Young Writers Society

The Harbinger’s choice was still ringing in my ears long after he was gone. I’d always felt a pull to leave the village, but if I was being rational, going outside the Wall was suicide. But what would happen if I stayed? There was no reason to believe that the madness would go away, and plenty to support the idea that it would get worse. But I’d never gone outside the Wall, barely even seen the outer world, just sneaking glances when the the gates closed behind Hudson.

I couldn’t think out here in the deserted streets. I was exposed and vulnerable, like a mouse in the middle of a floor. Something large and clawed could snatch me at any minute. I turned around, about to return to the barn, when I spotted something out of the corner of my eye.

Someone had carved a symbol into the wall of a house. I moved closer and realized that it was the same design I’d seen David drawing, a circle with two points spiraling towards the center. It couldn’t be a coincidence that two people, both of them descending into madness, had made a symbol with no apparent meaning. And why wasn’t the madness affecting me? Or what if it was affecting me? What if the Harbinger had been a figment of my imagination? What if I was just as insane as the rest of the town? And how could I tell? I couldn’t was the cold truth. I had no way of knowing if I had lost my mind or not. I should have been panicking, but I wasn’t. It was a strange feeling, but the feeling of having no control was calming. Regardless of what the truth was, I couldn’t change it, so there was no point struggling.

I stepped back from the house and it’s eldritch rune, and saw another one. This house was covered in the etchings, leaving no blank room. The vortex symbols ranged in size from the size of my thumbnail to almost as large as the windows, some of them overlapping with each other. Almost all of the houses farther down the road had the ubiquitous vortex symbol graffitied onto them.

I began to examine the gaps between the houses and saw something. A figure dressed in a patched and dirty cloak stood motionless in front of me.

I didn’t move, not sure what to think. If this person was like the rest, I wanted to avoid them. The person’s head swiveled in my direction. It was Susan, but I’d never seen her like this. Her eyes were wide and bulging, her face gaunt and sallow. Her face split into a twisted grin that stretched far wider than it should have and released a giddy cackle. I bolted for the Wall.

I raced past more houses emblazoned with the spiraling symbol. More people dressed in their old, shabby cloaks were assembling in the streets and behind houses. I ran past them, trying to avoid looking at their faces, trying not to find out who they used to be.

I dashed up the stairs to the top of the Wall. Only the Nightshroud was allowed up here, but everyone in the Nightshroud were dressed in cloaks at the moment. I tried not to think about the fact that Estra and my mother were with them.

At the top of the stairs, I climbed a ladder and opened a trap door, admitting me to the surface of the Wall. Despite the urgency of the situation, I was taken aback by the view. This was the highest I’d ever been, only about twenty feet higher than normal, but all of Stratha was sprawled out before me, wrapped by it’s Wall.

I noticed something that made the view pale into utter insignificance. At first, it seemed as though the positions of the hooded people were random. The appearance of the mysterious symbol in David’s house had seemed random at first, too. In reality, neither were. I looked at the small, hooded dots of the people in my village. Their positions formed a perimeter around the town, with two tendrils curling towards the center. Everyone in Stratha was standing in the shape of a massive vortex.

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I burst out of the abandoned gates and raced through the forest. Branches lashed my face and arms, but they didn’t slow my mad dash. All I could hear was my uneven breathing and the steady thud of my heartbeat.

I had left Stratha without really thinking about it, without giving myself time to stop. Vines entangled my arms and legs, I tripped over roots and stones, but I continued my reckless dashing.

When I estimated I’d put half a mile between me and my village, I doubled over, panting. My clothes, which had been dirty and ripped before I set out, were now little more than rags. I didn’t have water, food, or any of the other supplies needed for survival outside the Wall.

The Harbinger had told me to find Taanyth and Laryn, and that all I needed to do to cure the madness was leave. I still wasn’t sure if I believed him, I wasn’t even sure if he was real, but I couldn’t go back to Stratha. Not now.

The Harbinger called me ‘the eye of the maelstrom.’ The madness had come to Stratha because of me. Did that mean that if I met someone else, would they go insane, too?

I couldn’t think about that right now. I had to focus on putting distance between myself and my village. My breathing had steadied, so I resumed running through the trees. If I didn’t find somewhere safe by nightfall, or I wasn’t sure I’d see the sunrise.

It was hard to keep track of time, charging headlong through the forest, but I noticed a blur of movement out of the corner of my vision. I stopped, staring at the spot where the bushes had twitched.

“Don’t move,” a voice behind me commanded. I froze. “What are you doing here?”

“I’m looking for Laryn and Taanyth,” I panted.

The speaker moved in front of me. He was dressed in clothes made from leaves and vines woven together. His brown hair was braided down his back, revealing pointed, catlike hears. He was also holding a bow with an arrow pointed at my chest. “Why?”

I had to think about that. I couldn’t say Because someone who might have been my imagination told me to.

“Answer!” the man commanded.

“Because I need help,” I said at last.

There was a pause. He slowly lowered his bow. “Come with me. And don’t try anything stupid,” he drawled. “As bad a shot as I am, I’m sure I can hit you from few hundred yards away.”

With his threat still hanging in the air, the man lead me deeper into the forest.