Role

Chapter 5

The next day dawned gray and foreboding, to the North were storm clouds, but
they seemed to hang in the air, rather than follow the winds. They broke camp
and continued on their way, towards the clouds, neither uttering a word. They
had traveled an hour when the next vision occurred. About ten feet in front
of her a strange oval vortex suddenly appeared, the air around it crackled
with energy. It was black as the darkest night and appeared to swallow the
light around it, almost twisting the fabric of space itself. Oaneewke
swallows hard and closes her eyes. Over and over to herself she begins to
chant a mantra 'It's just a vision. It's not real. It's just a vision. It's
not real.' As she chants she begins to walk forward. 'It's just a vision.
It's not real. It's just a vision. It's not real.' Yet within 6 steps she can
feel the force of the strange portal pulling at her, her clothes flap in the
swirling air, her hair stands on end with the charge of miniature lightning.
'It's just a vision. It's not real. It's just a vision. It's not real.' The
wind rises into a roaring gale and inside it she hears a frantic voice
calling her name. 'OANEEWKE!' The force catches hold of her and yanks her
forward, yet something, something tries to pull her back, but it is
insignificant compared to the pull of the blackness. She feels her body
distend, contract, twist, straighten and compress. Shards of glass pierce her
mind, darkness tears at her, yet there is only silence. Oaneewke tries to
scream, but the darkness fills her throat like a black poison, drowning her.
After what seems like an eternity she feels a final sucking compression,
followed by a shuddering clap of thunder and finally she falls to her knees
and begins to wretch. A cold mist slithers around her arms and legs as she
empties the contents of her stomach on the ground. Trembling she climbs to
her feet and opens her eyes, the cold mist surrounds her and she tries to
take a step forward. As she does so she feels something pulling at her robe,
as she turns the mist parts. She already knows what she will see and finally,
her mind snaps.