Arden: The Gift Of Delirium

83. Heat of The High Point

Victory is always possible for the person who refuses to stop fighting. -Napoleon Hill

***

Arden

"This is what I've been waiting for, for a long time." I heard Johanna behind Zane.

As I looked at her, my hands were still wrapped around Zane's. His hand remained on my neck, squeezing tightly.

"I'm going to bring Athena to her demise and the king of the gods is going to help me do it." Johanna stepped forward, her eyes wild- there was some sort of anguish swimming in them. She seemed she could completely snap at any moment.

The giant gray walls that surrounded us began to make sounds. They were breaking. The sound of the cement and mortar cracking and splitting was booming. My head throbbed hearing the loud crumbling and Zane was restricting the pipes in my throat.

Johanna continued on with her rambling. "Athena will no longer wear the crown that belongs to me." She walked closer, Zane releasing me just a little as Johanna stood in my face. Her crazy, wild eyes were trained on me and because she was slightly taller, I had to look up to her scowling and angry expression. "You see Arden, the mind is complex, like time of course and because I have become so powerful- I have the ability to alter your reality. Like this,"

The gray soon came crashing down and the secluded area became vast. I tried my best to look around and I my eyes closed a little when a precipice came into view. What-

"So although you may be in your own mind- in your thoughts, this is all happening, okay. It's actually happening- at a time, at a place. Understand?" I'm pretty sure the question was rhetorical, but I couldn't even dish back a smart comment. Zane was still choking me- not as harsh, but he still restricted me from breathing properly. While Johanna spoke, he did nothing but stand there, impassively.

Johanna shoved at me hard, at the same time, Zane let go of my neck. I went sliding back on my feet while gasping for breath. I tried steadying myself.

"Face it, Arden. You've already lost."

"I don't know about that." My neck practically broke when I heard Hayden's voice. How'd he get here? His eyes were squinted and his stance was solemn yet unsure. He looked at Zane with a curious expression before Johanna, and then me. "Can I ask you one question." Johanna didn't respond to Hayden yet, she stood watching him still. "What the actual hell is wrong with you?" He asked Johanna, looking around. His gaze caught the pieces of the fallen walls, and the dark vacant area. You could barely see a thing in the distance and it was slightly hard to make out anything. "Seriously, what the fuck is all this, what is the meaning?" He gave Johanna a weird look.