Breaking The Balance

Breaking The Balance - Desperate Times, Desperate Measures

To awake in complete darkness is to barely wake at all. Jordan awoke in an inky blackness darker than the deepest depths of the ocean. He panicked, spinning his head around and blinking frantically in an attempt to regain his sight – to find something, anything that would relieve the burning fear of the unknown in Jordan's soul. There was no difference between his eyes being closed and his eyes being open, it was as if they never closed in the first place. Panic arose in Jordan's chest, constricting his lungs and causing his breath to come in short pants.

Tick tock.

The whisper in his ear echoed through his mind, bouncing and reverberating in an ever increasing crescendo of fear and terror. His limbs flailed frantically, swatting and kicking in a desperate attempt to rid him of the demons that were surrounding his shaking form. With his sight failing him, Jordan's other senses began to increase in sensitivity – attempting to deal with the black void of insanity Jordan was struggling not to fall in. The whistling of the wind seemed louder them before, its cold touch brushing against Jordan's skin and raising goose bumps on his skin. The hairs on the back of Jordan's neck stood on end, the prickling sensation slithering down his spine in a vain attempt to warn him of danger.

These creatures work for me. One of your friends works for me. Your lady died because of me. Andor lost his wings because of me. Yet here you sit, pathetic and weak in the darkness of your own mind because you cannot make a difference. You retrieved the memories I took from you, but at what cost? What's the point of having information if you can't share it with those it could save?

A spine chilling laugh echoed around the void, in which Jordan remained, trapped in the darkness of his own mind whilst his friends suffered in the real world.

-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-

"What do you mean he's in a coma?"

"The procedure failed, he's been driven into himself and we do not know how much damage we caused. Who knows how long it could be before he wakes up!"

"If he wakes up."

Jordan's prone form lay on the bed in Martha's cottage. His breathing was slow and quiet as if he was making little effort to keep himself alive. Various enchantments and incantations had been used; attempts to awaken him had all failed. All hope seemed lost. Guilt filled the air.

"If we had just listened to him, trusted him when he asked for our help... Maybe he wouldn't be lying in that bed if we had actually helped him; maybe he wouldn't have gone to such extremes to seek the truth..."

"There's no point in talking about what we should have done, there's no way we can go back and change the past. What we have to do now is find some way to wake him up and prevent the whole 'collapse of the world as we know it' prediction that crazy shadow lady was talking about."

Martha sat in the corner of the room, arms wrapped tightly around her shaking form – her purple locks hanging limply across her face. Her face was as white as a ghost, all the happiness and colour drained out of it, her mouth permanently twisted into a frown. Tears carved streaks down her face, through the dirt and grime that had formed over time – clearly, she had been in that corner for a few days. With each cry that escaped her chest, her body rocked back and forth as her aura flickered into a darker purple. The guilt was eating her alive and no matter what comfort Wag could offer her, nothing could bring her out of it.

Tucker held Sonja close, his hands running soothingly through her hair in an effort to console her. His eyes were filled with pain as he stared at the prone form of his friend on the bed but his priority as always was soothing Sonja's pain before his own. Sonja clung to Tucker, sobbing into his chest and leaving tear stains across his shirt. The mere sight of Jordan's helplessness and pain cut deeply into Sonja's heart, her mind and body crying out to Jordan's – in hope that her pain might relieve some of his. Tom stood by the couple, his fists clenched in anger and loss – a fire in his eyes that could only be quenched by Jordan's awakening or vengeance upon whoever did this to his friend. His face was tight with rage, the bags of exhaustion under his eyes becoming more prominent as he stared at Jordan.