Arash gently touched his crystallized eye. He could feel the familiar coldness on the tips of his fingers, feel the stone which used to be his right eye. The terrible hymn of the blue creatures still buzzed in his head, turning each thought into an instrument of torture. He breathed in to attempt to shun away all stray thoughts; it brought him some relief, but the pain was still there; slow and steady in its strikes, driving him to the brink of madness.

Ever since the old man woke up, he had been fascinated by the cocoon of wind around them. He stood near the edge of the protective barrier, grimly staring at the boundary between the barrier and the dust storm. "Why can't the wind come inside this." Saroh nervously stretched out his arms, his eyes widening in surprise as his hand easily passed through the barrier and felt the beating of wind. He immediately jerked back his hand. "There is nothing there. Nothing." He turned towards Arash, who was sitting in the middle of the protective barrier, eyes closed. Saroh grumbled something under his breath and went back to his probings.

Arash floated over the sea of darkness, his eyes trained on the silver net in the distance. In an instant, he flew over towards the blue mist. The swarm of blue creatures rippled behind the silver net. Their songs reminded him of the helplessness he had felt. Anger flashed in his eyes, but with it came the pain. He grabbed in head in agony as he flashed away from the net. The pain alleviated a little with the distance, but it still felt like as if someone was flaying him alive. He smothered his anger under his iron will and the pain alleviated became bearable. He looked back at the net, but this time his eyes contained fear in them. The song of the creatures used his emotions as a device of torture. He had to remain in the perpetual state of detachment for the pain to be bearable. Any slight slip in his mental state resulted in soul-wrenching pain.

"How long do you plan on sitting there?" Saroh complained. Arash opened his eyes and stared cooly at the old man. Saroh's heart lurched as he saw the crystallized eye, but he didn't dare to show it on his face. "It might be fine that the wind doesn't bother us anymore, but sitting here doesn't do jack shit." Arash's impassiveness unnerved him. "Did you hit your head or something? Why are you looking at me like that"

Arash studied the man's face and drew a little pleasure from his uneasiness, but his little victory was short-lived as the bitting pain came rushing back. "We will go." Arash uttered as color drained from his face. He scrambled to his feet and stalked, it felt good to feel the ground beneath him.

"What are you going to do about the wind?" Saroh asked as his eyes darted towards the raging winds around him.

"Walk through it." Arash said casually. He waited for the old man to start cussing, but the old man solemnly nodded in reply. He easily picked the scrawny old man and started towards the distant glow. "Don't need this anymore." Arash pulled down the thin skin mask as he plodded towards dim glow of the mana deposits.

"It's the eye isn't it." Saroh asked as his eyes studied the winds. "I have never seen something like this. It's as if the wind is afraid of you. There is nothing that stops it from coming here. I have checked, but it splits open for you… How do you do it?" Saroh said with a gentle tug of his right hand.

Arash didn't deign to reply and kept pushing towards the dim light flickering through the ever shifting clouds of dust. He glanced at sky and could barely make out the glowing rivers. His right eye violently shook under the dim pastel glow of the rivers. The song of the blue creatures changed to a softer and gentle rhythm. He could feel their yearning and the pain stopped for a while. It felt as if he had breathed for the first time in a long time, tears of relief streamed down his cheeks as he felt relief for the first time. The cries of the souls rang in his ears, loud and grating; but it was nothing compared to the pain of the cacophonous tune he had suffered.

[Authors Note : The cries of souls is actually the ringing sound from the blue rivers in the sky, mentioned in chapter two.]

"Stop staring at the rivers foolish boy, the souls would make you muddled headed." Saroh barked as he saw Arash staring at the sky.

"Let them take me." Arash whispered to himself, he wasn't afraid of death. Suddenly the image of a young sickly body came to him. 'I can't leave him. Who will protect him...' He gritted his teeth as he peeled off his gaze from the rivers, the cries faded and pain came back to him.

Soon they reached mana deposits, his legs burned with fatigue as he eased the old man beside the mana deposits. Arash searched for the stones he had left, but as he had expected there was not a single pebble he could find. Even the cloak had been taken by someone, he ruefully shook his head and his fleeting regret turned into piercing pain. 'How long can I go on like this?' The thought of living his life with this constant pain chilled his heart.

"It hurts doesn't it?" Saroh nodded towards the crystallized eye. Arash answered him with a barely perceptible nod. "You ought to be dead… yet here you stand. I wouldn't have believed it if I hadn't seen it with my own eyes. Everyone knows a man who touches a stone is a dead man… Why didn't you die?" This time he got a blank stare for an answer. "...Maybe I can help." The old man's face flushed as soon as he said the word. He cursed under his breath.

Arash wanted to smile, but as soon as the emotion bubbled in his heart, color drained from his face as he gritted his teeth as the song once again began.