Both men started toward the sound, and Scorio saw a third rectangular hole, dark against the smoldering copper floor.
“We’re here,” called Leonis, his voice resonant. The kind of voice, Scorio thought, that would carry easily over a battlefield.
“I can’t get out,” said the woman, her tone tense, just shy of panic.
The two men hurried over and crouched on either side of the opening. A pale face peered up at them, little more than a smudge in the gloom below.
“Here,” said Scorio, lying down to extend his arm to her. “Grab my hand.”
She lunged up and clasped his wrist. Leonis reached in and together they pulled her out.
She was tall, pale, her frame angular, with a long mane of hair so dark it seemed to drink in the burning light and reflect nothing back but a single, shimmering line of blue across her head. She reflexively curled a long strand behind her ear as she stared at the amber shaft, and Scorio saw her eyes go wide in shock.
“Oh,” she whispered.
Leonis balanced lightly on the balls of his feet, his teeth gleaming through his beard as he grinned. “Quite the sight, isn’t it?”
“And apologies in advance. We’ve no idea what it is. Or where we are.” Scorio rose to his feet, turning to face the huge amber slash full on.
“The name’s Leonis,” murmured the large man.
“Lianshi,” said the woman, tone distracted. She took in the vast emptiness of the rest of the room, the way the copper floor extended out into the darkness, with only the umber walls that met on either side of the beam giving the room definition. Even these, titanic as they were, faded away into the distance, giving no hint as to the true size of the space in which they stood.
“I’m Scorio.” He glanced at the foot of her rectangle. “And you’re 723.”
Leonis frowned, scrutinized the incisions, then glanced back at his own opening. “You think the numbers mean something?”
“They must,” said Scorio. “Otherwise, why go through the effort of carving them into metal?”
“Is this… are we dead?” Lianshi’s voice was tremulous. “I remember… a dream of… but no.” She frowned, gave a sharp shake of her head. “It’s gone.” She paused, then her frown deepened. “It’s all gone.”
“All gone?” asked Scorio. “How so?”
There was fear in her gaze. “My life. I can’t remember… just my name. Lianshi. But beyond that, my home, my parents, who I was, what I did—it’s all gone.”
Scorio frowned and realized the same loss; the sudden awareness of the aching void within him hit him like a hammer blow to the chest. He staggered and took a step back.
Leonis plunged both hands into his long hair and wrapped his forearms around his temples, squeezing tight as he turned first one way, then the other. “She’s right. I can’t….” He trailed off, then blew out a deep breath. “All gone.”
For a moment the three of them said nothing, simply stared at each other in shock. Finally, Scorio forced a smile. “Fine. All our memories are gone but for a lingering dream of death. Odds are we’re dead. Which… would make this the afterlife.”
“But I breathe,” said Leonis. “And feel pain. I scraped my forearm climbing up.”
Lianshi surreptitiously pinched her own arm and winced.
“I didn’t say it was a logical afterlife, and we sure won’t figure this out sitting here,” said Scorio. “How about we take a closer look at that light?”
“All right. Good idea.” Leonis’s tone had grown assured once more. “Not that there’s a lot of options.”
Scorio extended a hand to the woman. “You coming?”
“Like he said. I don’t think there’s much of a choice.” Lianshi rose smoothly to her feet without aid. “But thank you for asking.”
A cry of effort yanked their attention off to the side, where another shadowy figure was struggling out of a distant tomb. Scorio took off at a sprint as the figure began to slide slowly back into the hole. He leaped over sealed tombs, footsteps echoing off the copper floor, and just as the slender figure let out a cry and slipped all the way in, he dove, crashing down just before the hole and sliding the last few feet to grab hold of her wrist.
But he had nothing to brace himself against, and momentum coupled with her weight pulled him in after; all he could do was panic and resolve not to let go as his head and shoulders slid into the darkness. He was about to topple in altogether when someone grasped his ankles tight and hauled him back.
He grunted in pain but held on. With Leonis’s help, he worked his way back out into the amber light and pulled her after him. Her thick hair was in disarray, covering her face, and for a moment she simply lay on her side, massaging her wrist as she stared, transfixed, at the beam of amber.
“It’s all right,” said Lianshi, crouching down beside her and reaching out tentatively to touch her shoulder. “I mean, it’s—well. Not all right. But—well.” She broke off, took a breath, and tried again. “Hello. I’m Lianshi. We think we might all be dead, but we’re not sure.”
The small woman pushed herself up to sitting. She had a narrow, saturnine face with thick, striking eyebrows above piercing eyes, and she tore her gaze away from the glowing beam to study them in helpless anger. “Dead?”
“It’s the theory we’re working with,” said Leonis, sitting back with a sigh. “Though honestly, this doesn’t feel much like death. We don’t know how else to explain it. I’m Leonis, by the way.”
Scorio was too restless to remain seated, so he rose and studied the hammered plain of copper, the feverish glow of the reflection undulating out across its surface. “Are all these tombs going to open up?”
“If so, it’s going to take a while,” said Leonis. “There’s an awful lot of them.”
“Tombs,” said Lianshi with a shudder. “Can we think of a better name for them?”
“Wombs?” asked Leonis.
“Let’s stick with tombs,” said Lianshi.
Scorio turned back to the new stranger. “We’d just decided to investigate that glowing light when you arrived.”
The woman nodded, a vertical line between her brows, and drew a deep, shuddering breath. “All right. Yes. I’m Asha.”
“Scorio. Good to meet you.”
She frowned up at him but took his hand and allowed him to help her stand. “Thank you. For helping me when I was falling.”
“Hey, don’t mention it. Jumping in and out of tombs is all I seem to do these days.”
Asha stared at him strangely, but Leonis grunted in amusement and clapped him on the shoulder. “Let’s work on getting you a new hobby.”
The four of them stood clustered together, facing the light, their fronts painted in hues of orange and gold.
“Should we wait to see if anyone else emerges?” asked Lianshi.
“I say we get some answers first,” said Scorio. “I’m not sure I can stand not knowing what’s going on for much longer.”
“Agreed,” said Asha, arms tightly folded across her chest. “But… do you keep… I don’t know—reaching for something that’s not there?”
“How so?” asked Lianshi.
Asha’s face screwed up in annoyance. “I can’t quite explain it. Like the sensation you get when you think there’ll be another step at the top of a flight of stairs and there isn’t. That moment of disorientation. I keep… reaching for something. Within me. And it’s not there.”
They all studied her.
“I’m not crazy,” she said, voice sharp. “I’m just being honest.”
Leonis raised both hands. “Nobody said you were.”
“Reaching for something,” mused Scorio. “No. Haven’t felt that yet.”
“Never mind,” said Asha. “Forget I mentioned it.”
“It’s all right,” said Lianshi. “We’re all out of our element here.”
“Let’s focus on getting some answers.” Scorio began walking. “And if we’re lucky, someone to blame for this mess. Hell of a way to run the afterlife.”