Earth
Dream Journal Entry
Earth time: June 12, 2006

Some part of me knew I was asleep and yet I am still overwhelmed by fear. That night replays in front of my eyes, and this is all I can see: Lily smiling, orange firelight casting a sickly glow on her face, on the snow on the ground. The silently falling flakes would be a beautiful touch to a picturesque scene if not for the pounding in my ears. I brace myself for what I know is coming.

I feel I am her, and yet myself at the same time. She leans in close to me, her features becoming distorted like a funhouse mirror reflection... her voice low, garbled and frightening. I cannot understand her and it makes me pull away from her.

And then, my perspective rapidly changes, expands, and Lily comes into normal view, standing before a fire. I see movement out of the corner of my eye, and I turn to see a shadow of a man emerging from the woods, a teeth-baring smile upon his face, his eyes lit up with an unholy fire.

It is Shard, and I see pointed teeth, hair and eyes the color of blood, his skin pasty white, although I know that is not how he really looks; in reality, he is a Half-Man who does not know what he is doing.

He used weapons I had only ever seen him use when hunting: hover blades. Brutally sharp, the blades looked hand-carved and were intended for hitting flying prey, not humans. It was nauseating to watch him use his powers to strike down another human.

The first blade flies straight for Lily, who is still smiling at me, totally unaware that death is winging towards her. And I gasp and cry out, but she only looks at me quizzically, her lips turned down in puzzlement. I see it hit Lily in the neck, feel it shatter my mind, see it explode her orb, hard enough to take my breath away. I feel as if it is my own life's blood draining away, garishly red on her pale blue jumpsuit, staining the white snow.

I feel light-headed, I taste bile in the back of my throat. Some warrior. And then I feel cloudy remnant of her soul slip away from my mind, thinning out until it is wispy. And then there is nothing left to grasp, although my panicked mind scrambles to hold onto hers.

Shard advances mercilessly, an insane grin upon his pale countenance, his eyes bloodshot and hair flaming in the firelight. Lily's eyes are glassy before her blond head hits the ground with a burst of powdery flakes, her face framed angelically by the fur of her hood. Even when it is obvious her spirit has fled to the Goddess, her body continues a macabre dance as blade after blade hits her.

I try to step forward, to scream my rage. I even try to hit him with a blast of my empathic power, my iree. But nothing responds, not my body or my mind. I am paralyzed, as I was then, in the face of such abrupt and searing loss

Learn more about this author, Renee McKusky.
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