x
After about ten minutes of flying, we came across a cluster of dark storm clouds looming over a forest. Something about them was odd, though. They didn't seem to be moving; they just floated there.
As we got closer, I noticed a dead field below and decided to land there since I'd rather we not be blown out of the sky or struck by a lightning bolt.
I expected heavy rain once we landed, but there wasn't any. Not only was there no rain, but there was no thunder or lightning either. Just a chilling breeze and an abnormal level of darkness shrouding the entire area ahead.
Every instinct was screaming to me not to enter that forest, and I had every intention of listening.
Making sure to keep my eyes on the forest, I reached down to my left in an attempt to grab Trik.
"Hey, let's get out of here; nothing good will come from going in there. Maybe we can go around or something," I said, trying not to sound afraid.
Trik didn't respond.
"Trik."
I turned to face him and saw him staring at the darkness, his face struck with fear. I tried to break his hold by snapping my fingers and shaking him by his shoulders, then resorted to yelling.
"Trik!" I screamed.
"U-Use your eyes," he responded, nodding towards the darkness.
"What are y-"
"Just use your eyes, Alissia!" Whatever Trik was seeing, it must've been serious. He hardly ever calls me by my first name.
Looking back towards the darkness, I realized what he meant, so I focused on using omni-vision.
What I saw was the most terrifying spirit energy I've ever seen: it appeared as a mostly semi-transparent black mist with flashes of dark filaments cast outward from somewhere deeper in the forest. Its densest portions made up the pitch-black void that was its center. I tried to see who, or what, was at its center, but even with omni-vision, I couldn't see past the darkness.
What was even more horrifying was how it seemed to have a conscience: the dark energy had already begun to wrap itself around Trik and me, taking hold of us.
As more coiled around us, I felt a chill spread across me as my body began to tremble and sweat trickle down my face as the level of terror and panic in me escalated, then something else manifested: pain.
It began as a dull aching in my core but quickly became a strange affliction. Somehow, I was paralyzed, which restricted me from any movement whatsoever, preventing me from escaping.
I tried to scream out to Trik, but at that exact moment, the spirit energy smothered my nose and mouth, simultaneously cutting off my airways. It felt like smoke or vapor being held onto my face, but instead of causing a coughing reaction, it was like it halted my breathing, not allowing me to inhale or exhale. I tried connecting to Trik through my c-chip but forgot I had it turned off, leaving me no way to communicate with him.
After about a minute of enduring this, I'd grown accustomed to the initial shock of the pain. I noticed that, yes, the pain was unusual, but at this intensity, it was manageable.
It'll probably take a few minutes before any irreversible damage is done. I thought to myself. That gives me two minutes at best to find us a way out of this. Just gotta stay calm and don't panic.
I thought the pain would've been my biggest problem since, usually, holding my breath isn't much of an issue, considering I can hold my breath for up to 10 minutes, but this was different. The spirit energy had become overwhelming.
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 darness 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-?"
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