Suffocate In Spirit - Shadows of the Night 4

Chapter 49

Hi,

It's all or nothing in this one. Anna's fighting for her life. Question: what would you do if you were in her shoes? Do whatever it takes? Is there no price too high for survival?

Let me know if you liked it!

Lara

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Chapter 49

Forcing a change of course in the middle of portalling can backfire. I knew that much. I did it anyway. I let go of that beacon, the spot I'd first envisioned in my mind, and grabbed a hold of something else. Another place stocked in my memory. I didn't know its exact location, had no geographic coordinates or mental compass to go by. I didn't know if it was safe, but I'd portalled there before. Not myself, granted, but I knew it wasn't on the outskirts of the Lumenis's secret hideout. Good enough for me.

We careened through black nothingness, headfirst and without protection. Time was an illusion, a concept that had no place here. I was in the void, clutching my mind, my core and the foundations of who I was to myself with all I had. A hailstorm of vertical proportions slammed into me face first.

In these realms I didn't have a face or identity I could hold on to. I wasn't even sure I existed. All there was in existence was the will to survive, to keep going, and that damned awareness of Ramondo's servant on my heels. I pedalled in the black void, willing myself away from him and his presence.

The sensations stopped as fast as they came. I was yanked up and down in a violent shiver, thrown back and forth – meaningless and inert like dead weight. I careened into the real world, where gravity and a barrage of sensations were waiting to crash into my system. I stumbled forward and fell, slipping on a patch of dark, wet grass. My vision went out of focus, drifted into black. Pain.

I was on my knees and hands, panting. The air tasted of clean forest and salt. Darkness around me. By all appearances I was alone. A sense of watchfulness, of hidden, predatory eyes that were watching. The spot between my shoulder blades prickled, hair lifting with the ghost of a breath stolen from my mouth. Ramondo's servant or someone else, another form of danger, could be waiting to pounce on me. I turned, peered into darkness.

Where are we?

I had to figure out if we were where I wanted us to go. Not to the threshold of the Lumenis's hiding place, but hopefully somewhere far away: the beach Rico and I trained at.

Another breath. Another step away from me vomiting. Changing direction drained me to the point of being dangerously low on power. If my magic, or the ability to tap into it, was a metaphorical gas tank, I was close to empty.

I crawled forward on my hands and knees, listening. Trying to get anything above the harsh sound of blood thick and wild in my ears. I picked myself up until I could stand on my own two feet again. The hair on the back of my neck lifted.

Someone crashed into me. Bones creaked and snapped back like a ratchet clicking into place. My back grinded into the dirt. I skidded backwards, couldn't breathe. Pain and a flash-concert of white behind my eyes. My hands were trapped underneath my back. More pain.

Seconds lost. I blinked, fought against darkness. Ramondo's human servant was above me, hand on my neck squeezing. He was smiling.

I gagged, made a sound. Any more pressure and he was going to crush my windpipe. Thoughts, reason left me. Pain and the damning need to breathe coldcocked me into inaction. I fought with all I had.