Well, kind of. Due to our minimal explorations into space, we haven't really been able to research what Dark Matter is, completely" Amber replied.

"Hmm, so its the opposite of matter?" Roisin asked.

"No, anti-matter is the opposite of matter" Amber smiled.

"Then what is dark matter?" Roisin pondered.

"Well, down to the very atomic level of the dark matter, it is still... well, dark" Amber sighed. "Truth is, we don't really know anything about it aside from that, it's completely alien to all known science" She said, sounding frustrated.

"I wonder..." Keegan thought to himself. "Could it be connected to the realm of the Senior Partners?" He asked.

"The Senior Partners?" Amber pondered. "Possibly, we don't know much about the other realms, even the Underworld. It is entirely possible that the dark matter is from another realm" Amber nodded.

"The realm of the Senior Partners isn't just another realm" Keegan frowned as he looked at the screen. "It's a completely alien reality" He added.

"How can you know that?" Amber asked.

"I've been there, in my dreams. It's a shifting reality, usually appearing as a corridor, or a cave, generally a long hallway. But it's always the same place" Keegan struggled to explain.

"Wait what" Roisin froze.

"What is it?" Amber asked.

"That sounds familiar" Roisin said, as she rubbed her fingers on her forehead.

"You've been there? They've contacted you?" Keegan asked.

"I... think so... me and Dex, back when Dex was still in my soul" Roisin tried to remember.

"Dex was what now?" Amber said, scratching her head.

"We were in a long corridor, like you said" Roisin began. "Dex saved me somehow... from a shadow? That's all I can remember" She frowned.

"Strange... when was this?" Keegan asked.

"Not long after Dex died, I was aboard The Wild Rose" Roisin replied.

"That was just after the fall of Raryst, right?" Keegan pondered.

"Yeah" Roisin nodded.

"They've been aware of you since all the way back then..." Keegan frowned.

"Since earlier, I think" Roisin thought back further.

"How do you know?" Keegan asked.

"Rory, he came back from the dead, some Mystic brought him back" Roisin remembered.

"Mystic? Could it have been Trevela?" Keegan snapped his fingers.

"Quite likely, Rory was sent to kill me, but ironically it ended in me getting a bit more powerful, after a... disturbing trip through the Underworld" Roisin explained.

"Wait... do you mean, Rory Ferras?" Keegan's eyes widened.

"Yeah, Amanda's son" Roisin nodded her head, as she glanced at Amanda laying motionless.

"Wow, you have quite the history with that family" Keegan smiled.

"You can say that again. Funny how they all began as enemies, now they're generally my allies" Roisin nodded.

"Yeah, you have a funny way of doing that" Keegan patted Roisin on the back and winked. Roisin smiled and nodded.

"I'm parched, do you two wanna take a break?" Roisin asked.

"Sure" Keegan nodded.

"I could do with a coffee" Amber smiled. The three of them headed out of the room, leaving it in silence.

Amanda's eyes shifted to look at the door, a tear fell from her black cloudy eyes.