The Five Realms

Chapter 8 - Valefor

The burst lasted a long time, the heat never subsiding, only the pain in my head reseeded a little bit. My legs started quivering and I sank to my knees. I felt Harper reach out to me but I touched his hand and yelled at him with all my might not to look at me.

I don't know how long the burst lasted. All that I know was it was the most pain I had felt in a long time. I was completely exhausted when it ended. Slowly the heat faded till it was bearable and I could push it down. My head was foggy but it didn't hurt anymore. I surged forward and started panting as the silver burst stopped and my head wasn't forced back anymore. I stayed on my hands and knees, my whole body quivering. Harper and Thalion were at my side instantly, Harper rubbed soothing circles into my back while Thalion tried to hold my hair from my face as I threw up. There wasn't much to throw up but boy did my stomach make a show of trying.

"What the hell was that!?" I complained as I wiped my mouth with the sleeve of my cloak. I still had on my tunic and boots I got from the third Realm, but thankfully they had added a thick black cloak before I died. Oren turned to look at me, his body tense, his eyes scouting the surrounding area.

"Do you remember what Sameal said, that the closer you got to your body the more your abilities would manifest. You are in Valefor, Realm of the Demons. My guess would be your Demon ability has returned to you."

I looked at him, still not really understanding. "But I didn't have that happen in Beth-el." Oren gave me a look and then shrugged.

"How do you know? The ability you gained from that Realm was to pass through objects that resembled your own anatomy. Did you ever come into contact with a person? Or did you ever try to pass through them?"

I tried to remember and shook my head. Sameal had been very careful not to let me touch anyone. And the people I did touch I had meant to touch them. Oren nodded and went back to surveying the area.

"I have a theory that since that ability was defensive instead of your demon ability which is offensive that ability came back to you more subtly. Either that or because the ability you gained from Beth-el was meant to be with you in that Realm. You were not meant to gain your other abilities. I doubted any of us thought it was possible for a spirit to possess abilities outside of Beth-el. As Old Mother once said, you are an anomaly we know nothing about. We simple have to guess with you."

I was starting to get depressed. I had always just accepted things about me when I was on the Earth Plane, but I always figured there was at least someone out there that knew what I was and all the things happening in my body. Now to find out that I was considered a freak in all the Realm and no one knew anything about me... well... that was just sad.

"We need to get moving, I have a feeling we attracted much attention with the silver burst. Demons are hoarders of power; they would have been able to sense the power in that blast." Oren continued, still roaming over the broken plains with slightly narrowed eyes. Harper helped me to my feet, keeping an arm around me. That blast had taken a lot out of me and I was already tired.

Oren took off in a steady trot and the rest of us followed behind him. Harper kept a hold of my hand and helped stabilize me whenever my shaky limbs tripped over a rock or a mound of dirt. Thalion jogged on the other side of me, his sword drawn, scouting just like his brother. Rylien flew directly over my head, low to the ground so he wouldn't be spotted. I felt like I was a pop star getting escorted to a concert by body guards. Only instead of crowds of people, there was only sand.

The dark clouds were ominous and unyielding. They never dropped even a single droplet of moisture but nor did they lose their threatening aura. The heat in my eyes helped boost my energy, but I wasn't used to not having the extra store of energy my Wizard aspect granted. It was weird being drained so quickly. I didn't know how Harper stood it, but then again Harper was just a spirit now. He didn't have a body; that made me start to think.