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23. Beyond reality

He had just grabbed the bandages from the shelf when Fharan felt that something was wrong. He couldn't put his finger on it, he just knew...
And that's exactly why he took that fatal step back that saved his life as the silver needle missed him just barely.
In seconds he was surrounded by a solid wall of ice but that weird feeling never left him.
As always, his senses did not let him down. The only drawback was that, even though he knew something was amiss, he had no way to find out what to do about it.
Impenetrable darkness engulfed him in the blink of an eye. He lost his connection to his magic and the last thing he realized as his body went numb was, that he was falling, pain shooting through his left hand.

It was neither that nor the darkness that awakened a small spark of fear deep inside of him, but the fact that not only the connection with his magic had been cut off but his bond with Afrit as well.

On the other side

Afrit froze for a second as he saw Fharan lying on the ground, blood slowly mixing with the water around him, colouring the few remaining pieces of ice bright red.
What made him freeze was not his unconscious bond, though, but the hooded figure leaning over him.
The man had raised his head as the door had been opened and stared with his silver-grey eyes into Afrits silver-white one's.
After all, these eyes were the true reason of why he became what he was today.

Approximately 800 years ago

Afrit turned his head as he tried to pinpoint the location of his hunters.
The short flash of metal in the dark warned him and he turned just in time to avoid another silver tailed arrow.
He sped up a bit, dodging the cactuses, trying not to lose his footing in the loose sand.
The darkness did not trouble him but the ground in this area was quite tricky, quicksand only being one of the many dangers.

He ran and ran.
His lungs wheezed with every breath and his legs started to go numb.
The hunt had been going on for days now and his body slowly gave out.
'Just a bit more, just a few feet more.'
Afrit could already see the town below him, the gates just a few meters away.
Just as his steps grew lighter a horrible pain shot through his back and he stumbled and fell.
Afrit tried to get up, but his body finally failed him.
He held his eyes open with difficulty as he felt the men draw closer.
His sight was blurry and he could only make out a vague shadow above him.
He still recognized him, though. The man had been one of the most persistent among the men that were after him. He had never been able to forget the others silver-grey eyes, the unmistakable sign for one of Amd'ys chosen.

"See, I told you I would get you sooner or later you scum.", he heard the shadow whisper.
"I will wipe your cursed existence from the sight of the high ones, together with all the others like you.
I'm sure my reward will be quite hefty. Rather surprising for something like you.
Your eyes will make a pretty trophy though."
He tried to call upon his magic, but he was too exhausted.

The sound of metal scraping against leather resounded above him and Afrit knew there would be no way out of it this time around. There would be no allies coming to his rescue. His magic was depleted and his body paralyzed.
He turned his blurry gaze towards the slowly lightening sky. It seemed as if his sparse luck had finally run out.
The blade penetrated his chest and followed by the pain, Afrit felt how his lungs started to fill with liquid.
He coughed once,.... twice.
Just before he gave up, he felt a small spark within him. He couldn't really pinpoint what it was, though, and decided to ignore it, it was too late anyway.
His eyes slowly closed and his consciousness faded away, leaving his broken body behind.

Present

Fharan found himself in an empty, seemingly endless, grey space.
He slowly stood up and only then realized that he had been lying on the 'floor' or whatever it was.
His head was still swimming and his senses blurred.
After waiting for a few seconds to adjust to his new surroundings, he looked around, trying to figure out where he was.
Not recognizing anything he turned to look into his own consciousness to search for his bond that had always been there since it had first appeared.
As he had already realized just before falling unconscious, the inexplicable connection to Afrits had vanished completely.
Fharan sighed and once more felt uneasiness stirring within. For the first time since his childhood, he felt truly alone again.
He heaved another sigh.
'No point in worrying about it now.'

Suddenly he felt the space around him changing.
His own magic had disappeared, so there was not much he could. He simply stood there, waiting.
A table and a pair of chairs seemingly appeared out of thin air just a few feet away from him.
Fharan walked closer, inspected the newly arrived furniture, and sat down. You never knew who or what would appear next.
No reason to stand around for the rest of the day.

It was quiet for a while and he patiently waited for his 'opponents' next move.
Absolute silence surrounded him and he used his time to try to figure out where exactly he was.
He had just found traces of a faintly familiar aura when a soft ripple went through the air once more, the only warning he got before his 'host' arrived.

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I'm sorry about the delay.
I couldn't really find the time to write much lately and I didn't want to just upload random nonsense.
From now on I'll try to at least update two chapters a month.