My dark hair streamed out behind me and my feet threaten to tangle together as I run and examine my luminous limbs at the same time,giggling and sputtering like someone high on marijuana.
"Ulrik I'm glowing! I feel like a night light or something!"
I finally catch up and fall into step beside him.That is,I try to,since one of his strides is about three of mine.I might as well still be running.
"You humans aren't very smart are you? I'm very aware of that fact,which is why I pointed it out to you," he remarked derisively and shakes his head slowly from side to side.
I lift my hands and examine them scant inches from my face.
They shimmer gold and I fight the urge to 'ooh and aah' like some brainless kid seeing his first magic trick.
"No need to be snarky."
"You make it terribly easy."
"I think you're just mean"
At this he snorts.
Ulrik's arm was a band of iron keeping me anchored to his shoulder.I felt like a corpse- hollow and lifeless.I watched the fathomless dark cyclone inhale what was once a picturesque meadow and I felt empty inside.Till all that emptiness was crammed with unadulterated terror when I remembered it was about to inhale me too.Ulrik ignored my tiny,fretful whimpers and ran like his life depended on it.Which it did.He powered on as if the hounds from hell were snapping at his heels.Looked more like the toothless green mouth of hell,but close enough.His feet ate up the distance and I'm sure even Bolt would have a hard time keeping up with him.One second I was imagining being torn limb from limb inside the mouth of death coming for us and the next I was thrown into a steel wall.The back of my head bounced painfully off of it and my back felt like someone had hit me with a baseball bat."What the vagina U
After a minute,my hilarity subsided into chuckles and the occasional snort.I brushed my hands off ,rose and dusted my very bruised rump,then turned and took stock of the new terrain.We seemed to be on a slightly weed choked gravel pathway at the foot of a small hill.A small burgundy hill with green foliage.To my credit I snapped my mouth shut before I started to attract flies.A soft breeze brought with it the smell of the sea and I surmised that the ocean was on the other side.I lifted my face to the sky and was almost disappointed to see mundane blue and white with the blinding golden circle that was the sun. Ulrik was a couple steps ahead of me and I ran my hands over the plants and bushes that were all in various shades of green as I caught up.I couldn't wrap my mind around magenta looking dirt and green flowers."This is so freaky."Ulrik followed the meandering path and ignored me."Where are
"So this is the human who wishes to kick me," Ulrik declared contemptuously beside me.Keanu pulled back,held me by the shoulders and looked into my eyes briefly before turning and meeting Ulrik's challenging appraisal."Who are you?" Keanu demanded,squaring his shoulders and planting his feet.I rolled my eyes.Men.Well males since Ulrik is,well....Ulrik.He puffed up his chest a little,tilted his head arrogantly and flicked his hand downward, summoning his staff that somehow looked decidedly more threatening than it did before."I am Ulrik the Finder,and I will have you know that no one, barring Glob,ruler of Opa has bested me in a fight.You shan't be kicking me,but I will give you a fair chance" he answered.I swear his voice went a couple octaves deeper.Must be all the testosterone he's trying not to choke on.I saw Keanu's hackles raise and I k
The enchanting lights of the crystals blurred together into a muddy brown before my eyes as Ulrik sped through the thickening crimson haze.I desperately wanted to crane my neck and try to figure out what was chasing us but aside from my dangling legs, I was completely immobile. Apparently Keanu's brain hadn't quite arrived at the same conclusion mine had as I could feel the reverberations from his pointless thrashing through Ulrik's bark-like skin."What is wrong with you bro? Put me down! Are you insane? Do I look like a helpless little female?" A quick pause as he reassesses,then "No offence,Jude"I'd shrug if I could."None taken."I'm usually all bark and no bite.Ulrik powers on relentlessly and my hair comes completely undone from the bun I'd fashioned on the hill."Hey! What is WITH you bro? What are you running from? Where are you taking us? Hey!HEY!" His voice is thick with insult and outrag
"Keanu don't be an idiot!" My less than ideal plea fell on deaf (crazy!) ears and he kept walking directly in the path of the hulking eyesore.I desperately wanted to go after him but my feet were frozen in place,such was the overwhelming power of my fear.Something hit me and stuck to the back of my neck and I whirled around, reflexively reaching for the offended spot.My fingers came into contact with something hard yet slightly flexible at the same time that my eyes registered a now earless Nazir Hound that lay a few feet away from me.Oh please God no.My feet started to do a little anxious dance,as they would if I really needed to pee,while I removed the object (be a twig,or a stone,or even a glob of mud, please God) and slowly brought it around to my face.God must have thought it would be funnier for him if he ignored my fervent prayer since the thing dangling from my index finger and thumb was indeed the severed,grey,half rotted ear of the fallen hound.Needles
The darkness is all encompassing and infinite,a vast and eternal thing that swallows us whole.We dangle in it's midst for a fraction of a second before we descend into free fall.As before,I can see myself and those around me clearly,despite being enclosed in inky blackness.We're falling through time and space,with no end or destination in sight.We're in The Deep again."Aaaaahhhhh!!" A scream pierces the dark and echoes thinly,then is absorbed by the void.Keanu is to my left,clutching at the air,kicking his feet and looking around wildly.His wail peters out then starts up again,even louder than before.Ulrik is to my right,glowing contentedly purple with his arms and legs folded in the lotus position.He gives Keanu an indolent glance then faces forward and closes his eyes,as if entering a deep meditation,utterly unaffected by my best friend's obvious terror.Jerk."Keen,chill," I
Keanu and I were beside him in an instant.I tried to shake him but it was like trying to move a mountain."Ulrik!"No response."Yo,Yo!.....wake up man," Keanu slapped his chest twice,wincing each time but his concern negated the pain.I frantically searched his exposed skin for an injury we hadn't noticed,a snake bite,anything.His eyes were closed and his body completely still.I bent and put my face an inch away from his nose and felt the air leaving his nostrils.He was breathing but it was shallow and well paced,as if he had fallen into deep slumber.His skin was unbroken and unmarred.Keanu tried to find a pulse point but his skin was hard and impenetrable and he fell back on his haunches,stared at the door that had opened into a wide foyer.I was trying to move Ulrik's hundred pound head from side to side but it proved to be as futile as trying to move his body.Dammit, weren't there supposed to be people in this place?
"Your fellow Globites,now sit," Glob said,his tone commanding and final, before they could answer.Keanu and I looked at eachother again and he nudged me forward.I pulled out the second gilded chair beside the woman,leaving an empty seat between us.Stranger danger right?I descended into butt heaven.My bruised and weary backside sank into plush cushiony goodness and I let out a little thankful sigh.I wasn't as quiet as I thought because the red head beside me smiled knowingly then raised her eyes to watch Keanu take the seat next to me."Hi,I'm Logan," she said with a faint Irish twang and a crooked smile,extending her hand.She was pale in a way that made me seem tan,with fine bones and pixie features in a heart shaped face.Her fiery red hair was barely held back by an elastic band that struggled to contain her riotous corkscrew curls.Green eyes smiled into mine and I shook her hand,ignoring the spark of fema