“Yes! Yes!” Dr. Cardric yelled out maniacally when he saw the machine acting strange. “Do you feel it, child!? After twenty long years, I have finally done it! It is the ethereal plane of thunder! Unlimited power! Right at our fingertips!”

What in the world was that old geezer going on about? From his words, it almost seemed as if the rapidly destabilizing contraption was the intention. Why would he do such a thing? It simply did not make sense.

Sett felt the gears in his brain grind to a halt in sheer incomprehension. He could only look at Dr. Cardric as if he was the village fool.

No. Perhaps there was something bigger going on. Something that Sett completely failed to comprehend. After all, the good doctor was an existence far beyond himself. He surely knew what he was doing.

“Dr. Cardric, could you release me from the…”

The doctor completely ignored his words.

“Oh child, we will be the first to see the glorious arrival of a lord of lightning. We will be remade in his image!”

There was no doubt in Sett’s mind anymore. The old geezer was without a doubt insane.

Things were turning even stranger. Whenever he looked towards the strange machine, he would see ripples in space. The centre of the machine was even beginning to glow a bright purple. Things were turning worse.

“By the gods be damned! Jess, try to free yourself!”

Though he doubted she could even hear him over the loud spectacle of the machine, Sett yelled at Jess, hoping she too would grasp the situation.

Having given up hope on the insane doctor, Sett frantically tried to free himself straight away. Yet struggle as he may, there was no way for him to release himself from the iron restraints of the chair. He could only sit and watch in horror as the machine turned brighter and brighter and the distortions in space became greater.

At some point in time, the entire field had been flooded with a kind of static energy. It felt prickly on Sett’s skin, even turning him numb in some places. As more and more of the strange energy entered his body, he began to feel slightly sick.

Then, suddenly, it all turned silent. Even the rambling doctor and the shrieking machine were deafened. Sett could hear his own heart beating in his chest and his uneasy breath in his lungs.

The static energy in the air flooded towards the machine. First slowly, but over time it picked up speed. Like the receding water before a tsunami.

Sett braced himself and closed his eyes in fright.

Everything turned bright, even with his eyes closed. The sound of thunder erupted all around Sett. The overstimulation made him want to scream out in distress.

Yet, he would never have the chance. Along with the bright flash and thundering sounds came an overwhelming force. It collided heavily with Sett, easily tearing him and the chair he sat on along with it.

Sett, still seated on the chair, flew for what felt like minutes. It was all a blur. He spun and spun, never settling on any given direction.

As he flew, he hit objects. Some bigger than others. Luckily, he somehow managed to hit said objects with the sturdy back of the chair, minimizing the damage done to himself. Nonetheless, it still hurt like hell.

With each consecutive hit, Sett felt his consciousness fade more and more until finally, it was no more.

Sett had fainted.

He dreamt.

And he awoke.

In just a few short moments, Lark had completely changed.

If Sett had to guess whether this was a scene from hell or the quaint town of Lark, then he would have guessed the former.

Destruction was everywhere. Every few seconds an enormous bolt of lightning would strike, lighting up the entire city in a purple hue. Where it struck there would only be destruction. Stone crumbled under its might and wood was lit on fire.

Wherever Sett looked he found people in various stages of hysterics. Some would be running around like headless chickens, while others simply sat on the ground and wept. The sound of the people screaming and crying was overwhelming.

Before he could be taken by the atmosphere and descend into hysterics, Sett resolved himself. He looked around dazedly.

Sett found himself in the garden of Lark. A place he would never have gotten to step foot in otherwise. After all, it was the place where Baron Lark would welcome his most important guests. It was strictly off-limit for the peasantry, such as Sett.

It was said to be the most beautiful place within all of Lark, yet now it was reduced to a mess. It too had been devastated by the lightning incident. Some trees had been lit on fire while other smaller ones had been uprooted by the blast wave.

Sett tried to move but found that he was still bound to the chair although barely. Surprisingly, he found that both he and the chair was suspended a couple of meters in the air in vines.

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The origins of the vines were the centrepiece of the garden of Lark. A grand tree that was known as a Sylarian Everbloom. It was not without reason that it was the centrepiece of the entire garden. The tree was a magical tree. It was said that the fruits it produced were one of the secrets to Baron Lark’s longevity. Not only that, but it was also incredibly beautiful. Its colours were vivid, and its textures intricate.

Alas, even a magical tree had seen its fair share of trouble during the thunderstorm, though not in the way one would imagine. Its once brown bark had now turned completely black from the repeated thunderstrikes. Strangely, the bark had even turned glossy. The leaves had turned even stranger. Where they had once been a beautiful green shade, they had now turned completely white with purple veins.

It was a strange transformation, but one should expect oddities in anything related to the arcane. Well, it did not matter. All that mattered was getting free before he could be zapped to the underworld.

With fumbling fingers, Sett quickly set to work. First was the iron restraints. He was quite lucky in that they had gotten considerably bent during the flight. He could almost slip his arm right under the gap in the left one.

*Grrr…*

Suddenly a low growl sounded from the edge of the park. Sett looked up. An oversized dog had entered the park. More than likely another one of the baron’s prized possessions. A quasi-magical beast.

Sett instantly knew it would be trouble.

Its eyes were wide and shivered with insanity. Its body had cracked open in multiple places, more than likely from a lightning strike, exposing its flesh to the outside air.

It sniffed the air.

He immediately began to move about in a flustered manner. He knew that it was only a matter of time before the hound noticed his presence. Bound in the open, even if a fair bit above the ground, there was no way that the hound would not notice him within seconds. Even if it did not see him, it would certainly smell him soon.

*Clink*

Sett finally managed to free his left hand from the restraints. It would be much easier to work himself free from the right one. Unfortunately, the sound had alerted the hound to his presence.

With a caution that somehow managed to persist through its insanity, it approached him. It growled menacingly as it sized him up. The look in its eyes almost made it look like it expected Sett to turn into some grotesque monster the moment it got close enough. Like he was a wolf in sheep’s clothing.

Sett, for his part, did not have time to regard the grim reaper in wolf’s clothing. With his one hand free from the restraint, he could easily work the other. Soon it too would be undone. Then he could escape.

It slowly walked through the gardens, soon arriving near the magical tree. Time was running out.

*crack*

A snap was heard as the hound stepped on a branch. As if it was the deciding factor, the wolf disregarded all its fears and charged at Sett with a speed that its mangled body should not have supported. It was even faster than a normal hound.

Within moments it was right underneath the giant tree. In only a few moments it would be within jumping range and then Sett would be done for. Sett could almost see his reflection in the hounds dilated eyes.

This was it… This was how he would die. He would die not even knowing if his best childhood friend was alive. Sett closed his eyes in silent prayer, hoping that the gods would see it fit to save her at least.

Time passed, yet the bloody and gruesome death Sett had expected never came.

When he opened his eyes there was no one before him. No terrifying hound. No impending doom. Only a heavy trail of drool was left as evidence that the hound had ever existed.

Sett looked around worriedly, his heart thumping rapidly in his chest. Nothing in front of him. Nor to the left or right. Not even behind him. Finally, he looked up.

He saw it. Or rather, he saw what had once been the hound. Now, just seconds later, it looked like a hollow shadow of its former self.

It too was held firmly in place by vines. The very same vines that held Sett. The only difference being that these were bigger, stronger, and arched with a small amount of lightning.

Moreover, the vines that held the hound, had a life-like quality to them. They wiggled. Squirming around on top of the hound’s body. Some of them had even penetrated the hound’s skin and were writhing around inside its body.

Each passing moment the wolf was drained of more and more of its energy.

As Sett met the eyes of the wolf, he almost felt pity. There was no longer any insanity in the eyes, only a deep wish for mercy. To be put out of its misery.

Looking at this scene, terror once again awakened in the heart of Sett. He felt his hands seize in the face of such a terrifying enemy.

‘LIVE.’

A sudden adrenaline spike roused Sett from his indecision, as something deep within his subconscious told, no ordered, him to live.

He would use the distraction of the hound to escape the even bigger enemy.

*Clink*

His right hand was soon freed from its restraints. The vines would surely be dealt with easily in comparison.

He took hold of his blade, which his mother had wisely demanded he always had to carry with him and began to cut the vines. They were harder and more durable than normal vines but evidently did not stand much of a chance against the sharpened metal.

He fell heavily on his butt the moment the last supporting vine let go of him.

It was not a second too soon. Only moments after he fell, he heard the soft whimper of the hound, as it breathed its last. The tree dropped the corpse without a second thought, sending it plummeting almost right in front of Sett.

It was disgusting. Although the hound had been disfigured before, it had ultimately still had a lot of flesh on its body, but now it laid before him looking like it was nothing but skin and bones. It looked like it had its life drained from it.

Sett set off from the ground, kicking off a small plume of dirt. He immediately scrambled for the edge of the park.

*Woosh*

The place he had been in moments before had been penetrated by a large vine, creating a small crater in the ground. The tree was still hungry after its meal.

Sett put one foot in front of the other but soon found himself stumbling from the fatigue he felt. Perhaps fate was on his side because another vine had almost struck him on the shoulder if not for his small fall.

The vines tirelessly continued their pursuit, even as some of the smaller ones were restrained by their length. The longer ones poised themselves to strike.

Inspired by his impromptu dodge, Sett began to stumble and move erratically on purpose.

*Woosh*

It was a success, the striking vines hit nothing but air.

There were only some ten meters left. Sett sped up. He would soon pass the last tree. But at that moment, he forgot to strafe. A single smaller vine, which had held itself back, made one last-ditch effort to strike him. It struck him squarely on his right upper leg and even penetrated a couple of centimetres.

Along with the flood wave of pain, came despair.

The pain almost made him pass out immediately. It surpassed everything he had ever felt before. What was worse was that the vine had borrowed into him, attempting to drag him back to the tree. He could almost see his short life flash before his eyes.

‘LIVE.’

The words from his subconscious repeated themselves. His eyes cleared and the pain lessened significantly. Sett cursed in his mind. Today was not the day he would die.

With a large yell, Sett turned in place and summoned as much strength as he could muster into his arm. With much more power than he had ever used before, he cut the vine. The remnant of the vine continued to wiggle inside his thigh, but he was free.