Breaking The Balance

Breaking The Balance - Driven By Darkness

Tom paced back and forth in front of Jordan's still form. It had been over a week since Jordan had fallen into his coma and no progress was being made towards getting him out of it. Everyone in the realm seemed to be in one of three states – grief, anger or indifference. Those in the grief stage, such as Sonja spent most of their time crying or being generally pessimistic about life, not contributing to the plans at all except to remind everyone how hopeless the situation was. The anger stage, which Tucker seemed to be the king of, was like ticking time bombs waiting to go off. Nobody knew what the trigger would be, so having a discussion or a disagreement with these people was like walking on eggshells. Mianite and Dianite seemed to be in the indifferent state – not seeming to care at all about the situation or the highly strung emotions of those around them, merely wanting to get on with things.

"Why aren't we doing anything? All we do day after day is sit here and suggest ideas but we never act upon any of them. The conversations always end with someone crying or storming out or putting a sword to someone else's neck!"

Tom's frustrated question was met with silence, a heavy quiet that was filled with guilt as they all stared at Jordan's prone form. Their inaction meant that precious seconds were slipping out of their grasps, seconds that could mean the difference between life and death for their dear friend. Nothing made any sense, all the puzzle pieces that they had refused to fit together to form the bigger picture. All the answers seemed to lay in Jordan's mind, which had fallen silent – the gods were unable to see into his mind anymore, the wall that Martha and Mianite had taken down had been replaced with a larger and thicker one.

"Now is not the time for action Tom. How can we fight something that we don't even know exists? We don't know what it is, what it's capable of or what the consequences of defeating it could be. Now if you want to rush out there and start stabbing thin air that's fine by me but you will not put Ianita's life at risk with your rash actions."

Tom's head snapped around to glare at Martha, her normally calm tone filled with irritation – taking out her anger and frustration at the nearest target in the room. Tom's gaze was filled with blazing fire, an anger that the old Dianite would have been proud of. However, all the fury in the world could not match the anger of a mother whose child was at risk. Those flames roared hotter than the deepest magma from the largest volcano in the entire realm. Tom bowed his head in apology, backing off and trying to reign in his frustration – fighting amongst themselves wasn't going to help Jordan.

"Where is Ianita anyways? We couldn't pry her away from Jordan for the first day or so and now she doesn't seem to want to go near him."

Wag's voice spoke up, breaking the tension and making a valid point. This was the little girl they had all agreed to keep sheltered from their war plans, yet they had no idea whether she was leaning against the door and overhearing every word they said. Tom ran his hands through his hair as he watched Martha vanish upstairs in search of her daughter, expecting to hear the tantrum of a toddler but hearing nothing. When Martha walked back in alone, confusion filled the air – where was she?

"She's gone! Someone must've taken her in the night! How did they get past the defences? Wag you promised me they were unbreakable!"

Wag moved to comfort Martha, shock the primary emotion in his eyes along with guilt. It wasn't necessary, as two figures standing in the hallway made quite clear.

"I'm right here Martha. I'm okay."

Martha snapped straight from terrified to relieved so quickly Tom was scared he would get whiplash from all the hormones flying through the air. Martha pulled Ianita into her side, hugging the little girl tighter than seemed humanly possible – not wanting to let go in fear of the child disappearing on her. Caitlin stood to the side, bewildered by the emotional reunion of a child who had been missing all of three minutes.