"My future?" asked Zaros.
Ihrbakka didn't answer. He just continued to look into the blackness in front of them, watching as the nothingness began to take shape.
Zaros could make out two figures sitting in front of them. The abyss brightened up so that Zaros could see. His heart almost stopped when he saw his wife and daughter before him.
"Esther! Calina!" Zaros yelled, but they did not respond. "What's going on, Ihrba*ka?"
He, also, had no reply. His eyes were fixed upon the scene before him. The two were just sitting there, their own eyes as blank as Ihrba*ka's. Calina was fidgeting slightly, which she did on many occasions.
"Why can't I talk to them?" Zaros asked Ihrba*ka, but when he turned back to see the genie, he was gone. Zaros was alone in the black void, the ghostly figures of Esther and Calina before him.
Footsteps began to resound through the abyss. Zaros's head pounded with each footfall, as if the new arrival was a giant of unearthly power. However, Esther and Calina did not seem to notice that anything was approaching.
Then, Zaros saw another figure walking into the scene behind them. The man was covered from head to toe in a dark Mahjarrat cloak, the purple insignia on its chest.
The Mahjarrat stopped right behind Esther, and still she did not look up. He reached to his belt and drew a long steel sword from its scabbard. Zaros yelled again and tried to move, but he was frozen in place.
Zaros could only watch as the cloaked man struck down Esther. The blade drove down into the base of her neck, showering the darkness in blood from the ruptured organs. Esther was dead before she could scream.
Zaros yelled every word he could think of at the evil assailant. He looked at his wife's cold, dead body and started crying in sadness and rage.
The Mahjarrat turned to Calina next. "No," cried Zaros. "She's just a child!"
The man did not answer. Nor did Calina notice him. He stood over her, baring his sword for the kill.
25-Apr-2009 05:22:25
