Chapter 24

Fear

Fritz and Grey head out of the meadows and into large field of hedge bushes. A labyrinth of branches blocked their path. Fritz clenched his fists, his fire appearing in his hand, he burned a way through. His flames don't spread away from his fingers. Controlled, they devour only the leaves and branches in front of him, flickering in the air. Fritz and Grey make it halfway through the bushes before Fritz sees someone in the distance.

"Bernard?" he called, looking at the human figure. It looked like his face. His upper body was crouched over the bushes as if he were looking for something.

"Hey!" said Fritz, "We are over here!"

The figure turns over to Fritz. The upper body fell to the ground, bloodied teeth gnawing into its insides. Bernard was dead. His eyes cold and distant. Two yellow eyes gazed back at Fritz from the cover of the bushes. Man-Eating Spirit Tiger. The outline of its body glowed a reddish light. Music filled the air. Battle!

"Ah," panted Fritz, releasing his aura. Grey heard a low growl from the beast and did the same. Three different melodies all resonated to create a single song. The beating of drums, chirping of the birds, and chorus of people. Fritz made no sudden movements. He circled the tiger, followed by Grey. His eyes keeping focus on its movements. A monster can sense fear. If there is no fear, there may be danger. The tiger looked at the children with an intense gaze, pressuring them to show the slightest fear. Fear meant it was food. Food or Foe which one was it?

Grey gritted his teeth. The aura of the tiger was crushing. His legs  could hardly stand without shaking. He hoped that as they moved the tiger wouldn't notice. They circled one another for a moment. Fritz flames in front of him burning a loud crackling noise. Then the tiger made its move. It leaped up into the air. Fritz ducked to the side, but Grey wasn't so lucky. A claw slashed at Grey before he had the chance to move, severing the rope between him and Fritz and leaving a hideous gash on his chest. It wasn't a deep wound, but it bleed and it hurt. It felt as if someone had set his chest on fire.

A long streak of blood appeared on his clothes. Grey gripped his chest and tried to heal.

"Grey!" called Fritz, afraid. Grey lay huddled to the ground, clinging on his chest. Fritz backed off trying the lure the tiger away. The sounds of his fire growing more violent. The Man-Eating Spirit Tiger looked amusingly at Fritz then turned its gaze back to Grey. It had sensed its fear. These were no enemies. They were food. Food to be eaten. Its mouth gaped open. It sank its teeth into Grey's body.

Grey shuddered as knives plunged into his body. His hands shook. His lungs crushed. He could not even scream, but gurgled blood that spewed from his throat. He flailed and grew limp. His eyes growing dim. He saw a deep blackness overtake him. The sounds of Fritz shouting in the background. Thoughts swirled in Grey's mind. He had messed up again. Just like the time with Baylee. Not strong enough....still not strong enough....

~~~

In his dreams, Grey could see things. He was in a forest again. It was night. The tiger was gone and here parts of the forest were replaced by parts of his village. Instead of a tree to his right there was a house. Instead of a bush. A small well. The chuckling laughter of men echoed in the distance. As he walked, his vision blurred. His feet felt unsteady. Shadows moved around him. Flickering flames with faces appeared in the forest foliage. A bush next to him burst into flames. Max's bodiless face stared back at him through the fire. All smiles. All handshakes.

Strong. He remembered the pain in his chest. A knife wound from a knight. Now a tiger's bite. Man and nature. The strong survive. The weak they die. Was that how it was meant to be? His mind ventures deeper into his consciousness. His memories piecing together like a puzzle. The scene changes. He is back at the library. His home. Books come alive around him. Their pages swirling around in a whirlwind. Words fall off of each page, their letters spelling out the words that Baylee had told him. Don't be so pig-headed. Then these letters changed again to what Iris had said. Accept everything.

If you die it is over. Baylee and Iris said in unison. What could Grey have done differently? He did not know...he just kept making these mistakes. One after another. It was as if everything about him was wrong. His personality...was it wrong too? These thoughts sank in as the images around him faded away. His mind drifted for a moment, reflecting, changing before disappearing entirely.

~~~

When Grey awoke. He heard the subtle crunching noises in the background. Of teeth sinking into flesh. His body battered beyond belief. Every breathe was unimaginable pain. The feeling of someone stabbing you over and over. He crawled on the ground. Not sure how he was even alive. The wound on his chest scraping on the ground. Four large holes dripped from his body. Blood. It no longer fell but was kept inside his body, resonating with some strange force. Grey moved deeper into the forest, away from the loud violent noises behind him. He could have sworn he heard someone screaming as he left. But even if he did. Did it even matter?

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Grey came upon a spot on a tree several feet away. He leaned his back on the tree trunk. His wounds had begun to close up but the pain remained. Haunting him. His arms trembled. He could not cry. Grey eight years old. If his mind was not a steel bastion would he have long gone insane? He could feel the edges of his sanity breaking under the stress. Bad things keep happening. Why do they keep happening. He felt fear in his heart. Would his life be like this forever? Moments of kindness being replaced by sudden jolts of reality? Did Fritz die because of him?

If he could see, if he had a more useful power....Grey clawed at his head. Ripping skin from his hair. What can I do to change this....what do I need to do to change....He felt a warmth in his chest. Iris was still calling him back. He had to return...if he didn't know what to do then perhaps Iris would. He shook his arms and crawled on the ground, covering himself in mud, feeling as if he where the scum clinging to his body.

~~~

Iris stood waiting at the same clearing in the forest. His hands twirling a flute. The wagon sitting as it had before she had left. She flipped through the pages of her book. Notes on each of the children were written inside. Oswin and Ciara sat near the campfire. Humming softly to each other. Oswin had wounds all over his back. Scarred. He played a harmonica. Ciara had an eye patch over one of her eyes. Her body thinner than it was before. She sang softly next to Oswin.

Oswin. Brilliant. Read Iris from her notes. A little narcissistic but has a tendency to follow his impulses. Need to only to direct his interests to further his growth. Stroking his ego would work nicely to this effect. Ciara. Playful and nonsensical. Does anything she finds interesting. Rarely motivated or attached. As free as the wind. Need to tie her down to a goal. To push her forward. Perhaps, some external event is required.

She flipped through the pages one by one. Max. Headstrong and stubborn. Smart, but lacks caution. Needs a sense of danger. Alexis is as playful as Ciara, but more serious. A deep thinker that acts when her goals align. She likes Ciara. So changes will involve the both of them. Richard the one with the most common sense. He believes what he sees and hates things that are too complicated. Best to let him experience events personally than to lecture.

Grey.....Iris flipped to Grey's page and read her notes. Kind hearted child, very resilient, but naive. Attaches strong emotions to people he cares about. That resiliency is problematic. Iris lightly massaged her temple. But....

As Iris pondered. A rustling in the bushes caught her attention. Oswin and Ciara both stood up worried. The forest had attuned their sense of danger. They were both ready for anything. A muddied figure crawled on the ground. Teeth gritted. Eyes closed. It crawled on the ground, coughing violently as it did so. Oswin and Ciara backed away frightened, but Iris walked towards the thing on the ground. Her eyes gazing into its body. The thing reached out a mud covered hand towards Iris. It opened its mouth.

"Iris..."

Iris reached out and grabbed the muddied hand. She could feel a slight trembling in his hand, then a powerful grip. It wasn't as strong as the grip of a full grown man, but for a child...this was...

"Welcome back, Grey." smiled Iris.

"Ah...I am back...."

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Author Note:

Hi everyone. I hoped you enjoyed this chapter. Thank you for your support! I thought as I am nearing 50k words. (115pgs) That I would like to say I am grateful for everyone and would like to share a bit of my goals for this series. Not any plot stuff, but my goals as a writer.

I hope to send a manuscript of this in the next two or three months  once I hit around 70-100k words and get it published as a book after I redo the plot elements and fix some of the pacing. So, while I am doing this. I'll be asking around on wattpad and royalroad for reviews to improve on this as much as I can. So if you have the time please leave any comments and reviews. I will definitely appreciate them and listen to them when I do my revisions.  It is my dream to become an author of a good book so reality should come before my own ego.

Thank you again for reading ｍ（．＿．）ｍ