The wind once again began to howl, carrying dense clouds of dust with it. Arash found it harder and harder to see through the raging clouds of dust, squinting against the whips of wind and dirt. His heart drummed in his chest, his breathing ragged.

Arash became acutely aware about the old man on his back as he heard his restless breaths, and felt his fear as he desperately clung to him.

"Curse you boy, I knew this would happen." Saroh hissed in the boy's ear.

Arash's heart fluttered with anxiety as his legs turned into a blur, and he sailed through the wind, squinting in hopes of finding the bluish glow of the mana stones. His eyes burned under the whipping of the dust. 'Where is it? Where...'

"I thought you knew what you were doing. Damnable fool, I took stupidity for wits, running around like this. Do you even you where you are--"

"If I hear one more word from you, I will drop you like the dead weight you are." Arash threatened the old man.

"Drop me?" Saroh laughed hysterically. His left hand slipped into the small pocket on his side and returned with a small mana stone. "Leave me and you will find yourself with a big fucking hole in your skull." He held the stone close to Arash's temple.

Arash stilled for a second, he could feel the familiar cold of mana stone. Miserable shrieks of Kharas, its crystallized body frozen in time flashed in his mind. 'He still has a stone…. Shit'

"Kill me and you are dead too." Arash retorted as he glanced back at the old man.

"I know that, but I won't the be the only one." The old man tightened his grip. "So don't go having any funny ideas."

"Sh..." Arash's words were caught in his throat as he saw a familiar pastel glow through the veils of dust. A sudden shift of the wind had made a tiny gap between the clouds of dust. Color drained from his face as he realized that they were running in the wrong direction. Arash shifted towards the glow and whistled through the enraging dust storm. 'Please be there...'

"What the fuck are you doing?" Saroh fiercely tugged at his neck. "Cock sucking, conniving son of a bitch. You don't know the way back do ya."

The old man ran curses and almost choked Arash to death. But a strong elbow to the ribs proved to him quite an effective measure against the old man.Saroh wasn't wearing a mask and soon it became hard for him to breath. The old man pressed his face against Arash's back, and found some relief from the coughing, his nostrils burned with dust.

Arash heaved for breath, felt it burning in his chest as some of the dust managed to sneak inside the mask. The fierce winds made it hard for him to move, every step becoming heavier with each passing moment, and not to mention the old man on his back made it all the more difficult for him to run. Suddenly, a small glowing pebble carried by the wind came hurtling towards him, it snuck past his defenses and lodged itself right into his right eye. Arash howled in pain as his vision blackened, sending him rolling down the ground. As he hit the ground, the old man was launched into the air with a big "Fuuucck!!!" The old man slammed against the hard ground with a loud thud and lost consciousness.

Arash felt a strange coldness in his right eye, he heard the same low humming of the mana stones, tearing away at his consciousness. "Argh!!!" a loud wail pierced through the howling wind as he rolled around in pain, hands clawing his face. The coldness crept deep into him, deeper than the flesh and bones. He could feel his eye turn to crystal; its vision slowly turning to darkness. Pain rippled out from his right eye as all the veins in his body bulged out. Soon, his right eye turned into a glowing stone and coldness surged towards his brain.

In the midst of this soul-wrenching pain he had a moment of clarity, suddenly he found himself inside the formless sea of darkness. He could see blue mist rolling towards him, it was made of tiny little creatures, billions upon billions, humming to a rasping tune that hacked at his consciousness.

The rolling mist of tiny little creatures spread at a startling speed, filling the great void between him. Dread stilled his thought as he racked his brain for a solution. Suddenly, he remembered the glowing mana stone hurtling towards him. He called upon the runes hidden in his formless body, he could feel their existence. But the grating cacophony of the countless little creatures made it hard for him to concentrate, his thoughts turned sluggish. It became hard for him to make cohesive thoughts. Every single thought drowned under the raging crescendo until the pain was all that he could feel.

In a blink of an eye, the mist was upon him, engulfing him in its embraces, those tiny little creatures boring into his formless body, screaming with the same grating tune. Arash started to lose his sense of self...