Beyond the Glow

Chapter 24

My vision flickers in and out, and almost all I can see is how dark it is. Thunder booms around me, rattling my teeth with the intensity, and I'm soaked in the rain that's pouring down. I pry my eyes open again, seeing the dark sky. My neck aches, but I turn it anyways, trying to see what happened. 

I half expect to see the wall of my old room, but instead I face crumbled rocks and other debris. A raindrop trickles into my eye, and I close myself off from the world once more. 

{}{}{}{}{}{}{}{}{}{}{}{}{}{}{}

There's a scuffling, and I pry open my eyes open to see that girl, the one with the dark hair I've been seeing all day scrambling over the rocks and stone towards me. She's dressed completely in black, except for a charm bracelet around her wrist. It glitters silver and gold, and I find my eyes drawn to it. I can feel magic radiating from her, and the part of me that appeared earlier, shies away from it. 

The girl with the dark hair comes closer, and notices I'm awake. She holds something in a clenched fist, and as she draws nearer, the darker part of my mind slinks farther away. I sit up, trying to get my beaten muscles to stand and run. This must be the one Len said would come, and judging by the purpose in her steps, she had made her decision. 

I didn't plan on staying to find out whether she chose to get rid of me or not. 

But my muscles didn't listen, and instead of getting away, I just ended up on my back again. I reached for the magic as she drew closer, for the raw power that surrounded me, but my conscious slipped through it. Not grabbing a bit to hold onto, but instead just moving through it as if swimming. 

The voice, I need the voice. It needs to wake up... Tell me what to do... I thought, reaching into the corner and yanking the stubborn thing out. It clung to the walls of my mind, but I pulled relentlessly, watching in panic as the woman drew closer. 

Awaken already! 

Get up! 

Help me!

The voice remained oblivious to my pleas, instead slinking farther away as the woman reached out towards me. I closed my eyes, feeling the exhaustion pull at me. At least I wouldn't have to feel much pain if I was asleep. I wearily opened them one last time seeing her reach me at last. Her face wasn't calm or relieved now, but looked a bit panicked. 

Strange, that's not the way I imagined a killer would act when she was about to take down her quarry. I let my eyes close again, and my ears filled with a white noise that consumed everything, even the strange chattering in my ear.

My arm lifted, but something was off. I could feel it move, but the actual feeling in my skin was gone, replaced by a dull numbness. My wrist flopped around a bit, then something was placed around it, and the numbness began to disappear. The thing in my mind reared, and I felt invisible chains wrap around it. 

It fought back, kicking and thrashing in defiance. My legs shook, and I felt my arm with the strange device on it begin to heat up. The chains tightened, and I felt the change as they took hold. Like my mind was in a cloud that was suddenly blown away in a large gust of wind. 

Finally it calmed, and I could almost see it retreating in my mind back to the corner it had come from. 

 I will be back. Echoed around my head, and I felt a headache begin to throb in my temple violently. As sleep claimed me, I opened my eyes one last time to see the woman had gone, replaced by a tall figure shadowed by the rain clouds behind their head. 

{}{}{}{}{}{}{}{}{}{}{}{}{}{}{}

I bound over the rocks, and don't look back. At least I got to her before the guards sent to sweep the wreckage had found her. Wreckage she created, I shudder, this isn't right. She didn't have the lamp, so she can't be the one I seek, right?