The Day It Rained

Prologue - In The End

     "It was cold, but I it knew it would get colder. I could see the stars and the moonlight pool across the water, making the journey almost pleasant. The water was too deep to see the bottom, but that didn't stop me from still looking. Every once and awhile we would pass a rock or small island with maybe a tree, but no civilization. We had our makeshift system of myself pushing the water up, Ashlyn freezing it, then Chris melting it behind us. Making some sort of slide. It worked fairly well if no one made a mistake. Iris was still guiding the water trail. I can tell with a general glance that the trail is getting larger now, but the signal is getting fainter. I feel as though there is a darkness waiting for us, like something bad is going to happen. I don't say anything. No one says anything. We haven't since we left Kirthwil. The sharp wind brushing off my face, and the fact that we've been going at this for more than an hour is making it hard for me to concentrate, but I think I can make it. I have to make it. I can't let them down.

     If I remember it right we got to Zorentbashe with two hours left in the day. Only two hours to find him before she died.

     I died.    

     It took a bit of finding but we found and entered the twelfth chamber like instructed, and preceded forward. We completed the puzzle and went on. Another puzzle. Done. Then another and another. Finally, we finished with only a few minutes till midnight.

    We entered a circular room with tall, detailed pillars leading up to a glass dome. The room smelt of rough cement and old books. It looked like a place that had never seen a lot of life. Like a place that was built; and simply left to rot. Left to sit here and decay.

     If it could. If only that were true.

     You could see the dust floating through the air like a breeze on the wind. The second sun lit up the sky outside when we walked in, it was a beautiful display of colors. Reds and oranges and pinks, and even some blues in there.

     But the dome said otherwise. The dome said that the sky was dark and dreadful. A sky to be feared.

     The room looked to be endless, scattered across this reality with never ending features. Filled with nothing. Nothing. All you could see in the distance was what look like ash, but I assured the team was only the dust. Or so I thought.

     From the shadows He crept forward; I was the first to see him. I ran after him gathering dust and ash as I ran. Commanding it to come to me, no matter how hard it struggled. I could hear them telling me to stop but I didn't care. I could not forgive him for what he did. The pain he caused. I had to kill him here and now.

     As I ran, the timer I had set on my phone went off. I didn't care. I kept running. Drowning the noise with my own hatred. I told the dust and ash to form a knife in my hand and around my body.

     Millions of knives formed around me, the same sad grey that consumed the dust and ash. The knife in my hand was larger and more detailed than the rest, with an intricate design up the blade following to the point. They all pointed at him, waiting for my final command. I was almost there, only a little further. Then I noticed it.

     He hadn't even blinked let alone flinched when I gathered the blades.

     I don't care.

     I took my final step and plunged the knife, with every will of power in my body, into his torso. The knives behind me followed, throwing me back and engulfing him in flurry of greys and whites.

     Despite the pain; I push myself up off the ground. I know from that impact that I'm going to be sore tomorrow. I wipe a layer of gathering dust away from my face. Then I cough. And cough. And cough. I can feel growing pressure in lungs; I'm forced to cough it out. Repeatedly coughing, I can't get it out. I double-over, still coughing, I can see him. His silhouette shadows over me.

     Unscathed.

     How? All of my effort for nothing? I can't stand it. I can't help it. I- I'm useless.

     Still coughing, I can see his outstretched hand, controlling it. He is the one making me choke on the dust. I can see, with his other hand, he is holding them against the wall on the other side of the room. I want to tell him to stop. To stop hurting them. But the coughing consumes me. Takes me over and it's too hard to fight back.

     No. I can't think that way.

     I put effort into standing up. One leg at a time. But with a force more powerful than I could ever muster, I'm knocked back down.

     It's getting harder for me to breathe between the coughs. Not enough air, no, not enough time. Not enough time to tell them how much I love them, or thank them for always being there. Is this it? Is this how it ends? Here? Now? Ironic really, killed by the very thing I control. That's it. I'm going to die in this awful place, and my family doesn't even have the faintest clue where I am.

     I stay conscious enough to see Iris scream for me. It kills me to see her this way. She was always the strong one. Always the one to get back on her feet when she fell. All the times she pushed me away, pushed everyone away. 'Everything happens for a reason', right? That's what you told me.

     My coughing slows. My heart slows. The little light coming from the dome fades to nothing. I fade to nothing. My head falls on the cold cement and He walks away. Consumed by the shadows he came from. Releasing them from his grasps. Iris rushes over to me. But it's too late. She collapses next to me, resting my head on her knee. She pushes dirty blonde hair out of my face and says something to me. I don't remember that well. She was the last thing I saw."