Audience

Where am I now? This place feels familiar... wait, these living white flames crawling over the walls, no way, ah, I remember now, after talking for some time with Mary she took me back inside before the sun set and I drank that solution again before my head rested against the soft velvet of the pillow. Yes, this is another vision, but why here? Why within this mystical passage to the altar for that, that thing? Wait, there's the hollow sound of steps coming from the obscured lights behind me, multiple sets, at least three... could it be? Will I be able to see Harry again? Should I? No, don't think like that... I, I must know, I have to. There, the group sounding the steps are appearing further down, heading over here towards that archway to the half-submerged grotto cut from the earth itself. But that tiny party of cloaked individuals just seems wrong, they are lesser than last time, now as they're closer I can tell he's not here, but these three seem like the same ones from last time, at least by the shape and stature of their obscured bodies. They will pass me any second now entering that space where they met that peculiar old man, the one robed in jewels, should I follow them this time as well? Will I perhaps figure something out, something to make sense of this cold shivering chaos? Only one way to know I suppose... still, I can't seem to keep this shaking at bay... breathe Khatryn, steady breaths, you can do this, you must.

This dank cave seeped in cold dread, maybe I should've not followed, the shapes clad in black are gathering in front of that small lake within this sanctum for that indescribable creature. Steps from the enveloping darkness by the center, the closest archway flickering weakly, and there he is, a gem clad silhouette half-submerged by the waving shadows, stepping towards that altar to begin the audience, every step slow, almost in some way deliberate, like he's completing some sort of ritual with the cane in his left decrepit hand.

"Where's the colonel Harry captain Alfred?" The leftmost shape he is stepping forward towards the center, his legs submerged up to his ankles, his voice... deep and cold, devoid of any care or human compassion.

"The colonel has gone rogue your excellency, all the spies you had us send turned up dead within the woodland, what was assumed to be his makeshift hideout was found but it turned up empty." Gone rogue? Spies? The voice of the elder, he's speaking again, that noise just now... was that a hoarse chuckle?

"So he has finally decided to try turning his back on us? No matter. No matter how hard he tries the cogs of irreversible fate are already turning, and in time he will be left with no other choice but to finish the mission, make sure to dispose of him after it's done." Irreversible fate? Disposed of? My heart is clenching, robbing breaths from my lungs... Harry, are they going to kill Harry? Where can he have gone? Those people before, where they... That sound, wings vibrating through this hollowed earth, seeped in a desperate sense of longing.

"Make sure to deliver the report on Willow Creek by next week."

*Ouch* The brand, it's stinging again... that hooded elder, his gaze isn't turned towards me right now is it? It can't be, maybe he's awaiting someone else from the archway behind me? Why did he just grow so quiet? The clawed hands of those winged silhouettes stained in stygian are grasping at my shoulders pulling me backward in a hurry, hurry filled to the brim with paralyzing fear, their broken voices sounding again like echoes.

"Run away, keep running.", "Escape, don't look back, be brave." To the side, the old man is raising his cane mumbling something before speaking up.

"The wind got ears, and here I thought you were all taken care of." Taken care of?

This place... it's dispersing within sharp pricks of light, my head and heart so full, will they explode? That blurry outline of that elder... his cane, is it pointing towards me? Those clawed hands, they're tearing me to the left and, *Urgh!* Pain, pain the right side of my face it's burning hot, fire spreading from somewhere beneath the eye, argh, my hands I need to feel, need to make sure.

"Khat? Khat!" My bandaged hands are touching something, something wet, deep, setting my insides on fire with the slightest touch. Unseen hands grabbing a firm hold of my shoulders.

"My god, Khat get a hold of yourself, you'll be fine." Mary? My visions so blurry, the left infused in a stinging crimson. Just what? Argh! Another blinding wave. Yells, her voice feels so faint, blurred like the foggy visage in front stained in sharp colors. Trampling steps creaking over floorboards, something cold is being pressed against the inferno mellowing it out to pulsing shocks.

"What happened, Maryon how did this..." James?

My face is growing numb as the stabbing colors faint into the background, swallowed by the rays of the morning sun peeking through the window, the lighting still stained with this reddish flare. James, Abel, Mary, they are all standing over the bed wearing faces of shock... even Arthur leaning against the doorframe with hurried breaths and some strange flask in his right hand. Abel's turning towards Mary now, the others breathing sighs of relief, pupils still wide.

"Tell us what happened." Her eyes are shifting between me and Abel, unsure of how or what she should say, my face is still pulsing with pain, my sight growing blurred by the beats of the waves, my head, throbbing with disarray.

"I-I was coming inside to deliver breakfast and Khatryn's tossing and turning like she's having a nightmare... I rush over to wake her but as I do the gash just appeared out of nowhere, I swear." Their eyes, glazed with confusion, except, Arthur now rushing to the bedside.

"We'll have to ask Khatryn for those details, give me some space, we must treat this first, hurry."