Dying of the Light

Ch 4

In Sian's dream...

Sian stood on a grassy hill, there was a gentle breeze stirring in the air. He could hear

laughter coming from just over the next hill. Sian was to say the least, curious, and decided to see where the laughing would lead him. When he got to his destination, Sian saw that his parents and his uncles seemed to be laughing at the sight of a teenager and who seemed to be his father.

Sian became even more curious and started to get closer without being seen. When Sian got there, he could finally get a better look at them. He couldn't believe what he saw; the two people that were laughing the hardest were he and his father. Needless to say, Sian was a bit confused.

"How can this be? How can I be at two places at once? How can this be possible? But I know that this is real, because I remember, I remember this day," Sian thought as he watched them. Then suddenly the sky turned pitch black, and the winds blew so fierce that the branches broke right off of the trees. "No! Run, get out of there! Run!" Just as Sian was about to run to them, in a blink of an eye, everything changed. Now there were no sounds, just quiet, dead quiet. Sian started to get more than a little nervous as he looked around his surroundings.

"Where is everyone? No, they can't be!" Sian exclaimed as he started to run. As Sian kept running, his anxiety started to rise. He knew that he had to find them, and then as soon as he was turning the next corner, he saw something that he would never think that he would ever dream for it to be possible. But it was, just plain as day, he saw that his family fighting the hunters, barely holding onto their own. Severely wounded, they kept on fighting until the very last of them were gone. But they knew that they were only fighting on borrowed time.

"Get out of there!" Sian yelled at them, but they kept on fighting as if they didn't hear him.

Both group of fighters, hunters and his family continued to fight. Neither side giving in, then as he stood there helplessly watching the blood bath, Sian saw that someone was coming up from behind his parents. Sian's heart leapt in his throat as he tried to yell out to warn them, but no sound came. He then started to run towards them; maybe he could get to them in time. But then just as he got there, two swords raised overhead, and started to come down upon his parents. Just as the swords were about to strike, the scene changed again.

"Mom, dad?" Sian called out as he now found himself in a dimly lit corridor. Sian started to carefully walk through the corridor, but then sounds of battle suddenly got his attention. He started to run towards the sounds, as he kept on getting closer the sounds of battle were getting even louder. Then just as he got to where the sounds were coming from, a bright light blinded him just for a few seconds. Then as the light faded, Sian lowered his arms, he could barely make out who was fighting whom. Everything was still too blurry. As Sian's vision started to slowly come back into focus, he recognized the screams of pain. Sian quickly darted his eyes over to where the sounds were coming from. But just as he was about to see, he found himself hovering over who might have looked like his parents. Sian started to walk slowly over to them, with each step his pace quickened until he found himself running. When he got close enough he could tell that his uncles were kneeling down in front of them, protecting the two from their attacker, their breathing laboring from their battle. But as soon as Sian got there, he could see that both of them were barely breathing, and then Sian saw one more thing that really threw him. Sian saw that he was the one that did this; he was the one that almost killed his parents. The Sian that he saw was no longer human, but a hunter. The poison has turned him into a soulless, blood-craving hunter.

"NO," Sian yelled as he shot up from where he was sleeping. "Was that real? Did it actually happen, or is it some kind of twisted vision of what might happen?"

Sian got up quickly and looked around, no one was there. He began to panic, Sian then started to check all of the rooms, looking for a sign of any kind telling him that his family was still alive. Just as he was about to call out, he heard voices coming from outside. Sian then ran to where they were coming from, and he saw that everyone was out back by the lake. "Hey, look who's finally decided to get up?" Rowen said with a smirk, as he noticed that Sian was walking over to them.

"It was only a nightmare." Sian replied with a sigh of relief. The others gave Sian a look of confusion; Sian then saw their confused looks and then grinned at them.

"Sian, are you ok?" Ryo asked as Sian finally joined them.

"Yea, uncle Ryo, I'm fine." Sian replied as he knelt down and plunged his hands into the water and splashed it onto his face.

"What did you mean by, it's only a nightmare?" Kento asked as he raised an eyebrow at him.

"It's nothing, dad, everything is fine." Sian replied, as he stayed knelt down by the water.

"Sian, you know, if you want to, I could..." Kaye started to say.

"Ah mom, no that's ok, I'm fine." Sian replied as he quickly stood up. The Ronins and Kaye looked at each other in confusion. They knew that something was definitely wrong.

"Sian, are you sure that you're..." Cye started to ask.

"I said that I'm fine, uncle Cye. Now will everyone please stop asking me if I'm ok?" Sian asked back showing a little annoyance.

"What's gotten into you, Sian?" Kaye asked as she and the others looked at him.

"What do you mean? Nothing's gotten into me." Sian replied.

"Then why are you acting like this? It's not like you." Kaye said.

"Acting like what, mom?" Sian asked as he looked at her curiously.

"You're starting to distance yourself from us, why?" Kaye asked back.

"Look, I'm not distancing myself from any of you. I'm just, actually I don't know why I'm telling you any of this. I don't have to justify myself to you or anyone else for that matter. So just get off of my back, ok." Sian replied hotly. Sian's statement registered in Kaye's eyes, a mix reaction of hurt and confusion.

"Why you little..." Kento started to say angrily. He would of continued what he was going to say, but Kaye looked at him and shook her head.

"Kento, I'm sure that Sian has his own reasons for feeling the way he does. Just let him be, when he's ready, he'll tell us what's going on." Kaye replied as she quickly got her composure.

"Count yourself lucky this time, Sian, because the next time that you decide to cop an attitude like that, you and I will have words. Do I make myself clear?" Kento asked as he narrowed his eyes into angry slits. Sian nodded his head, and then he went back inside.

"Don't you think that you were a little hard on him, Kento?" Cye asked as he looked over at him.

"Cye, what are you talking about? He had no right to talk to Kaye like that. Besides having to deal with Talpa, Dante and Jakobe, not to mention the warlords, we don't need to have Sian to start copping an attitude." Kento replied.

Inside the small house...

"They're right, this isn't me, it's the poison. The process is starting, I can't be around them when I turn into a hunter." Sian thought as his breathing started to labor. As Sage started to come inside, he saw that Sian was doubled over in pain, holding onto his stomach.

"Sian," Sage exclaimed as he saw him on the floor, then he rushed over to the door. "Hey someone get in here, there's something wrong with Sian!"

That's all that was needed for the others to run inside and see that Sian was lying on the floor in extreme pain. "Sage, what happened?" Kento asked in concern as any trace of his anger that he once had disappeared.

"I don't know, when I came inside, I found him like this," Sage replied as he grabbed for Sian's arms. "Help me get him to the bed."

Then when they knew that Sian was lying somewhat comfortable in the bed, Kaye ran out to the lake and returned with a full bucket of water. She then took a piece of cloth, soaked it, and started to cool Sian off with it. "When I get my hands on Dais..." Kento said as he clenched his fists.

"It wasn't Dais." Sian said with a groan.

"Sian, what are you talking about? If it wasn't Dais, then who was it?" Rowen asked.

"It was Dante." Sian replied as he groaned again.

"Did I hear someone call my name?" Dante asked with a smirk as he and Jakobe stood by the opened door.