Breaking The Balance

Breaking The Balance - The Demons We All Share

Written in the 3rd Person

(This Chapter is going to be a bit longer than usual. You'll see why!)

With great reluctance, both Mianite and Dianite had agreed to the plan. They promised only to intervene if someone was in danger of getting critically injured – the rest of the time, they had to let the chips fall where they may. Their only condition was that Ianita was left out of it, Nobody else had any idea of the plan, not one inkling – they all thought Mianite and Dianite wanted to interrogate Caitlin about what Ianite had said to her before she died. Martha was desperate to join in that conversation but Dianite spoke to her quietly, pointing out that to get honest answers out of Caitlin, they would need to potentially use force and he didn't want Martha to see that. It was an intricate game of lies that was being played.

Mianite assembled everyone into what had been dubbed the 'war room' and began to drone on about potential plans of attack, leaving everyone either bored or irritated – as per the norm for Mianite's speeches. Sonja and Tucker were sat together, hand in hand as if they were anchored to one another in a never ending storm. Tom stood to the side, by himself – staring over at where Jordan was lying, a bitter look in his eyes. Wag and Martha had just sent Ianita out to go collect the apples from the orchard at Mianite's request, stating that the war plans shouldn't be shared with her until they were finalised. Caitlin was sat in the far corner of the room, a look of fierce concentration on her face that nobody dared to accuse her of not paying attention, even Tucker's barbed insults about 'some people not pulling their weight' couldn't rouse her from her thoughts.

"The main issue with attacking the Shadows is that we have no real idea what forms he could take to thwart our attack formations. If we attack from the sky, he may attempt to damage our wings or block our magic, causing us to tumble to the earth and splatter like bugs on the windows. If we attack from the ground, he may use the earth beneath our feet against us or rise above us and pick us off one by one. If we attack from the ocean... Tucker, what's wrong?"

Tucker had suddenly stood up, his hand on the hilt of his sword as his eyes scanned the room in a panic, his head jerking rapidly from side to side as if he was being surrounded with no exit in sight. His eyes had turned an eerie soulless black as he pulled his sword from its sheath, spinning frantically and thrusting it forward into an invisible foe. Everyone else watched on in confusion and horror as he started slashing wildly at the thin air as if possessed by some madness. However, all Tucker could see were the shadowy beings advancing towards him, their sharpened claws reaching endlessly for his throat in an attempt to end his life. For every shadow monster he slew, a dozen more spawned where its comrade had fallen – an endless army baying for his blood. His ears were filled with the screams of the dying and the hissing of the living, causing him to swipe his blade faster and faster until he heard a pain filled scream he knew so well.

Sonja lay on the ground, a stab wound to her stomach as the shadow creatures began to melt away – their corpses littering the ground around Tucker's feet. A strangled cry escaped Tucker's lips as he dropped his sword and raced to her side, pressing his hand against the wound he had inflicted upon her. She coughed and spluttered, blood pouring out of her mouth – turning her lips a startling crimson that only brought grief and self-loathing into Tucker's mind. She clutched his shirt feebly, her strength disappearing as fast as her blood. Tucker was helpless to watch as her chest heaved and then suddenly stopped, her body fading out of his hands as he desperately tried to hold onto the girl he loved so much. When she was gone, Tucker merely sat on the floor – rocking back and forth, weeping uncontrollably in grief.

The others looked on at the suddenly broken wreck of a man in confusion, Sonja – whose death had all been a hallucination in Tucker's mind, reaching out to her boyfriend in an attempt to comfort him. However, soon Tucker wasn't the only one suffering from these vivid delusions. Mianite and Dianite were helpless as they watched their heroes and their niece suffer in the confines of their own mind – each of their eyes turning soulless black that Tucker's did and creeping shadows surrounding their terror-stricken forms.