Chapter 9 – Fear

Waver found himself in a small, dark room. Torches lit around him. What was I doing? He thinks, unable to recall where he was just a moment ago. Disoriented, he looks around. A strange feeling of dejavu, a claustrophobia that becomes too familiar.

Strong gust puts the fire out and the empty room is now surrounded by silence. A soft light flashed before his eyes, just before everything turned pitch-black. His legs became week, numb. He felt a hand on his shoulder. His stomach tightened; his body shivered. He stepped forward, hands reaching out in the darkness, fingers shaking, wiggling in the air desperately searching for a wall. One, two, three steps. Faster each time. He could feel the weight of the creature over his shoulders. It's not real, he told himself. Its just a dream. It's not real. But the harder he tried to ignore the fear, the greater the feeling in his guts grew. The creature now squeezes Waver's shoulder and he panics. He runs in circles. But the creature does not let go. With a sudden, violent movement, Waver is lifted in mid air, his face flat against the ceiling in a single second. He tried to scream but his mouth was shut, and a muffled scream struggled to find its way out his throat. The creature held him there against the ceiling, tearing his flesh as Waver struggled, useless, helpless. He groaned and sobbed until he could no longer feel anything…

Just before he thought he would vanish, a guttural sound finally emerged from Waver's throat, letting out a monstrous scream. He opened his eyes, panting heavily.

It was a dream, he realized, nothing but a terrible, horrible nightmare…

But it felt so real…

The flames of the campfire still lit up the forest. Alexander and the rest lying next to him. Waver crawled to the prince's side and shook him a little to wake him up.

"Alexander" He whispered. There was no response.

"Alexander wake up! Alexan-"

He felt a cold hand on his back. Bony fingers slowly wrapping around his neck. Paralyzed by fear, too afraid to turn around, he glanced down at Alexander again. This time the prince rolled to the side, facing him. Black blood pouring from his mouth, dead eyes staring at him. His face disfigured by horror, screaming his lungs out.

"Waver!" Alexander's voice called for him

The mage sat up, sweating and panting.

"No! Not again! Make it stop!" He yelled in despair "I want to wake up, I want to wake up!"

Waver rolled on the ground holding his head, sobbing.

Alexander struggled to hold him down.

"Waver, Waver!" Alexander gave him soft slap on the cheek, which made him look at him for a second "hey, hey… It's ok! Everything is fine"

Waver sat, still panting, and looked around. Ptolemy and Hephaestion were sleeping next to him. He looked at Alexander again, making sure he was still there and alive.

"You scared me". Alexander was looking at him with concern, his hands still grabbing onto Waver's shoulders. "You were moaning and twitching. I shook you several times, but you wouldn't wake up."

Waver was still out of breath, speechless, eyes wide open staring at the prince. Alexander had never seen him so helpless.

"Waver…"

The mage took one last deep breath, then closed his eyes, resting his hands on Alexander's. The prince could feel Waver's hands shaking against his own.

"Is it… is it that creature again?" Alexander asked carefully.

Waver nodded; his eyes still closed.

"It's OK, it was just a dream. You are safe now"

"But it felt so…real" Waver finally spoke.

Alexander sighed "I can imagine. But it was just a dream."

"Yeah…" Waver sighed, slowly starting to relax. But a sudden pain on his neck and chest made him frown again.

"Ouch" He complained, bringing a hand to his neck, rubbing it to calm the burning feeling.

"What's wrong?" Alexander asked. His eyebrows rising more and more as he observed a grey mark appear on Waver's neck. A mark with the shape of a hand.

Waver read his face.

"What? What is it?" he asked, rubbing his neck. He moved his robes to the side to try and see, confirming what he feared. The grey mark had expanded up to his shoulder.

"It was real…" Waver's voice shook, his heartbeat rising again. "…Oh god… it was real. He is here". Waver looked around in panic.

"Waver! Waver, look at me!" Alexander held him down by the shoulders, preventing him from running away. He cupped his face forcing him to look into his eyes. Waver gazed at him, quickly turning back to his senses, although still shaking.

"Waver, listen to me. I will not let it harm you. Do you understand?I will not let it touch you." Waver gulped and nodded, only half convinced.

Alexander waited another moment to observe Waver's reaction. Once he was certain he would not run away, he went for his cape and threw it over Waver's shoulders.

"You should get some rest, we have a long day ahead of us", the prince suggested.

They both lied down for another hour, before the dawn.

Waver did not sleep for another second. He watched the fire until it turned into ashes, lying there until the first rays of sunlight sneaked in through the trees.