Chapter Three – The Dream

Andros and Myrad had stopped not long ago since the light was quickly fading and it wasn’t safe to travel at night, not even in a group. At night, the creatures had a habit of ganging up together and attacking travellers. Myrad had been out collecting wood for a fire while Andros sorted out the sleeping equipment, which consisted of a mat and a sleeping bag. Myrad came back carrying an armload of wood.

“This should last us awhile.” He stated and started to arrange it, then went over to his bag and started rummaging through it. Andros watched him, fascinated. Myrad soon appeared to have found what he was looking for. A clear glass bottle that contained a red liquid. “You must be careful with this,” he remarked. He poured a little bit on to the wood and it instantly caught alight.

“How’d you do that?” Andros asked.

“What? Start the fire? That was simple; I’m an Alchemist like I said, and one of the best around I must say. I know how to create a potion for just about any situation. I have several types of healing potions, ones like this one,” he said holding up the one he’d just used. “That I can use to create fire, I can create them of any element and use them for attacking creatures.”

The two of them settled down for the night, Andros fell asleep very quickly, though sleep wasn’t as peaceful as he’d hoped. At first, he found himself dreaming of a time a couple of years ago where Mike and he were racing through fields, chasing after each other. The two of them were laughing, having a great time. Mike fell over and Andros tripped over him, rolling down the hill and landing in a ditch, getting himself soaked and covered with mud, and everything else that was sat in the bottom of it. Mike ran over to check that he was alright, but came across Andros laughing. Mike started giggling at the sight. Andros had several scenes like this, all of happy times with his brother.

Then the scene changed again. This one was him stood in a town he didn’t recognise. The town was deserted; looking like it hadn’t been lived in for a few years. Andros tried to move but found his legs wouldn’t respond. When he looked there was nothing stopping them, they just would obey him. His head snapped up when he heard an explosion, flames racing from one house to another, nothing in their path survived.

Andros watched in horror as a figure in a black cloak and hood appeared seemingly out of nowhere. The figure pulled back his hood and his face could clearly be seen. Andros could never forget that face, the face of the one who took his brother, the face of Sian. Sian watched as the flames burnt what was left of the town to the ground.

He then saw several people following Sian, one of them he could make out and he recognised him, it was Myrad. He assumed the other 6 were the other Seal holders. What worried him was if they were the seal holders, where was he?

The 7 of them fought Sian but were over powered; they were losing the fight as every attempt they made Sian just pushed them back again. Andros cried out to them all.

“Stop this fight, it’s useless.” None of them heard him. No matter what he did and no matter how hard he tried Andros couldn’t get his legs to move and couldn’t make anyone hear him, it was as though he was watching them, but wasn’t really there. Andros could only watch, unable to stop the scene that was now playing out in front of him. One by one Sian killed all of them until the only one left was Myrad, then Sian spoke.

“Andros betrayed you all to me,” he said, with a wicked smile upon his face. “Now I have 7 of the 8 Gems. I just need to kill you and the Yen Gem will be mine.” With that, a large amount of magic came flying at Myrad. Myrad, unable to defend himself against such a strong attack ended up flying backwards and landing on his back, winded. Andros couldn’t believe what he was seeing, Myrad was his friend, and he certainly wouldn’t betray him.

Sian moved towards Myrad, drawing a sword, stained red with the blood from all those who had dared to stand in his path. Sian let the blade fall towards Myrad, striking him in the chest, Myrad died instantly. Sian reached down and removed the Gem from Myrad’s inner pocket. Sian then moved towards a rock and placed the Gold Gem down onto it. He then took all but the Blue Gem from his pocket and arranged them in a circle on the stone, and then he took the Blue Gem and placed it in the middle. He muttered a few words under his breath, Andros couldn’t hear them. The Gems started to glow, each one glowing it its own colour, slowly they all began to glow white. After a bright flash all the Gems were gone, and left in their place was a new one. It seemed to have all the colours of the 8 Gems mixed into it. Andros knew immediately that it was the Yen Gem.

Andros awoke from the Dream with a start, Myrad was sat hovering over him, watching him carefully.

“You’ve been yelling out in your sleep, something about someone stopping something, what was going on?” Myrad asked concerned. Andros shook his head; he didn’t really understand it himself. He tried to convince himself that it was just a dream, but he couldn’t shake the feeling that it was going to become real, especially of he wasn’t careful. He explained to Myrad what he’d seen, and vowed that he’d never betray his friends, or his brother. He’d defeat Sian, no matter what the cost.