After everyone woke up, Angelo led the group through the forest once again. ‘Why is he assuming to be the leader again?’ Dean thought, ‘Or is he just a control freak?’

Dean saw Angelo turn around and look at him, ‘What the fuck? Can he read my mind or something?’

Angelo motioned for Dean to come over to him, and Dean started to jog. “What do you need?”

Dean asked.

“I want you as a vanguard if any of those monsters come and attack us.”

“Why me?”

“I saw what you did at the clearing, I know your skill.”

“Yeah, but what if that was a fluke?”

“It wasn’t.”

Dean groaned, “Whatever, I’ll be the vanguard.” Dean walked in front of Angelo and put his hand on his blade. In his mind, he was questioning Angelo. ‘Why is he so calm?’ Dean kept walking and looking around until he saw something move within the first. Dean raised his hand and stopped; soon, the group followed suit.

“What’s wrong Dean?” Angelo asked.

“I saw something move from within the woods.” As soon as Dean said that, A skeleton jumped out of the bushes and rushed at Jess. Unfortunately, the group was too far apart to stop the skeleton. That was until a bright light blinded the group. I was so bright, it dimmed out the sun. The feeling from the light was a warm one; it felt like it came out of nowhere. Eventually, the light faded, revealing Jess, sitting on the ground, covered in a cloud of white dust.

‘What the hell just happened?’ Dean thought. Jess stood up and brushed herself off, “Why are you guys looking at me like that?” Everyone’s jaw dropped simultaneously.

“What do you mean?!? You just spewed out some sort of light!” Angelo cried.

“You mean the stuff that the kind lady taught me?” Jess said, “The kind lady came to me inside my dream and taught me something cool!”

Dean could see that everyone was losing their shit. They were visibly afraid of Jess, causing her to almost cry. Dean walked up and patted Jess on the head. “Nice one kid, you showed him who’s boss.” Of course, Dean was doing this to calm down the group, to keep morale up.

“That skeleton bit the dust,” Jess said as she went into a superhero pose. Dean started to laugh; he was the only one laughing.

“Alright,” Angelo said, “Let’s continue our journey.” Angelo showed a wide smile, but Dean saw that it was fake.

-----

After walking for the entire day, Angelo decided the group should make camp. Of course, Dean was made as the night guard. Dean initially didn’t mind keeping watch, but after realizing that it was too quiet, he became paranoid, so he woke up Jess.

Enjoying this book? Seek out the original to ensure the author gets credit.

“Hey wake up,” Dean whispered.

“Huh? Oh mister, what is it.”

“Can you teach me that thing you did?”

“Yeah, sure.” Jess shot up and led Dean to a clearing in the forest.

“Alrighty,” Dean said, “How does this thing work?”

“I can only tell you what the nice lady told me,” Jess said.

Dean sat down, “What did she tell you?”

“She said something like ‘You need to feel the energy of the world’ and put her hand on my head.”

“Yeah, I understood that,” Dean said sarcastically.

“I’m getting to it, okay!” Jess cried, “Anyway, the lady sent some sort of warm feeling throughout my body and I just learned it.”

Dean stared at Jess, “Really man? That’s kinda underwhelming.”

“Maybe if you meditate or something, you can find the feeling.”

Dean sighed, sat cross-legged, and closed his eyes. He attempted to feel the “energy of the world” and took deep breaths. Eventually, Dean stood up, “I give up man!”

“What do you mean? You just closed your eyes!” Jess yelled.

“What? I was sitting there for at least 10 minutes.”

Jess yawned, “Whatever, I’m getting really tired so goodnight.”

“Good night.” Dean sat back down to see if he couldn’t try it again. This time, he took it a little more seriously. He breathed in and out, allowing the cold air to fill his lungs. The feeling of the air around him felt like he was in a field of flowers. He imagined the girl dancing through them, her face still static when suddenly, Dean got a feeling, but it wasn’t warm, it was piercing cold. Dean opened his eyes and gripped his chest, the pain shrouding over his body. Dean tried to repress the urge to puke but still did it anyway, shooting a black fluid all over the ground. The black fluid smelt like rotten fish which made Dean puke even more. The pain was excruciating; it felt like his bones were being broken all around his body. He bent in unusual ways and started to seize. Eventually, the pain subsided and the black fluid disappeared, along with the smell. Dean was now sprawled across the ground, breathing heavily. The cold and piercing feeling was now warm; it felt nice. Dean opened his eyes and saw a girl standing above him. He was scared but was too tuckered out to move. He just stared as the faceless figure laughed at him.

“You learned magic earlier than expected,” the girl said, “I’m proud of you!” The girl reached down and caressed Dean’s cheek before she put her lips against his. “I’m glad I chose you.” the girl picked up Dean’s head and rested it on her lap. Dean looked up and saw her face flicker for half a second. It was all he needed. The features of her face were smooth and beautiful. She looked like a white rose in the middle of a field of red ones. After all of his dreams, he was able to put a face to the person. She has fair white skin, pale enough to contrast her silky black hair; in short, she was beautiful. The emotion on her face looked relieved, almost like she was waiting for this moment. Her beautiful diamond eyes stared down at Dean as she shed one tear before Dean’s eyes closed shut.

-----

“Hey! Wake up, man!” Dean jolted awake to the yelling of Gavin.

“Why are you so loud?” Dean asked.

“We were looking all over for you! You went missing and Jess led us to where she last saw you.” Dean looked up and saw the whole group staring at him. He rubbed his eyes and images from last night ran through his mind. ‘That’s right,’ Dean thought, ‘That girl…’

Dean's thoughts were interrupted by Angelo, “Get up man, we still need to make it to this portal thing.” Dean stood up and stretched a couple of times before he followed the group.

Jess walked up to Dean and pulled his shirt. “What do you want, kid?”

“Did you figure it out?”

Dean smiled, “I think I might have.” He looked down at his hand and noticed that the symbol on his hand had changed. Instead of a circle and a dot, it was now a black rose. Dean was broken out of his train of thought by a high-pitched scream. Dean looked up and noticed they had been surrounded by skeletons. Dean drew his sword and prepared to fight.