The Primordials: Death's Fury (Book One)

Chapter IV: PRP (Pt.1)

      At that point, it felt like it was trying its damnedest to kill me. There was a weird chill up my spine, I was in growing pain, I couldn't move or breathe, and I was losing consciousness. And I'm guessing Trik was having just as much trouble. I needed to do something quickly, otherwise, we both would die.

      Out of desperation, I closed my eyes and began to concentrate. I knew struggling was bound to be a waste of effort since this spirit energy was much heavier than mine and too overwhelming to force through, but I had to try something.

      Surprisingly, just as I began to focus on creating a barrier around myself, I felt the tendrils suddenly loosen and let us go.

      Once the spirit energy withdrew, I collapsed in a wheezing fit and gasped for air, causing Trik to rush over.

      "Lisa!" He rubbed my back as I continued what felt like a series of attempts to hack up an organ.

      "Breath. Breath," he instructed.

      The coughing began to cease, allowing me to catch my breath finally. I tried standing up but felt an immediate rush of vertigo and ended up remaining on the ground for a few more minutes.

      Looking out, I could see the darkness was now further into the forest. I didn't have to see him to know who was at its center now. Seeing the vast energy emitting from the forest, ready to trap any poor soul that entered, felt like Death had a sign saying BEWARE: ALL TRESPASSERS WILL DIE.

      "I've never experienced anything like that." I finally spoke. Just looking at it made me feel sick with fear.

      "Neither have I," Trik responded hoarsely. "I'd say we've found Death without a doubt."

      "Yeah." Standing up took some effort, but I got my bearings and wiped the dirt from my legs and butt, "No human has spirit energy that large, and I'm sure only Death has one as menacing as that," I said, gesturing towards the forest. "And the fact that some of it could still be perceived as darkness without sensing it must mean it's pretty dense."

      "So...now that we've found Death, we need to figure out a way to get to him. I wonder why he keeps his energy out like that. It's like he's trying to keep people away."

      Trik raised an eyebrow, "He?"

      "Well yeah, the texts mentioned how the Primordials always reincarnate as the same gender. Hold on." I moved my hair aside to turn on my c-chip so that I could send some of their files to him.

      "Whoa, that's a new look. I don't believe I've noticed that in your hair before," Trik stated, tilting his head to see more of the right side of mine.

      I immediately froze. Now, I'm aware my hair's not at its best right now, but for the life of me, I couldn't think of anything I'd done to it that would stand out.

      "What is it?" I asked skeptically.

      Trik drifted to me and revealed a streak of hair extending from the ridge of my head, pulling it from behind my ear. To my astonishment, it was primarily silver with strands of brown in different parts. I took it from him, staring at it in disbelief.

      My mind reeled. I thought, How the hell did this happen?!

      A mixture of emotions swirled within me, making me want to cry one minute, then hit something the next.

      I decided to focus on the latter. I needed a target: someone to blame.

      There's no way this just happened. I'm only 19! Still young! Grey hair shouldn't be an issue for me for decades! So how-

      "The spirit energy?" I said out loud, turning to look at the darkness. Trik was already in front of me, hovering above, looking in the same direction; he appeared deep in thought.

      "I agree," he said while slowly descending. "It wasn't there before we encountered that dreadful energy. When it took hold of me, I felt an increased level of fear and panic then I began to short-circuit before activating the prisms. When it touched you, how did it feel?"

      "Pretty much the same minus the short-circuiting. I felt a pain manifest that seemed to slowly intensify the longer I stayed, but I was paralyzed and couldn't move or scream. I couldn't breathe either."

      "I don't think it was paralysis," Trik stated. "If that were the case, it couldn't have immobilized me too due to me not having muscles or a nervous system. I think we both were simply overpowered. It held us in place with its strength."

      "Either way, I couldn't move," I responded sharply.

      "And like I said, there was also weird pain growing." Recalling the experience, I added, "I don't know, it was almost as if I was being...decomposed from the inside out... I'm just glad it stopped when it did."

      "Well, Death causes death, right," Trik stated, making an obvious assumption.

      "Right..." I responded.

      "Then, if I had to guess, that's also a property of his spirit energy. If he's death incarnate, it makes sense for his spirit energy to be able to kill whatever it encounters. We're just lucky we dropped in at the edge where it's weakest; otherwise, we could've been killed instantly."

      I was still pissed about my hair, but I knew it wasn't the time to focus on it right now. I'll definitely be coming back to it later. Some way, I'll get Death to fix what he's done.

      "Ok, so the grey hair came from his spirit energy starting to kill me basically. Putting that aside for now, how are we supposed to meet Death if we can't get close to him?" I asked while fidgeting with the streak of hair.

      "Those prisms I mentioned are the only things that help counteract the effects a Primordial's spirit energy has on people. Unless you're hiding some in your body too, I'm not sure," He said jokingly. Then he glanced at me precariously.

      "D-Do you-?"