Will it hurt? he asked himself.

Will it hurt more than it hurts now?

Thomas felt how he was speeding up and realized that the speed of his falling might kill him before actually hitting the ground.

He had trouble breathing, so he reached out with his hands to cover his bleeding nose and mouth, to avoid the brutal intake of air.

Unexpectadly, he felt something touching his stomach. I must be imagining things, he thought. He suddenly realized that his fall began to slow down. Thomas opened his eyes and looked down at his stomach where he saw two enormous clawed hands clutching his broken body. Thomas started breathing quickly in terror.

Is this some kind of sacrifical bullshit? Am I being sacrificed to somemonster? he panicked, wishing for his previous now simple looking death. The creature finally stopped in mid-air and turned Thomas' body around, so he would be lying on his back. Thomas' couldn't really make out anything else than the creature's hands because one of them was very close to his head. After this reposition, the creature draw Thomas' body closer to his chest and continued flying.

After a minute or two, they seemed to be landing at a small clearing in the middle of a forest. Thomas' tried to keep his eyes open but they still stung from his crying.

Whatever was holding him sat down on the grass and laid Thomas carefully into his lap. The moon shed a light on the creature's features which frightened Thomas even more, and he began crawling out of his lap, trying to escape.

Why isn't he stopping me? Thomas asked himself as he got somehow successfuly out of the creature's lap and slowly made it's way to the nearest forest. Thomas knew that he had to look pitiful, with hands cuffed behind his back, he couldn't really move that fast since his legs didn't really work. But he also knew that he didn't want to get eaten by a monster.

"Tommy," a soft familiar voice behind him made him stop. Thomas' breathing became heavy again as he felt the need to cry again.

Michendros walked around him and sat down on the ground next to Thomas. "Let me help you," Michendros said quietly, caressing Thomas' cheek.

"I- I thought," Thomas wanted to finish his sentence but he couldn't catch a breath from the heavy weeping.

"I know, I am sorry," Mich said, lying down next to Thomas on the ground, letting their foreheads touch, "you should rest now," he said, looking into the blue eyes that were slowly becoming tired. Thomas fell asleep.

Michendros looked at the beaten up man in front of him, feeling his pain and felt tears flowing down on his face, too.

He bit into his own finger to draw blood and made a circle from it above Thomas' limp body.

"Now I'll always find you," Michendros said quietly and let the magic heal Thomas' wounds with his own blood. Michendros leaned down to look at his cuffed hands Thomas had behind his back. He frowned upon them, making them crack and fall apart. He then picked up Thomas into his arms and informed Stolos: I've got him.