Everything happened so quickly that by the time Anna reacted, it was already over.
Watching her bleeding and battered son being struck by a bolt of light then collapsing to the ground almost caused her heart to stop. At that moment, Anna had no other thought than to rush to Lucas' side and see if he was still breathing.
Anna charged headlong into the still warped space in front of her, and the instant she did, she felt her entire body being twisted and stretched in impossible ways.
The pain was intense, more so than anything she had ever encountered in her life. Not even during her adventuring days with her husband and best friends, when they were frequently exposed to danger, had Anna experienced something so agonizing.
However, none of that mattered to her as she was willing to endure any kind of torment or suffering if she could just reach her child a moment sooner.
Unfortunately for her, moving through the distorted space proved much more difficult than she had imagined.
It was like trying to swim through mud, and every step she took required at least 10 times more effort than normal. On top of that, with every breath that passed, Anna could feel a strange force penetrating her body. This force was somewhat like the World Qi she would normally absorb in order to cultivate, but instead of being light and refreshing, it was sharp and gave her a tingling sensation that seemed to be eating away at her.
Red-eyed and breathing heavily, Anna continued to push her way forward with desperate determination, refusing to back down or retreat; but in the end, she was only able to take a dozen or so steps before she was forced to her knees.
Unresigned, Anna struggled to get up, and when she failed to do so, she began to crawl on all fours, still refusing to give in.
As if the Heavens had witnessed her determination and were pleased with what they saw, just as Anna was about to pass out from the strain, the pressure surrounding her disappeared, space returned to normal, and the tingling sensation she felt began to ebb.
Finally able to breath normally again, Anna gasped for air as she stood up shakily and began stumbling forward, reaching Lucas moments later.
Bending down, she hurriedly rolled her son onto his back and was horror-stricken, for all she saw through the blood on his face was a pair of dull, lifeless eyes.
Immediately, she feared the worst and nearly broke down in despair, but just as she felt her heart being crushed, she noticed that despite his absent gaze, her little son's chest was rising and falling in a shallow manner.
He's still breathing! He's alive!
Only those thoughts ran through Anna's mind for a moment before she shook her head hard and began bandaging her son's wounds. It didn't matter to her what state he was in as long as he was alive. She would treat him and bring him back home first, then worry about everything else later.
Ripping off Lucas' torn and bloodied shirt, she tossed the rag away before tearing her own sleeve and using it to wrap up his still bleeding injuries. After dressing his wounds as best she could, Anna scooped her son up in her arms and dashed off towards town, praying to the Gods and Heavens above to preserve her precious boy's life.
…..
Whether it was several seconds or several hours later, Trevor Ashford could no longer tell, but against all odds, he had somehow managed to collect every last piece of the young boy's Soul he could find.
As a side-effect, after interacting with all the white wisps, Trevor had involuntarily learned a great deal about this boy named Lucas and the world he lived in.
This boy was less than 10 years old, and was an only child of a loving mother and father.
At first, Lt. Ashford was confused by some of the scenes he witnessed in Lucas' memories, as he appeared to live in an almost fantasy-esque world, completely different from his own technologically advanced one.
What's more, the inhabitants of this world seemed to be able to draw in something called 'World Qi' which could be used to strengthen themselves to a seemingly inhuman degree. In short, not only did this not seem to be one of the worlds Trevor was familiar with, it didn't even seem to be the same Universe he was from as the basic laws of reality were somehow different.
Upon giving it some thought, though, that didn't seem as unreasonable as it first appeared; after all, he had arrived here through a Spatial Tear which warped space and matter in his own Universe.
Perhaps this was the answer behind all the mysteries the Terran Alliance had been investigating, a whole other Universe somehow interacting with their own, the meeting of the two causing ruptures in the fabric of reality.
In the moment he reached this unlikely conclusion, and obtained tangible evidence to support his hypothesis, Trevor Ashford seemed to gain a kind of enlightenment that opened up a whole new world of possibilities to him, expanding his horizons and consciousness far beyond what he ever imagined possible.
Still, all of this was just the last brilliant flashes of light before his life came to an end, offering him no practical benefit whatsoever.
Rather than the secrets of the multiverse, though, Lt. Ashford had a more immediately problem to deal with, one that he once again had no idea how to go about solving.
He had acted as swiftly as possible to collect all the white wisps, and by bringing them together and shuffling them several times, the young Lucas' Soul was somewhat pieced back together, but it seemed that some damage remained.
It looks like about 80% of this boy's Soul has fused together into a single whole, the remaining pieces represent another roughly 15%, while 5% is simply gone, probably dissipated before I could collect it, Trevor Ashford concluded somehow, not totally sure why he could tell this.
It was almost as if his analytical and computational abilities had somehow become enhanced despite the clearly deteriorating condition of his own Soul, a fascinating development that, unfortunately didn't matter as it didn't help him finish the repairs he had started.
Trevor Ashford also somehow understood that while Lucas would likely survive now even if he did nothing more, only the large 80% piece of the boys Soul seemed to be stable while the remaining 15% was slowly deteriorating and would likely cease to exist as soon as he stopped holding onto it with his own Soul.
As for what the consequences of losing 20% of one's Soul were, Lt. Ashford had no idea, but he assumed they wouldn't be good.
At a loss for what to do now, and running out of both time and strength, Trevor Ashford had no choice but to randomly experiment in hopes of finding a solution.
Taking two of the smaller remaining pieces of Lucas' Soul, Trevor tried to roll and kneed them together like a ball of bread dough, but this only resulted in them temporarily sticking before quickly separating again.
Next, Trevor tried to forcefully squish two small pieces together, but he quickly stopped as this actually resulted in parts of the young boy's Soul wearing down and disappearing into nothingness.
No matter what method Lt. Ashford tried, the result was always either temporary, or harmful to Lucas' Soul. Just as he was running out of ideas, though, Trevor noticed something.
Right outside the region he controlled with his own Soul, he saw a cluster of wisps of the boy's Soul still locked in place, despite him not holding onto them.
These wisps must have slipped from his grasp as he was slowly losing strength, but surprisingly, the remnants of his own Soul seemed to now be acting as a kind of nourishment and adhesive for Lucas' fragmented Soul.
Reaching out and grabbing this newly formed piece, Trevor Ashford discovered something astonishing. Mixed in with Lucas' Soul, which seemed to be an amalgamation of memories, feelings, and emotions, were some of his own memories!
It seemed that after his personality and sense of self was broken down, what remained was his raw experiences and knowledge, almost like it was a written record or video of some kind, along with some type of pure energy which formerly made up the structure of his Soul.
Seeing this situation, Trevor Ashford came up with a plan.
Quickly arranging all the remaining pieces of Lucas' Soul, which now accounted for just under 95% of its original total, Lt. Ashford wrapped them up in his own Soul and held everything tightly in place.
Then, he simply waited for the end to come.
It was possibly the simplest and crudest course of action he could take, and one he would never be able to confirm succeeded or not, but it was really all he could do.
As he 'sat' there, silently enduring the sensation of fading into oblivion, Trevor Ashford felt oddly at peace with himself.
He was born into an ordinary family to ordinary parents who ran an old-fashioned boutique shop, but unfortunately, he lived in un-ordinary times.
After losing all his relatives with the exception of his little sister, Trevor strove to do his best to help mankind, but what he could contribute was minimal at best. Still, at the very end, he managed to save many lives and protect hope for humanity back in his home Universe. On top of that, it seemed he was now going to be able to give hope to a young boy from another Universe as well.
All in all, it wasn't a bad way to go.
After giving it a thought, Trevor Ashford began 'talking' to himself, "Hey kid, I don't know if you'll ever get to hear this, but if you do, first of all, I'm sorry. I can't say for certain, but the accident that befell you in the forest on your ninth birthday was probably a result of the experiments my people were conducting."
"I know it doesn't make it right, but please understand that we never meant to cause you or your family any harm; we were simply trying to find a way to save ourselves."
Pausing for a moment, Trevor couldn't help wondering if what he was currently doing had any meaning.
It wasn't like he had any emotional attachments to Lucas, nor was there any reason he needed to explain himself as he would soon pass away, but since he really had nothing else to do at this point, he continued, "I'm not certain what I'm doing right now will save you, or what side-effects will remain if I am successful, but my death was inevitable even before we met, so regardless of the outcome, know that I chose to do this freely and have no regrets, so you have nothing you need to feel sorry about."
"I don't know what your future holds, but from what I've learned from your memories, you have a great capacity for growth, and unlimited possibilities spread out before you, so I encourage you to not let this unfortunate incident stop you from moving forward and chasing your dreams."
Sensing he only had a few seconds left before the last vestiges of his consciousness faded away, Trevor Ashford decided to make a request of the young boy he had never met, but now somehow knew incredibly well, "If my guess is right, you will inherit a large part of my knowledge and memories"
"Most of it probably won't make sense to you, and I have no idea if any of it will be useful in your life, but if one day you do manage to decipher them and make them your own, and if by some chance you find your way to my homeland, I hope you can look for my family, and if possible, take care of them a bit."
As if he was drifting off to sleep, with the last of his strength, Lt. Ashford quietly muttered, "Goodbye Lucas… I leave the rest up to fate..."