The Elementals - The Ice Princess

Chapter 23

I'm in the dream but it's different once again. This time there was no chase. I am captured and the darkness has a hold of me in the same spots as last time. I can feel the stinging in my wrist and ankles as the flesh feels like it could peel off. I refuse to open my mouth and scream at the pain, I won't give this thing the satisfaction. I look into the dark cloud before me and can see the outline of my mother again. She tries to speak but I am not able to hear any of her words.

As quick as she appeared, she is gone and another face has replaced it. I recognize this one as well. It's my dad. He doesn't look like he is in any pain, he just looks sad. He opens his mouth to say something to me and part of the blackness enters his mouth choking any words that he may have said. The blackness covers his face and he disappears from inside the cloud.

Finally another face appears, this one is more difficult to see and make out but I am sure that I recognize it. I begin to feel an anger swell up inside me, which quickly turns to an outright rage the more I look at the figure inside the blackness.

"Can't save them..." I hear whispered all around me.

By now, there is nothing I can concentrate on more than the face in front of me. Everything, including the pain and the whispers have become distant. All of my focus and all of my rage is centered on the middle of the cloud. "It can't be true," I tell myself. My hands begin to burn but the burning actually feels welcomed.

Suddenly, one hand of mine has become freed from its black shackle. It catches me off guard but only for a moment. I swing wildly at the black tether attached to my wrist which shatters the cloud. With both hands freed, my goal is to get to one thing, the face inside of the cloud.

I plunge both hands into the middle of it looking for something to grab onto. I have to save him, I tell myself. A moment later, my hand finds purchase. I pull with all of my might and finally let loose the scream that I've kept bottled up inside of me from all the pain. The object I have a hold of begins to move. I am pulling him out.

The cloud no longer is a cloud. It has become a large black blob of liquid. I can sense that it is trying to fight my pull and keep its property intact. This makes me even more angry and I find new strength that I didn't even know I possessed. I begin to pull even harder and the object breaks the surface. There is a loud scream from the black blob as I pull the body free.

It is covered in black ooze. I begin to wipe it off as the body rests on my lap.

My hands work quickly trying to clear as much off as I can. I get nearly three quarters of the way finished when I finally stop and look at the face. It is the not the person I was expecting. I was expecting Alexander to come out of the blob but instead I have pulled out someone who is staring back at me with a lifeless face. I slowly wipe the rest of the ooze off to be sure that it is not Alexander. It is not. The person staring back at me is someone I know quite well. Someone that I can't believe has found a way inside of this monster. Even though I know the face, it takes me a moment to fully recognize who it is because the face that is staring back at me, is mine.