19 Arash - Blue Mist

Arash's consciousness drowned under the low hums of tiny blue creatures; they swam around his soul, trapping him inside. He felt restrained by their strange song, and any single thought that dared to form in his consciousness brought crippling pain along with it. The blue creatures stole his soul's energy and multiplied by the thousands.

He could feel his right eye turning to crystal; it burned like a searing hot fire... He resisted at first, but the countless little blue creatures slowly drained away his soul energy. His desperate struggles slowed down to a halt, as his soul became trapped inside the blue mist. 'Kill me… Kill me...' Arash screamed, but the death he yearned for never came.

He cried and cried for help until he could no more. Amidst the pain and misery, a past memory flashed before his eyes. He found himself back in the dank room. Helpless and afraid, he cried for help but no one came to his rescue. He laid helpless, tears slipping down his cheeks; his eyes vacant. It had been four years. The boy had long grown into a man, but he felt the same helplessness that had tortured him that night.

"Bastard, fucking bastard! I will kill you... I will kill you!" Cold fury seethed inside him as he saw the face of the man in the blue mist. He frantically struggled against the restraints of the mist, the runes in his body responded to his fury and flew out of his soul. Wherever the runes went, the blue mist shrunk away from them. Their songs halted for a moment, allowing for his soul to slip free from the blue mist.

"They seem to be afraid of these runes." His fury disappeared in a blink of an eye as he grimly stared at the mist around him. His mind raced for a way out. "These runes cover too little area. I need more… more of them." The creatures had drained him of his soul energy. He wasn't able to form new runes. 'Dammit...' Arash cursed.

The swarm raged around, fingers of blue mist hurtling in every direction. Staring at the mist, an idea popped into his mind. 'It could work...' He willed the runes to change form. They slowly melted and turned into a giant silver net. The net flew towards the mist, pushing it back towards his right eye. But it was not enough some of the mist had slipped down his soul space and went spiralling towards his heart.

Arash followed the mist down, he flew down his soul space down through his neck protecting his soul from the mist. Suddenly he felt a sharp pain in his chest, part of his heart had came in contact with the blue mist. 'I don't have any runes… It's unable to erode my soul '

He steeled his heart and lunge towards the mist. He expanded his soul to its limit and used it as a shield to protect his heart. He howled in pain as the terrible song once again attacked his consciousness, but this time he didn't let go. The shame of that night was still raw in his mind, he had sworn to himself that he would rather die than be at the mercy of another.

The mist vibrated with increased vigour, attacking his consciousness. 'Never again… Never again! Never Again!' Arash roared as he forced the mist beyond the net of runes. HIs flesh started to turn normal as soon as the mist was removed from his body, but his right eye had been in contact with the mist for too long and had turned into a crystal.

Arash regained control of his body as soon as the mist was pushed back into his right eye. Even though the net stopped the mist from spreading into his body. It couldn't block its terrible song.

"I have to pull it out…" He huffed in pain as he mustered his strength and used his fingers to pry out his crystallized eye, but it refused to even budge. 'Come out!' Arash glowered in anger as his fingers pried at his right eye. But his crystallized eye had been affixed to his skull. Blood oozed out the corners of his right eye as he tried to pry it out. But soon, the pain became too much for him to handle.

The song of the creatures made it hard for him to think straight but in his misery he suddenly remembered where he was. He stilled in fear, but when his senses caught up to him he realized that he couldn't feel the wind on his body. Arash squinted through his left eye and dust cloud raging over him. He found himself surrounded by a cocoon wind and dust. He could still hear the wind under the low humming in his head. 'What is going on?' He slowly got on his feet and to his surprise found the protective cocoon rising with him. No wind blew in a radius of 15 feet around him. He found the old man lying unconscious near the edge of the cocoon. Arash walked over to the old man and kicked him awake.

"Argh!" Saroh groaned in pain as he pushed him of the ground. His effort came to a sudden stop as he heard a loud snap from his hip bone, the throbbing pain in his buttocks told him that it had been dislocated. Just as he was about to rain curses on Arash he noticed the cocoon. "What!" His eyes bulged out in shock.

"It was there when I woke up!" Arash casually said as gingerly felt his right eye.

"How can this be?" Saroh turned towards Arash, his heart nearly leapt out of his heart as he saw the blue glowing eye hovering in front of him. It took awhile for him to notice the man that stood before him. "You… Its... How... It's impossible."