The Thanaton Syndrome

Chapter Three

Seth couldn't see anything but pure white surrounding him in all directions. He lost control of his limbs as he flew through misty nothingness. Then he hurtled into the ground.

He breathed in the fresh scent of flowers, grass, and damp dirt, the soft twitters of birds floating above him. A bright, colorful world came into focus. He had landed on a dirt patch in a clearing, wild flowers growing all around him and bright butterflies fluttering everywhere. Sitting up, and still shaking from the encounter in his mother's bedroom, Seth tried to come to terms with what he saw.

"Seth!" He turned to see Lydia standing a little ways off. Her cheeks were bright and rosy, and her eyes glittered with happiness. "Isn't it beautiful?" She exclaimed. "Look at the butterflies! Oh, Seth, you have to see this flower--"

Lydia's excited chatter faded away in his head as he looked behind him. There stood an enormous ash tree, at least fifteen feet in diameter, a doorway shaped spot carved in its bark. The spot was covered in the same swirling mist from the door Seth had stepped through. 

As he squinted through the mist, at the thick fog beyond it, a slight pressure pushed at him. A breeze hit him square in the face, making him blink. The breeze proceeded to grow stronger and stronger until it almost knocked him over. It clicked just in time.

He threw himself to the side of the tree. The stranger, dressed in a long hooded black cloak, stepped from the mists. 

"Run!" Seth yelled, glancing around frantically for Lydia. She stood a few yards away, holding her hand out to a butterfly. He grabbed her wrist and ran, dragging her along. She caught on and managed to stumble after him.

They made it about five feet before something ripped Lydia from Seth's grasp. He saw a glimpse of one of the dark men grabbing her wrist before the other hurtled into him. The man straddled him down, and Seth immediately recognized him as the man who'd thrown the strange lightning ball at his mother.

He was a regular man, in his late thirties, with a normal nose, cheeks, dark eyes full of malice, and exceptionally straight teeth. His lips should have torn from the massive grin sliding across his face. Seth thrashed, but made no progress in escaping.

Lydia screamed, and knowing there was another hooded man likely attacking her, Seth writhed beneath the stranger's grasp. The stranger lost hold for a second, then regained the advantage and had Seth held down again.

"Don't waste your efforts, Outlander," the man said with a smirk. "It's really no use."

"Get off me," Seth said, struggling as he heard Lydia scream a little ways off.

The man chuckled. "You don't seem too bright, do you? It won't help to waste your voice either." Still holding one of Seth's wrists tightly, he reached under his cloak and pulled out a knife. Seth didn't have time at that moment to admire his skill at firmly holding a knife while also clenching Seth's wrist.

The man then moved the knife toward Seth's throat. Seth fought against it, and the man lost hold of his wrist, giving him the opportunity to hit the knife from his hand. It flew a few feet away, but the man now had Seth pinned back down, and he was angry.

Seth looked around frantically, trying to think of some way to escape.

Then he heard a deafening thud next to him, and the ground shook. He tried to turn to see the commotion, but before he'd even begun to move his head, something whammed into the side of the stranger's head. He fell down, knocked out cold.

Seth looked up to find a tall man looking down at him curiously, holding the knife which had knocked down the stranger. When the man saw Seth looking at him, he smiled and held out a gloved hand.