thanks for the reviews and sorry if any of you died before you were able to read this. :oP

The striped creature turned around and looked at Lana with it's entrancing eyes, performing their hypnotic dancing once more.

'No…no…I'm not…going to fall…Clark said we're not gonna die…' With this, she looked over at the teen who was still lying there, losing a lot of blood very quickly. Her eyes then traveled down to his wounded and scraped up hand, which still held the sword.

'We are not going to die.'

As soon as Lana made a move towards the sword, Amon kicked into gear. There was only about ten feet in between him and Lana. She didn't have a chance.

But Lana didn't care as she reached Clark and pulled the weapon from his hand. She gripped it with both hands and with a sudden burst of energy she swung wildly in the direction in which Amon was running.

A wailing of the injured tiger filled the ballroom.

Lana closed her eyes, afraid to see the gory scene she'd just created. She knew she'd hit it – she felt the sword slash into something hard, yet she didn't hear anything else after the wail. There was no thud of the creature falling unconscious to the ground.

She cautiously opened her squinting eyes to see what had happened. Her nervous state caused her to take in large, deep breaths as she did so.

And there Amon stood before her, his face not but a few inches from hers. He looked extremely enraged. At first, she was confused that he had absolutely no wound on him, but then she noticed his cheek. A large red cut was engraved in it.

She was about to smile triumphantly, but then she noticed something else…the longer she watched the wound, the darker the red became and the less obvious the cut appeared to look.

Within a few moments, Amon's cut was completely healed.

"Oh my God…" Lana whispered, dropping the useless sword with a clank.

The tiger's anger grew even more. And as it did, Amon's right paw rose up in the air, getting ready to strike Lana down. The deep growling inside him almost sounded like an evil laugh.

Lana was shaking with every fiber of her being. Tears fell even more rapidly. She closed her eyes, praying that she wouldn't leave the world in pain or suffering. Just one quick hit would be perfect for her.

Just then, when all hope had officially been drained out of her, Lana heard the neighing of a horse. She thought she was hallucinating until she heard the clopping of the horse's hooves on the tile as it grew closer.

Lana quickly turned to see Elsu galloping freely into the ballroom.

'What is he doing out! He doesn't have chance against this monster,' Lana thought to herself, terrified.

Amon looked equally confused as he watched the pitch-black stallion stomp through the place until it came to a halt right in front of the trembling Lana.

"Elsu…" Lana whispered warningly, hoping the horse didn't regret what he'd just done.

Amon growled once more menacingly. He'd already taken the lives of many others tonight. What was one more?

Lana gasped in fright as the tigers paw swooped down with unbelievable agility.

But as soon as it got within a few inches of the horse's mane, the paw froze. Amon stared at his own arm in confusion. He tried pulling it back in forth. It wouldn't budge. His paw was stuck in mid-air.

Lana watched wide-eyed for a moment until he heard a groaning voice from behind her.

"Lana…"

She turned to she Clark who strained to look at what was going on through his pain.

"Clark!" Rushing over to him, Lana touched his face, pushing stray locks of hair from his eyes. "It think it'll be okay. Elsu, he…"

Lana looked back over at horse. His eyes remained focused on Amon tauntingly, yet seriously. Suddenly Lana felt a harsh tension in the air. The ground seemed to shake and grumble under them.

"What's…ha…ppening…" Clark asked through his wisping, sore throat.

Lana looked around herself, wondering how to answer him. After all, she wanted to know the same thing.

The tiger looked at the grounded, dumbfounded. Quickly he tried to once again to pull his paw free but it was no use. No matter what the great beast tried, his paw didn't budge.

And while Amon struggled, Elsu lowered his neck slowly. A small glow of light shown onto the crown of his head.

At first, Lana had thought her eyes had been playing tricks on her…and then…she noticed the light growing rapidly and taking the form of a large sphere. It hovered over the horse, swirling and swelling fleetly.

"What the hell…?" Lana whispered, mostly to herself.

Clark forced his eyes to stay open just a few seconds more to see what was going on.

The sphere reached the size of about six basketballs, and Amon finally decided to give up on his stuck paw and focus more unusual things. He growled and snarled at the horse, saliva dripping from his hungry fangs. His massive snake-like tail whipped and snapped, silently calling Diaba and Haras who stepped up from behind mysteriously, almost as though they had been lurking in the shadows all along.

Elsu didn't seem overtaken by this action in the slightest. He stood in front of the terrifying creatures, glaring at him blankly as the glowing above his head got so big, the floors began to shake more heavily.

Diaba and Haras turned to each other, acting a little hesitant to do anything. It seemed like they were actually afraid to go after the horse.

Amon looked behind him, seeing there worried expressions and growled in fury. He sounded like he was a sergeant, urging his men to go into battle. Diaba and Haras listened reluctantly, but watching the strange glowing horse the whole time.

The tiger snarled loudly at his cohorts until he realized that the longer they looked over his shoulder at the horse, the more confused they seemed to be at what they saw. Curious, Amon turned his head to look back at Elsu.

The horse had backed up at least thirty feet, taking the sphere on his head with him.

After a few silent moments, Amon's stuck paw lowered to the ground. He immediately flexed it and pressed his dangerous claws out to match the other paw. His happy, blood-thirsting face looked from his paws up to the horse. He grinned devilishly and two pointy fangs poked out from it. Victory was so close to him he could taste it.

Diaba and Haras also thought like Amon and the worries they had before were completely dissolved. They glared at Elsu menacingly, mentally pumping themselves up for a torturing and exciting fight.

The three began to walk casually together, making their way to the awaiting Elsu. They no longer even remembered anyone else was there. All attention was focused this little victim who thought he was so much better than them.

Soon the walk turned into a trot, then into a jog, and then Amon let out a pierced growl that broke them into an all-out race to see who would be the first to reach their destination. Diaba jumped and spread his massive wings, allowing them to glide him towards Elsu.

But much to their surprise, Elsu began to run at them also. His speed was amazing and his hooves clanked and chipped at the tiles below. The sphere looked like a giant balloon, ready to pop as it hovered over him.

Lana looked on, her mouth covered by her sweating palms, her eyes filled with tears. She had no idea of what was about to happen, but somehow she knew it would change Sogni Dromen forever. For better or for worse…there was no way of knowing.

Amon took deep breaths, ready to attack the little pip-squeak of a horse that dared to get in his way. So what if he has a glowing ball on his head? It didn't make any difference to him. Dinner was dinner.

He flashed his red, swirling eyes at the horse menacingly, beginning to stun his prey as he always did.

And that's when Elsu came to an abrupt stop.

But the sphere continued to flying towards the three creatures.

It soared over the floor, getting brighter with each inch it took.

Suddenly realizing what the sphere was going to bring, Diaba, Haras, and Amon tried to stop their charge at the horse, but something caused them to continue to slide towards the ball like a giant vacuum. They continued towards the flaming glow of the sphere at a rocketing pace. Their eyes filled with terror as they rapidly advanced on their inevitable fate.

The place where they finally collided was directly in front of Clark and Lana. A blast louder than lightning smashed throughout the castle. The entire hall was radiating from the sphere's great light that had broken open during the impact. Wailing of Haras, Diaba, and Amon could be heard vaguely behind the static-y explosive noises that the sphere was giving off.

Lana closed her eyes, then leaned down and covered up Clark protectively. Her torn and dirty ball gown flailed around her as though she was in a tornado. The wind hit her so hard for so long, her whole body began to go numb. She couldn't feel herself holding on to Clark anymore. She felt lost in a huge beam of unending light. She was afraid she'd never see Clark or anyone else ever again.

Then something changed.

The blinding light diminished somewhat and a warmth enthralled her, embracing her gently. She smiled…but…why was she smiling? She didn't even know. For some reason, everything suddenly felt calm and relaxing…like the whole world made sense and nothing would ever hurt her again…

As she felt this, the glowing and noises dying away until it was undeniably dark and silent.

Cautiously, Lana opened her eyes. She was surprised to she Clark Kent's bruised and bleeding, yet still conscious face staring at her.

His Adam's apple bobbed up and down sharply as he tried to take a breath. "Did you…see that?"

Lana looked up to where the collision had happened. The only creature still there was Elsu. He stood proudly and nodded towards her as if telling her it was true – Diaba, Haras, and Amon were gone.

She laughed and sat back on her heels. Tears that had originally been made from fright now streaming down her face in pure joy.

"Yes, Clark. I saw it and so did you! We saw the Mist! We found it! We're gonna be able to go home!"

Clark smiled for a few moments, then stopped. His chest contracted and his mouth opened slightly. He looked as though he was going to hurl, but nothing was coming out.

"Clark?" Lana noticed the deep cuts still present on his chest. They looked worse than before. "Clark, don't struggle. I'll find someone to help you. Hang on, Clark, please. I need you…"

As much as Clark tried to follow what Lana had just said, his head began to feel as though it where spinning around on a turn-table and Lana's words blended together so that he couldn't understand them. He took in one last weak breath and then slipped into the blackness of his mind.