Shadow Worlds and Chaos Lights

"THE BOY reacted stronger than we imagined," Agwe said with a worried sigh. "It was a really big seizure he had this time, almost too big to be healthy. The positive thing is that for a short time, we in fact were on the same wavelength and had direct contact with each other, but I think you all realize that we can't continue with the same force just to get results. Heedan won't be of any help to us if he is in a coma or suffers from a stroke just because we haven't been careful enough."

"Yes," Tana replied. "He must have gotten the gift back faster than we thought. Good thing that other boy was there to pull him back; who knows what might have had happened otherwise, we could have lost him."

"He is nice, the other boy I mean," Ricven said, wincing from pain as Tana poured cold water over his burned arm and carefully started to clean the wounds. "Really friendly and helpful. Besides, I think Heedan likes him."

"Nice!" Idin exclaimed, her eyes glowing dangerously. "He is a vampirehunter! Do you know what people like him do to my kind?"

"Mother, please!" Tana said, giving his stepmother a pleading look. "He really isn't that bad; I can see it in him. It seems like he really cares, and he did help Heedan today; hunter or not, we can't overlook that."

Idin sighed. "Fine, but why should we trust him? What if he wasn't helping him at all? What if he brought him back to reality, not because he cared, but to stop him from getting closer to us? Maybe he works for Skye; you know what the rumours say, that he uses hunters to carry out his plans? Hunters like that Eoli." She almost spat the boy's name.

Then she forced herself to calm down and raised her hands in a classic pose of someone who gives up on an argument. "You say he isn't that bad, and I know you're often right so I will trust you on this, but Skye is clever; he's a master of deceit. What if he manipulates the boy to work for him? It wouldn't be the first time."

Tana opened his mouth to reply but Mu'atsu raised a hand in a gesture to silence them. "Enough with the 'ifs' and the 'maybes'; no matter what side the hunter is on, Heedan still is the important thing here. We have to come up with a way to contact him without hurting him or making him lose consciousness. Otherwise, we might as well give up right now."

Agwe nodded in agreement. "You're right, Mu'atsu, and one other thing we have to think about is how we affect his daily life. If he starts to act too peculiarly, there is a chance that the others, or even Heedan himself, will start to question his sanity. He already thinks he's losing it, so we better watch out."

"Good point," Tana said, a worried look spreading over his face. "He won't be of much help if they decide that he is mentally ill and start to give him medications against hallucinations and delusions."

"Don't forget the apparent Messiah-complex," Ricven added with a smile. "I mean, the fact that he will believe that the faith of the whole universe and the realms of heaven and hell are upon his shoulders, and all that. You don't get much worse than that you know."

Tana hid a giggle behind one of his hands. "Yeah! Forget about medication; bring out the straightjackets and the cells with padded walls."

Agwe scowled and opened his mouth to tell them that it really wasn't something to joke about, but as the good mood spread through their group, his scowl turned into a smile, and soon their laughter echoed against the walls of their prison.

It was a good laugh; liberating.