24.

Lynn found himself repeating the visions he had gone through before. Not the first ones that seemed to just depict scenes from random lives, but instead the ones the mysterious man had shown him of Vivian. Only they seemed more detailed now, as if to intensify the horrendous images. Fire burned around Vivian’s family as she screamed and wept helplessly. The word WHORE stared down on her from her mother’s post as the men began to light the fire under her. Lynn wanted to help Vivian. He dearly wanted to dash to her side and yank her down from the post she was tied to but his body couldn’t move, only gaze on.

The scene shifted into the one with the men pulling her down from the post. None of them looked sorry in the least, Lynn could even hear one whistling as he threw Vivian’s charred remains into the back of a wagon.

Then it shifted again and he saw Rin smiling as he stood before Vivian’s collapsed body, now unblemished but stark. The white haired boy’s ocean blue eyes flickered red as he let out a joyous laugh. Then the images repeated themselves.

Over and over the three scenes played out in front of him. All the while he could hear the man’s whisperings in the background. Lynn couldn’t understand the language but the meanings still echoed through. Lynn couldn’t stop anything. Everything in life was hopeless. He couldn’t save Vivian. He couldn’t save his family. He couldn’t even save himself.

He awoke in darkness. A chill sweat dripped down his throbbing forehead as he attempted to sit up. The ground was stone and from where he sat he could also feel a wall of the same damp stone at his side. Lying back down, Lynn waited until his eyes adjusted before once again attempting to look around.

It immediately became apparent that he was in a cave. To his left, a prick of light signified the end of the cave. Quivering as he stood, he began making his way towards it. The exterior of the cave took away his breath. The ground dropped off completely for more than fifty feet. There was a small bluff, where Lynn stood, at the mouth of the cave and a path to the left which appeared to have been carved out of the mountain stone.

“Awake?” Lynn pivoted around and saw Constell behind him.

“How did I get here?”

“I carried ya. Ya’re missing half your body but ya still could lose go easier on the desserts. I don’t exactly have the beefy build of my brother.”

“Where are we?”

“No thank you?” Constell sighed. “We’re further down the mountainside ya heroically decided to commit suicide on. Question- do ya remember how I said we should not come over here and that it would kill us?”

“We’ve survived so far.”

“Ya’ve been in a coma for weeks. That’s not off to a phenomenal beginning.”

Lynn felt his face and found the beard he normally kept groomed had become scraggly and unkempt. “And you’ve been looking after me this whole time?”

“Yep. And let me just guess your next fifty questions before ya ask them. I knew about the cave because my grandad told me about an aboriginal group which lived on this side of the mountain for centuries. Until they mysteriously disappeared leaving their homes and temples to the jungle. Oh, and they left behind monstrous bears. Remember how I mentioned those? Anyway, this cave was one of their temples.

“Next question ya want to ask- I’ve been dripping honey down your throat. That’s why ya’re still alive. I heard about the survival technique from a book but it didn’t mention how tedious it would be to get any decent amount down the half dead person’s throat. I’ve gone through four hives, getting them is another story altogether.

“Next question- no. We are not about to go down the mountain. Ya just woke up and I’m amazed you can even stand.”

“We need to get down there now. I saw Vivian, Constell. She might be dead but there’s still a chance we can stop it.”

“Stop what? I’m not going to rush to my death because ya had a bad dream.”

“It wasn’t a dream.” Lynn went in depth about what he saw in the ice. Constell listened intently until the end.

“I’m not sold. I’ve never heard of a Mystic being able to see into the past and future. Maybe ya simply were getting hypothermia from sitting on the ice for as long as ya did and began to hallucinate. And in all the time I’ve known Rin, he’s never hurt a fly. I think he might actually be a vegetarian. I can’t remember.”

“It was all real. I know it was. I need to get down there. The sun is setting so we don’t have very much time. If I circle around the mountain from this point can I get back to the trail we climbed up on?”

“No. From here I’m pretty sure we would have to go at least halfway down to the base before there is any sort of trail to get over to the other side. And we can’t go up either. When ya fell ya smashed my vial of Savirelet. So, unless ya can sprout new limbs with your new vision powers, coming down here was a one way trip. More of a reason to wait the night through and carefully plan our way down.”

“Okay. You can stay but I am going down.” Lynn made his way to the path before turning back to Constell. “Thank you Constell. I mean it. I would have died without your help.”

“Do ya have chowder for brains? Listen to me!”

Lynn said nothing.

Constell threw up his arms. “Fine. I’ll go. I have always wanted to be eaten by wild animals anyway. I can check that off my bucket list.”

Grabbing the supplies Constell had built up. They quickly set out.

As Lynn walked, he wanted to buckle over with every step forward. He was used to being weak, but not like this. Not asleep for a month weak. But he forced himself forward.

The path bent at a slight slope downward for the first forty yards until it split into two paths, one that went up and one that descended down in stairs cut right off of the stone of the mountain. Lynn took the path down. Nothing threatened his life immediately and a thought jumped into Lynn’s head.

“Where did you get that honey from? And you fed yourself too these last few weeks. You had to have come down here before, right?”

Constell grimaced. “Yes. I went a ways down four or five times but after I found food I came directly back. Harvesting wild honey is horrible enough but I could hear noises down there too. And that was during the day.”

Lynn continued on in silence for a while. The path transformed from stone stairs into an overgrown dirt forest path. The fading light from the sun made the half dead trees appear to be swallowing the path he followed. Lynn completely understood why Constell was hesitant to go into the woods during the night. Still, he pushed forward and Constell followed while muttering curses.

The sun finished setting and Lynn moved forward by moonlight, grateful the moon happened to be more full than new. The only noise came from the crunch of their boots in the dirt. Several times in the next hours, Lynn felt as if something stared at him from behind but his quick searches revealed nothing.

Finally, he called to Constell to stop for a rest. He didn’t particularly want to linger on the side of the mountain but rocks had lodged themselves in his boot and he could feel the sores building. As he sat down and removed his boot he saw movement.

Lynn’s face drained of color.

Behind them, crouched in the shadows, a pair of red eyes met his. They stared at each other for a long moment before the owner of the eyes rose. A creature unlike any Lynn had ever heard of towered over them.

Twice the size of any man, the monster could almost be mistaken for a massive bear but its head had also swelled to an unproportionate size. Also, the left side of its chin revealed human skin in a mismatch of hair. Lynn hurriedly glanced about it and saw other missing sections of hair revealing a bare right shoulder and stomach. It was as if someone had melded a bear and a man together, multiplied its size, added an extra row of carnivore teeth, and gouged out its eyes to replace them with those of a red eyed cougar. Everything about the beast terrified Lynn.

“Run,” was all Lynn managed to croak out to Constell.

Constell wheeled around, saw the monster, cursed loudly, and grabbed the collar of Lynn’s jacket which heaved him onto his feet. He half dragged Lynn as they dashed away with the beast in pursuit. Lynn felt his now barefoot slice open and bruise on sharp rocks and roots, but none of that mattered to him. Adrenaline overrode any pain. The two of them clamored over fallen trees, boulders, and through cold streams. The beast behind them didn’t seem to be worried about them escaping. It let out a screech which could maybe have been laughter and pursued them. It stepped over each of the obstacles in almost one stride.

It gained on them.

Lynn broke away from Constell’s grip. “Keep going, I’ll slow it.”

The monster lunged toward him and grasped Lynn’s arm. It lifted him toward its mouth but as it opened its maw it stopped, sniffing. Then it dropped Lynn, reeling backwards. Lynn felt horribly in pain but he crawled away from the beast as it raged about, vigorously rubbing at its snout.

He rolled over a log and half stumbled, half tumbled down the hill.

The beast howled and charged back down the hill towards him with murder in its blood colored eyes. It once again reached out for him, but this time Lynn realized with horror it had retractable claws like a cat’s and it didn’t seem intent on eating him anymore, just murdering him.

Lynn rolled to dodge the first mauling swipe at him but the second caught him in the side. The momentum of the swipe caused him to tumble through the air and smash into the side of a boulder.

Accompanying the crippling pain on his landing, his vision also went black. Every instinct of him wanted to flee but he knew he couldn’t out run this monster. Not with one leg. He blinked away the darkness and stared down the beast as it moved toward him. Gulping, Lynn looked into its monstrous eyes and prepared himself for death.

Just as it lifted its paw to finish him, a small streaming blast of sand came from over Lynn’s shoulder and caught the monster in its eyes. A piercing howl came from the beast as Lynn felt someone grab his shirt and lift him to his feet.

Constell gave him a raggedly wry smile. “Let’s go.”

Lynn went. The two of them dodged between trees and trampled brush as they dashed down the mountain. They had traveled well over a mile before them came to a stop.

“I…I think…we lost it,” Constell said, panting.

“I don’t want to stay still even if we did. Let’s keep moving. I want to put as much room between it and us as possible.” Lynn said.

Constell nodded and they kept moving. Not as quickly as their flight from the monster but still more than a fast stroll.

“What was that creature?” Lynn asked.

“Absolutely no idea. I’ve never even heard of something like that. I think I pissed myself.” Then Constell quickly began backpedaling. “Actually, before ya quote me, know it’s an expression. I do not actually piss on my clothes. But I was terrified beyond belief.”

“Didn’t you say earlier that we were out of Savirelet? How did you spray it in the eyes like you did without any?”

Constell looked away. “I might have had just a tiny little bit in a hidden pocket. It’s not enough to climb anything or do anything significant. I used all I had on that one blast.”

Lynn nodded. “You keep it for emergencies. That makes sense.”

“Well…” Constell said sheepishly. “I use it to keep dirt off my clothes.”

Lynn looked at him bewildered. “That’s how you keep your clothes clean? You have an extraordinary ability and you use it to keep your clothes out of the wash.”

“White stains easily,” Constell defended.

“I suppose I can’t complain. Your vanity saved my life back there. Thank you.”

“At the very least, I’m glad I didn’t waste my clothing Savirelet in vain...ity.”

“That was a horrible pun.”

“Near death experiences bring out the worst in my humor,” Constell replied. “Do ya have any idea where we’re going?”

“Yeah.” Lynn pointed up. “I studied everything imaginable to get into this library. I never thought astronomy a particularly difficult subject.”

“Thank the Silts for the library’s ridiculous standards. If not for those we’d be wandering back to become bear chow.”

“I suppose. If you need any advice on economics or architecture I also have a vast knowledge on those particular subjects. They’re favorites of the examiners.”

“Sure, I’ve always had a question. My mother loves architecture and rambles about it, actually, ya might be a perfect fit for her. Tell me, what’s the difference between a grotesque and a gargoyle? Look exactly the same to me.”

“A gargoyle is attached to a drainage system. A grotesque isn’t.”

Constell paused for a moment and gave him a confused look. “That’s a ridiculous differentiation, what’s the point of giving them different names?”

Lynn shrugged. “Probably to prove you’ve studied architecture and sound educated. It’s the same as a lot of things. There are symbols in written language which are honestly obsolete but are kept because people want to prove their superior intellect to others.”

“So, what I’m hearing is, scholars are exactly like the muscle idiots who have to wrestle with each other to prove they're stronger.”

Lynn didn’t say anything. They continued walking until they found a stream where Lynn crouched down, cupped water in his hands, and drank the brisk liquid. Every ounce of his body ached but Lynn still stood and motioned for Constell to follow as they continued on in the moonlight.

They entertained each other in the next several hours with pointless small talk about rumors and random snippets of knowledge they knew. The gossip helped distract Lynn from the scenes which continually played in the back of his mind and seemed to help Constell forget about the monstrous bear. It gave them the ability to ignore the disturbing images by replacing them with menial chatter. It passed the time quickly until the sun rose. Once it began setting again, they decided to stop and rest. Lynn felt as if his body were made from solid lead as he took the last few steps toward what would be their campground.

“Does it hurt?” Constell asked.

“Everything hurts. Can you be more specific?”

Constell gestured toward Lynn’s fake leg. “Ya’ve been walking all through last night and the day. Don’t ya just have a stump that cuts off at your thigh? Does it hurt or is it all callused over from the years?”

Lynn shook his head. “I can’t feel anything on the left side of my body. I can move what’s left of my arm and leg but I don’t feel anything from them. You could stab a knife into the left side of my body and I wouldn’t feel a prick of pain.”

“Oh. So I take it ya’re not sore?”

“No. My stump is not sore.”

“Do you know why ya didn’t die? I heard that everyone else did. What made ya special?”

Lynn shook his head again. “You’re asking the same question I have been for the last half a decade.”

Silence followed as they both dozed off under the cover of low branches. Lynn awoke to a slight drizzle dripping down on his face. He tried to fall back asleep but his body refused his request, rumbling with inane hunger instead. Eventually he stood.

“Oh good, ya’re awake? Ready to go?” At the sound of Constell’s voice, Lynn looked over to find him already with his eyes open and staring up at him.

“Yes. We should get moving again. We’ve already spent too long here.”

“It’s too bad we don’t have any decent supplies. I had been scavenging day by day before ya woke up. Never getting a real stockpile. Now I’m starving.”

“I doubt we’re far from the library now. You can eat once we make certain Vivian is safe.”

Constell grumbled but pushed himself to his feet, took a moment to stretch his arms out by reaching for the sky. Then he trudged forward. Lynn followed after him.

The section of the island became insanely overgrown so Constell found a decent sized stick and began whacking at all the plants in his path, leaving the corpses of vegetation in his wake. Hours passed with little conversation until Lynn looked up from Constell’s rampaging. Dark black plumes of smoke swirled up into the overcast sky as the sun set.