{"id":184,"date":"2010-02-19T13:30:55","date_gmt":"2010-02-19T20:30:55","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/atfmb.com\/Evermist\/?p=184"},"modified":"2010-02-17T21:08:22","modified_gmt":"2010-02-18T04:08:22","slug":"chapter-twenty-two","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/atfmb.com\/Evermist\/2010\/02\/chapter-twenty-two\/","title":{"rendered":"Chapter Twenty-Two"},"content":{"rendered":"

\u00a9 2010, Patrick Hester.\u00a0 All Rights Reserved<\/p>\n

Chapter Twenty-Two<\/h1>\n

Eli dreamed.<\/p>\n

He stood before an ancient looking stone temple, overgrown with creeping vines and shrubs.\u00a0 The air smelled fresh and clean like he’d never known it and the sun was warm though not uncomfortable.<\/p>\n

He tried to move forward but found that his feet were not listening.\u00a0 Trying to look down, he realized that his head would no longer move.\u00a0 His eyes were locked on the temple before him.<\/p>\n

“Go away,” growled a deep voice behind him.\u00a0 That voice chilled the air, dimmed the sun.\u00a0 Even the vines fixed upon the stone of the temple seemed to quake and pull back and away from it. There was pain and passion in that voice, anger and rage.\u00a0 Eli began to sweat and it wasn’t due to the sun’s heat above him.<\/p>\n

“This is MY place!” roared the voice.\u00a0 “Sacred to my<\/em> people!\u00a0 You are not wanted here!”<\/p>\n

Silence.\u00a0 Again, Eli tried to move, tried to run away.\u00a0 If this place were sacred to that voice he would gladly go anywhere else to be rid of it.<\/p>\n

Everything flickered, the images changing.\u00a0 Before him, the temple was still ancient, but the vines were gone, the surrounding green well tended and cared for.\u00a0 The air was still rich, still clean, the sun still warm, but there was something different.\u00a0 A series of great booms, one after the other, drew his eyes skyward.\u00a0 Trails of fire streaked down-<\/p>\n

Everything flickered, the vines returned.\u00a0 His stomach roiled.<\/p>\n

“I will not,” roared the voice.\u00a0 Eli struggled to be free now, to run way from whatever madness had taken him only his body would not respond.\u00a0 He tried to speak, tell the voice he would leave if only he could lift his feet, but there was no sound.\u00a0 Mouth wide and silent, he screamed.<\/p>\n

“Until the end of time, if we must,” said the voice.\u00a0 “Until you are no more.”<\/p>\n

Again, the images flickered, the Wall rose before him. \u00a0Trees were moving, impossibly tall trees, thick branches wider than the biggest trees from his backyard lashing out, tearing away chunks that fell away into the mist below.\u00a0 Men appeared; shooting, throwing pots of oil that burst into flames, licking at the bark, causing the trees to scream in agony, the voice to roar in anger.<\/p>\n

Again, he was back.\u00a0 Again, the voice spoke.<\/p>\n

“I will never rest until you are all dead.”<\/p>\n

Eli woke up, his body covered in sweat.\u00a0 He could hear the other men in the barracks breathing, some snoring, and he took comfort from that.\u00a0 Only a dream, he told himself.\u00a0 Only a dream.<\/p>\n

* * *<\/p>\n

In the Tower of Valles, the Magistrate screamed.\u00a0 Valenz stepped from the shadows, swooping down to sit on the edge of the bed.\u00a0 He shook the taller man, gripping his shoulders tightly as the man squirmed and writhed.<\/p>\n

“Wake, Master,” he said softly.\u00a0 “Wake now.\u00a0 It’s over.\u00a0 Only a dream.”<\/p>\n

Still, the Magistrate struggled.\u00a0 Valenz did not lessen his grip, shaking harder now. “Master,” he said louder than before.\u00a0 “Time to wake.\u00a0 Time to return.”<\/p>\n

With a blood curdling cry, the Magistrate sat up, hands clutching at his throat as if to hold it together.\u00a0 Valenz jumped back as he leapt from his bed and raced to the bath.\u00a0 After a moment, Valenz followed him and found the taller man standing before the mirror, examining his bare neck.<\/p>\n

“He tried to rip my throat out, Valenz,” he said hoarsely.\u00a0 “With his teeth.”<\/p>\n

“I warned you he would be strong this time of year, my Lord.”<\/p>\n

“You did,” sighed the Magistrate.\u00a0 “I should have listened to you.”<\/p>\n

To any other eye, the Magistrate would look fine, but Valenz could tell the strain was taking its toll.\u00a0 He looked tired, more so than he had seen him before, and they had known each other a very long time.<\/p>\n

“I do have some good news,” said the Magistrate as he splashed water across his face.<\/p>\n

“Oh?” asked Valenz.\u00a0 He pushed his glasses up his nose.<\/p>\n

What the Magistrate said next was muffled by the towel he used to dry his face.\u00a0 Valenz asked him to repeat it and the Magistrate smiled broadly at him.<\/p>\n

“I said, I was not there alone, Valenz.\u00a0 Someone else was in the Dream.\u00a0 Someone I could feel but not see or hear.\u00a0 I’m sure of it.”<\/p>\n

“That…” Valenz did not know what to say.\u00a0 “That is unexpected,” he offered after a moment.<\/p>\n

“Indeed.\u00a0 Perhaps there’s hope yet, eh?” the Magistrate grinned.\u00a0 Valenz said nothing more, his mind already deep in thought.\u00a0 Who could have been there?\u00a0 Where did they come from?<\/p>\n

How had they missed finding them?<\/p>\n

Tell your friends:<\/em>
\"Add<\/a>\"Add<\/a>\"Add<\/a>\"Add<\/a>\"Add<\/a>\"Add<\/a>\"Add<\/a>\"Add<\/a>\"Add<\/a>\"Add<\/a>\"Add<\/a>\"Add<\/a>\"Add<\/a><\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

\u00a9 2010, Patrick Hester.\u00a0 All Rights Reserved Chapter Twenty-Two Eli dreamed. He stood before an ancient looking stone temple, overgrown with creeping vines and shrubs.\u00a0 The air smelled fresh and clean like he’d never known it and the sun was warm though not uncomfortable. He tried to move forward but found that his feet were […]<\/p>\n

Tell your friends:<\/em>
\"Add<\/a>\"Add<\/a>\"Add<\/a>\"Add<\/a>\"Add<\/a>\"Add<\/a>\"Add<\/a>\"Add<\/a>\"Add<\/a>\"Add<\/a>\"Add<\/a>\"Add<\/a>\"Add<\/a><\/div>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[18,9,12,10,11,8,7,13,14,6],"aioseo_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/atfmb.com\/Evermist\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/184"}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/atfmb.com\/Evermist\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/atfmb.com\/Evermist\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/atfmb.com\/Evermist\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/atfmb.com\/Evermist\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=184"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"http:\/\/atfmb.com\/Evermist\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/184\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":214,"href":"http:\/\/atfmb.com\/Evermist\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/184\/revisions\/214"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/atfmb.com\/Evermist\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=184"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/atfmb.com\/Evermist\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=184"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/atfmb.com\/Evermist\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=184"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}