Void Home

Holly woke with a start, causing her thin comforter to slide to the floor. It only took her a moment to remember why today was special.

Hurriedly, she got dressed, pulling a small mirror out from under her bed, holding it at a distance. Looking in the mirror she saw a rather small creature, blonde hair cut straight at shoulder length, the blue of her dress matching her eyes. She shrugged and ran downstairs, throwing the mirror on her bed.

She skidded into the kitchen, grabbing a silver package that was dropped into her kitchen that morning. She broke open her breakfast rations, tipping it onto a plate, and out of the paper fell several silvery-black squid-like fish. Knowing time was short, she scarfed down her food as quickly as she could.

As she finished her meal, she heard the bells of the Hall toll. She stood quickly, leaving her kitchen a mess. Holly burst through her front door into the throng of people making their way to the Hall, some chatting interestedly, others in reverent silence. The Hall rose in beautiful spires, though the thoughtless often carved holes at the base, imagining what the Void must be. The foundation had so many holes it was a wonder the spires didn’t fall.

Holly went to stand at the front of the pews, being one of this decade’s children during the Renewal. She blushed a little as she glanced around at the other children...all of the other kids seemed younger than her. It was unusual for one as old as Holly to participate in Renewal selections...a benefit of losing her mother a decade ago, she mused. I doubt a 19 year old could even function as a Host, but who knows, she thought.

Her musings were cut short when the Sanctus emerged onto the stage. Their deep blue-black robes seemed to absorb light as they glided to their places. The robed figure in the middle held the Heart of Humanity, a large, silver heart shaped pendant with a seam in the middle, opening like a shutter door.

But something was off...one of the Sanctus was missing. The six on the stage were spaced as if the seventh were present, the gap making the pattern lopsided.

The absence of the seventh Sanctus caused some murmurings in the ground, until the bearer held the Heart in front of their chest, and all six bellowed, “EMPTY YOUR MIND OF THE MUNDANE!”

Everyone’s heads bowed, Holly’s included, but she couldn’t help but peek. That amulet held so much fascination for Holly...she remembered when her school went to see it, when she was six. She remembered the intricate carvings and swirling patterns, seeming almost to move if you looked too long. She even dreamed about it, a few times.

The booming voices called abruptly, making Holly jump.

“TYLER ALABASTER!”

A moment passed before a startled looking teen was pushed to the front by his neighbors, and he walked slowly to the front. The Hall murmured, smatterings of applause being quickly concluded. Heads were bowed again, eyes shut save Holly’s, who couldn’t help watch the Sanctus march Tyler down the aisle. She couldn’t help feeling a bit jealous of him…he was going to make history.

The procession stopped abruptly. Holly wondered why, until she saw the Heart-bearer staring at her beneath their hood. She hurriedly closed her eyes...

“HOLLY OLAVA.”

Holly jumped so hard she accidentally fell sideways into the child next to her, knocking him over. Holly opened her eyes, and was a mixture of awe and terror to see one of the Sanctus standing immediately next to her.

“Follow us.” intoned the robed figure, and the procession began to march again, still flanking the chosen Host by the shoulder. Holly panicked...Did they see her peeking? What do they do with peekers? Numbly, her feet carried her along in their wake, silence save their footfalls the only evidence of their parting.

Half an hour passed as the procession made the journey across the city from the Halls, to the Home. Holly hesitated on the threshold, not wanting to trespass on sacred ground, but the robed man in the back beckoned her on. Her fear was quickly quashed by the beauty of the main entryway, and her jaw dropped.

The main hall of the Home was a massive dome, blackened like the night sky. Facsimiles of stars made of diamond twinkled in the low light, cast by the soft glow of hanging orbs, and obsidian pillars held the faux-sky aloft, the floor shining pearlescent like the inside of an oyster shell. On the far side of the hall was a massive set of circling stairs in the same material as the floor, and the sides were lined with contrasting black doors, each marked with strange silver symbols.

Suddenly, she saw the procession break their path: The two Sanctus leading Tyler took him off to a side room marked with the only symbol Holly knew, a circle with a dot in it, the symbol of the Host. The remaining four faced Holly, staring in silence until she felt uncomfortable.

“I’m sorry my eyes were open, I didn’t-”

They spoke to her in unison, the total sound of their combined voices a soft rumble.

“Do you know why you were brought here?”

After a pause, Holly replied, responding with the intonation of prayer taught to her for when she spoke in the presence of the void. “I don’t, nor can I guess, with my simple thoughts. I am blessed to have them silenced in your-”

“Quiet.” the Sanctus interrupted in unison. “There is no need to lie. You are not being punished. But you are needed. We chose you as a replacement for our late Sanctus.”

Moments passed, with Holly’s mind feeling more numb with each passing second. Her mouth was dry when she finally spoke. “I’m sorry?” she squeaked.

“You are the youngest Sanctus ever considered, but your mind sings clearly in a population of clouded thoughts. With your permission, we will teach you to think.”

Holly stared. Teach her to think? But she always thought, except in the Halls. “I don’t think you want me as-”

“You will be taught. Follow us.” They walked into one of the side halls. Holly, defeated, followed. The four robed figures turned to face her again.

“And now,” said the Heart-bearer in a much kinder voice, without being echoed by the others, “we can talk freely.”

The robed figures hugged Holly, laughing and congratulating her, making her confusion all the more exasperated.

Holly awoke a week later with a start, excitement building in her chest. Today is the day! She quickly bounced out of her bed and ran to the window, looking out over the low rooftops. The sky’s typical sunrise was obscured by a comforting black mass, slowly making its way to the city from the horizon. Holly danced in awe, then immediately began getting dressed, pulling the deep purple and black robe over her skinny frame.

She checked her mirror one more time to adjust her fit, marveling at how mature and regal it made her look.

All last week, the Sanctus taught her her duties, her rights, her abilities. She heard about the universe in ways she never had imagined before.

And today, she would see it.

She burst through her chamber door, embossed in a silver symbol she got to make herself, a twisty branch that would be put into the texts to mean “Holly,” marking her time as a Sanctus. She ran down the shining, pearlescent hall floor, showing her excitement in a way her mother never let her, keeping in mind that she must hide this individual mindset and act in unison in the eyes of the public.

Are you on your way? Holly heard the voice of Rachel in her mind. No one begrudges your excitement, but you must hurry.

Holly smiled before thinking back, Yup! Got to see the Void on the horizon...I’m so excited! One of the first things she was taught was sharing a mind, a required skill for her job. It took more than one mind to contain the words of the Void.

She hurried to the door of the hall, where Rachel and the others were waiting for her. Rachel handed Holly the Heart of Humanity.

“Don’t drop it. It can get pretty wild,” she said with a wink. Holly smiled. As the youngest, she was the new Heart-bearer, and couldn’t be prouder.

The Host’s lodging door opened, and he emerged, flanked by two Sanctus, dressed in the customary silvery-lace livery, the intricate patterns criss-crossing across his chest, legs, and neck, with a hole in the pattern at his collarbone. He was led up the winding stairs, emerging on the roof of the Home.

Circular patterns were engraved in gold on the floor, a pattern that only the Sanctus and the Hosts would ever see. In the center was an ornate obsidian throne, with depictions of manafish carved into the back and legs of it.The sky darkened, as the host was led to the throne. The bell of the Hall tolled out from the other side of the town. Holly knew that below in the streets, thousands of heads were bowed, their eyes shut, to prevent their impure thoughts from interfering with this ritual. The black blot in the sky was nearly upon them...it slid above them, seeming to descend, but could have easily just been growing in size.

Holly stepped forward in front of the Host, feeling Olivia’s words echo out of her and the other Sanctus’ mouths.

“Enter this Host, and speak.”

Holly put the Heart onto the exposed collarbone of the host, where it seared into his skin immediately. The Sanctus stepped back, rounding to the front of the throne as Tyler screamed and whimpered in pain. The doors of the heart opened like a shuttered window, and billowing blackness engulfed them as visions of infinity stretched their imagination.

Jeweled stars danced in Holly’s eyes, dwarfing the beauty of the diamond encrusted ceilings of Home. Swirling galaxies dazzled her, the pearlescent floors of the dismal obsidian building beneath her a pale imitation. Holly saw for the first time how unendingly massive the whole of creation was, and that she was one of seven allowed to comprehend it. Hours passed like minutes, and they shared the joy of their rapture.

When the visions began to fade, Holly felt a minor panic set in, not wanting to let the beauty of the cosmos go, until she realized that she could see this again 6 more times in her life, once a decade until she died. This comforted her, and she let go, allowing the darkness to recede back into the locket, and she returned to her senses, giddy, until the horror of the charred corpse on the obsidian throne shocked her back to reality.

She felt bile in her throat. She heard Rachel’s voice. “I know, Holly. It’s harsh, but it’s a needed sacrifice.” Holly tried to hold her tears back, before hearing Rachel’s voice in her head. It is okay to cry, too.

Holly cried. The others formed a circle around the remains of Tyler Alabaster, raising their arms as the black mass above them slid away into the sunset, and the sky opened, dumping tons of tentacle fish over the buildings and streets of Town. The ritual completed, the Sanctus began to walk back inside, leaving Holly in the raining fish.

You coming in? You’ll want to bathe, thought Rachel.

Holly sobbed, the horrors and wonders of the day sinking in. The burnt body of a child on an obsidian throne. The pristine beauty of the universe that she could only view six more times before she died, as she now knew, at age seventy-eight. A manafish smacked her in the head.

She shuddered, and sobbed.

Then she walked inside, and took a bath.