As he ran, the Alliance uniform he wore caught on several branches he hadn’t seen, forcing him to slow down. The storm was continuing to close in, lightning strikes and strong wind gusts becoming more frequent. With a final burst of energy, he made it through a small mass of tangled vines to see Raquel running to the other end of a bridge made of wood and rope. It seemed old, made decades ago to allow travellers a way across the river beneath. Jaden hesitated at the edge. The water was flowing quickly to his right, where he could hear the sound of it crashing far below over the cliff only thirty yards away.
‘We must hurry!’ Raquel called out from almost the other side. ‘We don’t have long!’
Jaden stepped carefully onto the bridge, trying to find his balance as it swayed erratically in the wind. He then looked up at Raquel at the other end and started to run across as she had, but he had not noticed that many of the planks were missing and broken. He jumped one hole only to land in another with his right foot, his left striking the next plank hard and breaking through it.
‘Help!’ he yelled, grabbing onto the rope as his legs dangled in the water.
Raquel turned to come and help him, but his strength was already at an end. His fingers slipped with the rushing water taking his legs away, and he fell backward into the river. He went under, tumbling through the water as he struggled to find the surface. He managed to kick off the stones underneath and then swim upward, where he was able to glimpse Raquel for a second, standing helpless and searching for him from the bridge before he went over the edge. For the next seconds, his chest seemed to deflate and his heart seemed to enter his mouth. He was falling fast with water all around him. He couldn’t see or breathe, sure that he was now plummeting to his death.
He hit the surface below with a splash unseen among the falling water. The water pushed him downward as he sank deep into the river. Although the impact should have rendered him unconscious, he was still aware and in control of his movements. He used the last of his energy to hold his breath, waiting for the currents to release him and allow him to float upward. As he felt himself nearing the surface he let his breath out, and then swam gradually toward the closest bank.
As he climbed out of the river, Jaden felt a rush of adrenalin. He had made it! He had fallen from the cliff top all the way down and had remained alive, somehow. But he had lost Raquel. She would think him dead and go on without him. He began coughing loudly, from the sickness and the water in his lungs. What was he to do now? He had to try to find her again, but she was so fast. To keep pace with her was hard enough. To outrun her seemed impossible. All that he could hope for was that she would take time to try to find him, giving him a chance to make some ground of his own.
He made his way clumsily through the trees, stumbling across the uneven ground as he pushed himself to go on. The storm lit up with a series of flashes, reminding him that it was still a danger to be feared and urging him onward with its thunder. He reached a mountainside a minute later, mainly of grass and rock but littered with small groups of trees offering a little shelter on the way up. The top was far above him, but it was a smooth slope, without too many steep areas or cliffs. If he followed it north, he would be able to get back to the same height at which he had last seen Raquel. He would need to be swift, but at least he could get there. She might even be waiting for him, he thought, but knew it unlikely. Even the Daijuar would not expect someone to survive what he just had.
The wind roared loudly as he reached halfway, pushing him to his knees. The storm was almost right above him now. He could see the rain falling in waves only a few miles away. He would be out in the open, at its mercy as he waited to bear the full brunt of its force. He turned over to lie on his back, watching the relentless lightning strikes crisscrossing the sky. He knew he had to go on, but he did not move. He had heard the voice on the wind again, whispering to him, calling for him, speaking words he could not understand.
A fit of coughing took over him as he curled over, placing one hand on his chest and the other on the ground for support. He felt sharp pains in his sides, like the strange spears he had encountered at the waterfall in Callibra and in the dreams. The world around him spun as the earth seemed to clutch at his legs and hands. He rolled over to escape but his back was gripped in the same manner. He felt himself being pulled into the earth as if a shallow grave was opening up for him.
He coughed a final time then all went quiet. Lightning still lit up the sky, the wind still rushed through the trees, but he could hardly hear them, as if they were figments of his imagination and he was now trapped within his mind. A strange sensation had overcome him. He could feel the land around him, could feel the power of the storm. He was free to move, not only his body, but anything he wished—rocks, trees, even the storm itself. He turned over to lie on his back once more, facing the blackened clouds coming his way. He put his hand out as if to push them away, his hand feeling as if it were on fire as he did, but in that instant, lightning struck one of the small groups of trees nearby, startling him out of his trance and sending shards of splintered wood and stone flying toward him. He put his arms over his head to protect himself, allowing the fragments to strike him with full force.