The Conjurer's Charm - The Dream Catcher series (BOOK 1)

6.2 || The Conjurer ||

He couldn't tell what was slowing him down, whether it be the panic or the urge to escape, but he was skipping down bough by bough instead of jumping down all at once. But there was a rustle of branches, a judder of the tree, and then two fearsome eyes appeared above him, the creature shrieking two inches away from his face. This time he bent his knees to jump, but a pair of sharp claws gripped his shoulders and the next thing he knew was that he shot up to the sky again. His face bruised severely against the spindly branches and when it stopped, his unharmed eyes unfolded to see a terrifying creature he never even imagined to exist.

Twice as big as a bull, with far-spreading wings that flaunted exotic colourful patterns on them, its face had the resemblance of a mandrill: two large colourful eyes, pink cheeks, abnormally large ears, grisly pointed teeth fixed to its widely opened jaws, and three antennae with glowing ends twitching on its head. A tail emerged from its tapering body sprouting three pairs of spider-like legs on either side below its arms.

Holding a furious cast, it opened its jaws at Alwold, forcing him to look into its eyes. Alwold was at an even greater height, that falling was thought to be worse so much that he stopped writhing within its grasp. Some invisible force made his eyes meet with the cat-like eyes of the creature, its pupils emitting colourful bands as though in an effort to hypnotise its prey. Forced to look into them, Alwold also noticed its long tail popping from behind and a three-pointed claw was opened at its end, nearing slowly at his nose. He gulped, though knowing he had no saliva in his mouth nor any liquid in his body, his last thoughts on how Hale and his grandfather would berate the life out of him if he ever got to return and praying them their good fortune without him. There was another deafening shriek and his eyes went blank again.

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There was movement. He didn't sense it, but he felt as though he was moving. Breezy, calm and light, as if flying. His partially unconscious spirit allowed him to open his eyes, only incompletely that his world was blurred. He felt claws gripping his shoulders, his chest felt stretched and his legs hanging. With an unsupported vision, he could tell he was being carried by the same creature somewhere, perhaps to its nest where it'd indulge in its meals or even feed its terrifyingly alike offspring. Still unable to regain his whole energy, all he could sense was that now he was gliding down and his body fell hard on the ground, his last look of the world of a hazy sky and the creature towering above him, standing motionlessly.

Warm surges of energy ran through him, and his eyes opened to the world once again. Seeing the same looming-over trees, he got up, frustrated that he was still stuck in the same realm of a nightmare he struggled to find his way out before. He whacked a curtain of leaves from the closely situated trees (a great amount of them wilted and dissolved into the ground like a mass of thick water). And behind the destroyed veil he discovered what he had been looking for all along.

A spirit-like blue person, a few hundred feet away from him sat with crossed legs, his bright hair flaming straight upwards like his and with his back turned on Alwold. He was in an involved contemplation. Alwold astounded, approached him quietly, though every step of his foot on the tickling grass produced an indistinct and short blowing-like sound.

With the thought of his previous attempt of confronting a person who unexpectedly disappeared away on a runaway horse, he wasn't going to let that happen again. He passed the curtains of lance-shaped leaves going past every tree, his shoulder brushing off them and allowing them to weaken and fall again. He neared the sitting person and began to speak when —

"My foresight has neither failed me nor proved me wrong," said a stilted and resonant voice. "I consumed myself just so that I can meet you."

Alwold unbothered to deduce the meaning of his words, spoke while taking another step to meet the face of this rather old-sounding person.