The Transitory Plane

Terror swept through Suzetta, her breathing was rapid and shallow. Agonizing pain rocked her body. The blade through her heart still oozed rich blood. She tried to hold on but the world was flickering, dissolving, and then gone.

She could not fathom how much time was spent, but when she awoke, all she saw was an endless white light in every direction. The horrific infinity extended beyond time, space and knowledge. There was nothing but her. It wasn't fog, no she could see fine. Looking down, she saw she was in her usual trappings, leather pants, black blouse. But her hands rose to her chest, the knife wound was gone. She opened her blouse. No scar, no cut, nothing. Quickly she started to button up and then realized how silly it was being modest when there was no one else around. But she buttoned up anyways.

Behind her, followed her shadow, which was odd, for there was no visible source of light. The world was as white before her as it was behind, above and below her. Her boots stepped on nothing, but she wasn't falling either. But she was walking, although she had no idea where or why.

She had no idea how long or how far she walked. There was no sense of time in this void, nor distance. But eventually, she came across a door. The door was just that, a door. No wall held it up. It was just a square door in empty space. Curiously, she looked behind it and saw the back of the door, bronze hinges and handle. She tried it from the front and with ease it opened. She expected it to open to the white space beyond, but instead, what she saw were grasslands.

Passing through the door and leaving it open, she saw cerulean skies, painted with white puffy clouds and a yellow orb of a sun above. White daisies were scattered through the grass, intermixed with puffy dandelions. There were no trees to provide shade, but none was needed. The temperature was perfect. A cool breeze brushed Suzetta, gently tossing her hair, it was not chilling, but comforting.

"Suzetta?" a male voice said.

"My daughter!" a woman said.

"But you are too young!" the male said, a sad tint in his voice.

Suzetta turned around. A man and a woman approached, the man leading a familiar brown mare.

"Father! Mother!" Suzetta shrieked, all the wild happiness bubbling through her. She embraced them both, tears in her eyes. "I've missed you so much!"

Fred, the father, gave Suzetta her eyes. His were blue, they twinkled in the sunlight. He was tall and handsome, cleanshaven with a crop of brown hair on his head. But Suzetta got everything else from her mother Vivianne, who's lush brown hair was pulled up into a bun. She wore a green summer dress and a matching hat. Her eyes were brown pools under the shade of the brim.

"We never stopped caring about you," Vivianne said.

"We are proud of who you are becoming," Fred added.

"But you're . . ."

"Dead?" Fred asked. "Moved on, yes. But soon you'll be ready to join us."

"But that means I'm . . . dead."

"Don't be afraid dear," Vivianne said, "It is natural and it isn't so bad in the end."

"Is this heaven?"

"So to speak," Vivianne said. "As long as the door remains open, you'll have a link to the living world. And until that door closes, we cannot be truly reunited."

Suzetta was silent.

A sudden throbbing pulse began again. Suzetta gripped the doorframe into the outer nothingness, seeking the source of the heartbeat throb. Another door flew open, a new portal in the white void, emitting golden light.

"Come back . . . it is not your time! Come back . . ."

Suzetta stared at the new doorway and the feminine voice coming through it. She had found them! Her family was here and she didn't want to leave. She grasped the door handle, ready to close it and move on and then stopped.

Taeryn.

The man was in trouble. Whatever Aruvious had planned for the young man, Suzetta knew it would be horrible.

And then she realized something more.

"Come back!"

As she recalled the fading image of Taeryn's face and voice she realized something, something which had been building with in her for the last week had come true.

"Come back!"

She loved him.

Tears running down her eyes, she gave Fred and Vivianne a final embrace of farewell.

"I cannot stay," she sobbed.

"We will wait for you in the hereafter," Fred answered.

"We love you," Vivianne smiled.

The apparition of her parents faded.

Resolutely, tears streaming from her face, she stepped into the new doorway.

She was lying on the ground, breathing hard. Her hands immediately reached out to her chest. The knife was gone, but she did feel an irregular scar, and underneath, a heartbeat. She blinked and rubbed her face and realized she had been crying. A figure was sitting over her, blurry and incomprehensible still, but slowly the world came back into sharp focus. The woman was an elf, with rich auburn hair, orange eyes and a fair and noble face. She was clad in chain mail, and over the armor, she wore a tabard of black and red, depicting a dragon's head.

"What happened? Who are you?" Suzetta asked.

"You were passing through the transitory plane," the elf replied. "As for me, I am Orissa Sal'ynarai, a knight of the Order of Nethsara."

"You were the voice," Suzetta muttered. She looked at Orissa, puzzled, "was I dead? I'm not sure if I was dreaming."

"You were dead," Orissa replied.

"Eliash . . ." Suzetta cursed in amazement.

"A complex spell can be used to bring one back," Orissa continued, "provided they don't close the door. Provided that they don't move on to the realm of the dead. Fortunately, I am trained in the arts of magical healing, and of course, resurrection."

"How did you find me . . . and why did you think to bring me back?"

"Fate," Orissa shrugged. "I can't explain it. I was riding down this way, on business of my own. I saw you, dead in your own blood, stabbed with a knife. Again, let me emphasize, I don't know why, but I felt it necessary that you come back. Something, some nebulous and ethereal presence told me it wasn't yet your time. I healed the wound and called you back." She held out a hand and helped Suzetta back to her feet.

"I am curious though," Orissa asked, "If you don't feel comfortable with this, don't answer, but what convinced you to listen?"

"Taeryn. A man named Taeryn. I need to rescue him," Suzetta said.

"Because he is in danger?"

"Because I love him."

Author's Note: As I was defining this world, the limits of magic came to my mind. Naturally, if I want to make a fantasy story realistic, there must be rules that I must follow, or nothing makes sense. Resurrection is one of the most difficult magics to work. It requires that the spellcaster heal the body and make contact with the soul of the recently departed, before the recently departed finishes her transitionary period (the limbo Suzetta found herself in) and moves on completely.

Orissa is another important character, found in other stories. She is a knight, a noble elf from an ancient time.

The curse may be out of place in this snippit. "Eliash!" is equivalent to saying "Jesus Christ!"