The Elementals - The Ice Princess

Chapter 12

My eyes shoot open and all at once I know exactly where I am. It's the same as before. I am running through a world I don't know and I can sense the darkness closing in from behind. I turn to look back to the cloud and immediately realize that something is different this time. The darkness is closing in faster than before. The cloud is only a few feet from me this time. My legs are burning as I try to run even faster, but I soon realize that I won't actually make it to the ravine this time. This thing is going to catch me before I even have a chance to escape it. Fear grips me as I feel something from behind me reach out and grab both my arms sending a searing pain through my body. I try to scream but it won't come out. My wrists burn as though I am wearing bracelets of fire. The skin feels like it is melting under the pressure of an intense heat and the smell of burning flesh makes me gag. I try to scream but nothing comes out and the pain makes my head swim.

I am violently lifted off the ground and thrown into the air. I close my eyes expecting to crash on the ground beneath me but before that happens, I am caught and stretched out. The arms from the cloud look more like huge snakes, roughly the size of those huge pythons that you see on discovery channel. My arms are spread apart, as are my legs.

The pain is now radiating through my body. It's unlike anything I have ever felt before, even worse than when the pendant felt like it was burning itself into my skin. As much as I try to struggle, the entity is too powerful and I don't make any headway.

I look into the darkness that now holds me and can see the twisting faces of what I think to be the previous souls that have fallen victim to it. The faces come in and out of focus inside the object with no apparent rhyme, reason or pattern. They simply float inside of the entity, wandering hopelessly. Their expressions are that of agony, letting out silent moans as they become visible for a brief second and then vanish just as quickly. They look as though they are in a constant state of punishment for crimes they have committed or have yet to commit.

I think I recognize one of the faces and as hard as I try to place it, I cannot. Moments later, an object that looks like a head emerges from the dark cloud. Even though it has no eyes, it looks at me as though it is staring into the very fiber of my being. I can't turn my eyes away from the featureless face that scans me up and down. The head inches closer to me, I cannot feel any breath from it on my face even though it is close enough that I should. After studying me for a brief moment, the shape changes and a mouth appears. It appears to be smiling at me.

"Gwineira." It whispers in a voice that sounds as though it has been tortured for years. It is raspy and full of hate and loathing. I turn to look at the face and see that the mouth has opened to reveal a massive set of teeth. I couldn't have been more wrong when I thought this was smiling. It doesn't want to smile at me. It has something much worse in store for me. The mouth opens wider still as if it will swallow me in one monstrous gulp. I close my eyes and try to look away, as the head lunges at me and sinks its teeth in.