THE APPRENTICE II

50

In the middle of this cave that had its floors frozen and smooth. The air was thin and slid down their nostrils easily. In the middle of this cave was a table, so overflowing with blood it oozed and dropped down to the floor. They had arrived just in time to see Yomer suck the energy out of the last standing spirit. Heskit instantly went for Tal, and red lights began shooting all over the place as they fought to the death.

Because of his newfound energy, the man grew three other faces and four other set of arms. Red lights shot from his eyes and blood dribbled down his hands. Hazel conjured up another rope in an attempt to tie him down, but her physical condition only gave him the upper hand. Slowly, he dragged her towards him.

"Can't you see, little girl? I'm a god, now!" He croaked and let out a confident laugh. This man was drunk with power, the lights coming  from his body that could've been seen from miles away. All the destruction he was causing began to manifest into reality, the mountain rumbling and icicles falling.

"One more sacrifice won't hurt." He hummed  as he dug the sword deeper into her side, making her let out a blood curdling cry. She was so disgusted by the drops
Hazel focused her mind and green rings began to form, slowing down Yomer's attempt at escaping. There was a presence in her mind that intruded the deepest part of it. As soon as she locked eyes with the man, she knew. "I know your fears, the demons that haunt you to this day. You've pushed them down, but they can always crawl back up."

Suddenly the imagery of the mountains and its temple began to melt away into a dark and sullen sky. She didn't have to see all of it to know where he was taking her— how could she forget? The dark and corrupted energy of Havoc enveloped her, the icy floors warping into concrete, muck and blood covered ones. In no time, she was back in the labyrinth. She shut her eyes and took a deep breath.

"This isn't real." She whispered to herself.

Yomer harnessed the dark and fearful energy she was creating, his force growing more and more omnipotent. The familiar, golden cracks began to develop on her skin. She fortified the defenses of her mind and calmed herself down through deep breaths. She was stopped when a hand grabbed her ankle.

She recognized whose it was, instantly. Stephen's scarred hand gripped onto her for dear life, shaking, bleeding. He was on the ground, his eyes sunken in and face filled with cuts and sweat. Behind him was a stack of dead bodies from the monastery, with Wong and Heskit's lifeless ones right on the top of it.

"Why, Hazel? You should've just stayed home." He cried out, his voice weak and lifeless. She knelt down to face him.

"You're not real. None of this is real." She whispered to herself. "I resisted Havoc. I overcame the labyrinth,"

"This wasn't them, this was you." Stephen revealed, and his face warped into disgust. Her heart dropped at the revelation and her eyes began to water. "How do you think Yomer is getting all this energy from you? This dark energy? Everyone has darkness, Hazel, but you are exceptionally vulnerable to it. I should've killed you when I had the chance."

All the destructive thoughts began to pool back into her mind like an endless barrage. Little did she know, in the 3D, her skin was starting to fall off, piece by piece. Heskit was alerted by this and stopped for a moment. He clicked his tongue and, with the wave of a hand, Tal's eyes went completely white.

"Yomer!" He yelled out, and Tal broke off an icicle from the cave. He, against his will, stuck it to his own neck and turned to his father. "I'm going to kill him. Leave Hazel Wolfe alone,"

"Heskit, but that's cheating! Oh, this is rich. You? Using forbidden mysticism?" He let out a cocky smirk, the flow from the sorcerer's body to his beginning to weaken. "I thought you were noble,"