Chapter 8 - The Light

Blood spilled to the ground to form a lake 

As countless corpses filled his vision and gaze 

With his surroundings covered in haze 

The army of thousands couldn't give him a single graze 

Giving all of his opponents the bite of his blade 

None could stand against him as they watched him in daze 

Those who stood behind him looked on in amaze 

While their savior brought about ruin and set their enemy ablaze

          -Page 11, Chapter 7. Poem of the dancing shadows by George J. Northtooth. 

……

Indistinctly, the hand let out a faint noise every time it moved. The sizzling sounds it made, sent shivers down the unconscious girl’s back. Yet, far from being bothered enough to bring herself back from her slumber, the noises only enhanced the heavy pressure around her, along with drifting away her consciousness and trying to make her senses dull. 

Slowly, it reached out for the bed with a stream of greyish smoke coming out of it. While the light of the lamp in the room illuminated its form amidst the thick mist, one would be able to see that the hand was big enough for a male. Even though its appearance was that of a humanoid hand, but with its skin completely dried up and wrinkled, while it also showed how malnourished the owner was from it was only skin and bone, anyone who took a glance of it couldn't help to feel disturbed. 

Underneath the hand was only empty space, the rest of its body couldn't be seen. Its form was quite mutilated and some muscle tissues could be spotted around its wrist, but there wasn't any blood whatsoever. 

Then, the subtle greyish smoke from it had moved in a sentient manner. As more of the greyish smoke was materialized by it, the more parts of the hand began to disintegrate. 

A couple minutes later, it was dispersed to nothingness and only left its greyish smoke as a trace of its existence. The greyish smoke swirled itself in the air and formed back the figure of the dried up hand. 

Floating silently on top of the sleeping figure, the hand silently reached out to her neck. However, as it was only a few centimeters away from its target, an unexpected scene had happened. 

With a flash of blinding light that materialized so suddenly, a burning pain had followed right after. Letting out a silent shriek of agony, imperceptible to the world around it, the hand quickly backed away from the golden illumination which came from the neck of its prey. 

It couldn't understand the development that had occurred. The greyish smoke in the shape of a hand was stunned for a second, before the sound of a hiss could be heard coming out of it. With frustration, it realized that it wasn't so easy to achieve its objective. 

Soon enough, it had chosen to retreat for now as it dispersed itself into the air and disappeared completely from the naked eyes. 

This time, only the silence had reigned the space, and once more, the mist swirled above the slumbering figure. They slowly rotated around her clockwise, as their presence keeps the young girl to feel restless while the cold has assaulted her skin layer by layer. 

"Mmm…" 

Rolling her body sideways, she exposed her face to the fresh air to seek for a breath. Yet, the heavy pressure within the room made every time she inhaled the oxygen around her unbearable, a stifled feeling would appear within her chest with each breath. 

Shortly, the mist inside of them began to stop their movements while they slowly drifted in the air aimlessly. As if a group that was disbanded, they floated around the place and started to distance themselves from the young girl. 

Shortly, their thickness had begun to decrease. Without any objective in mind nor something to guide them, they started to disperse into thin air. And in seconds, every lingering mist within the room had faded from the space. Vanished from the naked eyes as if they weren't even there in the first place. 

Still, the time passed and the slumbering figure showed no signs of waking up even after the disappearance of the mist. Yet, her heartbeat started to get slower and slower, as it eventually went back to normal. 

An hour later, the young girl began to display an emotion of comfort on her visage. Without anything to disturb her, she spent another hour in peace as her restless manner was nowhere to be seen. 

At last, her eyelids twitched gently while her consciousness had come back to the realm of reality. Awakened from her sleep, the drowsiness within her had attempted to persuade her mind to go back to the void, as she felt groggy to perceive her surroundings. Subconsciously gulping her saliva, she felt an uncomfortable thirst in her throat that sought for some water to relinquish it. 

Absent-mindedly, she got up on her feet and laid her gaze upon the door, imagining the kitchen where she would find a cup of water. A few minutes later, she walked her way to the kitchen and poured herself a drinkable water from the faucet. 

Feeling refreshed, she looked around and saw nothing special. Squinting her eyes in slight doubt, Elizabeth murmured softly while she put down the glass of water in her hand, "That's weird… Why do I feel like someone has been in here since a moment ago?" 

Thinking that she might not be fully awake, she turned the switch of the faucet and let the flow of water drip to both of her palms. Scooping a puddle of it with her hand, Elizabeth gently washed her face to remove all of her drowsiness in an instant. 

Sighing quietly, she strides back to her room while dismissing any incoherent thoughts in her mind. After she went inside, she was about to close the door before the door suddenly moved by itself. 

"Eh?"