Jaden tried to crawl forward, managing a couple of feet before needing to rest. The winds had changed direction, now blowing against him. He had to use all of his strength just to move an inch. But no matter how hard he tried, they would not allow him to move any further forward, the elements boasting far greater power than he did.
Suddenly his heart felt as if it had been gripped in a vice. His chest seemed to be collapsing from the pressure. He tried to cry out, to scream in agony, but no sound came. The invisible bonds that had turned the blood in his veins to ice had paralysed him again, melting seconds later and allowing him to stand. A powerful blast of wind knocked him high into the air. He rolled down the hill, sustaining little injury as the grasses padded his fall. Kneeling as he held his chest with his left arm, he looked back up the hill. He could only just make out the figure of the boy ahead.
How could he reach him? It seemed impossible. He would be frozen in fear whenever he was too close to the boy. The boy had a power, something strong enough to control another’s mind and body. But somehow Jaden knew he couldn’t give up. He had to keep trying.
As he was about to stand, he felt a presence next to him. It came as an invisible being at first, a force not of this world, but as he looked to his right, he saw that it was a young woman in light, draped garments, gray under the light that still remained. She looked several years older than him and had long sun-streaked brown hair, beautifully shaped features, tanned skin and an athletic frame. She held the appearance of one who spent most of her time outdoors, living in the wilderness, but possessed the beauty and refinement of royalty. If she were decorated in jewels and gold, she would have resembled a queen, but she wore nothing except the draped robes that blew slightly behind her in the wind.
There was something very strange about her. Her hair and clothes were affected by the wind, but nothing else. She was immune to this world’s hazards, able to move freely as if there were nothing here of danger.
Jaden’s blood had seemingly frozen again, unable to even turn his head anymore. He could feel the spears moving around him, but now they were flying in random orbits. He braced himself for the pain that would soon come as they began to lightly jab at his consciousness. The woman could help him. He was not alone this time. He tried to call out to her, but still couldn’t even manage a whisper. Why wasn’t she doing anything?
He gained movement in his neck again, able to look up to see a minute ball of white circling him. It travelled quickly and faded out before it left his vision, but returned shortly after with a new rotation. More of these balls began to circle him, shooting around and sometimes through him. They felt hot as they passed through his flesh, and they inflicted the same pain as the spears had. He soon realised that these tiny balls of light were what he had been feeling. They were the spears, and now there were hundreds of them all around him. They blocked his vision from the greater danger in the distance, a rush of air so powerful it lifted up the ground itself, dust and rock now flying in a circular motion as if he were inside a giant tornado, and its outer edges were collapsing in toward him. He did not see it until it was only twenty yards beyond the boy.
Jaden had to save the boy.
The boy wasn’t moving, not even flinching in the dust storm. Jaden tried to signal for the woman to go help him. She was his only hope. But the woman no longer stood nearby. She was gone, seemingly vanished into the darkness from which she came.
It was up to him. He had to do something. The dust was almost upon the boy. Jaden managed to move his right foot forward, and then his left as he almost stood, but fell forward as another blast of wind hit him. It held him down so that he was lying at the bottom of the hill, unable to do anything more than watch as the dust storm whipped the boy away in its merciless fury. It then seemed to turn its attention on him and move in for a second kill. But his fighting spirit was gone with the boy, and he sat there, motionless.
As the final yard was closed between them, he screamed out in agony and lost his grip from the ground, taken up into the darkness of no return.
He woke then from the recurring haunted dream, his head still against the log as he tossed and turned, crying out as if still in the grip of the storm. He quieted and held his chest tightly—his cheek firmly pressed against the ground as he rolled over and curled his body. For the next few minutes he did not move, breathing deeply to help soften the sharp pains still inside him.
He opened his eyes. Morning had come. Thick cloud cover blocked the sun, making him think for one terrible moment he had woken to the same dreamed reality. It had been the worst dream yet, leaving him feeling drained of all energy and suffering from a burning fever. He began to cough uncontrollably. The sickness was getting worse again. Before he could seek revenge, he would have to get to the mountain toward the two highest peaks, where his grandfather had said the water was good. Jaden had since decided this meant that the water would heal him. It had to be the cure. That’s why Vennoss had instructed him to go there after learning of the sickness.