Chapter 11: Nightmares

Shadow had revealed himself now as a ghostly image of an elderly man. He looked faintly blue and wore a leather vest decorated with strings of beads and colored paints, much like Crystal's clothing. With a slight smile all the folds and wrinkles of his face shifted, then the ethereal man whispered,

"Welcome to the Spirit World, little warrior."

"The Spirit World." Baro said aloud softly. 'Shadow brought me to the spirit world!' Baro realized, and once he did his mind flooded with other ones. His hands now glowed the bluish tint that Shadow's did, but that's not all that changed. There was no wind on Baro's face, in fact the world seemed to lack air, heat, or any physical feeling at all. Looking around, Baro noticed his body on the ground by his feet, unconscious.

"What do you want?" Baro asked with a touch of fear.

Shadow pointed an outstretched arm at Baro and rumbled in a low and quaking voice, "You Baromosa! I would speak with you. You continue to travel with my charge, but that is not all."

"What do you mean?" asked Baro concerned.

"Why did you not return when Thorv was killed?" Shadow accused.

"Return? You mean to Shriladen?" Shadow nodded. "I've never been there before, how do you know my father?" Baro shrieked. This wolf was scaring him more all the time.

"Your father was a Gehan Knight, one of the King's personal spell warriors. After his death his vows now fall to you."

"My… my father?" stumbled Baro shocked. A spell warrior! Mystical warriors that were skilled with the blade and powerful magics. Excitement welled up within himself to the thought of being like his father, and learning more about Thorv's mysterious past. Thousands of questions pulsed through his mind unchecked, uncontrolled. With all of these new thoughts Baro completely forgot that Shadow was standing there and awaiting a response. Baro then exclaimed, "That doesn't explain how you knew my father. You're a spirit guide! How can you know about him?"

"Your not ready to know yet." Shadows voice calmed down and he folded his arms.

"WHAT?" Baro screamed. "Why did you bring me here? Who the hell are you? Who was my father?" Baro shouted as loud as he could, almost in panic. 'What right does he have to keep this from me?'

"I need to warn you Baromosa. There are things you must know." Shadow reached a hand out to Baro's forehead and flashed a vision through Baro's eyes.

Baro was now standing in a forest clearing, centered by a large dirt circle that had been stomped flat. Crystal stood smiling in the center of the circle facing an older man that looked like Shadow's ghost image. They both wore their leather armor pieces and kept their arms locked in a battle stance.

Crystal's smile disappeared when she began to concentrate on his movements and replaced it with a look of discomfort. Shadow was more easy going until he suddenly shot a green bolt of magic at Crystal without warning from his fists. Sparks tingled from his finger tips and surged forward toward her in a solid bolt.

The longer Baro stayed near the field the more information he absorbed into his memories. This man was named Bauweh, the teacher Crystal had told him about. This ring was a sparring circle, and Crystal was training.

Bauweh continued to fire light flurries of bolts towards Crystal, sparks ricocheting from her armor and sizzling her skin. She continued to evade them, but took the fourth head on and canceled its power with her own negative energy.

It was hard to make out worlds in this dream state, but Baro managed to hear Bauweh chastising Crystal for not using her energy for the offensive. "Strike me!" he had yelled over his magical attacks snapping the air.

"I'm afraid." She yelled back, but with strangely no fear in her voice. She was obviously uncomfortable with violence, but had controlled her emotions Baro noted.

She refused again and again, but Bauweh did not ease up on his assault. Instead he let out an intense beam of unyielding energy at Crystal. She attempted to absorb it, but it was far too much for her. Hair and skin burned on her arms from deflecting the energy until she couldn't hold it back anymore and was blown back out of the ring.

"Crystal! Get over yourself. You need to let go of fear." Bauweh shouted back at her harshly.

Crystal got up slowly and rubbed her damaged arms. They bled a little bit but were crusted over from the magical overload burn. As she walked back into the ring green sparks jumped across her fingers and formed a building charge. A small sphere of energy quickly formed and Crystal hurled it with incredible speed toward Bauweh's head.

Now Baro saw a different side of Crystal he had rarely seen before. Fire seemed to burn in her eyes and she lost herself in the destruction at her power. Her old master could barely keep up with the changing forms of Crystals attack; it was too wild and complex. She steadily became faster and faster, launching spheres and bolts of magic in rapid succession. Stray shots landed in shrubs and bursted them into flames.

Finally Bauweh was forced to revert to one last attempt to spark Crystal's inner power. She had begun to attack and put on a good show of force, but Bauweh could tell a small part of her still held back. "Your still trying to protect me, not actually trying to hit me."

This time he generated an even more powerful beam of energy toward her. It pulsed a bluish white and nearly boiled the grass under it, but Crystal was ready for it. In stead of trying to absorb the energy she redirected it to swirl around her, building its charge the longer Bauweh added to it. A vortex formed around her and collected itself into a bigger and bigger stream of power. When it was large enough, Crystal used what remained of her own power to release it forward in a unstoppable wave of terrible speed and strength.

The blast shook the trees, instantly shriveling up their needles. Insects and rodents died almost immediately when the wave past them, and seriously burned everything else. More then all of this, it caught Bauweh off guard. When the dust settled, he was on the ground.

As he fell Baro mouthed the words 'no' to himself but nothing came past his lips. Crystal stood there in awe of what she did, chest still heaving and arms outstretched. Sweat dripped from her forehead and on her nose, itching it badly which she ignored in shock of her attack. Bauweh was dead; he remained silent and very still. Before too long Crystal collapsed on her knees and cried uncontrollably she wailed to the sky and tears ran swiftly off her nose and to the ground.

Baro cried as well, just as sad as she did. He ran over to her, but past through her body forgetting that he was a mere shadow of a person while in his dream.

Baro was still crying when Shadow, or Bauweh rather, brought him out of the dream. He was on his knees while the ghostly man waited for him to finish. After what seemed an eternity Baro stopped and spoke to him, "Is that why she is so afraid of magic?"

Bauweh nodded. "After that day she has had two parts of herself, the aggressive wild side and the submissive, loving side. During your journey she will be less and less able to keep control of them both."

"So until now…"

"I have been helping her keep control of them. But around you it is becoming near impossible. After tonight, I will not be able to."

Baro thought about what he had said, 'Crystal is in essence two people, and she is going through a metamorphosis as I am now. Who knows what kind of things we will have to go through on this journey.'

"What do you want me to do?" Baro asked quietly.

"She is too unstable around you, and is only a distraction from your journey to Shriladen. It is imperative that you reach the Capitol before your sixteenth birthday."

"Why is that so important? What's at Shriladen?"

Shadow took up his deep voice again to answer Baro, "If you are not trained properly by your sixteenth birthday, you will be unable to complete your training. Once that has happened King Anthar will lose the war unless things change drastically." Baro was released from this conversation when Shadow touched his forehead again. Another vision took over his mind and he once again went into a dream state.

Crystal and a taller man walked next together dressed completely in black robes. The man wore a bloodstained mask and metal gauntlets while opposite him Crystal clutched an iron staff. Her face seemed in pain and cracked with dried blood. Baro was totally confused about where he was, and there were no memories coming to him to explain this vision.

They just stood their talking about something Baro couldn't hear until Crystal suddenly dropped to her knees and cried, tears streaming down her scarred cheeks. The masked man immediately lashed out with his spiked gauntlet and tore through her left cheek leaving them bloody and her screaming in agony.

Baro cried out with her and fought for control but the vision kept playing in his mind, resistance was useless. The masked man kept beating Crystal, first with savage kicks and then by caning her with her own iron staff. Baro felt totally helpless to watch his friend suffer, but rage that she didn't even put up a fight. 'My god, she must have been tortured for months to be this submissive.' Baro though between tears and cries of his own.

He felt sick watching Crystal's torture but soon Bauweh took away the vision. Baro immediately threw up when he came back into his own body and left the spirit world. He was left alone and crying, all that he had left to cling to was a thought passing through his mind.

'That is the future…. If you fail.'