The Cost of Power

Chapter 3

After what seemed like forever, Caleb spoke, his voice rough. "The woman's name was Melanai. She was banished from the Lake of Life, the true kingdom of this very dimension, where all Lenatai reside 3 years ago and sent here for her crime of killing multiple Lenatai and absorbing their powers. She was ruled a Dalenatai by the Council and sent to The Wood of the Broken with given immortality, so she would be eternally starving for power, therefore suffering forever." The look of sadness in his face was almost too much to bare.
"How do you know all that about her?"
He didn't answer right away. "Melanai was my mother."
My jaw nearly hit the floor. I sat there for a few long moments in shell-shocked silence, as he stared at the ground. Since he hadn't been looking at me, I felt fully okay with staring. Only then did I see the somewhat similarities. He had his mother's jawline, and her nose. I finally worked up the courage to ask.
"How did she..... Get like that?"
He turned his sad eyes to me. "I don't know. All I do is that she wasn't always like that. She was a sweet, caring person once." He looked back to the ground. "She was my mom, once.
"One day, my 12th birthday, actually, I found her on the ground next to 4 bodies, all pale as paper. I could feel the aroma of the powerful magic she'd stolen from those innocent people rolling off her in waves. And the look in her eyes...." He stopped to wipe away his tears. "She wasn't my mom anymore, I can promise you that."
Longer silence. Then, finally: "Did someone do that to her, Caleb?"
He didn't look up. "It just happens. It's extremely rare, but it happens. No one can inflict it, even if they wanted to. Something just goes off in your brain, and the need for power is stronger than anything else you've ever felt. The species of the infected, like my mom, is called 'Dalenatai'. Once you become a Dalenatai, there is no going back. Not ever."
The finality in his voice told me that that conversation was over. With an odd feeling in my stomach, and my mind still rushing through all the new information I'd gathered, it took me several hours to sleep. When I did, I had nightmares. Lots. Some having to do with Melanai trying to kill me, some of the people she had killed, and some of her being killed. The moment Caleb shoved the dagger into his mother's chest for about the 5th time that night, I sat bolt upright, sweating and screaming. To my shock, it was morning, and Caleb was standing next to and looking down at me, the sun illuminating and brightening his pale, golden hair.
"We're leaving this wretched place, like now. You ready?" His eyes met mine as he waited for my answer.
"I'm ready"
He smiled, and held a hand out for me. I took it. "Good. I'm planning on completing our journey either tonight or morning, tomorrow."
A quite important question occurred to me. "What happens after we complete the quest?"
His expression suddenly became serious. "That, Eden, is entirely up to you."
And with that, we set off. It was about a half hour of walking until I saw something in the distance...... Something that wasn't trees. I broke into a run, wanting more than anything I've ever wanted to get out of this horrible place.
My heart sank. This was worse than the forest. This was a sandy, shell- actually, nothing but sand, covered wasteland.
No food. No water.
Caleb, who had finally caught up, halted as he reached my side. "Welcome to the Desert of Deadly Danger."
I looked over at him. " 'Desert of Deadly Danger?' Seriously? Where'd they get the idea for that name, a cartoon?
He put his hands up in defense. "Hey, I'm not the one who named it. If it bothers you that much, you can find a way to build a time machine and go back 2,000 years to talk to the GH people who actually did name it."
I scowled at him as he strode ahead of me. He didn't turn around. "Oh and Eden, remember to keep up, we should preferably be at the Great Dome by night-fall.
We'd been walking for what felt like, and I think was, hours. We had walked to a point where The Wood of the Broken was nowhere in sight, lost in our eyes to distance. It was quite a while before anything happened, but when it did, it was quite worth the wait.
Caleb was walking in front of me, so when his foot sunk into the ground the second it touched that certain patch of sand, which made him abruptly stop, I slammed straight into him.
Awkward.
His eyes grew wide with panic as realization struck him. "I am going to die."