Lyra and Will lay asleep next to each other on the ground with their daemons curled up next to them. All was still except for the cool damp breeze that rustled the moonlit grass across the plain. Lyra occasionally made soft sleep-sounds or smiled a little unconsciously, because she was having a pleasant dream. Will however, was dreaming of something else.
Will…Will…
Will heard the voice of his dead father and turned around in the mist, futilely searching for him.
Will…Will...Will…
Where was he? Why couldn't he find his father? Will took a stumbling step forward into the blinding fog. He could just barely make out a faint outline of a face before him. If only he could just reach through that mist…
Will stiffened in his sleep and gently removed his arms from Lyra's shoulders without waking her from her slumber. He sat up and turned his head from side to side, as if searching for something. But his eyes remained shut. Will stood up unsteadily and sleepwalked away across the plain. Kirjava likewise left Pan silently and followed Will in her sleep.
Will…
The insistent voice echoed through his head from all directions…just out of reach…Will continued to feel his way uncertainly in the dense cloudy air, trying to pinpoint the source of the voice. There. Just at the edge of the fog…Almost there…His father was waiting…
Pan felt a slight nudge and opened his eyes halfway and jolted awake. Where were Kirjava and Will? Then Pan saw them walking clumsily, only about twenty feet away. He quickly sprung up and followed them to see where they were going. He stealthily kept close behind the two sleepwalkers, not wanting to wake them, but wanting to make sure that they weren't going to accidentally harm themselves. Suddenly, Pan felt a shock of horror. Will and Kirjava were about to walk onto a great chariot of fire!
Several hundreds of feet away, Lyra felt a shock from Pantalaimon and woke up suddenly, startled to find herself utterly alone on the grass. "Pan! Will! Kirjava! Where are you?" she yelled out across the dark empty plain. Lyra immediately rose to her feet and turned about, trying to locate them. Then, to her horror, she saw a great chariot of fire glowing vividly against the blackness of the field and night sky in the distance. And barely visible, right next to the fearsome chariot, she could just barely make out the shapes of a boy and two animals. "No!" she whispered frantically as she tore across the plain towards the figures that were simply too far away.
"No!" thought Pan simultaneously as he jumped towards Kirjava and bit her lightly on the tail. Kirjava's eyes instantly snapped open. Much to their bewilderment, Will and Kirjava groggily found themselves in standing mere feet away from this furiously flaming chariot with no idea of how they had gotten there…it looked so familiar…Metatron! A cold shock of dread coursed through Will's veins as he recalled the last time he had seen this same chariot racing down towards him, its owner's evil eyes filled with hate…
Will's senses immediately sharpened and he put his hand to the hilt of the knife, but it was too late. From somewhere hidden inside the chariot, an arrow dipped in sleeping potion fired out and struck him in the chest. Will's eyes widened in shock before falling shut. Kirjava's eyes also started to droop, and both she and Will slowly collapsed onto the ground in a heavy slumber. Pan immediately growled with loyal rage, and charged at whatever was inside the chariot, claws and teeth slashing and tearing at everything within his reach. Metatron roared in anger at Pan's savage scratches, and gave him a sound punch to the side of his head, knocking him out.
The cold night air numbed Lyra's parched throat as she continued to sprint breathlessly across the grass. In horror, she watched as Will fell to the ground, silhouetted by vivid orange flames. "Will!" she cried, gasping for air, forcing herself to run faster if that was even possible. "Will!" she desperately cried again, as her mind tried to fend off the inevitable dreaded question: Was he dead? A sob choked her already searing lungs and parched throat, and tears caused her to stumble blindly towards what was now a blurry sparkling orange glow. The crying was making it hard for her to breathe, but she ran and ran anyway, wheezing and choking. She gave a little cry as she felt something touch Pan, and sensed his pain and distress. Oh no, Pan, not you too! She thought pleadingly, and again, against her body's wishes, tried to increase her speed as she closed the distance between herself and the horrific chariot.
Metatron quickly gathered Will, Kirjava and Pantalaimon onto his chariot, and bound them tightly before administering an even stronger dose of sleeping potion as a precaution. Lyra reached the chariot of flames just as it was leaving the ground, its owner laughing with malicious delight. "You bring them back!" Lyra shrieked furiously. Her arms reached towards the sky as the chariot floated away, and her hands held only empty air. "You hurt them! I hate you! I hate you! Let them go you monster! Let them go!" she brokenly screamed as tears streamed down her face and the chariot became smaller and smaller in the sky until it vanished completely.
Only a sneering laugh from above echoed through the empty plains.