Zyrn stands there in awe as the crack of thunder rolls over them from the massive bolt of lightning. There had been two lesser strikes before that one but neither had come close to the power of that last one.
“Such power,” says Bokka. Several of the other villagers with him nod in agreement.
They hold their breath for a moment longer before another two bolts flash from the clouds and strike the ground with massive cracks of thunder. Then a few seconds later, three more bolts arc from the clouds to strike the ground. The grayness begins to rapidly draw back toward the area where the lightning is striking, already it’s past the lines of swords Zyrn had set in the ground over the last few days.
“What’s it doing?” asks one of the villagers.
Shaking his head, Zyrn says, “I don’t know.”
Then four bolts strike from the clouds. This time, a spasming ripple courses from one side of the grayness to the other then back again. “That hurt it,” one villager says in satisfaction.
“Yes, but it isn’t gone yet,” observes Zyrn.
“It’s still there,” Jiron says.
“I can see that,” replies James a bit testily. He was sure that when the void closed, the grayness would die. But it still covers the barrier and he can detect minor pulses running through it. There is no longer a set point from which the pulses are now originating, rather they come from all over.
“It must be like a giant amoeba,” states James. When he sees the question about to be asked, he continues. “An amoeba is a single celled organism. As such, it could split off from its host and still survive.”
“Right,” nods Jiron still totally lost.
James sighs and shakes his head. What he wouldn’t give for someone to understand him. Most of the time when he tries to explain things all he gets is that lost look that says they have no idea what he’s talking about. Trying to make it so they can at least understand it a little he says, “In the broadest sense, consider it a worm.”
“Ah!” says Brother Willim. “I understand. Cut off from the main body, it still survives.”
“Something like that,” nods James. Moving to the edge of the barrier, he peers closely at the grayness. “Come here and look at it more closely,” he says, waving them over.
When Brother Willim and Jiron come over, Jiron says, “It seems to have the texture of sand.”
“Yes, it does,” agrees James. “When it came through, the first thing it must have come into contact with was the gray sand that remained after the explosion. And for whatever reason it took on that aspect.” He sees them not entirely following. “Ever heard of a chameleon? It’s a lizard that is able to change its color to match that of whatever environment it’s in.”
“Not by that name,” replies Brother Willim. “But there is this bug over in Cardri that they say does the same thing though I’ve never actually seen it.”
“Maybe this creature,” he says as he taps the side of the barrier, “lives on another plane, between the planes, whatever and when it moves to another takes on the aspects of that plane to better blend in and survive.”
Brother Willim nods, “I follow you.”
“That’s all well and good,” states Jiron, “but we are still faced with the problem of what to do with this ‘amoeba’ I think you called it.”
“You’re right of course,” he says as he moves back away from the barrier. He allows the winds and clouds to begin moving on their own, the strain of holding them was beginning to be too much to maintain.
Lightning is out. Though it did affect it, it didn’t do so to any great degree. Fire? Possibly but he’ll need a nearby source from which to draw upon and a tremendous amount of power.
“Wish Miko was here with us,” he abruptly states.
“What?” asks Brother Willim.
“Oh, just thinking the power of the Star would come in handy right about now,” he explains.
“You have an idea?” Jiron asks.
Nodding, he says, “Yes I do.” Pulling out his mirror, he glances to them and says, “First though, I need to send a message.”
Miko and the others have been keeping a constant eye on the grayness ever since the lightning bolts stopped and the cloud cover began to dissipate. They expected the grayness to die, go away, or something. But it remaining unchanged seemed to not bode well for James and the others.
“Could it have beaten them?” asks Scar.
“Would you shut up!” roars Stig. “It did not beat them.” He moves over to where Aleya is off by herself. “I’m sure they’re all right,” he tells them.
Looking up at him with a tear in her eye, she says, “I hope so. After losing everyone when the Empire took my home, I was afraid to latch onto someone else. I feared going through that again.”
He puts his arm comfortingly around her shoulders. She gives him a short laugh and says, “And look who I decided to latch onto. A man who always seems to be in the middle of whatever is going on, most of it life threatening. I must be out of my mind.”
“Jiron’s a good man,” assures Stig. “I know he cares for you. Besides, your heart will love who your heart will love. There’s not much you can do about it.”
“I suppose not,” she agrees.
“He and James have been in worse situations before and always managed to get out of them,” he says. “So relax. They’re probably just taking a moment to consider their options.”
“I hope so,” she says. She sits there with Stig for a minute before her eye catches sight of a dust devil swirling atop the ground not ten feet from where they sit. “Isn’t that odd,” she suddenly says.
“What?” Stig asks.
Pointing to the swirling dust devil she says, “It sits in one spot. I’ve never known one to do that before.”
“Either have I,” he replies. As they continue watching it, the feeling that something is odd about it grows stronger by the second. It’s not moving, not growing smaller or larger, it just continues to twirl.
Just then Miko comes to stand beside them, his attention too is fixed upon the dust devil. “Strangest thing I’ve ever seen,” he says.
All of a sudden, it moves in an erratic pattern then dissipates. Miko’s eyes widen when he sees upon the ground where the dust devil had just been, a design roughly similar to the Star of Morcyth.
Grabbing a stick off the ground, he moves over to it and writes ‘James?’ in the dirt. Then as if an invisible finger is writing in the dirt, letters form. B…u…i…l…d.”
“They’re alive!” Aleya exclaims.
“Hey!” Miko calls to the others. “You better get over here.”
Scar, Potbelly and the others come over quickly and watch as the letters continue to form.
Zyrn and those he’s with see the commotion and come over as well to find out what’s going on.
Letter by letter, the message appears in the dirt:
Build fire, then get far, far away!
“What do you suppose that means?” Reilin asks.
“Just what it says,” Miko replies. To the others he says, “Gather what material you can. We’re going to make a fire.” Then he bends over and uses his stick to write once more in the sand.
When James sees Miko write, ‘Ok’ in the sand, he relaxes. Getting what rest he can, he continues to watch Miko and the others in the mirror. They scramble about gathering what combustible items as can be found. Dead bushes, roots and a few sticks are all that’s readily available.
He watches as they pile those items together and then Scar kneels down beside it. Taking out his flint stone, he begins striking sparks then bends close to where a spark has fallen on a dried leaf and starts blowing softly across the red spark. After a moment a little bit of smoke appears, then a flame.
Once the fire has caught and doesn’t look as if it’s about to go out anytime soon, those who have horses mount while the others who are on foot begin moving away as fast as they can. James waits for them to put some distance between themselves and the fire before he begins.
Putting away his mirror, he looks to Jiron.
“Over the top magic again?” he says with a grin.
Returning the grin, he says “Something like that.” Brother Willim looks from one to the other wondering what they are talking about.
This time, he lies down on the ground before beginning. “Hope this works,” he says then closes his eyes. Sending out his senses, he first checks where the void had been and is happy to discover no evidence of it. Next he sends his senses over to the fire Scar had made to make sure it won’t go out anytime soon. Satisfied that it will last a sufficient amount of time, he begins.
Using the magic, he forms a second barrier that completely encompasses the creature. Not nearly as strong as the one he created to protect them from the grayness, just strong enough to keep the air within from passing to the outside. Never has he created something so massive. The creature must cover over six square miles radiating out in every direction. Just creating the barrier took longer than he anticipated. The hardest thing was checking the perimeter to make sure the barrier extended several inches past the creature so that not even the slightest part of it was outside the barrier.
Next, he works to remove everything from the air within the barrier but the oxygen molecules. A hard enough job to do when you aren’t trying to maintain two barriers at the same time, but with what he’s already doing, it’s incredibly difficult. Slowly, the concentration of oxygen within the barrier increases. At one point he allows additional air to seep in to augment the supply of oxygen.
Keeping an eye on the fire Scar built, he continues to intensify the concentration of oxygen. When the fire is on the verge of going out, he determines that he’s done all he’s going to be able to do with increasing the oxygen content within the barrier. He’s not entirely sure but the air within the large barrier has to be pretty close to almost pure oxygen.
In a voice tight with strain, he says, “Get ready.” Sweat is now beading down his face and his teeth are grit together in response to the great strain he’s under.
“For what,” Brother Willim asks.
Unable to respond, James puts as much magic as he can into the protective barrier surrounding them to strengthen it. Then, while maintaining both barriers, he extends the larger one to encompass the fire. And when the fire hits the almost pure oxygen within…
Ke-Pow!
…it ignites the oxygen in a massive fireball.
The blast hits the larger barrier with such force that he’s unable to maintain it. Letting it go, he puts everything he has into maintaining the protective one around them.
The grayness that covered their barrier is burnt away as fire completely consumes it. Even the ground beneath their barrier turns red as the heat from the blast melts it into a smoldering slag. James’ back is scorched, his hair begins to smoke as the heat from the blast enters through the barrier.
“James!” exclaims Jiron. The heat burning and scorching his flesh brings intense agony, then soothing comfort comes as the green glow surrounding Brother Willim moves to envelope him. Easing his pain and soothing his burns, Brother Willim works to protect them both against the heat of the fire. For James, Brother Willim is unable to offer much help, it takes all he can do just to protect him and Jiron.
The ground starts to settle down and the heat subsides as the fire begins to diminish. James continues to lay there in agony, trying with his last ounce of strength to hold onto the barrier. When at last he can no longer hold onto it, he releases his hold on the magic and passes out.
“My lord!” exclaims Shorty when the fire ignites the oxygen. Even as far away as they had managed to reach the heat could be felt, then the concussion wave hits and almost bowls them over. Rising into the air, a gigantic cloud of fire reaches to the sky.
“Nothing could have survived that,” breathes Scar.
When it’s observed that the flames are subsiding, Miko turns his horse back and says, “Let’s get back there. They may need us.” Kicking his horse in the sides, he leaps into a gallop as he flies back to the scene of the explosion. The others are soon racing to follow. Zyrn and the villagers follow at a slower pace as they are on foot.
The area where the shimmering gray area had been still shimmers under the summer sun. “The explosion didn’t do anything,” remarks Stig.
“They may be out there in need of help,” Aleya says. “We have to go to them.”
At the edge of the shimmering field, Miko comes to a halt. Heat still radiates toward him from the blast, in some areas the shimmering has made way for red, glowing areas that give off tremendous heat. To their right and left, it looks as if the blast radius had begun a few inches past where the gray area had been. Somehow James had managed to encompass it completely.
“We don’t dare enter until we know if it’s safe,” Miko says. He wants to use the Star to locate James and the others, but the memory of how the grayness reacted when James used his magic causes him to refrain.
“Then what should we do?” Shorty asks.
While they sit there in indecision, Zyrn and the rest of the villagers run to join them. Zyrn comes to stand at the edge of the shimmering area and looks out upon it. Something is different but he can’t quite put his finger on it. Then he concentrates on the fringe to see if it’s still advancing. After a full minute he fails to see any sign that it is.
He looks around the ground near him until he finds a medium sized stone. Picking it up, he turns to face the shimmering area. Cocking his arm back, he throws it. The rock arcs through the air and lands fifteen feet past the edge of the shimmering area.
Crack!
When the stone hits the shimmering area, the area shatters as the stone passes right through it. Cracks spider along its surface away from the impact point for several feet. That was as far from what he expected than anything he could have imagined.
Shorty bends over and hesitantly touches the edge of the grayness then pulls back his fingers quickly. When nothing happens, he touches it again. Running his fingers along its surface he says, “It’s glass.”
“What?” asks Potbelly, surprised at what Shorty said.
“It’s glass I tell you,” asserts Shorty. Standing up, he steps out upon the shimmering area and the surface cracks under the pressure.
“He did it!” cries Potbelly.
“We must go to them!” exclaims Aleya and makes to ride forward.
“Whoa there,” Stig says, grabbing her reins near the horse’s head and stopping her.
“But they may need us,” she says, about ready to ride over him if he doesn’t get out her way.
“Our boots will afford us protection against the glass,” he tells her. “But the horses’ hooves will get shredded.” When she glares at him, he adds, “We must walk.”
Realizing he’s not trying to stop her, only protecting her horse, she nods her head and dismounts. Taking her bow she makes to head into the shimmering area.
Stig quickly instructs Reilin to explain that they intend to go in search of their companions to Zyrn, and to wait here to keep an eye on their horses. Then he hurries after Scar, Shorty and Potbelly as they move to follow Aleya into the field of glass.
They are forced to step slowly as they make their way onto the glass surface. Each step shatters the sheet of glass covering the ground. “You could make a fortune off of this,” comments Shorty. “Delia would love this.”
“Yeah,” agrees Stig. “Come out here and carefully cut out sections and sell them, it would definitely bring a tidy sum.
Crack! Pop!
Ahead of them the glass shatters and they can see bands of heat radiating out of the newly formed opening.
Crack! Pop! Crack! Pop!
More openings form as the heat trapped beneath the sheet of glass finds an outlet. “This could get bad,” says Miko. Already, they feel the heat rising every time their feet break through the glass.
Crack! Pop! Crack! Pop!
Most of the heat eruptions are coming from further into the glass covered area, the area closest to the center of the blast.
“Jiron!” hollers Aleya. They pause for a moment, but the only sound they hear is that of heat breaking through the glass. Turning to Miko she asks, “Can you tell if they are alive?”
Shaking his head, he replies, “No, I’m sorry. However, I may be able to tell where they are.” Taking out the Star, he concentrates on the whereabouts of James, Jiron and Brother Willim.
The others wait there for a moment before a light flares from the Star and points a little to the left of the direction they were originally traveling. “I believe they lie in that direction,” he says.
“Thank you,” she says and he nods in reply.
As they continue to progress toward the location of their comrades, their feet grow hotter by the minute. “Make for the areas where the heat broke the glass,” suggests Shorty. When the others look questioningly at him, he explains. “If the heat has had a chance to escape, it may also have had a chance to cool.”
“Good thinking,” Stig says. He taps Aleya on the shoulder and says, “Let me lead here.”
About ready to argue the point, she finally relents and nods her head.
Moving past her, Stig studies the area before them and plans a route that will take advantage of the sections of broken glass. Deciding on his route, he begins to move. A thought comes to him about the broken areas of glass. It could be that those areas are actually hotter than the rest and that’s why the glass broke over them. If so, they aren’t going to have any better time of it.
“Looks like that guy Zyrn and his buddies have figured out that the glass could be valuable,” Shorty says from the rear. Glancing back, the others see Zyrn and two others holding a large piece of glass up while the rest inspect it.
“They should give James a percentage,” states Scar.
“That’s right,” agrees Potbelly. “If it weren’t for him, this glass wouldn’t even be here!”
“Not to mention they would still have a deadly problem on their hands,” offers Stig. As he reaches the first of the shattered areas where the heat escaped, he steps carefully. Finding it not any hotter than the areas of glass that have remained intact, he continues on.
At one point Scar leans on Potbelly as he inspects the bottom of his boot. Sections of the sole have melted away, though not so far as to expose the foot within. “If this keeps up,” he says quietly to Potbelly, “we’ll be walking barefoot.”
“Let’s hope they aren’t too much further then,” replies Potbelly.
With a knowing nod, Scar resumes to follow behind Aleya.
Crack! Pop!
Two feet away from Shorty, heat blasts its way through the glass. The steam that ensued from the new opening shoots upward until the pressure has been released. “I don’t think this was such a good idea,” he says loud enough to be heard by all.
No one replies as they continue on. A solid hour has elapsed already since they entered the glass covered area and the eruptions from escaping heat have all but subsided. Occasionally one can still be heard, but they are now few and far between.
At the head of the party, Stig comes to a stop. Shielding his eyes to see through the glare of the sun being reflected off the glass, he stares far ahead of them. “I think I see them,” he says pointing almost directly ahead of them.
Aleya comes to stand beside him and scans the area he indicates. Like a bubble, a shiny dome rises out of the glass. “Think they’re still inside?” she asks.
From beside her, Miko says, “They have to be.”
“Then why don’t they come out?” Stig asks.
“They may think the grayness is still active and it would be dangerous,” supposes Scar.
Nodding, Stig says, “That would make sense.”
Now with them in sight, Stig moves at a quicker pace until a section of glass slips along the ground under his foot, causing him to stumble. If it weren’t for the quick reflexes of Aleya grabbing his arm and steadying him, he would have fallen. With the ground covered in broken glass from his passing, a fall could likely have been disastrous.
“Thanks,” he says to her after regaining his balance.
“Be more careful next time,” she says.
Once again stepping carefully, he leads the way toward the dome.
Once the fires had subsided, it was much easier for Brother Willim’s magic to effectively protect all three of them from the heat. Still horribly hot within the barrier, at least they are no longer at risk of burning.
He moves over to where James is lying unconscious and turns him over onto his stomach. When he sees the extent of the burns he says to Jiron, “Help me get his shirt off. I need to take care of this.” Moving to help Brother Willim, Jiron soon has the shirt off.
Jiron holds James steady as Brother Willim removes a jar from within his robe. “This will ease the pain should he awaken,” he tells him. Dipping two fingers into the jar, he removes a large glob of salve and begins rubbing it over the burns.
“Miko is going to need to take a look at this,” Jiron states as he watches Brother William apply the ointment.
“Yes,” he agrees. “With the Star he can do a much better job of it.”
“Do you think it’s safe?” Jiron asks. “I mean, do you think he killed the grayness?”
“Possibly,” he replies. “I can no longer feel what he called the pulses of electricity which were evident earlier.”
Once Brother Willim finishes with James’ back, he begins on the other parts of his skin that had been in contact with the bottom of the barrier. Back of his arms, legs and even his head all bear burns. The hair where he was burned at the back of his head is all but gone, a small red bald spot is visible where the hair once had been.
When the slave within the jar runs out, Brother Willim replaces it back in the pocket within his robe. He and Jiron put James’ shirt back on him before they lay him down. Brother Willim then settles next to James and says, “He’s sleeping.”
Jiron gets up and inspects the barrier. “His barrier is down,” Brother Willim tells him. “It went down shortly after he lapsed into unconsciousness.”
Moving his finger toward the dome that surrounds them he hesitates an inch away from touching it. “Then what is this?” he asks.
“I’m not sure,” Brother Willim replies. “This might sound funny but I think it’s glass.”
“Glass?” asks Jiron incredulously. Placing his finger upon it, he rubs its surface. “It does feel like glass.”
“Not sure if it is though,” Brother Willim tells him. When he sees Jiron remove his knife to poke at it, he says, “I wouldn’t do that.”
Turning back toward Brother Willim, Jiron asks, “Why?”
“We still don’t know if it’s safe outside of here,” he replies. “Though I can’t sense it, I think it would be wise to wait until he wakes up.”
Taking a breath, Jiron says, “The air is getting pretty stale in here.”
“I know,” replies Brother Willim. “But we should wait.”
Trusting to the brother’s judgment, he returns his knife to its scabbard and comes to sit next to him. He then takes out his water bottle and upends it for a long drink while he waits for James to awaken, which from past experiences could be some time.
Crack! Pop!
From outside the dome the sound of heat escaping by breaking through the glass covering the ground comes to them. Not knowing what it is they can only sit and wonder.
Over time the sound of the heat escaping gradually becomes less frequent. Then another sound comes to them, this one sounds like someone walking through eggshells. “Jiron!” Aleya’s voice comes to him from outside the barrier. Then, movement can be seen through the opaque glass that is the dome.
“James!” Miko’s voice hollers as one of the shadows presses its face against the side.
“We’re here!” shouts Jiron.
“He’s alive!” exclaims Aleya in glee.
“Are all three of you alright?” Miko asks.
“Brother Willim and I are,” replies Jiron. “James got burned pretty badly.”
From the other side of the dome, Stig says, “We’ll have you out in a second.” Then a shadow raises its arm, the unmistakable outline of a mace clutched in its hand.
“Stop!” cries Brother Willim and the mace stops before smashing into the dome. “If you smash it, it’s going to shatter and cut us.”
The mace is lowered as Stig’s voice asks, “Then what should we do?”
Everyone is silent for a moment then Shorty says, “We can chip around the base and lift if off of them.”
“Good idea,” agrees Jiron. Taking out one of his knives, he moves to the edge as the shadows on the other side do the same. As they chip carefully at the bottom edge of the dome, holes begin to form on all sides. As they work to elongate the holes and separate the dome from the rest of the glass, fresh air makes its way within. Jiron takes a deep breath and feels much better.
When they have chipped all the way around the bottom, those on the outside space themselves evenly around its outer perimeter. Then Stig says, “On three. We lift it off them and carry it my way.” Once the others have indicated they understand, he says. “Alright, one…two…three.” Then they begin to lift and the dome comes away from the ground.
They raise it until the bottom of the dome is above the heads of those who are within it, then very carefully begin carrying it sideways. Step by step they scoot along the glass covered ground until Jiron and the others are no longer under it. Then they set it down carefully back on the ground.
Aleya rushes forward and takes Jiron in her arms. “I thought I had lost you,” she says as she buries her head in the side of his neck.
Patting her on the back he says, “It’ll take more than this to keep me from you.” Lifting her face up to his, he gives her a kiss.
Brother Willim remains by James. As Miko comes toward him he says, “He’s okay. Just sleeping.”
Miko stops less than a foot away and stares at the burns covering James’ body. Reaching into his pouch, he removes the Star. The glow immediately surrounds him as he kneels next to his friend, then moves to envelope James.
As the others look on, the burns on James’ back gradually heal. The dead skin flakes off and new pink skin takes its place. The patch on the back of his head heals as well, though hair does not regrow right away.
When the glow disappears, James opens his eyes and rolls onto his side. Looking up, he sees everyone staring at him. “What?” he asks.
Miko gives him a smile and says, “Nothing.” Putting the Star away, he helps James to his feet and lends him a shoulder for support. A bit unsteady, he looks around at the landscape. “Wow,” he says.
“You can say that again,” Scar says.
Smash!
Everyone turns at the sound just in time to see the dome smashed into a million pieces by Stig’s mace. He glances toward them with a grin. “I just had to,” he says as the glass shards hit the ground with a tinkle.
“Maybe we should think about getting out of here,” James suggests.
“Yes,” agrees Brother Willim. “That would be a good idea.”
Leaning upon Miko’s shoulder, James nods to the others to lead the way out, though their path through the glass is easily identified by the two foot wide swath of broken glass they made on their way in.