The night felt terribly long, as the storm raged on, bruising Lamia's aching body, as she traversed the restless water of the great lake. The sight of land grew closer and closer, yet the closer she got, the harder it became to keep going. Her body wasn't used to such strain, it had been such a long time since she had been pushed so hard, and yet she some what welcomed the trial before her. For her, it reminded her that she was in a sense, free, free from the confineds of her prison, from the torture she endured day in and day out.
Two hours, for two long hours the depths of the water persisted against her advance towards land, and for two long hours her weakened body fought back tirelessly, in search of her safe haven. Not only did she have to contend against the water, she had to bear the burden of holding the life of another on her shoulder.
Although she could feel him become more stable and his breathing become more steady, he still showed no signs of waking, even after all this time. Even still, she could feel her own essence begin to slowly trickle back into her body as his own soul began to regain its strength, and yet the strain on her beautiful body became heavier and heavier with each passing moment.
Seconds felt like minutes, minutes felt like hours, and hours felt like days, until finally her cold feet touched the soft surface of land under the water as she finally reached the shore.
Holding onto Michael tightly, she walked tiredly up the sandy beach that lay on the edge of the lake, the moment the water no longer submerged any part of her body, she collapsed to her knees. She panted heavily as she slowly lowered him onto the sand, then she allowed herself to collapse completely, letting her tired body finally rest.
As she layed there facing the storm clouds, she couldn't help but feel as if the angels themselves had sent the storm to punish her for escaping their grasp, and yet not even a moment later the storm ceased and her raging heart began to slow into a steady melody, soon she closed her eyes and allowed her worries to drift away with a smile on her face. Maybe it wasn't the angels that sent the storm, but a higher power that was testing her willingness to be free and her loyalty to the one who had freed her.
"Fuck those angels."
The only words to leave her lips as she drifted into a tireless slumber, embracing the calming night around her.
--
Twelve hours had passed since Michael had been dragged away from the safety of his own soul, twelve hours since he had found himself in an endless darkness seemingly unable to breathe. He dreamt of his life, growing up with his parents, finally making it into college and getting to work side by side with one of the worlds most renowned scientists, Maria Snow. He had dreamt of everything that had transpired after meeting Sofia, and soon dreams became nightmares. He had been slaughtered thousands of times by the shield wraith, faught tooth and nail against the giant man in white and was betrayed again and again by the man who swore to protect him. He had shown the merciless and beastial skills hidden within his soul against Eris, he had relived his short but helpful training with Scarlett and traversed the forest into the Cathedral where he had freed Lamia after touching the amulet, then face the Archangel once more.
All of these events played in his mind as he slept, each and every painful moment, each and every death, were fresh in his mind, up until the moment he watched himself drown, and was forced out of his slumber in a coughing fit.
Michael sat up and hunched over, as his body forced the water from his system, causing him to cough violently. Moments later he sat there panting for several minutes as his mind once again replayed the events that led him here.
As the thought of him drowning surfaced, he twisted and turned, trying to figure out where he was, but to his dismay, there was nothing but trees surrounding the small beach he found himself on.
'Where the hell am I now?'
Was the first thought to enter his mind as he looked around, the lake stood infront of him, vast and seemingly endless, so much so that he couldn't even see the otherside, which peaked the question, was it even a lake in the first place, or was it an ocean.
While looking at the horizon of the lake he could spot something floating at its center, so he focused his eyes, in an attempt to get a better look, and to his surprise it worked. His eyes shown an incandescent white glow as his vision sharpened and his sight seemed to zoom in, like a pair of binoculars, and what he saw interested him.
There, in the middle of the lake was a small island, and on that island stood nothing but a single tree. There was something mesmerizing about the tree, it felt as if it were drawing him in the more he looked, he felt longing when he looked at it as if his entire being needed it or else he would collapse into nothing, and if not for the small pain in the back of his mind drawing him away, he knew he would've jumped back into that water right then and there.
Tearing his eyes away from it, he groaned as he held onto the side of his head.
"Ugh, what the hell was that.? What's up with that damned tree.?"
Shaking off the feeling, he slowly rose to his feet and dusted himself off, and walked closer to the water, he dipped his hands into it and washed his face of the sand and took a small sip from it, as he wiped his lips, he could feel his stomach begin to growl from hunger, his hunger was small for the moment but it was still noticeable, so he decided to ignore it for now.
He decided to look into the water to check his appearance and the current state of his body, he seemed fine on the outside, all though he looked a little rugged, he still seemed to be doing fairly well. Then a thought entered his mind. How exactly did he survive? Last he checked he was fully submerged in the depths of the lake, so how did he make it out, and onto dry land no less.?.?
He was sure how or why but surely something or someone wanted him alive, maybe he was saved or maybe some higher power drug him from the deeps and guided his body to land, he wasn't sure, but what he did know was that he needed to figure out why he was here in the first place.
Pushing the thoughts aside he decided it was time for him to get moving and find some form of civilization, that way once he was sure he was safe, he could start figuring out his purpose for being in this place and how to return to his body.
With that in mind, his first move towards his new goal, was to head into the forest, in search of food and hopefully a path to the otherside.
As he traversed the forest he noticed there weren't many animals there, at least not at first, but the deeper he went the more wildlife began to emerge. It seemed odd, when he entered, the forest seemed to be completely deserted but now the further he went from the lake the more they showed themselves, it made him wonder if there was something about the lake that they feared or maybe something in the lake, but he had just come from the lake so if something were truly frightening about it, why hadn't it affected or tried to kill him.
The thoughts circled his mind as he felt the first tinge of pain enter his stomach as it growled once more, he placed his hand onto his stomach as he slightly winced, then shook his head and focused himself on one of the animals nearby.
'I'm sorry little one, but I've gotta make it out of here, and you're going to have to help me.'
He sighed to himself as he looked forward towards what looked like a small rabbit with burning ears that radiated a since of heat like that of molten lava, in fact that's what it's ears and fluffy tail seemed to be made from. Both it's tail and the ends of its ears were moving with a burning passion as molten lava circulated from them, to him it looked as if the lava itself was being produced from within the rabbit as if it were from the very veins of the creature.
'Is that even safe to eat? Ugh hopefully it'll cool once it's dead.'
Other than those features, the rabbit also looked to have burning red eyes and devilishly sharp teeth to match, it was quite a frightening sight to say the least, no doubt the creatures was itself a predator of this forest, but he also wondered what it was the little thing hunted. And of course as if the universe wished to answer his question, an unbelievable scene unfolded infront of him.