Breaking The Balance

Breaking The Balance - Pain Is The Only Route To Progress

When something goes wrong, right in front of your very eyes, you tend to have one of the several predictable reactions. You will, most likely – break down, get angry or close yourself off from the rest of the group. That was exactly what Jordan witnessed as he looked around the group in despair, desperate for someone to say something to make the terrible situation better.

Martha and Tucker had gone for the first option. They were both crumpled on the floor, sobbing their eyes out, their tears leaving tracks on their dust stained cheeks. Their whole bodies shook in grief and guilt as they allowed all the stress and anger that had been building up over the past few months to be released in one exhausting breakdown. It was heart-wrenching to watch them both, two normally calm and stable people collapse in on themselves as the situation occupied their thoughts.

Sonja, Wag and even Mianite were furious – their fury practically rolling off of them in waves that set Jordan's nerves on edge. One wrong word to those three and they would explode, like a ticking time bomb that nobody knew how to defuse. Depressingly, the only real chances of defusing them were the two people who were curled up on the floor in a puddle of their own tears. They paced back and forth, wearing the ground beneath their feet – crushing the freshly grown grass and the slowly emerging flowers. If they paced any faster, the grass itself would set ablaze as if they were in some fantasy story.

Jordan and Caitlin had gone for the final option. Ever since Ianita had been taken, Jordan had stood in place and continually stared at the last place where she had been; as if she would suddenly reappear if he waited long enough. Caitlin had taken a while to regain consciousness, meaning that when she did it only took a few seconds for her to figure out what had happened by reading the reactions of those surrounding her. One look at Jordan and Martha's faces explained it all. The curious thing was that she didn't look surprised; she just sat there and let her wounds heal slowly – as if she was waiting for something.

"Snap out of it!"

Everyone jumped in surprise at the sudden voice that seemingly had no body from which to speak, until they realised that it was Dianite who was talking to them. Dianite hadn't been talking very often because it took a lot of energy to manifest his form properly so everyone could hear him properly. The last time he had properly yelled at someone was when Jordan first passed out, since then he had been extremely cautious in fear of causing a similar reaction in someone else. Since Mianite's advisor had cut and run relatively quickly once he realised the power of The Shadows, there was no plausible way to bring him back to the living world. So he just floated around as a spooky ghost, giving sage advice whenever he could.

"What do you mean snap out of it? Your precious champion is the one who did this! His weakness of mind and spirit is the reason that Ianita – a mere child, has been taken from us!"

Dianite snarled in fury, leaving everyone to imagine the expression of fury that would be on his face if he had one. It sent shivers down their spines and Mianite – being the one who responded so harshly, immediately shut his mouth as he didn't want to anger his brother further. Tucker and Martha stopped crying for the moment whilst Sonja and Wag halted their unnaturally fast pacing to listen to what Dianite had to say – even though their hearts weren't really in it.

"I get it; you are all upset by what just happened. However, none of you are seeing the bigger picture here. Tom gave us exact directions to where we can end all of this, rescue Ianita and defeat the Shadows once and for all. You may call him weak Ianita but he managed to keep the Shadows out of control for long enough to give us lifesaving information. I guarantee that he will continue to fight the Shadows every step of the way."