(Book 6) Hayden Mackay and The Third-Eye of the Pancharatna

22.1 Nature's Mandate

Celina

Celina and Tyrell were trapped.

The snow hammered down onto the ground with great fury.

A horde of creatures came wing to wing close and encircled the two of them, trying to assert their dominance over the Samagraha. The creatures were seething, releasing puffs of smoke from their nostrils and gazing down as if Celina and Tyrell were pieces of meat brought in to get roasted, their stares flashing anger. They were ready to rain down flames of hellish fire.

Tyrell was quick to use his Formation. He grunted and snuffled with impatience. His eyebrows formed a crease in his forehead, wrinkling on and off in concentration. Violent, blue electricity snapped out of his hands and zigzagged upwards through the cold, dry air. The blazing ascend accompanied a terrible crash and the roars of the creatures echoed across the moor.

The overwhelmingly hostile situation turned Celina's mind into a dispiriting, chaotic mess. She hated the idea of limiting her capabilities. The fact that her Formation would only fan the flames beyond control bothered her inside out. "Aim. You have to learn how to aim," Hayden had said. Aim at what, she wouldn't know. In the given moment, she could only defend herself and Tyrell. And for it, she intended to create a robust windy block with the tendency to change the direction of the fire and dissipate smoke out of the way. She waved her hand and several tornadoes, the great columns of air swirled and twisted and picked up the creatures like they were nothing. They rammed and glid, turned and buffeting with an absolute sense of destruction and havoc.

Celina and Tyrell jolted midst through the tornadoes, as swiftly as possible, beating the windy atmosphere that threatened to slow their momentum down. The squelching sounds of their slapping footfalls drowned against the screech of creatures. Celian followed Tyrell, running as fast as her short legs would carry her. She couldn't afford a glance backward but her mind was fixated on the deadly twisters.

"Now! Jump!" Tyrell shouted. They burst inside the yawning opening of the cave. Tyrell jumped first, down a gaping black hole on the ground that blended well with the snowy-rocky surface of the forest. Celina neither falter nor hesitated, but bolted forward and dived down into the hole after him.

Despite not being a great deal of depth, Celina felt dizzy while descending. Tyrell leaned forward and caught her by the waist before she slipped. Her concentration on the stone got disrupted. There were fierce flapping sounds of the wings and much fiercer screeching from the world above. Slowly the sound turned into a tiny symphony of bird cries. It gradually faded and in about a minute or two they stood in absolute silence.

"That wasn't too bad," she said, catching her breath and actually feeling alive.

"I don't want to believe that we've breached all the obstacles already," Tyrell said and beckoned her to follow him as he jumped down the layers of rocks that worked like a staircase.

Their voices were breezy and echoey, giving Celina the impression that they were alone in the cool, damp, head-to-toe translucent blue ice cave. She looked around, unblinking. This seemed like one of those places she fondly remembered visiting in her childhood with her parents back in America. It had a similar representation of an age-old empty lava channel or more like a subway tunnel. Rocks, black, white, and icy, and of all shapes and sizes were scattered around as if liquid lava rocks had already been cooled and solidified. 

She turned around and scrutinized the layers of rocks and the artificially built hole on the ground that had helped both of them enter the cave. The ice cave was lit by daylight filtering down through cracks or holes in the surface above. Also, the shadows of the creatures appearing and disappearing sporadically gave a dramatic touch from the outside world.