Chapter Text
The morning was still. Dead silence surrounded the eerie place, like a soft blanket—it fit better than anything. More than the rays of sunshine Leo could imagine painting the leaves a brighter shade of green and gliding through the water. More than darkness enveloping the bridge and the lake, only stars decorating the black sky and the moon that would gracefully land its gaze upon the lulling midnight blue carpet. No, both of those options were overwhelmed, no matter how beautiful they could appear in Leo‘s mind.
He knew his destination was far away, and that he had to get up at 4am today in order to get to the other side of the lake before noon. It was one of the biggest bodies of water in their country, not including the sea far off somewhere in the south side. If he were to walk around it, it‘d probably take a day (at his pace, anyways). That‘s what people usually did, they took the long way, mostly because they had transportation vehicles, and Leo did not.
However there was another reason. Barely anyone ever crossed the bridge that extended though the exact middle of the lake. Nobody knew when it was built, or why it only extended vertically across the huge area of Abyss—that’s what the locals named the lake, because no one knew how deep it was. Many tales and myths were created about the dark waters, and most of them were disturbing and foreboding. Leo liked them, though. Not that he believed any of it was true. Still, people avoided the bridge, whether they believed in the superstitions or not.
He had to admit, the atmosphere certainly wasn‘t a light one. The climate around these parts was considered terrible—it rained a lot, and fog often settled in after the rain. Such weather scared tourists away, and the locals had a hard time doing anything productive because of it. These days, a lot moved away to bigger cities and warmer climate that the north of the country couldn‘t provide.
Today‘s morning was foggy as well- the thick white wall minimized Leo‘s visual sight even more. He had gotten lost a lot of times while wandering around before, but at least now he had glasses his mother had finally bought for him. After a good half an hour on foot he finally took his first step on the sturdy wooden boards. Some trees were still poking out from the right side, as the bridge went slightly downhill first. He could already see the shore, and the dark grey water, too still to not be even a bit suspicious.
So far in his short eighteen years Leo had never tried crossing the lake. He had never even gone to another town, for that matter. His mother worked as a tailor and supported the family all on her own. His father had passed away when he was still a little boy. Fortunately enough, the townspeople often required her services so they didn‘t have to live on the streets. Sure, they couldn‘t exactly afford anything much, but as long as they were comfortable, it was fine. Leo usually helped her out. He had a way with his hands, which brought joy to his mother.
But, as he had finished high school two months ago, Leo had no choice but to enroll into a university. The closest one was, most predictably, at the other side of Abyss, in a city called Reveille. It was the only big place to actually have a university in these parts. Leo didn‘t want to move away too far from his mother, and his mother didn‘t want him to get up before dawn to go to his classes. They both made an agreement- Leo would move into Latowidge University‘s dorms, but she would have to accept him getting a job and sending her half of his earned salary.
He, after searching around many sites on his old and extremely loud computer (you could think someone was aggressively vacuuming inside of it by the sounds it made), had finally found a place looking for employees. It was a simple pet shop in some mall- it didn‘t require a lot of “people skills“ and only asked of the ability to get along with animals. That had done the deal for Leo. He was terrible at handling humans that weren‘t his mother, so the usual kind of retail work would‘ve been a catastrophe. He tried his best to suppress memories of being fired from the only real job he ever tried out before. It wasn‘t his fault the lady he had to help just so happened to be the most awful person he had ever met. Nope, not his fault at all.
The manager of the shop seemed like a very reserved, stoic person from the get-go when Leo had contacted him, which was the luckiest part of his future so far. Oswald (apparently managers with such names exist) said he had no problem with adjusting the schedule for a student, but he still needed an official job interview done before he could decide on anything.
And so, today Leo set off from his hometown, Sablier, for the first time in his life. It was a little bit exciting, but obviously not enough to at least act happy about getting up at such an early time. He had low blood pressure, and emerged from his bed like some ancient monster that was about to wreak havoc. His mother only laughed about his crow’s nest of a hair and helped him prepare. Sometimes Leo thought his mother was an angel, especially when he really needed the support.
She at first objected him going through the bridge (she was a little bit superstitious herself), but eventually agreed. They were currently in a pinch, since Leo‘s dorm fee and extra money for things like food and other important things took away most of her savings and monthly budget. He was grateful she didn‘t have to take a loan for his tuition, since he had gotten a free spot. Studying harder last year actually paid off.
If I pace myself correctly, I shouldn‘t waste too much energy, he decided and strolled further on. The weather wasn‘t exactly warm— but it rarely ever was, so Leo didn‘t feel too much of a difference. He had put on one of the bigger and thicker sweaters he owned, and it supplied enough warmth for him not to turn into a shivering popsicle.
Leo knew he would be close to water for around 4 hours, but he didn’t expect the bridge to look like it’s actually just floating on it. Or was it? No, that can’t be. The abutments are probably just built underwater in order for the structure to be as close to the bottom as possible. That was the only realistic explanation Leo could think of. He leaned over the handrail and stared at where he was sure you were supposed to see something. But the surface was still and only reflected, so all he got to see was his messy head and a part of the bridge.
He couldn’t waste time on standing around and trying to figure it out. It was very rare for him to be bothered by something so much altogether. Must be the atmosphere. Leo shook his head and hopped back on the boards. They made a slight creaking sound, too loud to belong to this lake.
The next few hours were filled with monotonous walking. Leo’s shoes didn’t make too much of a noise, the same rhythm minute after minute. Tap, tap, tap. But he was used to it. His mother would make this rhythm while sewing. One of the tempos he used when he played the old piano in their home. Three times people would knock in Sablier not to bring in any evil spirits into the home they came to.
To pass time, he started humming a tune he thought up. He was already working on a few pieces at home, but it was still fun to compose something new. The probability of Leo forgetting the melody by the time he was home was pretty big.
Strangely enough, he could hear a slight echo of his tune. It stuck very close, but he noticed it after a while. For the reverberation to exist such a space, with no forest around anymore and only water, was phenomenal. He looked at the water again, and stopped dead in tracks.
“It’s just my imagination, right?” Leo mumbled. He could swear he saw someone else’s shadow in there. It didn’t look like a fish, not even a big one. Not a crocodile or some mammal animal either, even if they could actually live here. It was a vague, but unmistakable human figure.
He looked back. No one was there. Of course no one could be there, it would be impossible to be this quiet. He then lifted up his eyes to the sky, looking for any signs of birds, but nothing was there as well. Leo stood there for a while. He was curious, too curious, and this was tempting him way too much. He persuaded himself on the idea of someone deep diving there, or maybe it was some animal he didn’t know. Probably dangerous, but intriguing nevertheless.
He crouched right next to the water, peeking through one of the spaces between two boards. He had to be careful and hold onto the wood in order not to fall in. The water looked almost like glass, with no sign of life within it. It couldn’t have been something alive if it was so calm, he knew that. He gazed at the surface for a little while, and was about to give up. If it’s nothing special, it isn’t interesting. He extended a hand towards the water. A pale hand reached back.
Leo retracted his hand and darted up as fast as lightning. Did- did that thing want to pull him in? The pale hand was still there, but it had faltered back, only the long snow white fingers still visible. Leo knew that he should run, he should get to the other side as fast as he could, and come back home by a bus. If he would even reach the land.
Leo vaguely remembered a story one of his mother’s clients once told him, then only a twelve year old brat that barely knew how to sew a button back in. She wove a story of tragedy and sorrow, of children that ventured into the dark waters of Abyss and never came back, trapped on the other side of the lake. For us it was water, for them it was a glass that they could not break. They did not feel the time there, some didn’t even age. They could only wander around the vast lake that had no bottom, frozen, emotionless. The old lady in a cloak then gave him a long, piercing look, even though Leo could not understand how he knew—she was most definitely blind.
Could this be one of those children? It came as a surprise, but Leo was definitely seeing something abnormal, and the story could be an explanation. He didn’t know if they could communicate or even feel the need to trace after another human. It could also be easily a deadly mermaid, or a kelpie that decided to hunt from the water itself now. If it was something that didn’t belong to the world of science and reason, it could be anything, good or bad.
Was he seriously considering some silly story for children to be true? But he felt it, how much he was actually hoping for such things to be true. There were many who wished for magic and otherworldly creatures to be real and he was one of them. Leo couldn’t just walk away from all of what was happening right now. He slowly came back to the water and now kneeled on one leg, gripping one of the horizontal boards for at least some reassurance- if the creature decided to try and get him into water, it probably wouldn’t help, but he still felt a bit safer.
“Who are you?” he asked, his voice coming out slightly high pitched. He wasn’t afraid, Leo was sure! The question was kind of dumb, you’d expect some book hero to say it, but not Leo.
The thing didn’t answer. Its pale, human hand reached up again, but once the fingertips touched the surface, they seemed to stop. As if something wasn’t allowing for it to pass the line between two different matters. It seemed so desperate, bumping at it again, and again, and then retracting the slender hand again.
A cry for help. Leo decided. He was going to do an incredibly dumb thing.
He reached out and plunged his hand into the stinging cold water, grabbing the creature further by its hand. Leo wasn’t strong, but he somehow managed to pull the whole body out. The water somehow felt like thick glue, as if it was trying to hold everything in itself.
They both fell down on the boards, splashing water around everywhere. Leo’s hand stung, but he still held onto that beautiful hand like his own life depended on it. He found it hard to breathe after such a feat, and tried his best not be an air sucking device.
The person, the young man was dressed in Victorian style clothing. Water trickled down his body and beige hair. He seemed to be having trouble breathing too, like a fish just taken out from the water. Which was, technically, what just happened.
“You alright there?” Leo asked, readjusting his glasses. He prodded the man—he couldn’t be more than twenty—with his foot, to which he actually reacted, unlike Leo’s words. His blue eyes were piercing, an eye colour Leo had never seen before.
“I am… fine.” His voice was quiet and unsure, like he had never said it out loud before. He gripped Leo’s hand tighter.
“Good to know. I’m Leo, by the way.” His savior answered him and gave the man a smile. He, in turn, seemed to relax a bit.
“My name is Elliot.”
Leo found himself a person from the myths themselves.What an eventful morning.